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North Korea Re-Opens Communication with South

January 3, 2018 at 6:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reopened a key cross-border communication channel with South Korea for the first time in nearly two years Wednesday as the rivals explored the possibility of sitting down and talking after months of acrimony and fears of war. The sudden signs of easing animosity, however, came as President Donald Trump threatened Kim with nuclear war in response to his threat earlier this week.”

“The recent softening of contact between the rival Koreas may show a shared interest in improved ties, but there’s no guarantee tensions will ease. There have been repeated attempts in recent years by the rivals to talk, but even when they do meet, the efforts often end in recriminations and stalemate.”

Firm Defends ‘Dossier’ on Trump-Russia Ties

January 2, 2018 at 9:46 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, founders of Fusion GPS, write in the New York Times:

Yes, we hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert. But we did so without informing him whom we were working for and gave him no specific marching orders beyond this basic question: Why did Mr. Trump repeatedly seek to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun?

What came back shocked us. Mr. Steele’s sources in Russia (who were not paid) reported on an extensive — and now confirmed — effort by the Kremlin to help elect Mr. Trump president. Mr. Steele saw this as a crime in progress and decided he needed to report it to the F.B.I…

We’re extremely proud of our work to highlight Mr. Trump’s Russia ties. To have done so is our right under the First Amendment.

It is time to stop chasing rabbits. The public still has much to learn about a man with the most troubling business past of any United States president. Congress should release transcripts of our firm’s testimony, so that the American people can learn the truth about our work and most important, what happened to our democracy.

Bonus Quote of the Day

January 2, 2018 at 8:17 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘nuclear button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his, and my button works!”

— President Trump, on Twitter.

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Foreign Governments Find Ways to Please Trump

January 2, 2018 at 8:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

McClatchy: “In Indonesia, a local government plans to build a road to shorten the drive between the main airport on the island of Bali and the new high-end Trump resort and golf course.”

“In Panama, the country’s federal government intervened to ensure a sewer system around a 70-story Trump skyscraper shaped like a sail in Panama City would be completed.”

“And in other countries, governments have donated public land, approved permits and eased environmental regulations for Trump-branded developments, creating a slew of potential conflicts as foreign leaders make investments that can be seen as gifts or attempts to gain access to the American president through his sprawling business empire.”

Democrats May Issue Minority Report on Russia

January 2, 2018 at 8:13 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told Greg Sargent that Democrats “are seriously exploring the possibility of issuing a minority report that details (among other things) the degree to which Republicans tried to impede a full investigation, should that end up happening.”

“In this scenario, the public would at least have a clear sense of just how far Republicans went to protect President Trump and his top officials from accountability.”

Said Himes: “It’s in both the Democrats’ and the Republicans’ interests to … write a report based on a common set of facts. It would be a tragedy if the report has a minority section that says, ‘Look, we wanted to talk to these two dozen witnesses and weren’t able to do so.'”

At Least 35 LGBTQ People Running In Texas

January 2, 2018 at 8:11 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A record 35 openly LGBTQ people will run for public office in Texas in 2018, according to an extensive review by OutSmart. That’s roughly twice as many as in any previous election cycle in the state’s history.”

“The unprecedented field of LGBTQ candidates includes two for governor, one for Texas Supreme Court, two for Texas Senate, eight for Texas House, seven for U.S. Congress, and 12 for various judicial seats.”

Will Bannon Try to Bump Romney?

January 2, 2018 at 7:46 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Callum Borchers: “The race to succeed Hatch in Utah could represent an irresistible challenge for Bannon, especially if Mitt Romney runs. As I have noted before, Romney and Breitbart News were very friendly in 2012, when the former Massachusetts governor was the GOP presidential nominee. But since Romney lost to Barack Obama — an event that roughly coincided with Bannon assuming control of Breitbart — Romney has become a symbol of the political establishment Breitbart reviles.”

Axios: Romney changes Twitter location to Utah.

Lew Says Tax Cuts Will Leave the U.S. Broke

January 2, 2018 at 7:44 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Bloomberg the Trump administration’s decision to add a significant amount of debt through last year’s tax legislation is leaving the country broke.

Said Lew: “It’s a ticking time bomb in terms of the debt. You cannot run a fiscal policy by spending trillions of dollars you don’t have at a time that the economy is doing well.”

Trump Threatens to Cut Off Funding to Palestinians

January 2, 2018 at 7:27 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump suggested that the U.S. should consider cutting payments to the Palestiniana, saying their officials “don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel,” Politico reports.

