“We’ve been dreaming of this since I’ve been around… since you and I were drinking out of kegs.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with National Review, about this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cut Medicaid spending.”
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Bharara Was Investigating Price Stock Trades
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was removed from his post by the Trump administration last week, was overseeing an investigation into stock trades made by the president’s health secretary, ProPublica reports.
“Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings for investments he made while serving in Congress. The Georgia lawmaker traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.”
White House Appeals Ruling on Travel Ban
“The Trump administration filed court papers Friday hoping to salvage its second version of a travel ban, after two judges in separate cases this week found it likely violated the Constitution,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Justice Department filed legal papers in federal court in Maryland, setting up a new showdown in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, located in Richmond, Virginia.”
Ernst Says Trump Should Release Tax Returns
“Facing a jeering crowd of demonstrators and left-leaning voters, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that President Donald Trump should release his tax returns,” Politico reports.
“As she absorbed boos and heckles for her answers on health care, climate change and Planned Parenthood, the Iowa Republican gave the mostly Democratic crowd something to cheer for: Becoming one of the latest high-profile lawmakers to call on Trump to release more of his financial information.”
Trump Is Big Beneficiary of GOP Tax Bill
“The first big tax cut moving through Congress under President Donald Trump would likely benefit the president himself, potentially saving him millions of dollars in taxes on his rental income next year and even more money on other income if he wins a second term,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Trump’s decision to continue owning his businesses as president without running them expands the tax’s effect on him and thus makes him benefit more from the proposed repeal, which would take effect in 2018, according to accountants and tax lawyers.”
Gardner Finds Perils of Distancing from Trump
A new OnSight poll in Colorado finds Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) efforts to keep President Trump at arm’s length may be hurting his support among Republicans. His approval among GOP voters was 63% — a far cry from the 83% of Colorado Republicans who approved of Trump.
A Terrible Week for Donald Trump
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Nazi Group Claims Top Trump Aide as Member
Sebastian Gorka, President Trump’s top counter-terrorism adviser, is a formal member of a Hungarian far-right group that is listed by the U.S. State Department as having been “under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany” during World War II, leaders of the organization have told the Forward.
King Says GOP Colleagues Are Supporting Him
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says he hasn’t been getting much pushback from fellow House Republicans about his controversial tweet over the weekend saying that “we can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” The Hill reports.
Said King: “My colleagues have generally been coming by and patting me on the back. And a surprising number have said that they pray for me. And, meaning they support me and they agree with me, a surprising number.”
He added: “I don’t often have members come up and say at the end of the day, ‘I prayed for you this morning.’ So they must think I’ve got a lot of arrows in my back.”
Quote of the Day
“There’s not a person in Washington who thinks that there actually was a wiretap, that this is true… It makes you question the credibility of the president on anything.”
— Charles Krauthammer, on Fox News.
Trump Says He Never Forgets Who Didn’t Endorse Him
President Trump hasn’t forgotten Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) decision not to endorse him and wasn’t timid in bringing it up during his visit to the state, Politico reports.
Said Trump as he posed for a photo op: “Come on governor, even though you didn’t endorse me.”
He added: “I never forget.”
Collins Won’t Support House GOP Health Care Plan
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said that she opposes the House Republican health care bill being debated in Congress, the Portland Press Herald reports.
“Though the moderate Republican previously has raised concerns about the bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, she had not previously said she was against it.”
Said Collins: “This is not a bill I could support in its current form. It really misses the mark.”
Tillerson Rejects Talks with North Korea
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ruled out opening any negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said for the first time that the Trump administration might be forced to take pre-emptive action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level, the New York Times reports.
“The secretary of state’s comments were the Trump administration’s first public hint at the options being considered, and they made clear that none involved a negotiated settlement or waiting for the North Korean government to collapse.”
Said Tillserson: “The policy of strategic patience has ended.”
U.S. Apologizes to Britain for Accusations
The United States has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House, the Telegraph reports.
“Sean Spicer, Mr Trump’s press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News – that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November’s election.”
Trump Voters Lose In His Proposed Budget
“Some of the biggest losers in President Trump’s proposed budget are the rural communities that fueled his stunning White House victory,” the Boston Globe reports.
“Funding that keeps rural airports open, grants that help build rural water and sewer projects, and money for long-distance Amtrak lines that serve rural communities would all disappear under Trump’s budget blueprint released Thursday.”
“Trump also wants to kill the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps people, including seniors on fixed incomes and the working poor, to pay their heating bills. It’s a particularly prized resource in New England, with its brutal winters. Also on the chopping block: funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission, which seeks to boost economic development in a region that strongly supported Trump. Into the dustbin, too, would go the US Chemical Safety Board, an agency that has open investigations in Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Kansas, and last September wrapped up a probe of a West Virginia chemical spill that left more than 300,000 people without usable water for a time.”
Campaign Pledges Haunt Trump In Court
“In quick succession on Wednesday night, federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland blocked President Trump’s revised travel ban. They said statements Mr. Trump had made as a presidential candidate, including his call for ‘a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,’ helped doom the executive order,” the New York Times reports.
“The judges said Mr. Trump’s promises to impose a “Muslim ban” were too telling and categorical to be ignored.”
“Outside the context of Mr. Trump’s two travel bans, few judicial rulings have addressed how much weight courts may put on statements from political candidates… But decisions about religious discrimination allow courts to consider government officials’ real purposes, even if their stated ones are neutral.”
GOP Leaders Want Details Before Funding Border Wall
“Republican leaders in Congress want more details from President Trump about his proposed border wall before appropriating significant funding for the project,” The Hill reports.
“They have questions about the design and how the administration would handle the rights of property owners whose land would be used to build the structure.”
Tillerson Hopes Avoiding Conflict Will Lead to Influence
“While he has swallowed a big budget cut, had his chosen deputy vetoed, and been dismissed as invisible in his own building, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is playing a patient game to gain influence by avoiding public conflicts with the White House,” Reuters reports.
“The former Exxon Mobil Corp CEO faces multiple challenges in his unfamiliar role as chief U.S. diplomat, including a boss in U.S. President Donald Trump who makes unpredictable policy pronouncements and does not take kindly to criticism or contradiction.”
