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Former Congressman Sentenced to 10 Years In Prison

November 8, 2018 at 12:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) “was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for a wide-ranging scheme that included spying on a potential GOP rival and misspending charitable contributions from conservative donors,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

“A political expert who has monitored Stockman’s political trajectory likened the right-wing firebrand’s downfall to that of President Richard Nixon, who was also disgraced for spying on opponents and covering up payoffs and other financial misdeeds.”

Is Matthew Whitaker’s Appointment Legal?

November 8, 2018 at 12:12 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump, acting under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, has appointed Matthew Whitaker, formerly the chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to serve as acting attorney general. There has been widespread coverage of the potential ramifications of this appointment for the special counsel’s investigation,” Lawfare reports.

“But there are three lingering questions about this appointment that have not yet been answered in public: First, is the appointment constitutional? Second, does the president have authority to make an appointment under the FVRA when there is a confirmed deputy attorney general who can act under a specific statute governing Department of Justice succession (28 U.S.C. § 508)? And third, does the acting attorney general have any recusal obligations in relation to the special counsel’s investigation in light of his past statements and relationships?”

GOP Lawmaker Lashes Out at Trump

November 8, 2018 at 11:43 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Retiring Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) bristled that President Trump would chide Republicans who did not campaign on his support and lost their midterm races, likening it to “dancing on somebody’s grave,” Roll Call reports.

Said Costello: “It’s highly inappropriate, and it’s deeply offensive. And every single one of those members took tough votes in order to advance a center-right agenda because they believed in it, but they took a lot of heat for it and the President should be thanking them for putting up the tough votes and advancing an agenda which I believe we are better off economically because of a lot of the policies that have been implemented.”


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A More Bitterly Divided Nation

November 8, 2018 at 11:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Molly Ball: “The President’s party typically loses ground in midterm elections because only the opposition is roused to anger. But these were not typical midterms: turnout surged to levels not seen in decades for a nonpresidential contest. In 2018 it wasn’t only Democrats who were riled up—Republicans, too, came out at high levels, perhaps vindicating Trump’s strategy of ginning up his core supporters with race-based and culture-war appeals. The nation didn’t come together in agreement; it drew further apart. America remains, as Trump revealed it to be two years ago, an angry and divided country whose citizens blame one another for its ills.”

Kemp Resigns as Georgia Secretary of State

November 8, 2018 at 10:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp (R) says he is resigning as secretary of state, the AP reports.

Kemp declared victory in the governor’s race because he claims it isn’t possible for opponent Stacey Abrams (D) to pick up enough votes to force a runoff. But Abrams says there are still enough uncounted votes to force a Dec. 4 runoff and that they need to pick up about 15,000 votes to do so.

Texas Lawmaker Re-Elected While In Jail

November 8, 2018 at 10:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds (D) “won re-election Tuesday and should be back on the job in a few months, with good behavior,” USA Today reports.

“Reynolds, who ran unopposed, is currently serving a yearlong sentence in the Montgomery County Jail for a 2015 misdemeanor conviction for illegally soliciting clients for his law practice from a chiropractic firm.”

Christie on Short List for Attorney General

November 8, 2018 at 10:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is being considered to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, two sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.

“No decisions are expected soon, and the list of those being considered — which also includes Rudy Giuliani, outgoing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former Attorney General William Barr, who served under President George H. W. Bush — is likely to grow in the coming days.”

McCaskill Blames Fox News for Her Defeat

November 8, 2018 at 10:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the New York Times that the impact of Fox News on voters in her state led to her reelection defeat.

Said McCaskill: “It’s time we all quit dancing around what is now a state-owned news channel.”

Democrats Won More House Seats Than In 2006

November 8, 2018 at 9:55 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “It appears that Democrats are on their way to netting more than 35 House seats — a bigger pickup than the some 30 seats the party gained in the 2006 midterms and the most for them since the post-Watergate 1974 midterms.”

