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House Panel Investigates Obstruction By Trump Lawyers

May 14, 2019 at 3:43 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The House Intelligence Committee is investigating whether lawyers tied to President Trump and his family helped obstruct the panel’s inquiry into Russian election interference by shaping false testimony,” the New York Times reports.

“The line of inquiry stems from claims made by the president’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, who told Congress earlier this year that the lawyers in question helped edit false testimony that he provided to Congress in 2017 about a Trump Tower project in Moscow. Mr. Cohen said they also dangled a potential pardon to try to ensure his loyalty.”

Biden Holds Small Lead In Nevada

May 14, 2019 at 3:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Change Research poll in Nevada finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential field with 29%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 24%, Pete Buttigieg at 13%, Elizabeth Warren at 12%, Kamala Harris at 11% and Beto O’Rourke at 4%.

Key finding: Among 18-34-year olds, Sanders is at 50% and Biden is in fifth place at only 6%.

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Indicted

May 14, 2019 at 2:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck (R) “has been indicted on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

“A federal grand jury on Tuesday issued a 38 count indictment against the former insurance lobbyist and long-time representative of the Georgia Christian Coalition, alleging he committed fraud through a series of insurance-related schemes.”

“The proceeds of the alleged schemes earned him millions, some of which he even used for his campaign for statewide office.”

Two Lawmakers Caught Joking About Sexual Misconduct

May 14, 2019 at 2:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Two Republican state legislators in Oklahoma appeared to be joking about sexual misconduct allegations in remarks made near a hot mic, KWTV reports.

The conversation appeared to reference a reported investigation involving another Republican lawmaker and accusations he inappropriately touched a female representative.

Romney Rejects Trump Pick Who Disparaged Obama

May 14, 2019 at 2:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator to vote against one of President Trump’s judicial nominees on Tuesday. And he did so in part to defend former President Barack Obama,” Politico reports.

Said Romney: “He made particularly disparaging comments about President Obama. And as the Republican nominee for president, I just couldn’t subscribe to that in a federal judge. This was not a matter of qualifications or politics. This was something specifically to that issue as a former nominee of our party.”

Judge Grills Trump Attorney In Subpoena Case

May 14, 2019 at 2:06 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

U.S. District Court judge Amit Mehta “raised pointed doubts about arguments by President Trump’s legal team that a Democratic effort to subpoena Trump’s financial records was an invalid exercise of congressional power,” Politico reports.

Mehta “indicated that he would have trouble ruling that Congress’ goal in accessing the president’s records was unconstitutional — as Trump’s lawyers have argued — and he underscored that he believes Congress has a significant ‘informing function’ that doesn’t necessarily require an explicit legislative purpose to justify an investigation involving the president.”

The Banal Complicity of Rod Rosenstein

May 14, 2019 at 1:49 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “President Trump’s progress in corrupting the Department of Justice — and, to some extent, the entire federal government — into a weapon of his autocratic aspirations relies on the acquiescence of figures like Rod Rosenstein. It is the Rosensteins who translate the president’s lizard-brain impulses into practical directives and create a patina of normalcy around them. (Or, in some increasingly rare cases, refuse to do so.)”

“And so Rosenstein’s spate of valedictory remarks attempting to cleanse and justify his service to Trump give us real insight into the worldview of the compliant bureaucratic functionary.”

Mark Cuban Still Mulling Presidential Bid

May 14, 2019 at 1:43 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Billionaire Mark Cuban told CNBC he hasn’t ruled out an independent run for the White House in 2020.

Said Cuban: “We’ll see what happens. It would take the perfect storm for me to do it. There’s some things that could open the door, but I’m not projecting or predicting it right now.”

He added: “I still think there’s a real opportunity for somebody who is in the middle but has some charisma, has the ability to relate to both sides but is not a politician. The reality is people don’t trust politicians.”

Aide to Labor Secretary Exits After Clash with White House

May 14, 2019 at 1:42 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The top aide to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is leaving the Trump administration after a clash with White House officials who regarded him as personally difficult and an impediment to President Trump’s deregulatory agenda,” Axios reports.

Trump Calls Wray’s Anti-Spying Remarks ‘Ridiculous’

May 14, 2019 at 12:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told reporters he “didn’t understand” FBI Director Christopher Wray’s “ridiculous” answer that the FBI didn’t spy when looking into then-candidate Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election, Politico reports.

Said Trump: “I didn’t understand his answer. I thought the attorney general answered it perfectly. So I certainly didn’t understand that answer. I thought it was a ridiculous answer.”

