Don Blankenship’s (R) attempt to run for U.S. Senate as a third-party candidate in West Virginia was denied by West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner.
Warner said the bid would violate the state’s “sore loser” law.
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Trump Still Mulling Kelly’s Replacement
CNN: “It’s not clear how Kelly’s eventual departure — whether it comes in a matter of days, weeks, or months — might affect the structure he sought to impose. In recent weeks, Trump has told confidants he misses the chaos of the early days of his administration, which mirrored his style as a real estate impresario with its large cast of advisers and competing internal factions.”
“Still, Trump has looked to two experienced political hands as possible Kelly successors, polling friends and advisers about the possibility of tapping Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney or Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers to take the reins. Mulvaney, whose sharp wit has impressed Trump, is seen as the strongest candidate, three sources inside the West Wing told CNN, though Trump has remarked that he likes Ayers’ hair.”
“Yet there remains no obvious successor for Kelly, which is why many believe Trump has not replaced him yet.”
Trump Organization Finance Chief Called to Testify
“Allen Weisselberg, a longtime financial gatekeeper for President Trump, has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in the criminal probe of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Weisselberg is considered a witness in the investigation… It isn’t known whether he has already appeared before the grand jury or what questions prosecutors of New York’s Southern District have had for him.”
Related for members: Trump’s Legal Problems Go Way Beyond Mueller
Mueller Probes Trump’s Tweets In Obstruction Inquiry
“For years, President Trump has used Twitter as his go-to public relations weapon, mounting a barrage of attacks on celebrities and then political rivals even after advisers warned he could be creating legal problems for himself,” the New York Times reports.
“Those concerns now turn out to be well founded. The special counsel, Robert Mueller, is scrutinizing tweets and negative statements from the president about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former F.B.I. director James Comey.”
“Several of the remarks came as Mr. Trump was also privately pressuring the men — both key witnesses in the inquiry — about the investigation, and Mr. Mueller is examining whether the actions add up to attempts to obstruct the investigation by both intimidating witnesses and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to tamp down the inquiry.”
Trump Avoids Media As He Leaves for Iowa
The Hill: “The president typically reaches Air Force One by taking a helicopter from the White House to Joint Base Andrews, a setting that allows the media to shout questions while he walks across the South Lawn. Trump often stops to take those questions.”
“But White House aides informed the press corps Trump would motorcade to Andrews due to ‘bad weather,’ a setting that makes the president unavailable to take questions. The motorcade is used when weather conditions make it unsafe for the president to fly on the Marine One helicopter.”
“But it was 77 degrees and partly cloudy at the time of Trump’s departure.”
Ryan Doesn’t Support Effort to Impeach Rosenstein
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said “the Justice Department needs to comply with congressional requests for documents. But he said the response from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein does not rise to the level of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ that would warrant impeachment,” the Washington Post reports.
However, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said that he supports the effort calling it “leverage” to get the Justice Department to provide Congress with more documents related to the Russia probe.
Trump Ponies Up In Effort to Keep House
President Trump “has signed off on plans for his reelection campaign to funnel contributions to 100 Republican candidates running in House and Senate races,” Politico reports.
“The financial decision comes at a time of growing fears that the party is getting outpaced on the fundraising front. During the last fundraising quarter, more than 50 House Republicans were out-matched by their Democratic opponents.”
Jordan Will Run for Speaker
House Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan (R-OH) will formally announce his campaign for speaker of the House today, the Daily Caller reports.
Omarosa’s Surprise Tell-All Out Next Month
Coming in a few weeks: Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman.
CNN: “She resigned last December. She gave a couple of interviews and appeared on the CBS program ‘Big Brother,’ dropping hints about White House turmoil along the way. There was talk about a possible book deal. But Gallery Books kept the actual book under wraps for several months.”
Emails Show Michigan GOP Plotting to Gerrymander Maps
“Newly disclosed emails show Michigan Republicans angling to give their party a dominant position through gerrymandered maps and celebrating the plight of their Democratic rivals,” the New York Times reports.
“Republicans in the state have denied that they sought partisan gain when they drew new legislative boundaries in 2011. But a federal lawsuit, which argues the maps are unconstitutional, has unearthed records showing Republicans intent on drawing boundaries that would help their party.”
