A new Politico/Morning Consult survey finds Joe Biden still atop the list of presidential candidates with the support of 32% of voters who say they intend to participate in a Democratic primary or caucus next year.
He is 9 points ahead of the next closest candidate: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), at 23%.
Politico: Biden’s support stays solid in early states.
Politico: “After Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Sunday that she was resigning, Trump announced on Twitter that Customs and Border Patrol Director Kevin McAleenan would take over DHS on an acting basis.”
“However, in a letter to Trump on Monday, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote that ‘the law of succession at the Department is clear’ that upon Nielsen’s departure the temporary duty to lead the agency would pass to Undersecretary for Management Claire Grady.”
“The legal hitch could lead Trump to fire Grady, since she appears to be an obstacle to McAleenan being able to assume the top role at the agency.”
“House Democrats plan to grill Attorney General William Barr about his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report when he appears before an Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday morning,” Politico reports.
“The hearing is ostensibly focused on the Justice Department’s budget, but it will be Barr’s first public appearance since crafting a four-page summary of Mueller’s findings. Members of Mueller’s team were reportedly frustrated with the summary, claiming it doesn’t accurately represent their 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential Trump-Russia collusion.”
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.
“President Trump’s purge of the nation’s top homeland security officials is a sign that he is preparing to unleash an even fiercer assault on immigration, including a possible return of his controversial decision last summer to separate migrant children from their parents,” the New York Times reports.
“But the longer term effect of the eruption of Oval Office frustration is likely to be a burst of hard-line policies that stand out even in an administration that has pursued an unprecedented series of executive actions and rules changes aimed at reducing legal and illegal immigration into the United States.”
Axios: “President Trump has directed top officials to execute the most aggressive changes in immigration policy since his inauguration… Some officials consider the moves legally and politically dubious.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has said he would throw his weight behind an attempt to obtain what may be some of the president’s most sensitive secrets: those that could be buried in President Trump’s state tax returns, the New York Times reports.
Cuomo’s office said that it would back a new bill that would permit the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return — including the president’s — if it were requested by leaders of three congressional committees for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose.”
Sen, Charles Grassley (R-IA) “is warning the White House not to oust another top immigration official, making appeals to the administration against dismissing Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, amid a purge of Homeland Security leaders,” the Washington Post reports.
Grassley said he was “very, very concerned” regarding reports that Cissna could be next in a series of rapid-fire DHS dismissals that began late last week.
President personally told border agents in California last week not let migrants in, CNN reports.
Said Trump: “Tell them we don’t have the capacity. If judges give you trouble, say, ‘Sorry, judge, I can’t do it. We don’t have the room.'”
“After the President left the room, agents sought further advice from their leaders, who told them they were not giving them that direction and if they did what the President said they would take on personal liability. You have to follow the law, they were told.”
President Trump recently told senior adviser Stephen Miller that he’s “in charge” of his administration’s immigration policy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump and Miller reportedly want to reinstate the zero-tolerance policy, which received immense backlash last year. Miller reportedly told officials to “get in line” with the president’s policy vision.
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs repeatedly told Trump, both privately and on his show, to fire departing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the Daily Beast reports.
Dobbs’ tactics were quite similar to those he used to help convince Trump to fire former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“A California judge on Monday blocked President Trump’s efforts to force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are adjudicated by the immigration courts — a practice that immigration advocates called inhumane and illegal,” the New York Times reports.
“Judge Richard Seeborg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found that existing law did not give the Trump administration the power to enforce the policy, known as ‘migrant protection protocols,’ which were introduced in San Diego and expanded to other parts of California and Texas.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that her presidential campaign has raised $5.2 million in the 7 weeks since launching her 2020 campaign, Axios reports.
“Criminal referrals for leaks prosecutions have surged in the Trump Administration—likely the result of a big increase in unauthorized disclosures of classified information,” NBC News reports.
“The number of leaks that were reported as potential crimes by federal agencies reached record high levels over the last two years… There were 120 leak referrals for possible prosecution in 2017 and 88 in 2018, up from 37 in 2016 and 18 in 2015, the data shows.”
A new CNBC Fed Survey — which includes Wall Street fund managers, economists and strategists — finds that 60% said the U.S. Senate should not confirm Stephen Moore to a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, while 53% called for the Senate to reject the prospective nomination of Herman Cain.
“President Trump moved to sweep out the top ranks of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, a day after pushing out its secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, accelerating a purge of the nation’s immigration and security leadership,” the New York Times reports.
“Government officials said three more top department leaders were expected to leave soon: Francis Cissna, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Randolph Alles, the Secret Service director; and John Mitnik, the agency’s general counsel.”
One senior official told CNN: “There is a near-systematic purge happening at the nation’s second-largest national security agency.”
“A Chinese woman who breached security at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, had a stash of electronics in her hotel room, including a signal detector, nine USB drives and five SIM cards for mobile phones,” Bloomberg reports.
“A signal detector is used to detect hidden video or audio-recording devices.”
Former FBI special agent Josh Campbell suggested on Twitter that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s resignation letter bears a striking resemblance to the New York Times op-ed written by an anonymous senior administration official who said they were part of a “resistance” working to undermine Trump’s worst impulses from within.
Campbell added that his theory would also fit with CNN reporting that Nielsen felt Trump had become “unhinged” on issues concerning the border.
New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R) is expected to announce on April 16 that he will challenge freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, the New Jersey Globe reports.
United States Secret Service director Randolph ‘Tex’ Alles is being removed from his position, CNN reports.
“President Trump instructed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles. Alles remains in his position as of now but has been asked to leave.”
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.