Trump’s Science Office Is a Ghost Town
“In its 41-year-old history as the White House hub of innovation, the Office of Science and Technology Policy has never gone this long without a leader or official mandate,” CBS News reports.
“But nine months into his administration, there’s no clear indication that the president is close to naming a science adviser who will inform his policymaking, though that’s the mission that the OSTP has played since its founding in 1976 by President Gerald Ford. From climate change to space to education, the office has served as an in-house incubator for research, data, and crisis management that drove policy under seven presidents.”
Judge Permanently Blocks Trump’s Sanctuary Cities Order
A federal judge permanently blocked President Trump’s executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities, the AP reports.
“U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick rejected the administration’s argument that the executive order applies only to a relatively small pot of money and said Trump cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress. The judge had previously made the same arguments in a ruling that put a temporary hold on the executive order targeting so-called sanctuary cities. The Trump administration has appealed that decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Leading Trump Pick for Census Causes Alarm
“The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau,” Politico reports.
“Brunell, a political science professor, has testified more than half a dozen times on behalf of Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, and is the author of a 2008 book titled Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America. The choice would mark the administration’s first major effort to shape the 2020 Census, the nationwide count that determines which states lose and gain electoral votes and seats in the House of Representatives.”
Conyers Settled Sexual Harassment Complaint
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not “succumb to his sexual advances,” BuzzFeed News reports.
The Book Scaramucci Wanted to Write
Business Insider: “In the months after getting ousted from the White House, Scaramucci sought a publisher to put out a book, which at one point was titled I Did It My Way, about his 10 days as Trump’s communications director. A proposal for the book that was circulated to several major publishers earlier this summer and shared with Business Insider promised a ‘tell-all’ to dish on his bizarre ouster from the White House as well as his ‘countless other interactions involving Sean Spicer, General McMaster, Sarah Huckabee and even the Vice President.’”
“But in a text message to Business Insider on Monday, Scaramucci … said he was no longer interested in publishing a book, saying he was not willing to write the kind of tell-all that would create buzz but damage his standing with the president and the White House.”
Immigration Showdown Set for December
Politico: “Concern is growing in both parties that a clash over the fate of Dreamers will trigger a government shutdown this December. House conservatives have warned Speaker Paul Ryan against lumping a fix for undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors into a year-end spending deal. They want him to keep the two issues separate and delay immigration negotiations into 2018 to increase their leverage — which both Ryan and the White House consider reasonable.”
“But many liberal Democrats have already vowed to withhold votes from the spending bill should it not address Dreamers, putting Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in an awkward spot if they don’t go along.”
21st Century Fox Settles Sexual Harassment Scandal
“Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has reached a $90 million settlement of shareholder claims arising from the sexual harassment scandal at its Fox News Channel, which cost the jobs of longtime news chief Roger Ailes and anchor Bill O‘Reilly,” Reuters reports.
“The settlement, which requires a judge’s approval, resolves what are known as ‘derivative’ claims against Fox officers and directors, including: Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who are Fox’s executive chairmen; James Murdoch, another son and its chief executive, and Ailes’ estate.”
Trump Is Playing Zero-Dimensional Chess
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FCC Plans Total Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
“FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to his fellow commissioners on Tuesday to fully dismantle the agency’s Obama-era net neutrality regulations, people familiar with the plans said, in a major victory for the telecom industry in the long-running policy debate,” Politico reports.
“The commission will vote on the proposal in December, some seven months after it laid the groundwork for scuttling the rules that require internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T to treat web traffic equally.”
Trump Advised to Not Criticize Roy Moore
Daily Beast: “Multiple sources in and out of the West Wing say that some of Trump’s closest advisers have recommended that he not criticize Moore publicly prior to the election in November. Among those privately encouraging him to stay mum have been Kellyanne Conway, the president’s counselor and former campaign manager, and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and current Breitbart chairman.”
