Political Wire

Members should sign in for the full experience.

Giuliani Contradicts Past Denials of Collusion

January 17, 2019 at 8:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump’s legal spokesman Rudy Giuliani “appeared to grant the possibility that members of Trump’s campaign did, in fact, collude with the Russians during the 2016 presidential election campaign,” the Washington Post reports.

“And in the process, he contradicted dozens of previous denials that both the Trump team (and Trump himself) have offered.”

“In fact, the Trump team has moved the goal posts on this question no fewer than 10 times after initially denying any contact at all with ‘foreign entities.’ Trump has said dozens of times that there was ‘no collusion,’ full stop. This appears to be the first time anyone has acknowledged the possibility that someone colluded without Trump’s knowledge.”

Trump Fraying Nerves at the Pentagon

January 17, 2019 at 8:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is fueling unprecedented uncertainty and anxiety inside the Pentagon. In private conversations over the past month, many of them unsolicited, more than a dozen key military officers, enlisted personnel and senior civilians have expressed worry and concern to CNN. None of the officials have spoken publicly about this, as military law prohibits active-duty personnel from criticizing a sitting president.”

“It’s not just Trump’s unpredictable decision making that has officials on edge, it’s also his penchant for politicizing the military— something that’s come into focus in recent months as he’s struggled to fulfill his campaign promise to crack down on immigration and build a border wall. His decision to draw down troops in Syria and his claims that ISIS is defeated have also rankled military commanders who felt it wasn’t well thought out.”

Former GOP Senator Working to Ease Russian Sanctions

January 17, 2019 at 7:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) “is lobbying on behalf of companies linked to a Russian oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin, aligning himself with Trump administration efforts to ease sanctions on his clients,” CNN reports.

“Vitter, who has registered as a foreign agent, lobbied with several countries’ ambassadors and the Treasury Department to ease punishing sanctions imposed on major aluminum firms tied to oligarch Oleg Deripaska. After the Treasury Department agreed last month and eased the sanctions, Vitter was spotted in the Senate ahead of critical votes taking aim at the Trump administration move.”

Trump Slipping with His Base

January 17, 2019 at 7:09 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds President Trump’s approval rating down by a net 7-point change to 39% to 53% over the last month.

The movement has come from within key portions of his base: He’s down significantly among suburban men, a net-positive approval rating of 51% to 39% to a net-negative of 42% approve, 48% disapprove. That’s a net change of down 18 percentage points.

He’s also down a net of 13 points among white evangelicals and down a net of 10 points among Republicans.

Recession Warnings Pile Up

January 17, 2019 at 7:08 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The partial government shutdown was supposed to be a brief non-event for the economy. Now it’s starting to look like a serious crisis that could nudge the U.S. toward recession and threaten President Trump’s economic message during his reelection campaign,” Politico reports.

“Across Wall Street, analysts are rushing out warnings that missed federal paychecks, dormant government contractors and shelved corporate stock offerings could push first-quarter growth close to or even below zero if the shutdown, which is wrapping up its fourth week, drags on much longer.”

Big Majority Would Definitely Vote Against Trump

January 17, 2019 at 6:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57% of registered voters said they would definitely vote against President Trump,” according to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll.

“Another 30% of voters said they would cast their ballot to support Trump, and an additional 13% said they had no idea who would get their vote.”

American Government In Crisis

January 17, 2019 at 6:40 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “There’s no doubt we have gotten accustomed to lurching from standoff to standoff, diplomatic row to global skirmish. But over the past few days, it feels as if the crisis in our government has hit a new inflection point.”

“We are now on day 27 of a government shutdown centered on whether the U.S. should build a new barrier on the southern border with Mexico. Hundreds of miles of barriers already exist. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have been willing to blink, and both sides appear to be growing increasingly dug in. The shutdown is continuing ad infinitum. Ratings agencies and economic forecasters have warned Congress to shape up, or face huge consequences.”

“At the sane time, the Trump administration is forcing some workers to come back to work with no pay. The agents whom the government has hired to ensure people don’t board our airliners with bombs and weapons — TSA employees — are working without pay. So are the people protecting the president of the United States.”

House Democrats Go To Twitter School

January 17, 2019 at 6:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

USA Today: “The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee is hosting a session Thursday morning with Ocasio-Cortez of New York (@AOC – 2.42 million followers) and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut (@jahimes – 76,500 followers) ‘on the most effective ways to engage constituents on Twitter and the importance of digital storytelling.’”

Pentagon Seeks to Expand Missile Defenses

January 17, 2019 at 6:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The Trump administration is seeking to expand the scope and sophistication of American missile defenses on a scale not seen since President Ronald Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ initiative in a new strategy that President Trump plans to roll out personally on Thursday alongside military leaders at the Pentagon.”

The Titanic Hypocrisy of the Republican Party

January 16, 2019 at 10:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Tom Nichols: “This is not normal, in any way. As things stand, more people in the Kremlin than in Washington know what Trump said to Putin. It is almost certain that there are readouts and analyses of Trump’s discussions with Putin — but that for now, they are in Russian.”

