President Trump “put the brakes on a preliminary plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia, walking back a Sunday announcement by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the Kremlin had swiftly denounced as ‘international economic raiding,'” the Washington Post reports.
“The Trump team decided to publicly characterize Haley’s announcement as a misstatement.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), “who this month became the first sitting senator to have a baby while in office, has submitted a resolution that would allow senators to bring a child under one year old onto the Senate floor during votes,” Politico reports.
“Senate leaders appear poised to approve the request.”
“President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a federal judge Monday that he had three legal clients in the past year — the president, GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy and a third client whose identity he asked to keep secret,” the Washington Post reports.
Since January, each book at the top of the New York Times best-seller list has had one thing in common: President Trump, CNN reports.
Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury held onto the No. 1 spot until Michael Isikoff and David Corn’s Russian Roulette came along in March. It was dethroned by Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World, a book by Jennifer Palmieri, the former communications director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
James Comey’s book A Higher Loyalty will surely keep the streak alive.
A new Monmouth poll in New Jersey finds Democrats have a 19 point advantage over Republicans in the generic House ballot, 54% to 35%.
“If this result holds, it would mark a substantially better result for Congressional Democrats in New Jersey than in recent elections. Democrats won the statewide House vote by 8 points (53% to 45%) in 2016 and an even smaller 2 points (50% to 48%) in the 2014 midterm. Moreover, the poll finds that the overall swing is coming mainly from GOP-held seats.”
“In the five House seats currently held by a Republican, voter preference is split nearly evenly at 46% for the GOP candidate and 44% for the Democrat. The aggregate vote from these five districts in the past two House elections averaged a sizable 22 point advantage for the Republicans (59% – 38% in 2016 and 61% – 38% in 2014). On the other hand, the poll’s vote share in the seven seats currently held by Democrats – 59% Dem to 28% GOP – is in line with the average 30 point advantage Democrats held in these districts in both 2016 (65% – 32%) and 2014 (62% – 36%).”
Said pollster Patrick Murray: “This is pretty astounding. Not only are New Jersey Democrats doing better on the generic House ballot statewide, but the shift is coming almost entirely from districts currently held by the GOP. If these results hold, we could be down to just one or two – or maybe even zero – Republican members in the state congressional delegation after November.”
A new Emerson College poll in Arizona’s 8th congressional district finds Hiral Tipirneni (D) narrowly leading Debbie Lesko (R), 46% to 45%.
Most other recent polling shows Lesko winning by double-digit margins.
Greg Sargent: “There’s already been lots of discussion of the ways in which a replacement for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could limit Mueller’s probe, by, say, declaring certain areas off limits for the investigation. That’s a serious threat.”
“But there’s another important angle here: If Trump does remove Rosenstein, his replacement would also have a great deal of discretion over whether — and how much of — Mueller’s determinations ever see the light of day… A replacement for Rosenstein could not only decline to release something publicly, but could also sharply limit how much information gets sent to Congress.”
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt installed a $43,000 soundproof phone booth at agency headquarters last fall, which “violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, which prohibits an agency from paying more than $5,000 to redecorate or furnish a presidential appointee’s office without approval,” the Washington Post reports.
While retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced that he’s contributed to expected GOP Senate nominee Marsha Blackburn (R), he also said that he won’t be out campaigning against her opponent, former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D), the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.
Said Corker: “I certainly do not plan to be working against somebody who is a friend and who has served our state ably. We’ve worked together to build a great state.”
“This guy swung an election.”
— White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, admitting to ABC News that former FBI Director James Comey helped elect Donald Trump.
The Washington Post has an incredible anecdote that captures President Trump’s reluctance to punish Russian president Vladimir Putin, noting that the president “erupted” after learning the United States had ousted 60 Russians in response to the poisoning of a former spy, while France and Germany each expelled only five diplomats.
“The president, who seemed to believe that other individual countries would largely equal the United States, was furious that his administration was being portrayed in the media as taking by far the toughest stance on Russia. His briefers tried to reassure him that the sum total of European expulsions was roughly the same as the U.S. number.”
Screamed Trump: “I don’t care about the total!”
Emails like this are really special:
I just got my automatic renewal notice and will happily sign up for another year’s membership! Political Wire has been a more-than-daily stop for me for years now, and since the 2016 election has been absolutely indispensable. I knew paying constant attention to politics would be ruinous for my mental health, and ignoring it would be a dereliction of my duty as a citizen. Having a one-stop site full of carefully curated political news has been incredibly important for me.
And this one too:
I am a retired pastor as of this month. Because I am now on a very limited budget I have been forced to make some difficult decisions. I will be letting my Sirius XM subscription (and Beatles channel) and a couple of my hobby magazine subscriptions expire. I am choosing to keep my subscription to Political Wire because some days it is the only thing that keeps me sane and gives me much needed perspective on all the garbage coming out of the White House, Congress and the right. I hope and pray everyday that truth will win out over the lies saturating Washington. Folks like you are keeping that hope alive. Thank you so much for what you do.
If you’re not yet a member, join for just $5 a month or $50 a year. You’ll get exclusive analysis, new features, no ads — and you’ll be supporting a site you love.
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“President Trump’s U.S. businesses have received at least $15.1 million in revenue from political groups and federal agencies since 2015,” McClatchy reports.
“The money went to Trump’s airplanes, hotels, golf courses, even a bottled water company during the presidential campaign and the first 15 months of his presidency… But it was Trump’s campaign itself that spent the biggest chunk by far – about 90 percent, or $13.4 million.”
“It’s not good politics in the end. It says you don’t trust the president.”
— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Politico, criticizing the effort by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump.
NBC News: “Former First Lady Barbara Bush will not seek additional medical treatment after a series of recent hospitalizations… In a statement, the spokesman said Bush, 92, would instead focus on ‘comfort care’ after consulting with doctors and family members.”
“It wasn’t immediately clear what Bush, the wife of former President George H.W. Bush and mother of former President George W. Bush, had been hospitalized for.”
Jonathan Swan: “The main game for Trump — and the reason his agitation levels went through the roof the last two weeks — is what happened to Michael Cohen. Trump allies are exponentially more worried about the New York feds’ probe and the prospect of investigators poring over Trump’s business dealings than they are anything Comey is saying.”
“Vice President Mike Pence’s pick for his national security adviser, Jon Lerner, has withdrawn after his hiring created tensions in the administration,” CNN reports.
“A GOP source close to the administration confirmed that news of Lerner’s hiring by the vice president created some tension within the administration, saying it caused ‘a big damn mess.'”
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.