“According to two sources—one a White House official and the other a Republican source close to both the White House and Bannon—Bannon has spoken multiple times on the phone to President Trump since late last week. At least one of those calls was devoted to discouraging the president from rejecting or criticizing Moore in public statements.”
Graham Wants New Election In Alabama
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Alabama GOP candidate Roy Moore (R) “poses a threat to the Republican agenda, adding that he favors maneuvering that would trigger a new special election,” The Hill reports.
Said Graham: “We’re about to give away a seat that can determine the future of Trump’s agenda, and I hope the good people of Alabama on the Republican side will try to find a way to pick a nominee that can represent the conservative cause in an effective way.”
He added: “This Jones guy’s not going to help us on anything that Trump wants to do.”
Meanwhile, a source close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tells the Daily Caller that a write-in campaign is “no longer viable.”
Carter Page Held Meetings with Hungarian Officials
“Travels by Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to meet with senior officials in Hungary during the 2016 presidential election are being closely examined by congressional investigators, given the increasingly close ties between Hungary and Russia and the role of the country as a hub for Russian intelligence activity. The Hungarian prime minister was the first foreign leader to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy,” ABC News reports.
“Though characterized as a low-level volunteer, Page held high-level foreign policy meetings with Hungarian officials before the 2016 presidential election.”
Eight Women Say Charlie Rose Sexually Harassed Them
“Eight women have told the Washington Post that longtime television host Charlie Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them, including lewd phone calls, walking around naked in their presence, or groping their breasts, buttocks or genital areas.”
“There are striking commonalities in the accounts of the women, each of whom described their interactions with Rose in multiple interviews with The Post. For all of the women, reporters interviewed friends, colleagues or family members who said the women had confided in them about aspects of the incidents. Three of the eight spoke on the record.”
Germany May Face New Elections
“Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany faced the greatest crisis of her political career on Monday, after late-night negotiations to form a new government collapsed, raising the prospect of a snap election,” the New York Times reports.
“The chancellor expressed a preference for a new election, saying that she was doubtful that a government lacking a majority in Parliament could handle the many challenges it faces.”
The BBC runs through the options.
Garcetti Is Serious About Running for President
New York Times: “And in the course of an hourlong interview in his office, Mr. Garcetti, 46, a Democrat, made clear that, as unlikely as it might sound, he is considering a run for president, after announcing he would not run for governor… Mr. Garcetti’s attempt to test these waters — and the fact that he is being watched with some seriousness despite never running a national or even statewide campaign before — may say less about this city’s mayor and more about the national political landscape.”
“The success of Mr. Trump, a business executive who had never run for office before, appears to have lowered the bar on the qualifications needed to run for the White House. And the Democratic Party is grappling with a sparse bench of candidates — many of its brightest prospects are in their 70s, like Joe Biden, the former vice president, or are relatively young and little known, like Mr. Garcetti.”
McMaster Called Trump an ‘Idiot’ and a ‘Dope’
Five sources told BuzzFeed News that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster mocked President Trump’s intelligence at a private dinner with a powerful tech CEO.
“Over a July dinner with Oracle CEO Safra Catz — who has been mentioned as a candidate for several potential administration jobs — McMaster bluntly trashed his boss… The top national security official dismissed the president variously as an ‘idiot’ and a ‘dope’ with the intelligence of a ‘kindergartner.'”
A sixth source said that McMaster “had made similarly derogatory comments about Trump’s intelligence to him in private, including that the president lacked the necessary brainpower to understand the matters before the National Security Council.”
The 2018 House Race Could Be Close
Nate Cohn: “All considered, this year’s election results and the current national political environment are consistent with the possibility of a so-called wave election, like the ones that brought Democrats to power in the House in 2006 and swept Republicans into office in 1994 and 2010.”
“But Republicans have important structural advantages. They enter the cycle with the advantage of incumbency and a highly favorable congressional map, thanks to partisan gerrymandering and the tendency for Democrats to waste votes with overwhelming margins in heavily Democratic urban areas.”
“As a result, it’s not obvious that the building Democratic wave will be enough to flip control of the House.”
