Bill Fawell (R), the GOP nominee challenging Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), has said the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job and that Beyonce has ties to the Illuminati, CNN reports.
CBO’s Deficit Forecast Dwarfs White House Estimate
“The Congressional Budget Office estimates the government will take in $1.9 trillion less in revenue and spend $300 billion more over the next decade than the White House estimated under its latest budget proposal if the plan were enacted,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Deficits would total $9.5 trillion over the coming decade, or $2.3 trillion more than the White House estimates.”
Trump Says North Korea Summit Could be Back On
“President Trump had canceled the June 12 summit in Singapore on Thursday but now says it is possible that a meeting could take place as originally planned,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “We’ll see what happens. We are talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it. It could even be the 12th.”
Here’s What’s Going On with the Tightening Generic Ballot
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Roger Stone Asked for Assange to Release Clinton Emails
“In a Sept. 18, 2016, message, Stone urged an acquaintance who knew Mr. Assange to ask the WikiLeaks founder for emails related to Mrs. Clinton’s alleged role in disrupting a purported Libyan peace deal in 2011 when she was secretary of state, referring to her by her initials,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Wrote Stone: “Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30 — particularly on August 20, 2011.”
The acquaintance responded: “That batch probably coming out in the next drop … I can’t ask them favors every other day. I asked one of his lawyers … they have major legal headaches right now … relax.”
Trump’s Assault on Intelligence
General Michael Hayden, former CIA director and author of The Assault on Intelligence, joins Chris Riback for a conversation on U.S. national security in an age of lies. It’s a great, though unsettling, conversation.
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Thanks to the Cook Political Report for sponsoring this episode.
McConnell Says He Still Supports Mueller Investigation
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told NPR that he continues to support the Mueller Russia investigation — and that nothing in Thursday’s hotly anticipated secret briefing on the Russia probe to congressional leaders changed his mind.
Said McConnell: “The two investigations going on that I think will give us the answers to the questions that you raise — the [inspector general] investigation in the Justice Department and the Mueller investigation. I support both of them, and I don’t really have anything to add to this subject based upon the Gang of Eight briefing that we had today, which was classified.”
Trump Vents Anger at Homeland Security Secretary
Washington Post: “The president has chastised her on several occasions this spring, including a much-publicized meeting earlier this month when he attacked her in front of the entire Cabinet. He has grown furious because his administration has made little progress building the border wall, and his most ardent supporters have blamed Nielsen for not doing more to halt the caravan of Central American migrants whose advance Trump saw as a personal challenge.”
“He has also seen her as a proxy for Kelly, whose relationship with the president has frayed in recent months. Trump has decided, according to several aides, that Nielsen is a George W. Bush kind of Republican, the worst in his view.”
“Tensions between the two could soon flare again — the Border Patrol’s May arrest numbers are due to be released early next month, and immigration hawks, including the president, now treat them as a kind of barometer for Nielsen’s performance.”
Trump Ran 4,400 Facebook Ads Over Last Two Weeks
President Trump’s campaign team has run more than 4,400 ads on the president’s personal Facebook page since May 7, CNN reports.
The page has more than 24 million followers.
The data was obtained through Facebook’s new ad tracking tool, which allows users to see political ads run on the platform in the United States.
It’s Paralysis Either Way After the Midterms
Charlie Cook: “The point of this exercise is to show that the House is likely to be very close no matter what, with neither party likely to have more than the 55 percent of seats the GOP has today, and we’ve seen how difficult it is for the majority to get much done even with that advantage. Only with the best-case scenario for the GOP does either party have anything like a working majority in the Senate, certainly not the 59-41 and 60-40 edges that Democrats had in the first two years of the Obama administration.”
“The bottom line is that with neither party able to act in a decisive or even deliberate manner, it is pretty unlikely that Congress will be in a position to get a heck of a lot done in 2019 and 2020 no matter what the midterm outcome is. We’re just waiting to see the degree of paralysis and which side will have the responsibility for it.”
[alert type=”general” dismiss=”no”]Of course, paralysis would be a big victory for Democrats in the age of Trump.[/alert]
Camelot’s End
A must-read: Camelot’s End: Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party by Jon Ward.
Mulvaney Loves Running Agency He Detests
Bloomberg: “Along with reshuffling its initials, he’s reviewing its enforcement, supervisory, and rule-making functions. He’s frozen data collection in the name of security, dropped enforcement cases, and directed staff to slash next year’s budget. He also wants to curb the agency’s independence by giving Congress—rather than the Federal Reserve—control of its spending, and replace the powerful director position he fills with a five-person commission.”
Gas Price Rise Erases Impact of Tax Cut for Most
Politico: “As Americans head out for traditional Memorial Day weekend road trips, they’ll confront gas prices of nearly $3 a gallon, the highest since 2014 and a 25 percent spike since last year. The increased cost of fuel is already wiping out a big chunk of the benefit Americans received from the GOP tax cuts. And things could get worse as summer approaches following the administration’s standoff with Iran and a move by oil-producing nations to tighten supplies.”
“The result: The economic and political benefits Trump and the GOP hoped to reap from cutting tax rates could be swamped by higher pump prices that Americans face every time they hit the road.”
Menendez’s Lead Shrinks In New Jersey
A new Fairleigh Dickinson poll in New Jersey finds Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) leading challenger Bob Hugin (R) by just four points, 28% to 24%, with 46% still undecided.
The new poll results are significantly worse for Menendez than two previous surveys, both of which had him up by double digits over Hugin.
Mueller Probes Roger Stone’s Finances
“Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has been probing Roger Stone’s finances as it summons a series of witnesses to gather more information about one of President Trump’s longtime advisers,” CNN reports.
“Mueller’s team has questioned associates about Stone’s finances, including his tax returns”
Some Republicans Quietly Align With Democrats
“Since Donald Trump began dominating American politics more than two years ago, Democrats concerned about his policies and behavior have taken solace in a group of influential Republicans who have consistently assailed the president as anathema to the values of their party, and the country more broadly,” the New York Times reports.
“In the past year, however, influential liberal donors and operatives have gone from cheering these so-called Never Trump Republicans to quietly working with — and even funding — them. Through invitation-only emails and private, off-the-record meetings, they have formed a loose network of cross-partisan alliances aimed at helping neutralize President Trump, and preventing others from capitalizing on weaknesses in the political system that they say he has exploited.”
Assange May Be Forced Out of Embassy
“Julian Assange’s nearly six-year refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London is in danger, opening the WikiLeaks founder to arrest by British authorities and potential extradition to the US,” CNN reports.
“While Assange has in the past claimed his position in the embassy was under threat, sources say his current situation is ‘unusually bad’ and that he could leave the embassy ‘any day now,’ either because he will be forced out or made to feel so restricted that he might choose to leave on his own.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Truth is relative. They may have a different version of the truth than we do.”
— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by the Washington Post, saying special counsel Robert Mueller may be setting a “perjury trap” for President Trump.
