Political Wire

Courts May Soon Feel Pinch of Shutdown

January 3, 2019 at 5:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Officials at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts say the judiciary will begin to face significant challenges after Jan. 11 if funding hasn’t been restored. The courts have been dipping into court fees and other sources that aren’t dependent on new congressional appropriations, but those funds have their limits,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“If the shutdown continues, federal courts will have to come up with plans for managing reduced operations, and funding could be in jeopardy for jurors, court reporters, public defenders and some court staffers, as well as for some supervision and other services the courts provide to offenders on probation. The Supreme Court faces the same funding timeline as the rest of the courts, a high-court spokeswoman said Wednesday.”

Democratic Lawmaker Introduces Impeachment Measure

January 3, 2019 at 5:27 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ruled out pursuing impeachment for now … Sherman says he’s not worried that introducing the resolution — the first of what could be several articles filed — would box his colleagues into answering a difficult political question.”

Undocumented Worker Says Trump Resort Shielded Her

January 3, 2019 at 5:18 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A former employee of the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey said that her name was removed from a list of workers to be vetted by the Secret Service after she reminded management that she was unlawfully in the United States, the latest worker to assert that supervisors at the elite resort were aware that some members of their work force were undocumented,” the New York Times reports.

Bonus Quote of the Day

January 3, 2019 at 5:04 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It’s a very very great achievement and hopefully we’re going to work together and get lots of things done, like infrastructure. I think it’ll work out and be a little bit differently than a lot of people are thinking.”

— President Trump, quoted by Roll Call, congratulating Nancy Pelosi on becoming Speaker of the House.

White House Courts Webb for Defense Secretary

January 3, 2019 at 4:59 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration is considering Jim Webb, a former Democratic senator and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy, to be the next defense secretary, according to three officials, potentially bypassing more hawkish Republicans whose names have been floated to replace Jim Mattis,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Webb, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, is being considered as President Trump seeks to carry out campaign promises to withdraw American troops from Syria and Afghanistan.”

GOP Senator Breaks Ranks on Border Wall

January 3, 2019 at 4:57 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), “who faces a potentially tough re-election in 2020, says Congress should re-open the federal government, even without a deal on funding President Trump’s border wall,” The Hill reports.

“Gardner is the first Senate Republican to call for ending the partial shutdown even without a deal on President Trump’s demand for $5 billion to fund a border wall. “

A Weirdly Quiet White House

January 3, 2019 at 3:05 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Philip Bump: “It has been more than a month since Trump even played golf, the longest stretch of his presidency. It has been more than a month since he held a rally. There are only sporadic public meetings.”

“He’s not even tweeting that much. There’s this idea that, on days when he’s unoccupied, he tweets a lot, but that’s not really true. Since July 1, 2018, he has tweeted, on average, 11.1 times a day. Over the past week, he has tweeted an average of 8.4 times a day. (On days without anything on his schedule since July 1, he has tweeted an average of 9.9 times a day, compared with 11.4 times on days when his calendar lists events.)”

Pelosi Elected Speaker as Democrats Take Control

January 3, 2019 at 3:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“On a day of pomp and pageantry, ebullient Democrats assumed control of the House on Thursday and elected Representative Nancy Pelosi of California to be speaker, returning her to a historic distinction as the first woman to hold the post at the pinnacle of power in Congress, second in line to the presidency,” the New York Times reports.

“The investiture of Ms. Pelosi, whose talent for legislative maneuvering is surpassed only by her skill at keeping her fractious party in line, placed her at the fulcrum of divided government opposite an increasingly combative President Trump. With Mr. Trump, his presidential campaign and his businesses all under federal and state investigations, her handling of him will likely define the 116th Congress.”

Probe Looks at Whether Zinke Lied

January 3, 2019 at 2:59 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Justice Department’s public integrity section is examining whether newly departed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to his agency’s inspector general investigators, according to three people familiar with the matter, a potential criminal violation that would exacerbate Zinke’s legal woes,” the Washington Post reports.

Status Report on the Mueller Investigation

January 3, 2019 at 10:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NBC News: “The Mueller probe has led to criminal charges against 33 people, including three of those original four [Manafort, Flynn, Papadopoulos], and engulfed the Trump administration in a legal and political morass unlike anything the country has witnessed since the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and before that, Watergate.”

