A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds that 64% of Americans believe Michael Cohen’s claim that President Trump ordered him to make illegal payments to two women to keep them quiet about his affairs — but just 44% believe Congress should start impeachment proceedings.
Key findings: “Three key subgroups — white suburban women, ‘Never Hillary’ independents, and rural voters — are strongly against impeachment. Two subgroups — Millennials and African American women — strongly favor it.”
President Trump “went after technology firms Tuesday morning, singling out Google by alleging its search setting are biased against him,” Roll Call reports.
“He used a pair of morning tweets to, as he often does, paint himself and fellow conservatives as the victims of a liberal conspiracy. In this incarnation of what is a running Trump narrative, he used this search topic to make his point: ‘Trump News.’”
“The president wrote Google’s search is programmed to return ‘only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media.’ That means, in his view, the tech giant has its search function ‘RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.’”
The Verge notes Trump added that Google and others were “hiding information and news that is good,” and said that this was “very serious situation” that “will be addressed.”
“Shunned at two funerals and one (royal) wedding so far, President Trump may be well on his way to becoming president non grata,” the Washington Post reports.
“The latest snub comes in the form of the upcoming funeral for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which, before his death, the late senator made clear he did not want the sitting president to attend. That the feeling is mutual — Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised McCain as a “hero” — only underscores the myriad ways Trump has rejected the norms of his office and, increasingly, has been rejected in turn.”
“Less than two years into first term, Trump has often come to occupy the role of pariah — both unwelcome and unwilling to perform the basic rituals and ceremonies of the presidency, from public displays of mourning to cultural ceremonies.”
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“A contentious three-way U.S. Senate battle in Arizona on Tuesday among Republicans fighting to prove the depth of their allegiance to President Donald Trump tops the last big day of state nominating contests before November’s elections,” Reuters reports.
”Voters in Florida also go to the polls to pick candidates for Nov. 6, when Democrats will try to pick up 23 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and two seats in the Senate to gain majorities and slam the brakes on Trump’s legislative agenda.”
Axios: What to watch in tonight’s primaries.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R) “decision to replace the late John McCain is as much about his own political future as it is about filling the seat of the six-term senator and decorated war hero,” Politico reports.
“Republicans with knowledge of the governor’s thinking say he’ll have to remain deferential to Trump and the White House while also taking care not to alienate a statewide electorate ahead of a tough reelection fight in November. Ducey — a former Coldstone Creamery chief executive — was hesitant to publicly endorse Trump in 2016 but showed up to at least two closed-door campaign events for him before the election, said one Republican close to the governor.”
Playbook: “In reality, Trump has already made this story about him. His silence — and flip-flopping on the flag — has kept Washington (and particularly the media) on edge. Any other president would’ve just lowered the flag to half-staff for the week, issued an effusive statement and moved on.”
”Trump is making plaIn what we already knew: He never much liked McCain, and he’s not really concerned what anyone thinks about his behavior. Trump seems fully confident that his supporters haven’t cared for McCain in any way since 2008 — when they concluded his constituency was mostly reporters and middle-of-the-road Republicans. In some ways, Trump’s candidacy and presidency are a direct response to the candidacies of McCain and Mitt Romney.”
“For the first time in two decades, American Arabs and Muslims are stepping up to run for public office in record numbers, registering to vote and bundling money for candidates from their community,” NBC News reports.
“With inflammatory rhetoric on immigration and his active push for a travel ban aimed primarily at Muslim-majority countries, Trump has put a national spotlight on the community’s long running travails. Trump has called for the monitoring of mosques and appointed Cabinet members and political advisers who have disparaged Muslims.”
“He’s also likely put the final nail in the coffin for the community’s waning support for the GOP.”
Rudy Giuliani said that President Trump’s lawyers have not heard back from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office in nearly three weeks, CNN reports.
Said Giuliani: “I figured we wouldn’t hear until after the Manafort trial, but we still haven’t.”
He said Mueller’s office has told them it is “still studying” the latest letter from Trump’s team, which Giuliani said was only five to six pages.
He added: “I have to figure they’re planning something.”
“I don’t know what’s going to be said in the next few days about John McCain … but anybody who in any way tarnishes the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping, because most of the ones who would do the wrong thing about John McCain didn’t have the guts to do the right thing when it was their turn.”
— Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), quoted by The Hill.
Sen. James Inhofe (OK) told CNN that the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is “partially to blame” for the controversy over President Trump’s raising and then re-lowering White House flags to mark McCain’s death.
Said Inhofe: “Well, you know, frankly, I think that John McCain is partially to blame for that because he is very outspoken. He disagreed with the president in certain areas and wasn’t too courteous about it.”
Roger Stone used an Instagram video to deny a forthcoming story in the New Yorker by Ronan Farrow which apparently says he told President Trump that WikiLeaks was going to release Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Stone also says The New York Times and The Washington Post have been pursuing the claim.
“Paul Manafort’s defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn’t reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The plea discussions occurred as a Virginia jury was spending four days deliberating tax and bank fraud charges against Mr. Manafort… That jury convicted him on eight counts and deadlocked on 10 others. Prosecutors accused Mr. Manafort of avoiding taxes on more than $16 million he earned in the early 2010s through political consulting work in Ukraine.”
“The plea talks on the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn’t clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn’t immediately be determined.”
Rudy Giuliani “detailed for the first time his strategy for representing the president, in blunt and divisively political terms,” the New York Times reports.
He said that he believes that since Trump is essentially having his day in court, in real time, his “jury is the public.”
The aggressive defense “starts with his base, then it stretches out to independents — then to Democrats”… He readily acknowledged that he would never win over many on the left, but maintained that for others, impeachment was “going too far.”
Jerry Falwell Jr. told Politico that he urged President Trump to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals’ support.
Falwell also said he plans to bring up the subject again Monday evening at a small gathering with Trump and the first lady.
Rick Hasen: “In a case with potentially national implications both short term and long, a three judge district court in North Carolina has held that the congressional redistricting plan—put in place after North Carolina’s districts last time were found to be a racial gerrymander—are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The remedy is not set yet, but the court may have a remedy in place for the 2018 elections, something I find surprising.”
“If this opinion stands (and given the current 4-4 split on the Supreme Court, any emergency action could well fail, leaving the lower court opinion in place), the court may well order new districts be drawn in time for the 2018 elections.”
A new Survey USA poll in California’s 50th district finds Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) leading challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar (D) by eight points, 47% to 39%.
Hunter was indicted last week for misusing campaign funds.
“The White House on Monday afternoon re-lowered its flags to half staff after drawing significant backlash for returning them to full staff less than 48 hours after the death of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ),” The Hill reports.
“The flag outside the U.S. Capitol remained at half staff throughout Monday. Flags typically remain lowered through the burial of a sitting lawmaker or major public figure.”
The Washington Post notes President Trump also finally released a statement saying he respects McCain’s “service to our country.”
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer’s (R) campaign chairman has endorsed independent Greg Orman’s bid for governor after Colyer lost the Republican primary to Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), the Wichita Eagle reports.
“The move by Steve Baccus, a long-time former president of the Kansas Farm Bureau, marks the first public defection to Orman from Colyer’s team after an often-bitter race between Colyer and Kobach.”
Taegan 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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