Playbook: “People in the White House ranging from President Trump to Vice President Pence have made clear they want to negotiate with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the wall. She has said no. She doesn’t believe the U.S. needs the wall, as described by the president, and has now kept that position for three weeks. They keep asking when she’ll put an offer on the table, but why would she? She doesn’t want what the president wants.”
The Backstory Into the FBI Investigation of Trump
Benjamin Wittes writes that the New York Times had been working on their bombshell story about the FBI investigating President Trump for weeks.
“Observers of the Russia investigation have generally understood Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s work as focusing on at least two separate tracks: collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, on the one hand, and potential obstruction of justice by the president, on the other. But what if the obstruction was the collusion—or at least a part of it?”
Trump Rants About Report He Was Working for Russians
President Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade in a response to a bombshell story that said the FBI opened an investigation into whether Trump was secretly working for the Russians.
Said Trump: “Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze!”
And more: “The FBI was in complete turmoil (see N.Y. Post) because of Comey’s poor leadership and the way he handled the Clinton mess (not to mention his usurpation of powers from the Justice Department). My firing of James Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop.”
Shutdown Proves Trump Is a Terrible Dealmaker
Timothy O’Brien: “Trump, in reality, was never a peerless or even a particularly skillful dealmaker, and many of the most significant business transactions he engineered imploded. Instead, he made his way in the world as an indefatigable self-promoter, a marketing confection and a human billboard who frequently licensed his name to buildings and products paid for by others.”
“In Trump’s professional life, his inept dealmaking often came home to roost in unmanageable debts and serial bankruptcies. In his more recent political and presidential life it has revealed itself through bungled, hapless efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act; forge a nuclear agreement with North Korea; wage trade wars with China, Mexico and Canada; retain control of the House of Representatives; turn military and diplomatic strategy on its head; lay siege to sensible immigration policy; and, now, force a government shutdown to secure funding for a prized project — a wall along the U.S.’s southern border.”
Trump Criticized as ‘Disturbed’ Man Who ‘No One Trusts’
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman slammed Donald Trump in a CNN interview, calling him a “disturbed” president who lies so often that “no one trusts this man.”
Said Friedman: “If we face a crisis with a president who no one believes who’s surrounded by a C-team in a dysfunctional White House, then God save us.”
He added that the “core problem” is that “we have a president without shame who is backed by a party without spine that is supported by a network called Fox News without integrity. Fasten your seatbelt.”
Quote of the Day
“We’ve really never had ― and if we have, it’s classified and lost to history at least so far ― a president of the United States who is considered to be possibly an asset of a foreign government. This is what the founders were worried about in the 1790s.”
— Historian Jon Meacham, quoted by the HuffPost, commenting on last night’s bombshell report revealing the FBI had investigated whether President Trump was working as a Russian agent.
White House Planning for Long Shutdown
“The U.S. government shutdown over President Trump’s demand for border wall funding became the longest in the modern era as it stretched into its 22nd day Saturday with no end in sight,” Bloomberg reports.
“Negotiations are at a standstill and no more talks are scheduled for the weekend or early next week. The White House scuttled efforts to reach a deal on Capitol Hill on Thursday, and Trump’s budget team is drawing up contingency plans for a shutdown that extends through the end of February.”
Axios: “This could go on for a long time. Early in the 1995 shutdown, Clinton and Republican leaders were already talking about a deal to end their budget battles. But Trump isn’t talking to Democrats anymore.”
Castro Will Announce Run for President
“Texas Democrat Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor who went on to be the top U.S. housing official, was expected to formally announce his White House bid on Saturday, the first Hispanic in what looks to be a crowded field of candidates vying to challenge President Trump in the November 2020 election,” Reuters reports.
Democrats Prepare for Possible Lawsuit Over Wall
“House Democrats are aggressively exploring a possible legal challenge should President Trump declare a national emergency to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall, scouring federal law and court precedents — including a recent attempt by a Republican-controlled House to undermine the Obama-era health-care law,” the Washington Post reports.
