“Former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos made a significant claim in an email: Top Trump campaign officials agreed to a pre-election meeting with representatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Bloomberg reports.
“The email is cited in an FBI agent’s affidavit supporting criminal charges against Papadopoulos… But it’s not included in court documents that detailed his secret guilty plea and his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.”
“For the political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, work on the third installment of their popular Game Change book series — set to be an insiders’ account of the final two months of the 2016 presidential race — came to an abrupt halt last Wednesday at around 10 a.m.,” the New York Times reports.
“That was when Mr. Heilemann received a call from a shaken Mr. Halperin, who informed his longtime partner in writing and reporting that CNN was about to publish a potentially damaging story. Several of Mr. Halperin’s former colleagues at ABC News had accused him of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
Said Heilemann: “I had never heard of, been exposed to or had any inkling of the notion that he had engaged in any behavior that could be described in even the broadest sense of being sexual harassment or sexual assault. I was flabbergasted and shocked.”
“After back-to-back losses in 2010 and 2014, immigration hardliner and former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) plans to try again in 2018 to become Colorado’s next governor — a move spurred in part by his anger at Republicans for not protesting when a Colorado Springs resort canceled a white nationalist conference where he was supposed to speak,” the Denver Post reports.
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“Sam Clovis, the former top Trump campaign official who supervised a man now cooperating with the FBI’s Russia investigation, was questioned last week by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and testified before the investigating grand jury,” NBC News reports.
“George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in July and began cooperating with agents… The court documents unsealed Monday describe emails between Papadopoulos and an unnamed ‘campaign supervisor.’ The supervisor responded ‘Great work’ after Papadopoulos discussed his interactions with Russians who wanted to arrange a meeting with Trump and Russian leaders.”
President Trump “has decided — for now — to stick with his strategy of cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller, a day after the Russia investigation ensnared three of his campaign aides,” CNN reports.
“That’s despite being urged to take a harder line by his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.”
“Bannon spoke with Trump following Monday’s announcements from the special counsel, and advocated taking a harsher approach to Mueller… While Trump encouraged Bannon to lead the public charge against Mueller, the President made clear to aides Tuesday that he’s not adopting Bannon’s advice.”
President Trump’s longtime aide and current communications director, Hope Hicks, is scheduled to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in mid-November, following the president’s trip to Asia, multiple people familiar with the schedule told Politico.
Mueller’s team is also expected to interview three or four other current White House officials as early as this week.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) announced he will not seek reelection in 2018, marking the end of a political career defined by his long-running struggle to pare back government intervention in the economy, Politico reports.
“Hensarling, first elected to Congress in 2002, is in his last term as chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, where he has spent years fighting with mixed success to roll back regulations and phase out federal programs.”
“House Republicans are racing to finalize their tax reform proposal before its much-anticipated rollout Wednesday morning. But so many key details have yet to be finalized that some congressional sources worry the unveiling may have to be postponed,” Politico reports.
“House Ways and Means Committee members spent all Tuesday holed up in conference rooms trying to iron out last-minute disagreements. Senior committee staff worked through the night Monday and were expected to do the same on Tuesday.”
A new Washington Post-Schar School poll in Virginia finds Ralph Northam (D) leading Ed Gillespie (R) by just five points in the race for governor, 49% to 44%.
Northam was up by 13 points in a Post poll earlier this month
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds 50% of Americans say they will blame President Trump and congressional Republicans if health care costs increase under Obamacare and if more end up losing coverage, while 37% say they would put the blame on former President Obama and Democrats.
As for Trump’s tax plan, 25% of Americans say it’s a good idea, compared with 35% who say it’s a bad idea; another 39% say they don’t have an opinion.
Vox analyzed the past week of Fox News transcripts, comparing them against cable rivals CNN and MSNBC. What they found was striking:
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said the GOP tax legislation due to be released this week will not include a deduction for state and local income taxes and will offer relief only on property taxes, Reuters reports.
Said Brady: “Our lawmakers in those high-tax states really believe their families are being punished most by property taxes.”
Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) said the federal judge who stopped President Trump’s proposed ban on transgender people in the military should be impeached, the Birmingham News reports.
He called it “a perfect example of the outlandish doctrine of judicial supremacy whereby judges exalt themselves over the Constitution they are sworn to uphold.”
“Nothing is going to derail what we’re doing in Congress.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by BuzzFeed, in response to a question about Paul Manafort’s indictment.
A new Data Orbital poll of likely Republican Senate primary voters in Arizona found 32% either definitely or probably voting for Kelli Ward (R), compared to 29% who said they were definitely or probably not voting for her.
Another 34% said it would depend on who gets in the race and 5% refused to answer.
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds 49% of voters support impeaching President Trump, as compared to 41% who are opposed to doing so.
Also interesting: Trump’s approval rating has declined by a net 7 points in the last month.
Peter Dreier: “Anyone who feels compelled to boast how smart he is clearly suffers from a profound insecurity about his intelligence and accomplishments. In Trump’s case, he has good reason to have doubts.”
“A linguistic analysis by Politico found that Trump speaks at a third-grade level. A study by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University compared last year’s Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in terms of their vocabulary and grammar. Trump scored at a fifth-grade level, the lowest of all the candidates.”
BuzzFeed News: “The threat of serving hard time for failing to disclose foreign lobbying work is rattling Washington’s multi-billion dollar influence industry following Monday’s 12-count indictment against Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates.”
“And although the charges have largely been seen as a blow to the White House, Monday’s actions by special prosecutor Robert Mueller also sent shivers down the spines of Washington’s lobbyists, both Democrats and Repulicans.”
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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