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McConnell Says GOP Senators Were ‘Under Assault’

October 8, 2018 at 3:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that GOP senators were “literally under assault” during the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, The Hill reports.

Said McConnell: “We were literally under assault. These demonstrators, I’m sure some of them were well-meaning citizens. But many of them were obviously trying to get in our faces, to go to our homes. Basically almost attack us in the halls of the capitol. There was a full-scale effort to intimidate.”

Media Ignores Story on Secret Behind Trump’s Wealth

October 8, 2018 at 2:53 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Media Matters: “Donald Trump rose to prominence and the presidency on the strength of his self-proclaimed mastery of The Art of the Deal. It was that business acumen, Trump claimed, that allowed him to turn a paltry loan from his father into a vast empire. But last week, The New York Times revealed that Trump was not the self-made billionaire he had claimed to be but rather the recipient of at least $413 million from his father, in part through tax schemes the paper described as “outright fraud.”

“The next day, perhaps in an effort to regain momentum, the Times republished its story in a separate section. But that morning, Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox News Sunday — weekly talk shows that focus on politics and historically set the news agenda for the week — all completely ignored it.”

Cramer Dismisses #MeToo Movement

October 8, 2018 at 2:45 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

North Dakota U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Cramer (R) dismissed the #MeToo movement, saying it’s “a movement towards victimization,” the New York Times reports.

Said Cramer: “That you’re just supposed to believe somebody because they said it happened.”

Invoking his wife, daughters, mother and mother-in-law, he added: “They cannot understand this movement toward victimization. They are pioneers of the prairie. These are tough people whose grandparents were tough and great-grandparents were tough.”

Unknown number calling? It’s not random

The BBC caught scam call center workers on hidden cameras as they laughed at the people they were tricking.

The BBC caught scam call center workers on hidden cameras as they laughed at the people they were tricking. One worker bragged about making $250k from victims. The disturbing truth? Scammers don’t pick phone numbers at random. They buy your data from brokers.

Once your data is out there, it’s not just calls. It’s phishing, impersonation, and identity theft. That’s why I recommend Incogni: They delete your info from the web, monitor and follow up automatically, and continue to erase data as new risks appear. Try Incogni here and get 55% off your subscription with code POLITICALWIRE.

Note to readers: I use Incogni myself and highly recommend it.

Watch a Senate Poll In Real Time

October 8, 2018 at 2:35 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

For your viewing pleasure: The New York Times is preparing to poll the U.S. Senate race in Texas. Results will be posted instantly as the calls are completed.

They’re also polling the Senate races in Nevada and Tennessee.

Can Bloomberg Make America Boring Again?

October 8, 2018 at 2:33 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ben Smith: “Bloomberg is floating a run for president, for the third time, an exercise that often puzzles the Americans who become aware of it. In this divisive, divided time, is anyone begging for low-profile technocratic leadership?”

“This is, at least, the operating theory at the eco-friendly Upper East Side mansion that houses Bloomberg’s foundation: That there’s space for a Democrat who wants to make America boring again. A candidate whose social media policy is Never Tweet, and whose government would be so drama free that Americans of all political stripes (except, perhaps, lovers of assault weapons and big gulp sodas) could go back to liking football.”

Handicapping the State Races

October 8, 2018 at 11:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

McGuireWoods Consulting has prepared a detailed state-by-state crib sheet handicapping 36 governor and 30 attorney general positions, as well as control of 87 state legislative chambers.

Join now to continue reading.

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Trump Does Not Plan to Fire Rosenstein

October 8, 2018 at 11:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump said he does not plan to fire Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department official in charge of the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Reuters reports.

Said Trump: “I get along very well with him.”

Fox Hires Hope Hicks

October 8, 2018 at 11:31 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Months after leaving the White House, Hope Hicks will head to Fox to become its new chief communications officer,” CNBC reports.

“Hicks’ move represents a swap of sorts. After she left the White House, former Fox News executive Bill Shine took over a role similar to hers, as deputy chief of staff for communications.”

The Clinton Tour

October 8, 2018 at 11:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bill and Hillary Clinton announced that they will tour North America for series of conversations “with two individuals who have helped shape our world and had a front seat to some of the most important moments in modern history.”

CNN: “Ticket prices run the gamut based on each location, but top tickets at the couple’s events in Texas cost $699. The least expensive tickets at some of the events were around $70.”

