A filing unsealed in federal court says an unnamed person “connected to Congress” allegedly attempted to influence former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, Politico reports.
Meanwhile, CNN reports there’s a voicemail recording of a member of the Trump administration reaching out to Flynn and his lawyers while he was cooperating with Mueller.
“The barrier that President Trump wants to build along the Mexico border will be a steel bollard fence, not a concrete wall as he long promised, and the president is fine with that. He has a few other things he would like to change, though,” the Washington Post reports.
“The bollards or ‘slats,’ as he prefers to call them, should be painted ‘flat black,’ a dark hue that would absorb heat in the summer, making the metal too hot for climbers to scale.”
“And the tips of the bollards should be pointed, not round, the president insists, describing in graphic terms the potential injuries that border-crossers might receive.”
A new Fox News poll finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential race nationally with 35%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 17%, Elizabeth Warren at 9%, Pete Buttigieg at 6% and Kamala Harris at 5%.
They are followed by Beto O’Rouke at 4%, Cory Booker at 3%, Amy Klobuchar at 2% and Julian Castro at 2%. Everyone else is at 1% or less.
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that House Democrats could always open an impeachment inquiry to pry free documents and testimony from stonewalling Trump administration officials — a sharp response to the White House’s blanket claim that House requests served no ‘legitimate’ legislative purpose,” the New York Times reports.
Said Pelosi: “The courts would respect it if you said we need this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities — and among them is impeachment It doesn’t mean you’re going on an impeachment path, but it means if you had the information you might. It’s about impeachment as a purpose.”
“Her threat was the first time Ms. Pelosi suggested using impeachment as an information-gathering tool, although she had made the suggestion in private before.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that President Trump’s new immigration plan is “dead on arrival” and “not a remotely serious proposal,” The Hill reports.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted the White House for asserting that it would not comply with a range of requests from the House Judiciary Committee, NBC News reports.
Said Pelosi: “The letter that came from the White House yesterday was completely outrageous.”
She added: “That letter that came from the White House was a joke, beneath the dignity of the presidency of the United States, in defiance of our Constitution. Shame on them.”
Pete Buttigieg insisted that he wasn’t in danger of peaking too soon, Politico reports.
Said Buttigieg: “It’s not like we’re in first place. While I’m thrilled with the fact that we are obviously running ahead of a lot of our competitors — we’ve gotten a lot of favorable attention, and our organization is growing more and more strong in terms of recruiting and finance — it doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a long run. This is a marathon. We have a long way to go.”
President Trump told Fox News that he thinks “it’s great” seeing openly gay Pete Buttigieg appearing onstage with his husband.
Said Trump: “I think it’s absolutely fine. I do.”
He added: “I think it’s great. I think that’s something that perhaps some people will have a problem with. I have no problem with it whatsoever. I think it’s good.”
“With grisly claims that Democrats promote ‘birth day abortions’ and are ‘the party of death,’ the Republican Party and its conservative allies have aggressively reset the terms of one of the country’s most divisive and emotionally fraught debates, forcing Democrats to reassess how they should respond to attacks that portray the entire party as extremist on abortion,” the New York Times reports.
“The unusually forceful, carefully coordinated campaign has created challenges that Democrats did not expect as they struggle to combat misinformation and thwart further efforts to undercut access to abortion. And advocates of abortion rights fear it is succeeding in pressuring lawmakers in more conservative states to pass severe new restrictions, as Alabama did this week by approving a bill that would essentially outlaw the procedure.”
“It is time for women to rise up, to be heard, to run for office. I mean all women.”
— Alabama state Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D), writing in Elle, after her colleagues passed a law outlawing abortion in the state.
“Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in an interview that he had no evidence of wrongdoing by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden or his son, despite a swirl of allegations by President Trump’s lawyer,” Bloomberg reports.
“President Trump’s income from several of his most high-profile properties fell last year, including a nearly $2.5 million drop at his Florida resort Mar-Lago and a $1 million decline one of his Florida golf resorts, his new financial disclosure reveals,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In total, the minimum value of Mr. Trump’s income fell 4% to $434.8 million in 2018, down from $452.5 million the previous year.”
“States passing restrictive abortion legislation have the lowest rates of women represented in politics,” The Hill reports.
“Alabama, which passed a measure this week that would ban almost all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of the mother, has a female governor but only four female state senators, putting it in 47th place in a ranking of states by female representation.”
“In addition to Alabama, two other states that recently passed restrictive abortion laws ranked in the bottom 10 for representation of women in the state legislature: Mississippi, at 13.8%, and Kentucky, at 22.5%. Ohio, which recently passed a so-called heartbeat bill banning abortions after six weeks, is ranked 30th for representation. Just over a quarter, 26.2%, of the state legislature are women. Georgia, which also passed a heartbeat bill, is the only state in the top half of the rankings, at number 20 with 15 of 56 woman state senators and 57 of 180 woman House members.”
Axios: Where each state stands if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
“President Trump has told his acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, that he does not want to go to war with Iran… in a message to his hawkish aides that an intensifying American pressure campaign against the clerical-led government in Tehran must not escalate into open conflict,” the New York Times reports.
“No new information was presented to the president at the meeting that argued for further engagement with Iran, according to a person in the room. But Mr. Trump was firm in saying he did not want a military clash with the Iranians.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that he opposes a new Alabama law that outlaws virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, arguing that it “goes further than I believe,” the Washington Post reports.
Said McCarthy: “I believe in exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, and that’s what I’ve voted on.”
The EPA’s inspector general recommended recovering nearly $124,000 in improper travel expenses by former EPA chief Scott Pruitt, the Washington Post reports.
“The findings, issued nearly a year after Pruitt resigned amid controversy over his spending, travel and ties to lobbyists and outside groups, highlight the fiscal impact of his penchant for high-end travel and accommodations.”
“This is a message for leaders of the Democratic Party. For over two years, this president has broken the law, and nothing happened. You told us to wait for the Mueller investigation. And when he showed obstruction of justice, nothing happened.”
— A new advertisement from Tom Steyer, quoted by the Washington Post.
“Maine’s lawmakers passed a bill that would give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who won the national popular vote, taking a step toward becoming the 15th state to enact such a law,” CNN reports.
“The Maine Senate voted 19-16 Tuesday to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would give all committed states’ electoral votes to the winning popular vote candidate should the group accrue the 270 votes necessary for a majority.”
“Maine is currently one of two states, along with Nebraska, that splits its electoral college votes instead of adhering to the winner-takes-all policy most states follow. Should the Maine House pass and Gov. Janet Mills sign the bill, Maine would contribute another four votes towards the 270.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.