“The Democratic chairman of the state elections board in North Carolina resigned Saturday, saying he did not want his partisan views to undermine a widening investigation into alleged election fraud in the 9th Congressional District race,” the Washington Post reports.
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Bush’s Death Highlights Trump’s Isolation
Politico: “President George H.W. Bush was a war hero, an internationalist who played a consequential role in maintaining the post-war world order. In domestic politics, he is remembered as a pillar of the Republican establishment, a pragmatist who pined for a ‘kinder, gentler nation.'”
“President Donald J. Trump represents a starkly different strain of Republicanism, and a rejection of nearly all of Bush’s values. And as Trump played global statesman at the G-20 summit here against the backdrop of a former president’s passing, many world leaders clearly missed the predictability of the Bush years and the America he represented.”
Trump Cancels Press Conference
President Trump cancelled his press conference scheduled at the G20 summit this afternoon, “out of respect for the Bush family and former President George H.W. Bush.”
Trump Had ‘Informal’ Talk with Putin
After avoiding Vladimir Putin for most of the day at the G-20 summit of global leaders, Trump had an “informal” conversation with the Russian president, USA Today reports.
“Trump drew fire for a similar encounter over dinner at the G-20 summit in Hamburg last year when the White House disclosed days later that the two presidents met without any U.S. aides present.”
Warning Signs for Elizabeth Warren
Harry Enten: “The Massachusetts secretary of state certified the state’s US Senate election results this week and found that Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren defeated Republican Geoff Diehl by 24 points.”
“Warren’s margin may sound impressive, until you realize Hillary Clinton won Massachusetts by 27 points in 2016. Clinton won by 3 more points than Warren, despite 2018 being a better year for Democrats nationally and Warren having the advantage of incumbency.”
“Warren’s performance in 2018 was one of the weakest for a Democratic Senate candidate.”
A Culture of Lying Surrounds Trump
New York Times: “If the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has proved anything in his 18-month-long investigation — besides how intensely Russia meddled in an American presidential election — it is that Mr. Trump surrounded himself throughout 2016 and early 2017 with people to whom lying seemed to be second nature.”
“They lied to federal authorities even when they had lawyers advising them, even when the risk of getting caught was high and even when the consequences for them were dire.”
“Even more Trump associates are under investigation for the same offense. They are part of a group of people surrounding Mr. Trump — including some White House and cabinet officials — who contribute to a culture of bending, if not outright breaking, the truth, and whose leading exemplar is Mr. Trump himself.”
Remembering George H.W. Bush
If you want to know more about our 41st president, you should read What it Takes: The Way of the White House by Richard Ben Cramer.
It’s a story of the 1988 presidential campaign and also one of the best political books ever written.
Trump Will Attend Bush’s Funeral
President Trump plans to attend the Washington funeral of former president George H.W. Bush and is designating next Wednesday a national day of mourning, the Washington Post reports.
“He is planning to speak by phone on Saturday morning with the late president’s son, former president George W. Bush, to offer his condolences on behalf of himself, first lady Melania Trump and the nation.”
Cohen Seeks ‘Time Served’ Prison Sentence
“Lawyers for former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen argued Friday that their client should not go to prison for the criminal charges to which he has pleaded guilty, and unequivocally linked much of his wrongdoing to his desire to protect and support President Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a late-night court filing, lawyers for the onetime Trump loyalist wrote that their client was a changed man who was eager to share his knowledge with law enforcement and mindful that he would have to ‘begin his life virtually anew.’ Their filing detailed what they said was Cohen’s already extensive cooperation, including seven voluntary interviews with the team of special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as meetings with federal prosecutors in New York, representatives of the New York State Attorney General’s office and officials with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which are conducting wide ranging probes into Trump’s campaign and his family foundation.”
“According to Cohen’s sentencing submission, federal sentencing guidelines in just the first case call for him to spend as many as five years and three months in jail.”
The Significance of Michael Cohen’s Plea Deal
Lawfare: “Before we dive into the weeds, let’s pause a moment over this. Because in important respects, the legalities—or illegalities—at issue here are secondary points. The primary point is that this is all utterly unacceptable. That a large swath of the public, and the legislative branch, has chosen to accept it does not make it more reasonable that a man seeking to be president of the United States would at the same time publicly cozy up to a foreign dictator and negotiate with his regime over a potential business opportunity—and then cover it all up. The story is likely to get worse.”