Quote of the Day

October 8, 2018 at 10:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I’m stronger than mule piss.”

— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, explaining to President Trump just how committed he was to pushing Brett Kavanaugh through to Supreme Court confirmation.

Ex-Cambridge Analytica Chief Used N-Word

October 8, 2018 at 10:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Alexander Nix, the former chief executive of the elections consultancy Cambridge Analytica, is facing fresh questions about his conduct after a leak of documents revealed he used a highly offensive racial slur to describe the prime minister of Barbados,” the Guardian reports.

Republicans Increasingly Satisfied with the Government

October 8, 2018 at 10:38 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gallup: “While U.S. adults remain largely dissatisfied with the way the nation is being governed, their satisfaction is up 10 percentage points since last year, to 38%. This increase is exclusively attributable to further heightened positivity among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, whose satisfaction rose from 47% last year to 72% now. At the same time, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents’ satisfaction is static at 10%.”

Joe Manchin Under Fire After Kavanaugh Vote

October 8, 2018 at 10:29 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “A day after Manchin broke with his party on what may be the most consequential vote of the Trump era, the vulnerable Democrat is facing a political firestorm back home. While Republicans — including one of the president’s sons — are on the attack, the most passionate criticism is coming from Manchin’s very own Democratic base, a small but significant portion of the electorate he needs to turn out in force to win re-election next month.”

“A Manchin loss would put his party’s hopes of regaining control of the Senate virtually out of reach.”

Democrats Competing In More Races This Year

October 8, 2018 at 9:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ballot Access News: “In the November 2018 election, Democrats have a candidate in 87.9% of the legislative contests. This is a big increase for the Democratic Party. In 2016, it had candidates in 79.4% of the races. In 2014, it had 77.1%. In 2012, 78.9%.”

“The Republican Party also has more candidates for the legislature this year than in 2016. This year, Republican are in 79.2%. In 2016, 78.8%. In 2014, 79.6%. In 2012, 81.2%.”

Was Russian Bank Communicating with Trump Campaign?

October 8, 2018 at 9:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The New Yorker reports on a team of computer scientists sifting through records of unusual web traffic in search of a connection between a Russian bank and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“Examining records for the Trump domain, Max’s group discovered D.N.S. lookups from a pair of servers owned by Alfa Bank, one of the largest banks in Russia. Alfa Bank’s computers were looking up the address of the Trump server nearly every day. There were dozens of lookups on some days and far fewer on others, but the total number was notable: between May and September, Alfa Bank looked up the Trump Organization’s domain more than two thousand times.”

“Only one other entity seemed to be reaching out to the Trump Organization’s domain with any frequency: Spectrum Health, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Spectrum Health is closely linked to the DeVos family; Richard DeVos, Jr., is the chairman of the board… His wife, Betsy DeVos, was appointed Secretary of Education by Donald Trump. Her brother, Erik Prince, is a Trump associate who has attracted the scrutiny of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Trump’s ties to Russia.”

Warren Spending Heavily on National Facebook Ads

October 8, 2018 at 9:31 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “has emerged this year as the third-highest spender on digital ads — behind only President Trump and Beto O’Rourke, a Texas Democrat who is running in the country’s highest-profile Senate race,” the Boston Globe reports.

“In the last two weeks alone, Warren has run 401 separate digital ads on Facebook, seen by as many as 10 million people. These aren’t all geared for Massachusetts: Her ads are getting four times as many eyeballs in other states.”

Russian Official Linked to Trump Tower Meeting Is Dead

October 8, 2018 at 8:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Russian official accused of directing the foreign operations of Natalia Veselnitskaya, the lawyer who met senior Trump campaign officials in 2016, has plummeted to his death in a helicopter crash,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was exposed in a Swiss court this year for a plot to enlist another nation’s law-enforcement official as a double-agent for the Kremlin.”

What Will Trump Do Over the Next Four Weeks?

October 8, 2018 at 8:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “A surprising development in the Kavanaugh-Ford story was how it overshadowed President Trump. Yes, he mocked Ford, and he gave that bizarre, hour-long news conference at the UN. But he wasn’t the main story — the way he’s been most of his nearly two years in office. Remember this about 2016: Not only did Hillary-Comey dominate the last two weeks of that presidential election, but it also coincided with Trump being incredibly disciplined during that stretch. Can he do it again?”