Prosecutor Andrew Weismann tells CNN there is a cooperation agreement with Paul Manafort as part of his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.
The Washington Post reports Manafort’s plea deal includes 17-page cooperation agreement.
Marcy Wheeler: “At this point, the deal is pardon proof. That was part of keeping the detail secret: to prevent a last minute pardon from Trump undercutting it.”
A college professor is facing felony charges after shooting himself on a Nevada campus last month in what police say he claimed was a protest of President Trump, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
“He was found bleeding from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his arm about 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 28 outside a bathroom… Inside the bathroom, campus police found a $100 bill taped to a mirror along with a note that said, ‘For the janitor,’ according to the arrest report.”
Jonathan Chait: “Lots of things have happened since Obamacare was passed. Most importantly, the conservative movement launched a hysterical political and legal sabotage campaign, using every tool from concocting frivolous lawsuits to driving insurance firms out of the markets by eliminating the outreach budget and withholding promised reimbursements. That sabotage campaign is still ongoing.”
“It would be extremely reasonable for a liberal who favors Obama-Romney-style subsidized private insurance to conclude that market-based insurance is simply too vulnerable to right-wing sabotage, and the only safe path for covering people who can’t afford their own insurance is through public programs. One of the things conservatives have been completely oblivious to is the degree to which their manic uncompromising stance has strengthened the case for more left-wing health-care reforms within the Democratic Party while undermining the basis for more moderate ones.”
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The New Yorker has details of the sexual misconduct allegations made in a letter that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) referred to the FBI.
“The allegation dates back to the early nineteen-eighties, when Kavanaugh was a high-school student at Georgetown Preparatory School, in Bethesda, Maryland, and the woman attended a nearby high school. In the letter, the woman alleged that, during an encounter at a party, Kavanaugh held her down, and that he attempted to force himself on her. She claimed in the letter that Kavanaugh and a classmate of his, both of whom had been drinking, turned up music that was playing in the room to conceal the sound of her protests, and that Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand. She was able to free herself.”
“Although the alleged incident took place decades ago and the three individuals involved were minors, the woman said that the memory had been a source of ongoing distress for her, and that she had sought psychological treatment as a result.”
Bob Woodward said he would release tapes of his interviews used for his new book, Fear: Inside the Trump White House, for any source who requests it, The Hill reports.
Said Woodward: “This is meticulously done trying to cross reference everything and so forth. I would expect somebody would not want to release their information because they’re confidential sources and as you know, I protect my sources. I think it’s one of the building blocks of journalism and book writing.”
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) “has an idea for how to get Congress to clean up its act: random drug screenings,” Roll Call reports.
Said Higgins: “I have observed some behavior that would cause one to wonder.”
Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes at a hearing Friday morning, the Washington Post reports.
“The planned plea, if accepted by a judge, would short-circuit his second trial scheduled to begin later this month in the District on charges of money laundering and lobbying violations.”
“The details of Manafort’s plea were not immediately clear, including whether he would be providing any information to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of any deal.”
Meanwhile, the special counsel’s office has filed a superseding criminal information in the case against Manafort.
Roll Call: “President Trump, just one day after even Republicans criticized him for claiming nearly 3,000 people did not die last year in Puerto Rico due to two powerful hurricanes, shared a FEMA tweet warning against spreading false information.”
Ballot Access News: “In the November 2018 election, there will be Democrats on the ballot in all but two U.S. House districts. No party in the history of government-printed ballots has ever before had candidates on the ballot in that many districts. Even in the 1930’s, the Democrats did not have that many nominees. The Republican Party has never had that many candidates.”
“The Republican base now belongs to President Trump and the GOP has placed a big bet on turning them out in November,” NBC News reports.
“Nearly a decade after the insurgent Tea Party movement began challenging the Republican establishment on ideological grounds over issues like taxes and the size of government, the GOP primaries were all about one person: Trump.”
Said GOP strategist Alex Conant: “The importance of being loyal to Trump in this year’s GOP primaries is remarkable. Many of the primaries boiled down to which candidate appeared most in line with Trump’s brand of politics. Past arguments like conservative credentials or electability were not very salient messages.”
“A new political website has sprung up, appropriating the ‘Me Too’ movement to attack Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) over allegations stemming from his 1986 divorce,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“The website… includes a 60-second video that references court records from Brown’s divorce with his then-wife, Larke Recchie, as well as excerpts from the records themselves. The ugly divorce, which included allegations that Brown ‘bullied’ and shoved Recchie, has come up in many of Brown’s campaigns, including his 1992 race for Congress and his 2012 re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate. Recchie is now a political supporter of Brown’s and has described ‘angry words’ that surrounded their divorce.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) “introduced an ethics reform package of bills that included proposals to require presidential and vice presidential candidates to release their income tax returns and ban members of Congress from ever becoming paid lobbyists,” the Lincoln Journal Star reports.
Said Sasse: “Drain the swamp for real. Both parties talk a big game on the campaign trail, but then look the other way as soon as they get a taste of power.”
“What kind of mind twists that statistic into ‘Oh, fake news is trying to hurt my image.’ How can you be so self-centered and try to distort the truth so much? It’s mind boggling.”
— Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), quoted by the Washington Post, telling reporters that she would support a probe into President Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is out with a very effective ad recounting her experience in beating breast cancer while blasting rival Josh Hawley (R) for joining a lawsuit that could undo Obamacare’s protections for those with pre-existing conditions.
First Read highlights other Democrats seizing on health care and pre-existing conditions in their ads:
The Hill: “Allies to Bernie Sanders say the Vermont Independent senator is increasingly likely to make a second bid for the White House in 2020 — once again as a Democrat.”
“Sanders allies increasingly talk more confidently about the likelihood of a second presidential bid. Just a few months ago, the allies were more careful about his potential candidacy.”
“Michael Avenatti has to be regretting going on Tucker Carlson’s show right now… It was worse than you’re imagining,” the Daily Beast reports.
Politico: “Even if Avenatti has little chance of winning the nomination, he could still wreck the 2020 Democratic race.”
Associated Press: “The pendulum could swing against Trump in the band of Great Lakes and Rust Belt states that delivered him to the Oval Office. Aided by a court-ordered redraw of congressional districts, Democrats will pick up at least a few seats in Pennsylvania. Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa each have multiple GOP House districts where Democrats have nominated competitive, if not favored, candidates. Republican governors in Wisconsin and Iowa are at-risk, and open GOP seats in Michigan and Ohio are toss-ups. Meanwhile, Democratic senators across the region are either favored or in re-election tossups — but none are considered underdogs.”
New York Times: “The strategy allowed Mr. Cuomo — who has spent most of his career ruling and running from the center — to present himself as a progressive warrior in a way that his record might not always support. For most of his seven-plus years in office, after all, Mr. Cuomo has had a friendly working relationship with Republicans, and has failed to push hard for a number of liberal priorities, such as campaign finance reform.”
“During the early days of the Trump administration, Mr. Cuomo had scrupulously avoided criticizing the president by name, even suggesting there might be a benefit to New York if Mr. Trump helped pay for infrastructure.”
“Not so during the closing days of the campaign, when the governor openly mocked Mr. Trump, going so far on Wednesday as to call him ‘that boy’ and — gulp — not a real New Yorker.”
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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