“But a central question remains unanswered, and it’s one that could hold the key to what happens over the next few months: What did FBI officials know in the summer of 2016 that dissuaded them from telling Trump they were investigating his top aides? The world may soon know the answer. Government officials and others familiar with the situation tell NBC News that Mueller is nearing the end stages of his investigation, and a report by the special counsel is expected to be submitted to the Justice Department as early as mid-February.”

Quote of the Day

January 3, 2019 at 10:31 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When you’re negotiating with someone, you have to know– you stipulate to some fact. It’s hard to do that with the president, because he resists science, evidence, data, truth… It’s hard to pin the president down on the facts.”

— Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with NBC News.

Klobuchar Nears Decision on White House Bid

January 3, 2019 at 10:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that she is “getting close to a decision” about running for president in 2020, as other prominent Democrats begin to jump in the race to challenge President Trump next year.

Said Klobuchar: “I’m continuing to talk to people about it.”

Democratic Lawmaker Compares Trump to Hitler

January 3, 2019 at 10:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) warned against creeping authoritarianism in an intense speech peppered with historical references, likening the political moment that brought President Trump to power to the rise of Adolf Hitler, Roll Call reports.

Said Johnson: “Our democracy teeters on the brink of failure. Americans elected an authoritarian, racist, anti-immigrant strongman to the nation’s highest office.”

Saudis Will Seek Death Penalty for Khashoggi Killers

January 3, 2019 at 10:17 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Saudi Arabia announced it will seek the death penalty against five suspects in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a killing that has seen members of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage implicated in the writer’s assassination, the AP reports.

Why Mitt Romney Doesn’t Scare Trump

January 3, 2019 at 10:13 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

John Harris: “At important junctures of his public career Romney—like many or perhaps most politicians—has revealed himself as a supremely transactional figure, flexible in altering his words and his positions to align with self-interest as the occasion demands. If Trump is the more transactional figure—boasting about his deal-making savvy rather than trying to defend his gyrations as rooted in some higher morality—this is only a difference in degree, not a difference in kind.”

“Once the debate leaves the field of principle and moves to the field of results, there is no denying which of the two transactional figures is better at the game. … In all his campaigns Romney has emphasized his record of professional achievement and business success more than his ideological consistency—a pattern that has also marked Trump’s rise to the presidency.”

Trump Explains Why He Can’t Back Down

January 3, 2019 at 10:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump told a group of lawmakers he can’t accept Democrats’ offer to re-open the government as the two sides negotiate border wall funding because he “would look foolish if I did that,” according to CNN.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he asked Trump why the government couldn’t be reopened while the two sides work to resolve their differences: “I asked him directly… He could not give a good answer.”

Nancy Pelosi Returns to Power

January 3, 2019 at 9:56 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “Pelosi returns to the speakership in a uniquely powerful position, especially when considering that many Democrats just waged a campaign that included sharp criticisms of her. The 78-year-old California Democrat just vanquished a group of her challengers with precision and speed that shocked many longtime Hill watchers. Most House insiders expected that today she’d be in the middle of a brawl for the speakership on the House floor. Instead, she’s waltzing toward grabbing the gavel.”

“One of Pelosi’s skills is grinding down the opposition. Whether it was lawmakers in 2009 and 2010 agitating for the public option in health care reform, or more recently the group of 17 Democrats who signed a letter saying they’d never vote for her, Pelosi is patient, and is able to bring people to her side.”

Trump’s Hand Grows Weaker

January 3, 2019 at 9:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rick Klein: “The easy part of governing during the Trump presidency is over. Yes, really.”

“Noon on Thursday opens a new chapter for President Donald Trump and the Washington scene he’s come to dominate.l

“It comes at something of a low point for Trump, who faces growing concerns inside his party, including those most vocally expressed by Mitt Romney, the incoming junior senator from Utah. The Republican Party as a whole, meanwhile, relinquishes power in the House in the middle of a prolonged government shutdown.”

“When Rep. Nancy Pelosi takes the speaker’s gavel once again, united GOP control of Congress evaporates. With it goes perhaps the biggest piece of Republican leverage in obtaining Trump’s signature campaign promise of a border wall — the reason for the shutdown that Trump says ‘could be a long time.k”

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