“President Trump’s personal lawyer asked a federal judge on Monday to force adult film star Stormy Daniels to use arbitration to settle a dispute over an agreement to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump,” Reuters reports.
Bruising GOP Primary Fights Worry Party Leaders
“In many parts of the country, Republican candidates are trying to put distance between themselves and President Trump. In the Indiana Senate primary, the bruising fight is over which candidate is the more authentically Trumpian,” the New York Times reports.
“As the May 8 primary election approaches, the race here has taken a nasty turn, with candidates attacking one another as insufficiently aligned with the president, or way too late to Team Trump. Some Republicans worry that the tenor has the potential to bloody the winner so badly that he will be weakened in the general election contest against Sen. Joe Donnelly, one of this election year’s most vulnerable Democrats.”
“The Indiana primary is among several, including those in West Virginia and Wisconsin, where Republicans are locked in nominating battles in states Mr. Trump won in 2016 and where the party has hoped to add to its slender two-seat majority.”
Trump Seeks to Speed Deportations by Imposing Quotas
“The Trump administration will pressure U.S. immigration judges to process cases faster by establishing a quota system tied to their annual performance reviews,” the Washington Post reports.
“The judges will be expected to clear at least 700 cases a year to receive a ‘satisfactory’ performance rating, a standard that their union called an ‘unprecedented’ step that risks undermining judicial independence.”
Related from Axios: “The White House is working with lawmakers on a new immigration package that would end the practice of ‘catch and release,’ make it easier to deport immigrant children from countries outside of Mexico and Canada, and toughen screening for asylum applicants.”
Trump’s Support Among Women Falls
A new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll finds that President Trump’s support among women plunged this month as he battled controversies surrounding alleged affairs with the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Support from women fell 6 points to 35%, even as Trump’s support among men rose 3 points to 53%.
Walker Is Quietly Keeping His National Profile Alive
“Scott Walker’s political rebound is supposed to be grounded in Wisconsin, where he’s expected to run a robust gubernatorial campaign in a state where he has done nothing but win,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“But Walker, whose surprisingly quick rise and fall as a Republican presidential contender hurt his standing at home, also is carefully and somewhat quietly maintaining his national brand.”
Esty Not Running For Re-Election
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) “will not run for re-election after facing intense criticism for mishandling domestic violence allegations against her since-fired chief of staff,” the Hartford Courant reports.
Cook Political Report: “In light of her self-inflicted scandal, Esty’s exit is probably good news for Democrats’ chances of holding the seat. Connecticut’s filing deadline (June 8) and primary (August 14) are relatively late, so both parties more than two months to plot their course.”
Mueller Looks at Roger Stone’s Contacts with WikiLeaks
Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into longtime adviser Roger Stone’s 2016 claim that he had met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In an email dated Aug. 4, 2016, Mr. Stone wrote: ‘I dined with Julian Assange last night,’ according to a copy of the message reviewed by The Wall Street Journal… The note, to former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg, adds to a growing number of times Mr. Stone claimed during the campaign to be in contact with WikiLeaks. The next day, Mr. Stone publicly praised Mr. Assange via Twitter .”
Trump’s Rate of ‘False Claims’ Is Accelerating
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Pelosi Targeted In a Third of GOP Ads
USA Today: “The House Democratic leader has been featured in roughly one-third (34%) of all GOP broadcast ads aired in House races this year… That compares with 9% in all of 2016 and 13% in 2014.”
Trump Relies on Lou Dobbs for Advice
Daily Beast: “Dobbs doesn’t get to just interview and socialize with the president, he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions. During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched Dobbs in via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents.”
“Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in.”
For members: A Look at the Fox News-Trump Feedback Loop
Christie Says Trump Would Probably Perjure Himself
Former Gov. Chris Christie (R) was rather blunt in making the case for President Trump to refuse an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, the Washington Post reports.
Said Christie: “He should never walk into that room with Robert Mueller. Because in the end, one of the things that makes the president who he is, is that he’s a salesman. And salesman, at times, tend to be hyperbolic. Right, and this president certainly has tended to do that.”
He added: “That’s okay when you’re on the campaign hustle. That’s okay when you’re working on Congress. It is not okay when you’re sitting talking to federal agents because, you know, 18 USC 1001 is false statements to federal agents. That’s a crime. That can send you to jail.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“If Republicans hold then I think there’s an opportunity for somebody to run as an independent.”
— Mark Cuban, in an interview with Axios, saying that if Democrats lose in the midterm elections he’s more likely to run for president in 2020.
Lamb Finally Certified as Special Election Winner
“The last county left to certify its election results for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional district did so Monday morning, leaving no more obstacles separating Conor Lamb and his seat in the U.S. House,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
“The certification is the final step in officially declaring Mr Lamb the winner of the March 13 special election, which was to fill the vacancy left by former Rep. Tim Murphy’s resignation last year.”
The Case for Contesting Every Seat
Nathaniel Rakich: “One thing the data does show is that Democrats are capable of winning districts of all kinds, even if it doesn’t always work out that way. That should reassure the party that there may not be a wrong answer when choosing which types of districts to target — at least when it comes to demographics. (Some other factor, such as candidate quality, may better explain when Democrats overperform and when they don’t.) For those of you thirsty for a grand conclusion to draw from this exercise, here it is: Be skeptical of any argument that claims to know one correct path forward for Democrats.”
The Trump White House
Out this week: The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game by Ronald Kessler.
The author to CNN: “If you wonder why there are so many leaks out of the White House, one reason is Kellyanne Conway is the number one leaker.”
Kessler also says that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner pushed the president into some of the most dangerous moves of his presidency: “In the end, Jared and Ivanka would push the most disastrous and foolish decisions of Trump’s presidency … they had no understanding of the basic fundamentals of how government works … most of all, they had no understanding of the political consequences of their actions.”
A Look at the Fox News-Trump Feedback Loop
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John Oliver Slams Sinclair Broadcasting
John Oliver ran an interesting segment on Sinclair Broadcast Group, “the most influential media company that you’ve never heard of” and how they force 170 local television station anchors to read the same commentary.
Trump tweets this morning: “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
Kasich Heads to New Hampshire
Gov. John Kasich’s (R) “return to New Hampshire this week is likely to get widespread media coverage as a significant milestone toward what many view as his inevitable 2020 presidential campaign,” the Columbus Dispatch reports.
“Kasich’s ‘fireside chat’ Tuesday evening at a college near the state capital of Concord is his only public event… But there will be opportunities to reconnect with the network that propelled him to a second-place finish behind Trump in 2016, as well as connect with new potential supporters disgruntled with Trump.”