California Republicans Didn’t See It Coming
Politico: “It was one of several nasty midterm shocks for California Republicans: Internal polling described to Politico showed Knight and Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters — all of whom lost — narrowly leading their Democratic opponents at the end of the campaign. Not only did the GOP get crushed in California, the party also got taken by surprise by the intensity of the backlash in the nation’s largest state, where Republicans projected confidence nearly all year before watching Democrats flip a whopping six House districts — and possibly a seventh.”
“The nightmare results were the end result of a toxic brew of overconfidence and presidential unpopularity, as some Republicans failed to recognize and reckon with the unprecedented negative reaction to President Trump in districts from Orange County to California’s agriculture-heavy Central Valley.”
Trump Praises Bush Despite History of Animosity
President Trump, who had a hostile relationship with the last Republican family to occupy the White House, offered nothing but praise for former President George Bush just hours after the 41st commander in chief died at age 94, the New York Times reports.
Said Trump on Twitter: “President George H.W. Bush led a long, successful and beautiful life. Whenever I was with him I saw his absolute joy for life and true pride in his family. His accomplishments were great from beginning to end. He was a truly wonderful man and will be missed by all!”
Trump Will Hold Press Conference Today
The White House announced that President Trump will hold a press conference toward the end of his G20 summit visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s scheduled for 1:45 p.m. ET.
Brian Stelter: “Trump’s most recent outside-the-US presser was in Helsinki. Hard to forget that one. His most recent presser at the White House was on November 7, one day after the midterms… His exchange there with CNN’s Jim Acosta led to a ban, a lawsuit, and a list of press conference ‘rules’ that no one in the press corps agreed to follow. So tune in on Saturday afternoon.”
Much at Stake When Xi and Trump Meet
“When President Trump sits down with President Xi Jinping for dinner here on Saturday, their meeting will be about more than salvaging a cordial personal relationship or trying to contain a trade dispute between the United States and China,” the New York Times reports.
“It could foretell whether these two giants — one an established but anxious superpower, the other an ambitious, impatient rising power — are destined to enter a new era of Cold War-like confrontation.”
“Remarkably, given the stakes involved, the two sides plan no other formal meetings during this gathering of the Group of 20 industrialized nations that begins on Friday. Nor do they appear to have much of an agenda, beyond the trade grievances that Mr. Trump has complained about for months.”
Cohen Claims White House Influenced False Statement
Michael Cohen said he was in “close and regular contact” with Trump’s White House staff and legal team when he prepared a statement for Congress that he now says falsely downplayed Trump’s effort to land a Trump Tower Moscow deal during the 2016 presidential campaign, Politico reports.
In a filing seeking a lenient sentence, Cohen’s attorneys say his false statement to Congress — which Cohen pleaded guilty to on Thursday — was based on Trump and his team’s efforts to “portray contact with Russian representatives” by Trump, his campaign or his company “as having effectively terminated before the Iowa caucuses of February 1, 2016.”
Quote of the Day
“Many of my memories are linked to him. We happened to work together in years of great changes. It was a dramatic time demanding huge responsibility from everyone. The result was the end of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. I pay tribute to George Bush’s contribution toward this historic achievement. He was a genuine partner.”
— Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, quoted by Reuters.
George H.W. Bush Is Dead
“George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States and the father of the 43rd, was a steadfast force on the international stage for decades, from his stint as an envoy to Beijing to his eight years as vice president and his one term as commander in chief from 1989 to 1993,” the Washington Post reports.
“The last veteran of World War II to serve as president, he was a consummate public servant and a statesman who helped guide the nation and the world out of a four-decade Cold War that had carried the threat of nuclear annihilation.”
“His death, at 94 on Nov. 30, also marked the passing of an era.”
New York Times: “Mr. Bush was a skilled bureaucratic and diplomatic player who, as president, helped end four decades of Cold War and the threat of nuclear engagement with a nuanced handling of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Eastern Europe.”
“Yet for all his success in the international arena, his presidency faltered as voters seemed to perceive him as detached from their everyday lives.”
Cohen Was Told Trump Would Pardon Him
Michael Cohen “was under the impression Trump would offer him a pardon in exchange for staying on message in support of the President in discussions with federal prosecutors,” CNN reports.
“After a March 2018 visit to Mar-a-Lago, the President’s private club in Florida, Cohen returned to New York believing that his former boss would protect him if he faced any charges for sticking to his story about the 2016 payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels… Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago at the time of Cohen’s visit.”
“Another source said that after the April 2018 FBI raid on Cohen’s office and home, people close to the President assured Cohen that Trump would take care of him. And Cohen believed that meant that the President would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message. It is unclear who specifically reached out to Cohen.”