“It was unclear which payments to the Palestinian Authority the president was questioning. But the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said earlier Tuesday that Trump planned to withhold money for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the entity tasked with aiding Palestinian refugees, if their leaders did not fully engage in the U.S.-led peace process with Israel.”

Witness Claims Mueller Grand Jury Is Mostly Black

January 2, 2018 at 6:18 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A witness who testified before the federal grand jury handing up indictments for special counsel Robert Mueller told Page Six that the jury doesn’t appear to include any supporters of President Trump.

Said the person: “The grand jury room looks like a Bernie Sanders rally. Maybe they found these jurors in central casting, or at a Black Lives Matter rally in Berkeley.”

Of the 20 jurors, 11 are African-Americans and two were wearing “peace T-shirts… There was only one white male in the room, and he was a prosecutor.”

Quote of the Day

January 2, 2018 at 2:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Since taking office I have been very strict on commercial aviation. Good news – it was just reported that there were zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”

— President Trump, on Twitter, taking credit for planes not crashing.

Hatch Will Not Seek Re-Election

January 2, 2018 at 2:11 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the longest-serving Senate Republican, plans to announce that he will retire at the end of the year, rebuffing the pleas of President Trump to seek an eighth term and paving the way for Mitt Romney to run for the seat, the New York Times reports.

Cook Political Report: Hatch retirement makes seat safer for Republicans.

Shuster Will Not Run for Re-Election

January 2, 2018 at 2:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, will not seek re-election in November, “telling the Washington Examiner that he wants to focus exclusively on working with President Trump to pass a massive infrastructure bill before he retires.”

Shuster said “he could focus on working with both parties better if he didn’t have to worry about running to hold his seat in a primary and general election.”

Bachmann Is Asking God If She Should Run for Senate

January 2, 2018 at 2:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) revealed on the Jim Bakker Show that she is currently considering making a run for the U.S. Senate seat that is set to be vacated by Al Franken.

Bachmann said that she has “had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat” and that she is asking God if doing so in His will for her.

Travel as a Political Act

January 2, 2018 at 12:02 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Coming soon: Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves.

With the world facing divisive events and movements like the rise of nationalism, Trump, Brexit, Erdogan, and more, there’s never been a more important time to travel.

Rick Steves believes the risks of travel are widely exaggerated, and that fear is for people who don’t get out much. After years of living out of a suitcase, he still marvels at how different cultures may find different truths to be self-evident. By sharing his experiences from Europe, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East, Rick shows how we can learn more about own country by viewing it from afar.

The best way to find great flights is from Scott’s Cheap Flights, an excellent newsletter from former Political Wire intern Scott Keyes. Highly recommended!

Why the 2018 Midterms Are So Vulnerable to Hackers

January 2, 2018 at 9:50 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New Yorker: “On a technical level, the American election system is almost as vulnerable as it was in 2016. According to U.S. intelligence, Russian hackers tested the vulnerabilities of registration rolls in twenty-one states, but did not alter the vote tallies. Halderman, who testified recently in Congress about gaps in election defenses, told me, ‘Unfortunately, there haven’t been widespread security improvements so far. We can be sure that our adversaries have been paying attention, and so they may be more likely to try attacking election systems in November.’ At the Def Con hackers’ conference in July, attendees demonstrated that they could break into thirty voting machines of multiple types, some in as little as ninety minutes. Without altering the results, hackers could sow doubt about the outcome by shutting down or disrupting voting machines on Election Day.”

“How much of an effect could Russian interference actually have in 2018? The effects could be meaningful, even if they never touch the tallies directly.”

Americans Predict International Strife for 2018

January 2, 2018 at 9:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gallup: “As Americans look ahead to 2018, eight in 10 predict it will be a troubled year filled with international discord rather than peace. The public is more optimistic about the economy, with a slight majority anticipating a year of economic prosperity. Americans split evenly on whether U.S. power in the world will increase or decline.”

Republicans May Write Off Florida House Seat

January 2, 2018 at 9:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The GOP’s inability to find top-shelf candidates to run for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s U.S. House seat has some Republicans ready to write off the race and shift money and attention to more winnable contests,” the Miami Herald reports.

“The seat that encompasses Little Havana, most of downtown Miami and Miami Beach is now considered unwinnable by some Republicans in Congress and fundraisers who could infuse millions into a competitive congressional race.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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