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Summary of Mueller Report Released

March 24, 2019 at 3:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill received a brief letter from Attorney General William Barr summarizing the key findings from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

The investigation found that neither President Trump nor any of his aides conspired with the Russian government.

On the obstruction of justice investigation, Mueller states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” However, the determination not to file charges was made by the Attorney General and not Mueller.

Read the letter here.

The Democrats Trump Fears Most

March 24, 2019 at 3:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump has publicly boasted that he could beat any of his 2020 Democratic challengers. But privately, several members of the Trump campaign see a few who could pose a threat to his re-election, and are in the early stages of building out their strategy for attack,” Axios reports.

“The three candidates that seem to concern the Trump campaign most are Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke. That’s in no particular order, and you’ll get a different answer depending on who you talk to.”

Biden Leads In Iowa

March 24, 2019 at 3:15 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Emerson poll in Iowa finds Joe Biden narrowly leads the Democratic field with 25%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders at 24%, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 11%, Sen. Kamala Harris at 10%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 9%, Sen. Cory Booker at 6% and Beto O’Rourke at 5%.

Early South Carolina Interest In Harris and Booker

March 24, 2019 at 1:44 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Charleston Post & Courier: “If a majority of South Carolina’s Democratic Party county chairs had to pick a presidential nominee today, the choice would come down to a two-person duel, not an open scrum.”

“With 11 months to go until the Feb. 29, 2020, primary, U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey are the clear popular nods (not necessarily in that order),”

Democrats Vow to Continue Trump Investigations

March 24, 2019 at 1:43 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Top House Democrats, anxiously awaiting the findings of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, insisted on Sunday that their own investigations must go on regardless of whether the Justice Department accuses President Trump of wrongdoing,” the New York Times reports.

“Expecting the ‘principal conclusion’” of Mr. Mueller’s 22-month investigation to be made public by Attorney General William Barr as soon as Sunday afternoon but lacking any information on its findings, they sought to play down Mr. Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible ties to the Trump campaign as a relatively narrow endeavor that does not relieve Congress of its own oversight responsibility.”

The Latest on the Mueller Report

March 24, 2019 at 12:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “All the ingredients are coming together for what can only be described as one of the most critical weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency. First, at some point today, we will probably know more about the Mueller report — probably just the top-line information, the takeaways as Attorney General Bill Barr will describe them. Second, Congress comes back to town tomorrow, and by Tuesday, the Capitol will be crawling with lawmakers, who will be forced to answer questions from reporters about the contents.”

“This is the kind of situation that will test Congressional leaders. The big questions: Will they be able to tamp down frustrated rank-and-file members who want more information than they are likely to have by early next week? Can Democrats successfully force all briefings to be unclassified, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have called for? One of the biggest challenges — especially in today’s media climate — is that leaders will try to have their party speak with one voice.”

How O’Rourke Is a Threat to Sanders and Biden

March 24, 2019 at 12:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NBC News: “While Sanders’ allies have worried that O’Rourke could eat into the Vermont senator’s base of young progressives, Biden may end up being the one with the most to lose among mainline Democrats more concerned with electability than political revolution.”

“Instead of shoring up his progressive bona fides in the face of left-flank attacks, O’Rourke has emphasized a Biden-esque message of civility while making a case that he can win the White House by stumping in the very Midwest states that Biden allies argue “Middle-Class Joe” is most capable of carrying.”

Quote of the Day

March 24, 2019 at 11:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Absolutely. I think the report needs to be made public. It needs to be released to the Congress and it needs to be released to the American people. This has consumed two years of the American people’s time, and we need full transparency.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by NBC News, calling for the full Mueller report to be released.

Joe Biden Leads Democratic Field

March 24, 2019 at 10:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Fox News poll finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential primary field with 31%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders at 23%, Sen. Kamala Harris at 8%, Beto O’Rourke at 8%, Sen. Cory Booker at 4% and Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 4%.

Pete Buttigieg Is the Anti-Trump

March 24, 2019 at 8:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NBC News: “While Trump obtained deferments to avoid Vietnam, Buttigieg signed up for military service when his generation went to war in Afghanistan. He comes from a small Midwestern city rather than the Big Apple. And perhaps most important to primary voters and some Republicans, his politics are informed by a deep grasp of history, philosophy and ethics that are at odds with Trump’s rejection of expertise.”

“That helps explain why, for a growing group of Democrats — from the elite salons of New York, Washington and blue-checkmark Twitter to the small-dollar cash mines of the 50 states — Buttigieg is fast becoming the diamond in a presidential primary rough full of better-known and better-funded rivals.”

Trump Begins Rust Belt Defense

March 24, 2019 at 8:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump is mounting a defense of Rust Belt states that delivered his 2016 victory and will serve as the key to his reelection bid next year,” The Hill reports.

“The president will travel to Michigan next Thursday to stage his first campaign rally since a number of top Democratic contenders jumped into the presidential race, part of what is expected to be an effort to visit battleground states in the months before the general election campaign begins.”

