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White House Mulls Reorganization

April 1, 2017 at 8:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Less than three months into Donald Trump’s White House, top advisers are exploring organizational changes to stabilize an administration consumed by crisis and chaos,” Politico reports.

“Following the failure to advance health-care legislation, senior officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior adviser Jared Kushner, chief strategist Steve Bannon, and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn gathered this week to hold post-mortems about what went wrong.”

“Among the top concerns: The circular firing squad continually playing out in the press pitting top aides against one another — a dynamic that one senior adviser described as increasingly unsustainable.”

McCaskill Won’t Support Gorsuch Nomination

April 1, 2017 at 8:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) “will vote to filibuster Neil Gorsuch, becoming the 36th Democratic senator to vow to block President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee from confirmation,” Politico reports.

“McCaskill’s announcement Friday pushes the Senate ever-closer to a major confrontation next week over the chamber’s rules. If Democrats can secure five more votes to deny Gorsuch the 60 votes he needs to advance, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is likely to gut the supermajority requirement on Supreme Court nominees using the ‘nuclear option.'”

Omarosa Finally Has a Steady Job

April 1, 2017 at 8:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Omarosa Manigault’s new job as a White House liaison may be the most regular paycheck she’s had in a while,” USA Today reports.

“President Trump’s apprentice-turned-adviser had relatively modest income before joining the White House, cobbling together a living off royalty checks and appearance fees in addition to her $46,000 in salary from the Trump campaign and presidential transition.”


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How Steve Bannon Made His Money

April 1, 2017 at 8:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Years before Bannon became the architect of an anti-globalist revolution — working as chief strategist under President Trump to weaken free-trade deals, restrict immigration from a number of majority-Muslim nations and slam corporations that move jobs overseas — he made his fortune as the quintessential global capitalist.”

“An examination of Bannon’s career as an investment banker found that the Bannon of the 1980s and 1990s lived what looks like an alternate reality from the fiery populist of today who recently declared that ‘globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia.'”

Politico: Bannon made more than half a million dollars last year from entities tied to big GOP donors.

Kushner’s Status Stokes Resentment

April 1, 2017 at 8:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In a White House where President Donald Trump commands reverence, Jared Kushner often refers to the president by one name: Donald. And while cable TV can dominate the president’s mood and set the agenda for senior administration staff, Kushner usually keeps his large flat-screen TV in his office turned off, a stark departure from other top aides,” Politico reports.

“Kushner, the president’s 36-year-old son-in-law and White House senior adviser, does essentially what he wants, having the benefit of not only Trump’s ear but — as a family member — his implicit trust.”

“But Kushner’s status as the big-issue guru has stoked resentment among his colleagues, who question whether Kushner is capable of following through on his various commitments and complain that his dabbling in myriad issues and his tendency to walk in and out of meetings have complicated efforts to instill more order and organization into the chaotic administration.”

Trump and Kushner Worth at Least $741 million

March 31, 2017 at 7:53 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $741 million, despite their new government responsibilities, according to ethics filings released by the White House Friday night,” the New York Times reports.

“Ms. Trump will also maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The hotel, just down the street from the White House, has drawn protests from ethics experts who worry that foreign governments or special interests could stay there in order to curry favor with the administration.”

“It is unclear how Ms. Trump would earn income from that stake. Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosures say that Ms. Trump earned between $1 million and $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at between $5 million and $25 million.”

White House Struggles with Russia Firestorm

March 31, 2017 at 7:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump entered his 11th week in office Friday in crisis mode, his governing agenda at risk of being subsumed by escalating questions about the White House’s conduct in the Russia probe — which the president called a witch hunt,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump and his senior aides spent much of the day on the defensive, parrying the latest reports that senior administration officials had potentially acted improperly in the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Moscow’s meddling in the U.S. elections and possible links between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.”

Meanwhile, CBS News has learned that U.S. investigators are looking into whether Trump campaign representatives had a role in helping Russian intelligence as it carried out cyberattacks on the DNC and other political targets in March 2016.

How Republicans View Work Ethic, Intelligence of Blacks

March 31, 2017 at 6:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The biggest yawning gap between Democrats and Republicans is on the issue of motivation and will power. The survey asks whether African Americans are worse off economically ‘because most just don’t have the motivation or will power to pull themselves up out of poverty?'”

“A majority — 55 percent — of white Republicans agreed with this statement, compared to 26 percent of white Democrats. That’s the biggest gap since the question was first asked in 1977 — though the gap was similar (60-32) in 2010.”

