“Anticipating that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will ask to interview President Trump, the president’s legal team is discussing a range of potential options for the format, including written responses to questions in lieu of a formal sit-down,” NBC News reports.
“Lawyers for Trump have been discussing with FBI investigators a possible interview by the special counsel with the president as part of the inquiry into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.”
Washington Post: “President Trump expressed misgivings about his administration’s infrastructure plan Friday at Camp David, telling Republican leaders that building projects through public-private partnerships is unlikely to work — and that it may be better for the government to pursue a different path. Then on Saturday morning, Gary Cohn, the president’s chief economic adviser, delivered a detailed proposal on infrastructure and public-private partnerships that seemed to contradict the president. He said the administration hoped $200 billion in new federal government spending would trigger almost $1 trillion in private spending and local and state spending, according to people familiar with his comments.”
“Cohn seemed to present the plan as the administration’s approach, although the president had suggested such an approach might not work. The seemingly contradictory statements, made within 24 hours of each other, show the uncertainty of the administration’s approach to its top legislative priority in 2018: building roads, bridges and highways.”
“Steve Bannon, like his onetime brother-in-arms President Trump, is known as someone whose instinct is to double down, not kiss up. That made his belated attempt on Sunday to de-escalate mounting tension with the commander-in-chief — who has been publicly and privately raging about his former chief strategist all week — notable to many of his allies, one of whom called it a ‘huge step for Steve, one of the most stubborn people on Earth,'” Politico reports.
“But inside the White House, Bannon’s 297-word statement of contrition about comments he made in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was seen as too little, too late for an operative unaware of the self-inflicted damage his hubris could cause. It did nothing to quell Trump’s rage at his former chief strategist or the anger of Bannon’s former West Wing colleagues, according to multiple administration officials, who said the vibe in the president’s circle was that people were unmoved by the statement.”
New York Times: “A prominent donor to the Democratic Party says she is considering withdrawing support for senators who urged their colleague Al Franken to resign after he was accused of sexual misconduct. The donor, Susie Tompkins Buell, has been one of the Democratic Party’s most generous supporters for decades.”
“President Trump is starting his official day much later than he did in the early days of his presidency, often around 11am, and holding far fewer meetings, according to copies of his private schedule shown to Axios. This is largely to meet Trump’s demands for more ‘Executive Time,’ which almost always means TV and Twitter time alone in the residence, officials tell us.”
“The schedule says Trump has ‘Executive Time’ in the Oval Office every day from 8am to 11am, but the reality is he spends that time in his residence, watching TV, making phone calls and tweeting. Trump comes down for his first meeting of the day, which is often an intelligence briefing, at 11am.”
White House adviser Stephen Miller was escorted off the set of CNN’s “State of the Union” after a contentious interview with host Jake Tapper, Business Insider reports.
Two sources close to the situation said that after the taping was done, Miller was politely asked to leave several times. He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out, the sources said.
President Trump tweeted that he pushed back the date for his “Fake News Awards” to January 17 as opposed to tomorrow.
President Trump’s administration “is preparing to unveil an aggressive trade crackdown in the coming weeks that is likely to include new tariffs aimed at countering China’s and other economic competitors’ alleged unfair trade practices,” Politico reports.
“Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet with Cabinet secretaries and senior advisers as soon as this week to begin finalizing decisions on a slew of pending trade fights involving everything from imports of steel and solar panels to Chinese policies regarding intellectual property, according to one of the administration officials.”
“The big question for us, though is, you know, plainly, we have a seriously flawed human being in the Oval Office.”
— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), quoted by Politico, adding that virtually every member of Congress has concerns about President Trump’s mental state, even if they won’t say so publicly.
“I don’t think he’s crazy.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), talking about President Trump on Meet the Press.
Stan Collender: “First, the Trump White House almost certainly was trying to move the discussion away from everything having to do with “Fire and Fury.” Second, it clearly was making an emotional appeal to Trump voters to demonstrate the president is still fighting for what he promised during the 2016 campaign.”
“That makes funding for the wall the kind of emotional issue that greatly increases the chances of Trump vetoing any 2018 funding bill — including another short term CR — and shutting the government if it doesn’t provide what he wants.”
“And because emotional issues are so hard to resolve, it could also mean that a shutdown could last weeks rather than days.”
President Trump continued to express his dismay with a blockbuster new book that portrays a commander-in-chief who is mentally unstable, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I’ve had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author.”
White House adviser Stephen Miller went on CNN to rip Steve Bannon, calling him “an angry, vindictive person” and his comments in Michael Wolff’s new book “grotesque.”
The interview quickly turned into a shouting match between Jake Tapper and Miller until Tapper abruptly ended the segment.
Said Tapper: “There’s one viewer that you care about right now. You’re being obsequious. You’re being a factotum in order to please him, OK? And I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time.”
“This is alarming in every way. And then this went on,’“Okay, this is a little 25th Amendment.’ So 25th Amendment is a concept that is alive every day in the White House.”
— Michael Wolff, discussing his new book on Meet the Press.
Boston Globe: “One American politician is currently dominating the cultural landscape, from social media to late-night television. His poll numbers look great, his Twitter posts are often among the most read in the world, and with every utterance, his impassioned base of supporters reacts with a fervor more typical for celebrities than former civil servants.”
“Meet Barack Obama.”
“The former president left office last January with favorable approval ratings, but historians, former staffers, and political observers now say his societal standing has reached a new echelon — and it’s partly due to his successor.”
Billionaire Tom Steyer told KQED that he bought 535 copies of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury to be hand-delivered to every lawmaker on Capitol Hill.
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.