Trump’s Legal Problems Go Way Beyond Mueller
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Another Trump-Created Crisis Averted by Fake Deal
Jonathan Chait: “Last night, the Trump administration announced with maximum fanfare that the trade war with the European Union was over. ‘This was a big day for free and fair trade!,’ tweeted an excited President Trump. For all the hype and surprisingly credulous press the announcement attracted, it amounts to little more than a face-saving truce. If you’re looking for any details as to how this will work, too bad, they don’t exist.”
“The trade ‘deal’ follows the script of the ballyhooed North Korean nuclear ‘deal’ from last month. The cycle begins with bellicose Trumpian threats designed to increase American leverage. This leads to negotiations, which produce an impossibly ambitious and thoroughly vague “solution” that allows Trump to boast that he has averted a crisis of his own making.”
Pentagon Often Unaware of Major Trump Announcements
BuzzFeed News: “The emails document two days of the aftermath of an unusual, and seemingly sudden, statement released by the White House late on the night of June 26 last year. It warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he and his military would ‘pay a heavy price’ if they carried out another chemical weapons attack… But the channels at the Pentagon that usually would have coordinated such a release were in the dark.”
Trump Punts on Three Problems Until After Midterms
James Hohmann: “Responding to the pleas of Republican congressional leaders, President Trump appeared willing on Wednesday to temporarily back off three of his top priorities in a bid to save GOP majorities in the midterms.”
“The president moved to de-escalate his unpopular trade war, signaled that he’s no longer committed to shut down the federal government in October if the border wall isn’t fully funded and reluctantly relented on his rapprochement with Russia. After inviting Vladimir Putin to visit Washington in the fall with fanfare last week, the White House announced yesterday that he won’t come until 2019.”
“Taken together, these developments reflect the degree to which official Washington has begun shifting into full-on campaign mode with just over 100 days left until the fall elections and the palpable fear among top Republicans that they will lose the House unless the current trajectory changes.”
GOP Lawmakers Pitch Plan to Avoid Shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan “presented a government spending strategy intended to minimize the threat of a politically debilitating government funding lapse over border wall funding. And Trump seemed receptive,” Politico reports.
“Trump made clear to the GOP leaders that he still wants a $5 billion down payment on his wall this year, but he signaled to the leaders that he might be willing to wage that fight after the midterms. Though the House plans to pass a spending bill giving Trump $5 billion for the wall, Senate Democrats are unlikely to agree to fund more than the $1.6 billion initially requested by the Trump administration — meaning any attempt to fund the Department of Homeland Security could lead to a shutdown.”
James Hohmann: “To be sure, Trump changes his mind all the time. And just because he agrees to something today does not mean he won’t change his mind tomorrow. He’s officially endorsed bills, for example, only to equivocate after seeing a negative segment on Fox News.”
CNN Derangement Syndrome
Weekly Standard: “Banning a reporter from an open-press White House event is virtually unheard of. We can recall only one—Robert Sherrill, correspondent for the Nation, who was denied a security clearance by Secret Service during the Johnson administration because he had once punched the press secretary for the governor of Florida. Probably LBJ just didn’t want him around. Before and since then, presidents of both parties have suffered not just hostile reporters but crackpots and weirdos attending White House press events.”
“We have not seen video of the disputed press pool encounter, but we don’t need to. Collins’s allegedly ‘disrespectful’ questions weren’t the reason for her disinvitation. The reason was her employer, CNN, which the president regards not merely as untrustworthy or hostile but as deeply sinister.”
The Latest Generic Congressional Ballot Polls
Here’s a quick round up:
- Quinnipiac: Democrats 51%, Republicans 39%
- Economist/YouGov: Democrats 44%, Republicans 38%
- NPR/PBS/Marist: Democrats 47%, Republicans 40%
- Reuters/Ipsos: Democrats 42%, Republicans 37%
- NBC News/Wall Street Journal: Democrats 49%, Republicans 37%
For comparison, the FiveThirtyEight polling average shows Democrats leading 48% to 40%.
Yacht Owned by DeVos Set Adrift by Vandals
A 163-foot yacht worth a reported $40 million and owned by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was vandalized over the weekend and set adrift, the Toledo Blade reports.
“The crew eventually got control of the yacht, but not before it struck the dock, causing an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 in damage from large scratches and scrapes… Officers were searching for surveillance video that may show who untied the yacht.”
