Iraqi President Barham Salih said that President Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for U.S. troops stationed there to “watch Iran,” as he told CBS News in an interview over the weekend, Reuters reports.
“U.S. troops in Iraq are there as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of combating terrorism, Salih said, and that they should stick to that.”
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll “shows anti-Trump and Democratic voters are more open to supporting third-party candidates than Republicans — evidence supporting the prominent Democrats who spent the last week warning that a credible, well-funded independent could improve President Trump’s chances of reelection.”
“While only 26% of voters who approve of Trump’s job performance as president are very or somewhat likely to consider a third-party candidate, a larger percentage of Trump disapprovers, 41%, would consider voting for an independent. By party, nearly a third of Democrats, 31%, say they would consider a third-party candidate — greater than the 25% of Republicans who would consider voting for someone other than the two major-party nominees.”
Wall Street Journal: “Chris Christie, a friend and confidant of President Trump, gave him a no-nonsense piece of advice early in his White House term: Don’t tweet about the Russia investigation. Doing so would only prolong a high-stakes probe that Mr. Trump believes is both unfair and an unwanted drag on his presidency because prosecutors would scrutinize each tweet, Mr. Christie warned. Mr. Trump would hear him out and they would argue about it from time to time, Mr. Christie said in an interview, but in the end the president didn’t listen.”
Said Christie: “He knows full well I think it’s a bad idea. I told him back in February of 2017 there is no way to make this investigation shorter, but there are lots of ways to make it longer… Every time he said something new or different, the prosecutors have to chase it down. It makes the investigation go on longer.’ ‘It’s obvious from what’s gone on for almost the last two years now that he’s not followed the advice.”
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Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Trump in private conversations has voiced satisfaction with the arrangement, saying interim leaders are more beholden to the Oval Office.”
Wall Street Journal: “The website that broke the story of the racist yearbook photo that is imperiling the governorship of Virginia Democrat Ralph Northam is a scrappy, pro-Trump outfit backed by Republican operatives, part of a growing wave of low-cost, ideologically driven news publishers.”
“On Friday, Big League Politics was the first to post the image of Gov. Northam’s medical school yearbook page showing a photo of a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume… The site—whose name is a nod to President Trump’s favorite campaign trail adverb, often misinterpreted as ‘bigly’—was founded in early 2017 by journalist Patrick Howley, a veteran of conservative news sites including Breitbart and the Daily Caller.”
“Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called an unscheduled senior staff meeting Sunday night just before the start of the Super Bowl, as the governor considered resigning after two days of defiance amid a controversy over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook,” the Washington Post reports.
“People familiar with the meeting said the governor had not reached a decision. It was unclear who was present, but the group included senior staffers of color. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), who would become governor if Northam resigned.”
“Calling the Sunday night meeting was a clear signal of Northam’s effort to weigh support within the administration as he evaluates his options. Although he pledged on Saturday to stand his ground, he also said he would reconsider if he thought he could no longer be effective. Just a day later, resignation is an active consideration.”
“Surveys are showing overwhelming support for raising taxes on top earners, including a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Monday that found 76 percent of registered voters believe the wealthiest Americans should pay more in taxes.”
“A recent Fox News survey showed that 70 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on those earning over $10 million — including 54 percent of Republicans.”
A new CNN poll finds almost 7 in 10 say the federal government is doing a bad job of governing, including 43% who say it’s the worst job of governing in their lifetimes.
“That’s about double the share who said the same in early 1996 (21%) following a government shutdown that was the longest on record until last month. Just 19% say the federal government is doing a good job.”
Washington Post: ““It’s been more than a year since senior Palestinian officials have agreed to meet or even speak with representatives of the Trump administration, but now President Trump’s special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, appears to have adopted a new diplomatic channel: Twitter.”
“During the past few weeks, Greenblatt has been tweeting his thoughts, requests and criticisms to those Palestinian leaders who are active on the popular social media platform.”
Notes Greenblatt: “And who says the U.S. and the P.A. aren’t talking? The only difference now is that we are speaking about these matters in public via twitter so the public can understand everyone’s positions. Transparency is better for all.”
A White House source leaked President Trump’s private schedules since the midterm elections to Axios, showing that Trump has spent around 60% of the last three months in “Executive Time.”
Jonathan Swan: “Trump, an early riser, usually spends the first 5 hours of the day in Executive Time. Each day’s schedule places Trump in ‘Location: Oval Office’ from 8 to 11 a.m. But Trump, who often wakes before 6 a.m., is never in the Oval during those hours, according to six sources with direct knowledge.”
“Instead, he spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the papers, and responding to what he sees and reads by phoning aides, members of Congress, friends, administration officials and informal advisers.”
President Trump declined to say whether he wants the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation made public, the Washington Post reports.
“Totally up to the attorney general. That’s up to the attorney general. I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say.”
“This country hasn’t dealt well with issues of race. We have a president who’s a racist.”
— Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), in an interview with NBC News.
“President Trump has dismissed the prospect of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leaving his post to run for a Senate seat, even as Pompeo has signaled that he is open to the possibility,” the Washington Post reports.
Trump said Pompeo told him he was not leaving his current position and voiced confidence that he would not bolt to pursue a Senate seat in Kansas: “I asked him the question the other day. He says he’s absolutely not leaving. I don’t think he’d do that. And he doesn’t want to be lame duck.”
In a phone call with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last month, Pompeo “had not shut the door on the possibility of a run.”
“The rapidly growing 2020 presidential field is shaping up to be a Wild West of Democratic primaries — with the actual West emerging as a decisive battleground,” the Boston Globe reports.
“The delegate-rich state of California has vaulted itself near the front of the primary calendar, which means candidates seeking to break away from the pack will be looking to build early support on the left coast. The action has already begun in Nevada, the third state to vote, which also hosted a parade of potential candidates during the midterms.”
“The West has a younger, more diverse population than the traditional early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and they are expected to tilt the Democratic debate toward issues such as immigration and climate policy.”
A new CBS News poll finds Americans overwhelmingly opposed to President Trump’s suggestion that he would declare a national emergency in order to bypass Congress and build a border wall, 66% to 34%.
“If government funding runs out on Feb. 15 and there’s still an impasse over wall funding, Americans don’t want either side to force another shutdown. Seventy-three percent of Americans want Mr. Trump to continue negotiating while keeping the government open, rather than demand wall funding if that forces a shutdown.”
Fformer Virginia Gov Terry McAuliffe (D) told CNN that he would like to run for president in 2020 and plans on making a decision by March 31.
“Facing clear political peril, President Trump will deliver his second State of the Union address at a moment when his bully pulpit is uncertain and his negotiating skills in question after a monthlong government shutdown that exposed fractures in his party and sent his poll numbers tumbling,” the AP reports.
“Trump hopes to use his Tuesday speech to reset his agenda and begin to gear up for his 2020 re-election campaign. But even as the president promises a theme of unity, his performance is likely to draw cheers from one side of the deeply divided Congress and stony silence from the other.”
President Trump accused Ed Gillespie (R) of political “malpractice” and “dereliction of duty” for not uncovering the racist yearbook photo of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) during their gubernatorial campaign in 2017.
Said Trump: “If they find that terrible picture before the election, he wins by 20 points!”
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.
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