“Finally, it is exhausting but nonetheless necessary to point out again the titanic hypocrisy of the Republican Party and of Trump’s apologists in the conservative media. If President Barack Obama had shredded his notes of a meeting with the Iranian president, or if Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager were sitting in jail for lying about meeting a Chinese business associate — and alleged intelligence officer — to share polling data, that alone would have been enough for the GOP to impeach everyone from the president to the White House chef.”

Mulvaney Empowers Jared and Ivanka

January 16, 2019 at 10:32 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Unlike his predecessors… Mr. Mulvaney is not interested in challenging what has revealed itself to be the one constant in the Trump White House: the special status reserved for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the president’s family members and senior advisers, in the West Wing.”

“Mr. Mulvaney’s more hands-off approach to the family members has allowed Mr. Kushner to position himself among lawmakers on Capitol Hill as the person who can deliver to Mr. Trump what he wants. The dynamic… is similar to the opening days of the administration, when the staff to the new president was just beginning to meet with Washington officials and Mr. Kushner often told people that ‘everything runs through me.’”

“This time, however, Mr. Mulvaney is doing nothing to curb his influence. In fact, he is treating Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump as assets, rather than rivals. And they are seeing a new ally. On Sunday night they hosted Mr. Mulvaney and his wife at their Kalorama mansion for a social dinner.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

January 16, 2019 at 10:06 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign. Or between people in the campaign.”

— Rudy Giuliani, in an interview on CNN, later adding, “If the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago.”

Trump Grows Frustrated with Shutdown

January 16, 2019 at 10:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump has insisted that he is not going to compromise with Democrats to end the government shutdown, and that he is comfortable in his unbendable position. But privately, it’s sometimes a different story,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump to acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney: “We are getting crushed! Why can’t we get a deal?”

Shutdown Is Hurting Trump’s Approval

January 16, 2019 at 7:37 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Nate Silver: “The partial government shutdown is beginning to drag on President Trump’s approval rating, which is at its lowest point in months. As of early Wednesday evening, his approval rating was 40.2 percent, according to our tracking of public polling, down from 42.2 percent on Dec. 21, the day before the shutdown began. It’s his lowest score since last September. And Trump’s disapproval rating was 54.8 percent, up from 52.7 percent before the shutdown. His net approval rating, -14.6 percent, was at its lowest point since February 2018.”

Cohen Fears Trump Rhetoric Puts His Family At Risk

January 16, 2019 at 7:33 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Michael Cohen is having reservations about his highly anticipated public appearance before Congress next month, fearing that President Trump’s frequent diatribes against him could put his family in danger,” ABC News reports.

“While his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform appears to be on track to occur as scheduled on Feb. 7, it is now less certain than it initially appeared that Cohen – Trump’s former attorney and fixer – will sit before lawmakers.”

Why We Should Hope Trump Is a Russian Agent

January 16, 2019 at 5:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Garrett Graff: “The pattern of his pro-Putin, pro-Russia, anti-FBI, anti-intelligence community actions are so one-sided, and the lies and obfuscation surrounding every single Russian meeting and conversation so consistent that if this president isn’t actually hiding a massive conspiracy, it means the alternative is worse: America elected a chief executive so oblivious to geopolitics, so self-centered and personally insecure, so naturally predisposed to undermine democratic institutions and coddle authoritarians, and so terrible a manager and leader that he cluelessly surrounded himself with crooks, grifters, and agents of foreign powers that he’s compromised the national security of the US government and undermined 75 years of critical foreign alliances, just to satiate his own ego.”

“In short, we’ve reached a point in the Mueller probe where there are only two scenarios left: Either the president is compromised by the Russian government and has been working covertly to cooperate with Vladimir Putin after Russia helped win him the 2016 election—or Trump will go down in history as the world’s most famous ‘useful idiot,’ as communists used to call those who could be co-opted to the cause without realizing it.”

“At least the former scenario—that the president of the United States is actively working to advance the interests of our country’s foremost, long-standing, traditional foreign adversary—would make him seem smarter and wilier. The latter scenario is simply a tragedy, or maybe a farce for everyone involved.”

Trump Hotel Lease Might Violate Constitution

January 16, 2019 at 3:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The GSA disregarded concerns that President Trump’s lease of a government-owned building — the one that houses his Trump International Hotel in Washington — might violate the Constitution when it allowed Trump to keep that lease after he took office, according to a report from the agency’s inspector general,” the Washington Post reports.

O’Rourke Aides Planning for White House Bid

January 16, 2019 at 3:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Beto O’Rourke has left Texas, decamping for a highly anticipated road trip, but his former advisers are quietly sketching the outline of a potential presidential run that would replicate — and on a national scale — the grassroots-driven organizing model O’Rourke employed in his Texas Senate campaign,” Politico reports.

“The effort is preliminary, and the imprimatur of O’Rourke was implied — not stated… Unlike many candidates-in-waiting, who have PACs or other organizations to assemble staff, O’Rourke is not yet assembling a campaign team.”