“State legislators across the country are debating new measures that would require candidates running for president to publicly disclose their tax returns to qualify for the ballot,” The Hill reports.
“Democrats, incensed by Trump’s false claims of being prevented from releasing the documents because of an IRS audit, see the legislation on the state level as a way to force the president’s hand when he seeks reelection in 2020.”
A spokesman for former President Obama released a statement on President Trump’s assertion that Obama ordered wiretaps of the Trump campaign:
“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
Of course, the statement doesn’t deny that Trump’s phones were tapped only that the Obama White House didn’t order them.
“I’m very worried that our president is suggesting the former president has done something illegal. I’d be very worried if in fact the Obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity with foreign governments. It’s my job as United States senator to get to the bottom of this.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by The Hill.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told MSNBC he thinks there are transcripts detailing what the FBI and other agencies know about Donald Trump and his campaign’s ties to Russia.
Said Coons: “It think it’s important that the outcome of that counterintelligence investigation be fully shared with the intelligence committees, both in the House and the Senate. There are transcripts that provide very helpful, very critical insights into whether or not Russian intelligence and senior Russian political leaders, including Vladimir Putin, were cooperating, were colluding with the Trump campaign at the highest levels to influence the outcome of our election.”
He added: “If that information is stonewalled or hidden away, and if we are not able to get that on the Senate intelligence, House intelligence committees, then I think that has real consequences for our democracy.”
The Washington Post reports that President Trump left the White House “in a fury” on Friday, “fuming about Jeff Sessions’s recusal and telling aides that the Attorney General shouldn’t have recused himself” on a story he thought was “bull.”
Jonathan Swan: “To understand Trump’s psychology you need to grasp that the worst sin in Trumpland is to back down. The staff who’ve been with Trump the longest have internalized that fact. Their first instincts in any controversy are to deny and attack. Aides who don’t get Trump enrage him by being too willing to back down. In Trump’s mind, an inch of retreat — even if the facts seemingly demand an apology — is unforgivable.”
Politico: “President Trump insists questions about once-hidden contacts between his inner campaign circle and Russian officials are a ‘witch hunt.’ Public-opinion polls suggest Americans don’t agree. While the public still has considerable confusion about what, precisely, individuals connected to the Russian government did — and how they might have been connected to the Trump campaign — there is general consensus that whatever happened, it merits further independent investigation.”
BuzzFeed: “A sobbing 13-year-old girl recorded the arrest of her undocumented immigrant father in Los Angeles shortly after a school drop-off, the latest deportation-related enforcement action to receive renewed scrutiny under the Trump administration.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s aides declined to clarify whether the president’s explosive allegations were based on briefings from intelligence or law enforcement officials, or on something else, like a news report. A spokesman for Mr. Obama did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
“The president’s decision to lend the power of his office to such an accusation — without offering any proof — is remarkable, even for a leader who has repeatedly shown himself willing to make assertions that are false or based on rumors.”
Politico: “Trump’s top aides were caught off guard by the tweets Saturday morning.”
In a series of tweets this morning, President Trump accused former President Obama of tapping his phones during the 2016 presidential election.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
New York Times: “The president was irritated that Mr. Sessions did not more carefully answer the questions he was asked under oath, according to people who spoke with him. His larger frustration, however, was not with Mr. Sessions, but with whoever revealed the meetings to reporters for The Washington Post.”
“Mr. Trump, according to his advisers inside and outside of the White House, has felt besieged by what he regards as a mostly hostile bureaucracy, consisting in part of Democrats and people who opposed his election who are now undermining his presidency with leaks. He believes that they are behind the stories about confusion and dysfunction in his administration and, most of all, that they have made his relationship with Russia a recurring issue.”
Washington Post: “The Trump team’s early blanket denial has given way to explanations that the meetings were innocuous, ranging from polite introductions to routine diplomacy. Yet each new revelation adds to a cloud of suspicion that hangs over the White House as critics demand an independent investigation.”
New York Times: “In a Washington atmosphere supercharged by the finding of the intelligence agencies that Mr. Putin tried to steer the election to Mr. Trump, as well as continuing F.B.I. and congressional investigations, a growing list of Russian contacts with Mr. Trump’s associates is getting intense and skeptical scrutiny.”
“Democrats see suspicious connections and inaccurate denials as part of a pattern that belies Mr. Trump’s adamant insistence that he and his associates ‘have nothing to do with Russia.’ The president’s supporters say innocuous encounters, routine for any incoming presidential team, are being treated for political reasons as somehow subversive.”
Washington Post: “White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, senior adviser Stephen Miller and National Trade Council director Peter Navarro have all voiced internal support for the creation of a border adjustment tax or something like it. They believe it would incentivize companies to keep jobs in the United States and raise the cost of items that are imported.”
“But Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn have raised concerns, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private. They are backed by a number of Senate Republicans who have told the White House they would block any bill that creates a new tax on imports.”
“The divide has the potential to scuttle one of President Trump’s top domestic agenda items — tax reform, which he views as key to boosting the economy and prompting employers to create more jobs in the United States.”
“House Republicans aren’t backing down from their Obamacare repeal plan that sparked backlash from the party’s conservative wing. The latest version of the House’s Obamacare repeal bill — which has yet to be publicly released — contains few significant changes to a previously leaked draft,” according to documents obtained by Politico.
“The bill still includes new tax credits for individuals based on age, a proposal that hardline conservatives derided as “Obamacare lite” after Politico published a previous version of the draft legislation last week.”
A Polish member of the European Parliament has launched another sexist tirade, calling it a “20th century stereotype that women have the same intellectual potential as men,” and that the stereotype “must be destroyed because it is not true,” the AP reports.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke’s insults came two days after he told the European Parliament that “women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent.”
“The Pennsylvania Senate Democrats have been hit by a ransomware attack that has locked senators and employees out of their computer network since the early morning hours of Friday,” state officials told NBC News.
“In a ransomware attack, hackers inject a network with malware that typically encrypts important data, and then demand payment in exchange for a key that releases the data. They threaten to destroy the data if they aren’t paid.”
“The Trump administration is seeking to slash one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs,” according to a four-page budget memo obtained by the Washington Post.
“The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and ‘coastal resilience,’ which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas.”
Politico: “Trump’s aides and advisers have declared that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is not that close to the president and has lost clout since he was unceremoniously ousted from leading the transition team shortly after the Nov. 8 election. But Trump frequently calls Christie to ask his opinion on the administration’s performance, and to kibbitz about New York or whatever is happening that day, according to several people close to Trump with knowledge of the conversations.”
“The president also sought to appoint Christie as labor secretary after Trump’s first nominee, Andrew Puzder, dropped out, even though some of his top advisers disapproved of the move. Christie declined the offer.”
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.