“Trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
Jared Kushner Had a Very Bad Month
Washington Post: “They were the ascendant young couples of the Trump White House: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and Rob Porter and Hope Hicks. They enjoyed rarefied access to the president and special privileges in the West Wing. Glamorous and well-connected, they had an air of power and invincibility. They even double-dated once.”
“But an unlikely cascade of events — set in motion by paparazzi photos of Porter and Hicks published Feb. 1 in a British tabloid — crashed down on Kushner this week. The shortest month of the year delivered 28 days of tumult that many inside and outside the White House say could mark the fall of the House of Kushner.”
“Once the prince of Trump’s Washington, Kushner is now stripped of his access to the nation’s deepest secrets, isolated and badly weakened inside the administration, under scrutiny for his mixing of business and government work and facing the possibility of grave legal peril in the Russia probe.”
Is Cohn Next to Leave White House?
Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn “has been rumored to be on the brink of leaving the White House for months but stayed for one main reason: to stop the president from imposing steep tariffs,” Politico reports.
“By Thursday afternoon, Cohn had lost the fight.”
“The decision came after a frantic 24 hours in which Cohn and others tried to walk Trump off the ledge. At one point, aides were sure Trump would make the announcement. Then they said he wouldn’t. Finally, sitting alongside steel executives, he did.”
Kushner’s Firm Sought Investment from Qatar
“The real estate firm tied to the family of presidential son-in-law and top White House adviser Jared Kushner made a direct pitch to Qatar’s minister of finance in April 2017 in an attempt to secure investment in a critically distressed asset in the company’s portfolio,” the Intercept reports.
“The failure to broker the deal would be followed only a month later by a Middle Eastern diplomatic row in which Jared Kushner provided critical support to Qatar’s neighbors. Led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a group of Middle Eastern countries, with Kushner’s backing, led a diplomatic assault that culminated in a blockade of Qatar. Kushner, according to reports at the time, subsequently undermined efforts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to bring an end to the standoff.”
What’s Next for Hope Hicks?
New York Times: “She has told friends that, for now, she has no definite ideas for her life after the West Wing, except that she will not be living in Washington. An extended vacation with her family is planned. Book agents have come calling, but Ms. Hicks has told acquaintances that she is reluctant to write anything — although she has joked that a massive advance could change her mind.”
Trump Wants Jared and Ivanka to Go Home
New York Times: “Mr. Trump is also frustrated with Mr. Kushner, whom he now views as a liability because of his legal entanglements, the investigations of the Kushner family’s real estate company and the publicity over having his security clearance downgraded, according to two people familiar with his views. In private conversations, the president vacillates between sounding regretful that Mr. Kushner is taking arrows and annoyed that he is another problem to deal with.”
“Privately, some aides have expressed frustration that Mr. Kushner and his wife, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, have remained at the White House, despite Mr. Trump at times saying they never should have come to the White House and should leave. Yet aides also noted that Mr. Trump has told the couple that they should keep serving in their roles, even as he has privately asked Mr. Kelly for his help in moving them out.”
Quote of the Day
“Every time I do it now, it’s like agony. Agony. I can’t. If things don’t go in the right direction for the midterms… I could go out on the street, stand on any corner and tap 10 people on the shoulder. And all 10 of them, in all likelihood, would be more qualified — ethically, morally, intellectually and spiritually — than Trump. I’ll vote for Mitt Romney. I don’t care. Anybody over this guy. It doesn’t matter. We have to get rid of him.”
— Alec Baldwin, quoted by the Hollywood Reporter, on playing Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.
Trump responds on Twitter: “Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch.”
Nuclear Missile Threat Is a ‘Red Line’ for Trump
“The Trump administration is considering military action against North Korea if the rogue regime successfully builds a nuclear missile capable of hitting the United States… Senior national security officials believe a nuclear armed Pyongyang represents an unacceptable risk to the U.S.,” CNN reports.
“Beyond the missile threat to the U.S. homeland, the national security officials pushing for military action believe that if North Korea becomes a full nuclear power, it will proliferate, potentially sharing nuclear and missile technology with states such as Iran, Pakistan and Libya, and non-state actors.”
Hope Hicks Kept a Diary
A White House insider tells the Daily Mail that Hope Hicks has been secretly keeping what was described as a “detailed diary of her White House work, and her interactions with the president.”