“The survey also asks people to rate the races on how hard-working or lazy they are, which allows us to compare whether people rate some higher than others. In this case, 42 percent of white Republicans rated African Americans as being lazier than whites, versus 24 percent of white Democrats. That 18-point gap is the second-biggest on-record, behind 2010 (19 points).”

Trump Administration Brags About Wealthy Staffers

March 31, 2017 at 6:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Starting Friday evening, the White House will begin to release financial disclosure forms filed by about 180 members of the Trump administration who are either commissioned officers or paid more than $161,755,” the Washington Post reports.

“Already, the administration is bragging that its members are way wealthier than those who worked for former president Barack Obama — a point of pride that doesn’t quite match the president’s campaign pledge to ‘drain the swamp’ of wealthy GOP donors, lifelong political operatives and those who are simply out-of-touch with everyday Americans.”

Did Michael Flynn Do Something Illegal?

March 31, 2017 at 6:24 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ryan Lizza talked to a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee:

I asked the Republican congressman if he believed that Flynn did anything illegal in the phone call, in which Flynn discussed actions taken the same day by the Obama Administration. A rarely enforced eighteenth-century law known as the Logan Act makes it illegal to “influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government” or “defeat the measures of the United States” in disputes with an adversary. “That’s open to question,” the Republican congressman told me.

The Hill: 5 questions investigators want to ask Micheal Flynn.

Another Poll Shows Trump at Record Low Approval

March 31, 2017 at 2:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds President Trump’s approval rate at 38% to 51%.

A third of voters surveyed gave Trump an “F” grade on his time in office.

Said pollster Lee Miringoff: “There’s no honeymoon. He’s spending political capital that he didn’t acquire on Election Day. And he hasn’t done anything to cultivate it.”

Trump Needs Freedom Caucus More Than They Need Him

March 31, 2017 at 2:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

President Trump’s attack on the House Freedom Caucus — and his threat to back primary challenges against them — might be one of the worst decisions he’s made so far.

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Bonus Quote of the Day

March 31, 2017 at 2:04 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If somebody can get to the right of me in the primary, God bless him.”

— Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), quoted by Roll Call, dismissing President Trump’s threats to back primary challenges against House Freedom Caucus members.

Trump Unafraid of Possible Government Shutdown

March 31, 2017 at 1:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Caller: “According to the source in the room, White House staffers told attendees that Trump doesn’t see much downside to a shutdown and believes congressional Democrats will bear full responsibility if one does occur.”

“A White House official speaking on background confirmed that the issue of whether the president is unafraid of a shutdown was raised at the meeting, and confirmed that staffers communicated the president’s commitment to funding the border wall – a major point of contention in avoiding a government shutdown – but denied that any answer in the affirmative was given by White House staffers.”

Related for members: Republicans In Retreat

Obama Officials Made List of Russia Documents

March 31, 2017 at 1:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Obama administration officials “were so concerned about what would happen to key classified documents related to the Russia probe once President Trump took office that they created a list of document serial numbers to give to senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee,” a former Obama official told NBC News.

“The official said that after the list of documents related to the probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election was created in early January, he hand-carried it to the committee members. The numbers themselves were not classified.”

The purpose, said the official, was to make it “harder to bury” the information, “to share it with those on the Hill who could lawfully see the documents,” and to make sure it could reside in an Intelligence committee safe, “not just at Langley.”

The Worst Start to a Presidency Ever

March 31, 2017 at 12:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

A key message of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was that a Hillary Clinton presidency would be consumed quickly by scandal. By branding her “Crooked Hillary,” it helped remind voters that scandal always seemed to follow Clinton.

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Flynn’s Immunity Request Denied by Senate Committee

March 31, 2017 at 12:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Senate Intelligence Committee turned down the request by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s lawyer for a grant of immunity in exchange for his testimony, two congressional sources told NBC News.

A senior congressional official with direct knowledge said Flynn’s lawyer was told it was “wildly preliminary” and that immunity was “not on the table” at the moment. A second source said the committee communicated that it is “not receptive” to Flynn’s request “at this time.”

Brown Won’t Rule Out Running for President

March 31, 2017 at 11:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) isn’t ruling out out running for president in 2020, The Hill reports.

Said Brown: “I’d be 82 then. Don’t rule it out.”

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Armchair Strategist: An armchair strategist is a person who creates plans and military strategy without being directly involved in the area.

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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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