Bloomberg : “Satellite-imagery analysis and leaked American intelligence suggest North Korea has churned out rockets and warheads as quickly as ever in the year since Kim halted weapons tests, a move that led to his June summit with Trump. The regime probably added several intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear proliferation analysts say, with one arms control group estimating that Kim gained enough fissile material for about six more nuclear bombs, bringing North Korea’s total to more than 20.”
Paul Goes to Canada for Surgery
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), “one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
“Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky’s junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung.”
Trump Mocks Biden as ‘Weak’ Candidate
Washington Post: “He mocked Biden’s two unsuccessful attempts for the White House and said former president Barack Obama ‘took him off the trash heap’ when he tapped Biden to be his vice president.”
Said Trump: “He’s weak. So we’ll see what happens with him… Whoever it is, I think we’re going to do just fine.”
Some Are Pushing Britain to Leave Europe Without Deal
Washington Post: “Parliament is scheduled for a historic vote Tuesday evening on Prime Minister Theresa May’s unloved, half-in, half-out compromise exit plan.”
“Without May’s two, maybe three years of negotiated transition, Britain would immediately be treated by the E.U. as a ‘third country,’ subject to potentially onerous immigration controls, trade tariffs and border inspections. … In the placid farming and market town of Boston, which holds the prize as the most Brexit-loving city in Britain, the campaigners to leave say they are ready to roll the dice with no deal.”
Barr Will Say Mueller Will Be Allowed to Finish
President Trump’s nominee for attorney general will tell senators at his confirmation hearing “it is vitally important” that special counsel Robert Mueller be allowed to complete his Russia investigation, the AP reports.
Barr will say: “I believe it is in the best interest of everyone — the President, Congress, and, most importantly, the American people – that this matter be resolved by allowing the Special Counsel to complete his work.”
According to CNN, Barr will also say that Congress and the public should be “be informed of the results of the special counsel’s work.”
Trump Suggests He Won’t Declare National Emergency
President Trump appeared to rule out declaring a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying he “shouldn’t have to” do so to end a partial government that is now in its 24th day, Politico reports.
Said Trump” “Now I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I’m not looking to do that.”
For members: GOP Resistance to ‘Emergency’ Is Danger Sign for Trump
Mueller Report Said to Be ‘Anti-Climactic’
Sources tell ABC News that special counsel Robert Mueller’s anticipated report on the Russia investigation is “almost certain to be anti-climactic.”
Said White House correspondent Jonathan Karl: “There have been expectations that have been building, of course, for over a year. But people who are closest to what Mueller has been doing, interacting with the special counsel caution me that this report is almost certain to be anti-climactic.”
Freshmen Democrats Appear More Likely to Compromise
Wall Street Journal: “Many new Democratic lawmakers who beat Republicans in the 2018 midterm want their leadership to be more aggressive in at least trying to strike a compromise. Many of them will be among the most vulnerable in the 2020 elections, as Republicans fight to win their majority back. Their new offices, some still crowded with boxes and not yet fully staffed, have been flooded with phone calls from angry federal employees and others affected by the shutdown, asking when it will end. While few support the border wall, some are concerned the tone of the negotiations hasn’t conveyed their willingness to reach an agreement to tighten border security.”
Kasich Warns Republicans Are ‘Stuck in the 1950s’
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) warned in a USA Today op-ed that the GOP “seems stuck in the 1950s.”
Kasich writes that Republicans are “threatened by the new diversity of voices that have joined the public chorus, by the long-ignored problems that a new generation wants to solve, by an unsettled world that no longer follows America’s lead.”
He added: “But they’ve learned absolutely nothing from their skunking in the midterm elections. They didn’t watch, or chose to ignore, the new Congress being sworn in the other day. It was a more energetic, diverse and self-assured group than those chambers have seen before.”
Quote of the Day
“I never worked for Russia.”
— President Trump, quoted by The Hill, in his most direct response yet to a bombshell report that the FBI began investigating whether the president was working on behalf Moscow.
GOP Worried Shutdown Is Now Hurting Party
“In a sign that Republicans are increasingly concerned that the standoff over President Trump’s long-promised border wall is hurting their party politically, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) suggested temporarily reopening the government while continuing negotiations,” the Washington Post reports.
“If talks don’t bear fruit, Graham said Sunday, the president could consider following through on his threat to bypass Congress and build the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border by declaring a national emergency. … The maneuvering by a key Trump ally highlights the difficult balancing act Senate Republicans will probably face over the next two years, trapped between a mercurial GOP president and an emboldened new House Democratic majority.
2020 Democratic Primary Set to Intensify
“After months of speculation and secrecy, the 2020 presidential primary season is about to explode,” the AP reports.
“With several Democrats already in the race, a half dozen more are locking down final travel, staffing and strategy to launch White House bids in the coming weeks. While plans may change, the announcements are expected to come in waves, the first featuring a group of ambitious Senate Democrats including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who face pressure to join the race after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s entrance two weeks ago.”
“The second wave will likely feature political heavyweights like former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, whose advisers believe they have sufficient financial backing and name recognition to join the crowded field on their terms later in the first quarter should they decide to run.”
Democrats May Subpoena Translator
“Only one American was a firsthand witness to President Trump’s summit last summer with Russian President Vladimir Putin: veteran State Department translator Marina Gross,” ABC News reports.
“Gross’ job is to blend into the background and seamlessly help two leaders communicate. But now there is mounting interest in seeing Gross step into the spotlight, as Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees seek an explanation for what exactly transpired behind closed doors in Helsinki.”
Said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ): “It may be unprecedented to subpoena a translator to reveal the details of a private meeting between the president and another world leader. But Trump’s actions are unprecedented in a way that harms our national security.”
GOP Resistance to ‘Emergency’ Is Danger Sign for Trump
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Trump Has No Exit on Government Shutdown
President Trump “has exhibited more determination than calculation” and “offered no path to victory — other than brinkmanship,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s advisers are scrambling to build an exit ramp while also bracing for the shutdown to last weeks longer. Current and former aides said there is little strategy in the White House; people are frustrated and, in the words of one, ‘freaking. out.'”
Sanders Staffs Up for Another White House Bid
Politico: “Means of Production, the filmmaking cooperative that created the viral campaign video that propelled Ocasio-Cortez’s House campaign, is in talks with the Sanders team about a major role in 2020.”
“And two people who powered Sanders’ record-breaking small-dollar fundraising operation in 2016 have agreed to join a subsequent presidential bid if it materializes, according to a Sanders campaign aide: Tim Tagaris and Robin Curran, his digital fundraising director and digital production director in 2016, respectively.”
Gabbard Once Touted Gay Conversion Therapy
“Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in the early 2000s touted working for her father’s anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy,” CNN reports.
“Her past views and activism in opposition to LGBT rights in the late 90s and early 2000s, which put her out of step with most of the Democratic Party at the time, have come under more intense scrutiny since her announcement.”
Scaramucci Tries Reality TV
Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived White House communications director, is among the cast on the next season of “Celebrity Big Brother,” CBS announced.