Biden Thinks Republicans Will Work with Democrats Again

May 14, 2019 at 12:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Campaigning in New Hampshire, Joe Biden predicted that once President Trump is out of office, Republicans will have “an epiphany” and work with Democrats toward consensus, Bloomberg reports.

Playbook: “One truly wonders what available evidence there is to come to a conclusion like this. When Biden was last in office, he was Obama’s link to Mitch McConnell — so he does have recent experience working with Senate Republicans. But very, very few people think the GOP is on the brink of a bipartisan epiphany.”

Ukraine Prosecutor Made Up Biden Claim

May 14, 2019 at 12:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Ukrainian lawmaker accused his country’s top prosecutor of manufacturing a ‘conspiracy’ about U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, adding to a political intrigue playing out from Kiev to Washington,” Bloomberg reports.

“The lawmaker, Serhiy Leshchenko, said he had been given parts of a letter written by the prosecutor with the intent of currying favor with the Trump administration. The letter was sent by the prosecutor through unofficial channels to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.”

Trump Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Deploy Troops

May 14, 2019 at 12:35 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump dismissed last night’s New York Times story on the administration’s internal debate over sending 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter Iran as “fake news,” Politico reports.

But, he added: “Would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we won’t have to plan for that. If we did that we would send a hell of a lot more troops than that.”

DeSantis Says Two Florida Counties Were Hacked

May 14, 2019 at 12:06 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “met with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last week to discuss the revelation in the Mueller report that ‘at least one’ Florida county had its election information accessed by Russian hackers in 2016,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“On Tuesday, DeSantis told reporters that he had been briefed on that breach — which actually happened in two counties in Florida — but that he couldn’t share which counties had been the target.”

Watch the Libertarian Party

May 14, 2019 at 11:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Joshua Spivak: “Democrats have long complained — with good reason — about the role of the Green Party in depriving Al Gore of the White House in 2000. Nader received 2.74% of the vote (he did not appear in all states), including 1.63 percent in the critical state of Florida that Gore lost by 537 votes. That 2.74% was a strong showing for a third party, but in 2016, the Libertarian Party topped that total.”

“The Libertarian Party had never before received more than 1.1% of the vote in a presidential election. But with New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld serving as their ticket, the party rocketed to 3.24% of the vote. In two of the critical states that Trump flipped, Michigan and Wisconsin, Johnson topped 3.6%. In Pennsylvania, the third normally Democratic stronghold that voted GOP, Johnson received 2.4%.”

“It is not clear from the polling, but one of the reasons for Trump’s surprise victory was the cratering in support for Johnson in the waning months of the election. In September, he was polling at 9%, which fell off heavily by Election Day.”

Wisconsin GOP’s Finances In Bad Shape

May 14, 2019 at 11:43 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wisconsin’s Republican Party “fell so far behind financially in recent months that it missed payments to insurers and racked up nearly $600 a month in interest on a maxed-out credit card,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

“The review, commissioned by Sen. Ron Johnson and other top Wisconsin Republicans in the wake of statewide losses in 2018, also showed the party was ‘recklessly reliant’ on consultants, some of whom made more than $500,000 doing routine work for the party.”

Biden’s Early State Numbers Look Like Past Winners

May 14, 2019 at 11:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Harry Enten: “Joe Biden is enjoying a large lead in national primary polls. Primaries, of course, aren’t all conducted at once, but rather are held in a sequential fashion, with the early contests of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina being pivotal. Indeed, many national primary polling frontrunners first started showing weakness in early state polling.”

“Unlike those frontrunners — and importantly for his election chances — Biden’s early state numbers currently are mostly like his his national numbers — which was the case for previous frontrunners who went on to win their party’s nomination.”

“Leading in all the early states at this point has historically been a fairly good sign. Dating back to 1980 (the year in which we start getting solid state polling data), nine candidates in competitive primaries have led in polling around this point in the cycle in both Iowa and New Hampshire. All but one candidate (Ted Kennedy in 1980) who led in Iowa and New Hampshire would go on to win their party’s nomination.”

Pence Promises He’ll Have More to Say About Buttigieg

May 14, 2019 at 11:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Vice President Mike Pence “wagged his finger at Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg in a Fox News interview that aired Monday, but also suggested he his biting his tongue – for now,” USA Today reports.

Said Pence: “If he wins their party’s nomination, we’ll have a lot more to say about him.”