Beto O’Rourke Is a Generation X Cliche

March 24, 2019 at 8:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Spiers: “O’Rourke was a skater (sort of); he was in a punk band called Foss; he was, we learned recently, part of a hacker collective called the Cult of the Dead Cow, where he ran a bulletin board called TacoLand. You know this type: Home decor dominated by vinyl. Wore eyeliner every day for three months in the mid-’90s. Still talks about that Joseph Campbell book that really made him think. I’ve never met O’Rourke, but I wouldn’t be surprised to read next that he once considered naming a pet or a child after Stephen Malkmus, the frontman for Pavement.”

“I don’t object to this, personally. I’m a Gen Xer, too — born in December 1976 — and I’ve been imprinted with many of the standard Xer cultural markers. I know that Powell Peralta is not a law firm; that in global thermonuclear war, the only winning move is not to play; that selling out is a moral failure and not a desirable state in which customers have purchased all your inventory. I think Fugazi is a reasonable name for a cat, and if I’m being ruthless in my self-interrogation, I have to admit that high school freshman me would have probably had a crush on high school senior Beto.”

“But O’Rourke so completely — and hilariously — embodies the stereotype of a white male Xer that if someone wrote him into a dystopian fantasy about a youthful 40-something ex-punk-rocker dropped into politics (reluctantly and with some conflictedness, of course) to save America from a selfish boomer narcissist who failed upward into the presidency despite a history of corruption and incompetency, the character would be way too on the nose.”

Why So Many Democrats Are Running for President

March 24, 2019 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Nather: “The candidates of the crowded fields in the last few presidential elections — even the also-rans — almost always came out ahead or, at worst, ended up in the same place.”

“Unless they have skeletons in their closet that could be exposed, there’s really no reason for yet another longshot candidate not to give it a chance.”

A Case for the Electoral College

March 24, 2019 at 7:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ross Douthat: “Is there a case for a system that sometimes produces undemocratic outcomes? I think so, on two grounds. First, it creates incentives for political parties and candidates to seek supermajorities rather than just playing for 50.1 percent, because the latter play is a losing one more often than in a popular-vote presidential system.”

“Second, it creates incentives for political parties to try to break regional blocs controlled by the opposition, rather than just maximizing turnout in their own areas, because you win the presidency consistently only as a party of multiple regions and you can crack a rival party’s narrow majority by flipping a few states.”

“According to this — admittedly contrarian — theory, the fact that the Electoral College produces chaotic or undemocratic outcomes in moments of ideological or regional polarization is actually a helpful thing, insofar as it drives politicians and political hacks (by nature not the most creative types) to think bigger than regional blocs and 51 percent majorities.”

U.K. Official Floats Idea of Second Brexit Referendum

March 24, 2019 at 7:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond told Sky News that a second Brexit referendum “deserves to be considered,” a day after more than one million people marched through London calling for another vote.

Said Hammond: “I’m not sure there’s a majority in parliament in support for a second referendum, but it’s a perfectly coherent proposition. It’s a coherent proposition and it deserves to be considered.”

The Independent reports Hammond became the first Cabinet minister to agree that supporters of a second referendum have a case.

Theresa May Urged to Quit to Help Brexit Deal

March 24, 2019 at 7:26 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senior Conservatives tell the BBC that Theresa May could gain support for her Brexit deal if she promises to stand down as prime minister.

“MPs in the party have said they might reluctantly back the agreement if they know she will not be in charge of the next stage of negotiations with the EU.”

“Newspapers claim cabinet ministers are plotting a coup against the prime minister, aiming to replace her with a caretaker leader until a proper leadership contest is held later in the year.”

Gillibrand to Kick Off Bid In Front of Trump Hotel

March 24, 2019 at 6:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “will deliver a fiery first speech as an official presidential candidate in New York City on Sunday, calling President Trump a ‘coward’ at the doorstep of one of his most famous properties,” Reuters reports.

“The location in front of Trump International Hotel – which she plans to call a ‘shrine to greed, division and vanity,’ according to excerpts from her prepared remarks – is intended to show voters that Gillibrand will attack Trump directly, in contrast to some Democratic rivals who have hesitated to focus on the Republican president early in the 2020 campaign.”

Gillibrand Will Say: “President Trump is tearing apart the moral fabric of our country. He demonizes the vulnerable and he punches down… Our President is a coward.”

Graham Delivers Praise At Mar-a-Lago Dinner

March 24, 2019 at 6:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) “delivered a rousing speech behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, joking about the prospect of President Donald Trump opening a hotel in Jerusalem and asking the crowd whether they’d like to see former Rep. Trey Gowdy on the Supreme Court,” Politico reports.

“With Trump looking on, Graham lavished the president with praise, ticking off a list of his accomplishments, including the booming economy, the elimination of Islamic State strongholds in Syria and Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.”