Said the source: “Hope’s one of Donald Trump’s most loyal colleagues and friends. She’s not one to destroy that relationship. And she is certainly under some sort of nondisclosure agreement. Moreover, the various investigations by the special counsel and Congress could target her. So she has to be very careful about jumping into any deals.”
How a Russian Politician Cultivated the NRA
“A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association, and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics,” NPR reports.
“Russian politician Alexander Torshin claimed his ties to the National Rifle Association provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.”
“These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to assist the Trump campaign in 2016.”
Trump Often Crosses Line in Discussing Russia Probe
President Trump’s lawyers “have urged him not to discuss details of the unfolding Russia investigation with people outside his legal team, warning of a conversational ‘bright line’ that could place aides and associates in legal jeopardy,” Politico reports.
“But Trump often ignores that legal advice in the presence of senior aides — including his departing confidante and White House communications director, Hicks.”
Said a senior administration official: “I think the president has put her in a very precarious position.”
“Hicks is not alone. Current and former Trump aides describe a president who often fails to observe boundaries about the Russia probe and who calls staffers into his office and raises the subject without warning.”
Can the White House Reset?
“Rattled by two weeks of muddled messages, departures and spitting matches between the president and his own top officials, Donald Trump is facing a shrinking circle of trusted advisers and a staff that’s grim about any prospect of a reset,” the AP reports.
“Even by the standards of Trump’s often chaotic administration, the announcement of Hope Hicks’ imminent exodus spread new levels of anxiety across the West Wing and cracked open disputes that had been building since the White House’s botched handling of domestic violence allegations against a senior aide late last month.”
FBI Investigating Ivanka Trump Business Deal
U.S. counterintelligence officials are scrutinizing one of Ivanka Trump’s international business deals, CNN reports.
“The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver… The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance in her role as adviser to President Trump.”
GOP Meltdown Over Trump’s Plan for Tariffs
“Republicans pounced on President Trump’s plan Thursday to slap tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum, warning that it will lead to a trade war and leave American consumers paying the price,” NBC News reports.
“Republicans in Congress broke ranks with the president in an unprecedented way, with one after another coming forward during the day to caution about the dangers of tariffs and plead with Trump to hold off on any action.”
CNBC: With surprise tariffs, Trump rolls the dice with the US economy.
Someone Has Never Heard of Donald Trump
Looking at the crosstabs of the new USA Today/Suffolk poll, there’s a white Republican woman from the Midwest who says she’s never heard of Donald Trump.
Mueller Preparing Criminal Charges Against Hackers
Special counsel Robert Mueller “is assembling a case for criminal charges against Russians who carried out the hacking and leaking of private information designed to hurt Democrats in the 2016 election,” NBC News reports.
“Much like the indictment Mueller filed last month charging a different group of Russians in a social media trolling and illegal-ad-buying scheme, the possible new charges are expected to rely heavily on secret intelligence gathered by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).”
“Sources say he has long had sufficient evidence to make a case, but strategic issues could dictate the timing.”
Young People Are Staying Liberal
Jonathan Chait: “For obvious reasons, the broadly liberal demographic trends in American politics have received much less attention since the 2016 election. Yet the fact remains that America is politically sorted by generations in a way it never has before. The oldest voters are the most conservative, white, and Republican, and the youngest voters the most liberal, racially diverse, and Democratic. There is absolutely no sign the dynamic is abating during the Trump years. If anything, it is accelerating.”
“The most recent Pew Research Survey has more detail about the generational divide. It shows that the old saw that young people would naturally grow more conservative as they age, or that their Democratic loyalties were an idiosyncratic response to Barack Obama’s unique personal appeal, has not held. Younger voters have distinctly more liberal views than older voters.”
Record Number of House Members Not Running Again
Pew Research: “More members of the U.S. House of Representatives are choosing not to seek re-election to that body than at any time in the past quarter-century – including a record number of Republicans… Those counts could rise further, since the filing deadlines in most states haven’t yet passed.”
“As of Feb. 28, 52 representatives (36 Republicans and 16 Democrats) have announced that they’re not running for new terms, according to our count. In addition, one Democrat (John Conyers of Michigan) resigned late last year, and his seat won’t be filled until Election Day in November – making a total of 53 voluntary departures, or 12% of the House’s full voting membership.”