The Still Uncalled Races

November 8, 2018 at 9:38 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

There are a handful of races either too close to call or headed to runoff, per First Read:

  • House: CA-10, CA-29, CA-45, CA-48, CA-49, GA-7, ME-2, MN-1, NM-2, NC-9, NJ-3, UT-4
  • Senate: AZ-Sen, FL-Sen, MS-Sen
  • Governor: GA-Gov

Roll Call has more details on the uncalled races.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized

November 8, 2018 at 9:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted to the hospital early this morning after falling in her office last night and fracturing three ribs, the Washington Post reports.

She is at the hospital for observation and treatment.

Florida Placed Some Polling Stations In Gated Communities

November 8, 2018 at 9:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

WLRN reports on one voting station that was moved to a building inside a private gated community that was previously housed at a community center.

Said one voter: “To even get in to the gate you needed to show an ID, before you even got to the polling place itself.”

And it wasn’t the only one: “Other sites across the state are seeing issues with access due to polling locations located inside gated communities with private security.”

Sessions’ Successor Advised Company Accused of Scam

November 8, 2018 at 9:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Matthew Whitaker, appointed acting attorney general after Jeff Sessions resigned, “was a paid advisory-board member of an invention-promotion company shut down by federal regulators last year as an alleged scam,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Trump’s News Conference Proved It Was a Blue Wave

November 8, 2018 at 8:54 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

Even before all of the midterm election results were in, I was pretty confident that a blue wave had swept across the country.

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Two Americas Even Wider Apart

November 8, 2018 at 8:01 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ron Brownstein: “With Tuesday’s House wins, Democrats have established a commanding position in diverse, white-collar, information-age suburban seats around the country. Conversely, after the election, the Republican caucus now tilts even more preponderantly toward districts that are more white, less affluent, and less well-educated than the national average.”

“The result is a widening trench between the parties in the House that encapsulates the growing distance between a Democratic coalition centered on minorities, Millennials and college-educated white voters, most of them clustered in urban areas, and a competing GOP coalition that revolves around evangelical, rural and blue-collar whites who often live beyond it.”

A ‘Wipeout’ for House Republicans in Northeast

November 8, 2018 at 7:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “In New Jersey, voters slashed the number of Republicans in Congress from five down to two, and possibly only one.”

“In New York, Democrats declared victory in three congressional races in President Trump’s home state, ejecting the last remaining Republican from New York City.”

“And in the six other states in the Northeast, the lone remaining Republican congressman, Representative Bruce Poliquin of Maine, was clinging to his seat on Wednesday, his fate to be decided by the second choices of third-party voters through ranked-choice voting.”

Mob Chants Threats Outside Tucker Carlson’s Home

November 8, 2018 at 7:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

An Antifa angry mob gathered outside of Fox New’s anchor Tucker Carlson’s home on Wednesday evening, USA Today reports.

“The anti-fascists group, possibly associated with Smash Racism, D.C., chanted ‘Tucker Carlson, we will fight. We know where you sleep at night’ outside of Carlson’s D.C. home, according to Fox News. In a video posted online, the group can also be heard saying ‘racist scumbag, leave town!'”

Trump Acts on Long Time Fantasy Against the Media

November 8, 2018 at 7:03 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “Sources with direct knowledge say that since the earliest days of his presidency, Trump has mused about revoking press credentials for reporters who infuriate him. But press staff have often successfully counseled him against doing so, telling him it would only elevate the reporter involved and would result in damaging stories about him cracking down on press freedom.”

“Yesterday, Trump went ahead and did it anyway, with Sarah Sanders announcing that the White House had removed the ‘hard pass’ of CNN’s Jim Acosta, who had tangled with Trump at his midday press conference.”

“The reaction from White House reporters made it clear that a new line had been crossed.”

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Mudslinging: In politics, “mudslinging” is a tactic used by candidates or other politicians in order to damage the reputation of a rival politician by using epithets, ….

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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