“The preparation comes as leaders of both parties become increasingly convinced that Trump will see a national-emergency declaration as the only possible way to secure the billions of taxpayer dollars he is seeking to build the wall and end the three-week partial government shutdown, which has become the longest in U.S. history.”
FBI Probed Whether Trump Was Working for Russia
“In the days after President Trump fired James Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests,” the New York Times reports.
“The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.”
“The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.”
Gabbard Will Run for President
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) announced on CNN that she will seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
Said Gabbard: “I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week.”
She added: “There is one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace. I look forward to being able to get into this and to talk about it in depth when we make our announcement.”
Trump Says You Can Call His Wall ‘Peaches’ If You Want
“Despite previously unfruitful negotiations during the last round of shutdown talks, President Trump says he’s ripe to reopen the government — urging party leaders to return to Washington and vote for a wall, or barrier, or whatever they wish to call it — even ‘peaches,'” CNN reports
Said Trump: “This is where I ask the Democrats to come back to Washington and to vote for money for the wall, the barrier, whatever you want to call it, it’s OK with me.”
He added: “They can name it whatever. They can name it ‘peaches.’ I don’t care what they name it. But we need money for that barrier.”
Trump Aide Says Federal Workers Got a ‘Free Vacation’
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the PBS Newshour that federal workers furloughed because of the government shutdown might be “better off” after they return to work because they are getting a free vacation.
Said Hassett: “When the shutdown ends, they go back to work and they get their back pay. A huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say, between Christmas and New Year’s. And then we have a shutdown, and so they can’t go to work, and so then they have the vacation, but they don’t have to use their vacation days. And then they come back, and then they get their back pay. Then they’re — in some sense, they’re better off.”
Trump Will Not Declare ‘National Emergency’ Now
President Trump “threw cold water on the idea of immediately declaring a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, reversing days of signals that he might soon declare the emergency amid a protracted standoff with Democrats over a partial shutdown of the federal government,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “What we’re not looking to do right now is national emergency. I’m not going to do it so fast.”
“The president has defiantly said for days he might declare a national emergency to expedite construction of the wall — and his administration has asked agencies to begin preparations. But he has gotten sharp pushback, even from Republicans, at the notion of declaring such an emergency. His lawyers have privately warned that he could be on shaky footing with such a move.”
O’Rourke Will Do Oprah Winfrey Interview
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) will head to New York next month for a live interview with Oprah Winfrey as he continues to mull a 2020 presidential run, NBC News reports.
Bloomberg Says He’d Self-Fund His Presidential Campaign
Michael Bloomberg says that if he runs for president, he’ll pay for it himself, the AP reports.
Said Bloomberg: “I ran three times. I used only my own money so I didn’t have to ask anybody what they wanted in return for a contribution. And, if I ran again, I would do the same thing. I think not having to adjust what you say and what you work on based on who financed your campaign is one of the things that the public really likes.”
He added: “I understand not everybody can be self-funded but those that can, I think, should.”
Congress Leaves Town as Shutdown Continues
Politico: “With no headway made over funding President Trump’s border wall, Republican and Democratic leaders have begun to take seriously the president’s threat to declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and secure billions of dollars for a border barrier. No bipartisan talks are scheduled, and the president and Democratic leaders have not budged an inch from their position in three weeks.”
“Trump’s executive action, which could be announced as early as Friday, would set off a scramble of legal action by House Democrats. Republicans are divided over whether to restrain the president: Some believe it would claw away power from Congress, but others think it will be an elegant way out of the shutdown.”
Playbook: “Congress will need an action-forcing event to get the government open. There are zero negotiations going on at the moment.”
Abrams Mulls Senate Bid In Georgia
Stacey Abrams (D) met with leading Senate Democrats in Washington this week to discuss a potential 2020 challenge to Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) as she weighs her next step, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
She met separately on Thursday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV), who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Abrams told WABE earlier this week that she would make a decision on her next steps by the end of March, mentioning both a potential Senate campaign or a rematch against GOP Gov.-elect Brian Kemp (R) in 2022.
