“I can be the most presidential person ever, other than possibly the great Abe Lincoln, all right?”
— President Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC News.
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Ryan Backs Trump Investigation Into Voter Fraud
House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed President Trump’s call to launch an investigation into voter fraud in the presidential election, Politico reports.
Said Ryan: “I think it’s fine.”
He added: “If he believes there’s a problem to be looked at, the right thing to do is get an investigation, to get the facts. I haven’t seen evidence of this kind of widespread numbers that we’ve been hearing about. The thing to do is to get an investigation to get the facts and then make a judgment based on the facts.”
However, election law expert Rick Hasen calls Trump’s claims “a ludicrous accusation.”
Big City Mayors Will Defy Trump Order on Sanctuary Cities
“Several big city mayors across the U.S. vowed on Wednesday to defy President Trump’s executive order that threatens to cut off federal funding to cities that offer some sort of protection to undocumented immigrants in their communities,” USA Today reports.
“But as Trump announced the order — as well as action to build a wall along the U.S-Mexico border and hire thousands of new border patrol agents and immigration officers — leaders of some of the nation’s biggest cities flatly stated they would not be cooperating with the president.”
Trump’s Impulses Now Carry the Force of the Presidency
“Impetuous and instinctive, convinced of broad but hidden plots to undermine him, eager to fight and prone to what an aide called ‘alternative facts,’ President Trump has shown in just days in office that he is like few if any occupants of the White House before him,” the New York Times reports.
“He sits in the White House at night, watching television or reading social media, and through Twitter issues instant judgments on what he sees. He channels fringe ideas and gives them as much weight as carefully researched reports. He denigrates the conclusions of intelligence professionals and then later denies having done so. He thrives on conflict and chaos.”
“For a capital that typically struggles to adjust to the ways of a new president every four or eight years, Mr. Trump has posed a singular challenge. Rarely if ever has a president been as reactive to random inputs as Mr. Trump.”
Mexican President Considers Canceling Visit
New York Times: “With just a few strokes of the pen on Wednesday, the new American president signed an executive order to beef up the nation’s deportation force and start construction on a new wall between the nations. Adding to the perceived insult was the timing of the order: It came on the first day of talks between top Mexican officials and their counterparts in Washington, and just days before a meeting between the two countries’ presidents.”
“The action was enough to prompt President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico to consider scrapping his plans to visit the White House on Tuesday, according to Mexican officials. It mattered little to them whether Mr. Trump’s order would receive congressional approval or the funding required to fulfill it.”
Meanwhile, The Hill reports Peña Nieto reaffirmed his country will not pay for a border wall.
Quote of the Day
“So I am begging the president, share with us the information you have about this or please stop saying it. As a matter of fact, I’d like you do more than stop saying it, I’d like you to come forward and say, ‘Having looked at it, I am confident the election was fair and accurate and people who voted voted legally.’ ‘Cause if he doesn’t do that, this is going to undermine his ability to govern this country.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by The Hill.
EPA Science Under Scrutiny by Trump Political Staff
“The Trump administration is mandating that any studies or data from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public,” the AP reports.
Trump Orders Aimed at Global Funding and Treaties
“The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the United States’ role in the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties,” the New York Times reports.
“Taken together, the orders suggest that Mr. Trump intends to pursue his campaign promises of withdrawing the United States from international organizations. He has expressed heavy skepticism of multilateral agreements such as the Paris climate agreement and of the United Nations.”
Trump Says He Believes Torture Works
President Trump says that he believes torture works, saying that “we have to fight fire with fire,” the AP reports.
He said that radical groups “chop off the citizens’ or anybody’s heads in the Middle East” while “we’re not allowed to do anything. We’re not playing on an even field.”
Meanwhile, Politico quotes Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): “We’re not bringing back torture.”
How Trump Defied Expectations to Win
Frontline: “The inside story of how Trump won — told by the people who were there with him.”
Trump’s Club Doubles Membership Fee
Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort owned by the Trump Organization, doubled its initiation fee to $200,000 following the election of Donald Trump as president, CNBC reports.
GOP Lawmakers Move to Change Electoral Vote Rules
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Trump’s Photo Op Presidency
CNN: “Trump’s daily schedule is packed with meetings that double as photo ops — on Monday, six in a single day — reinforcing his administration’s message about getting to work and overturning Obama administration policies.”
“Trump cares deeply about visuals, knowing that sometimes pictures speak louder than words. Sometimes he even narrates what he’s doing to the camera crews, acting as both the star and director simultaneously. The new president is back in his element, hosting a show, this time not in the Apprentice boardroom but in the Oval Office.”
Trump Settles Into His New Home
“President Trump, who flew across the country on hundreds of nights during the 2016 campaign to sleep in his own bed, has now spent five straight days in the unfamiliar surroundings of the White House. His aides say he was apprehensive about the move to his new home, but Mr. Trump has discovered there is a lot he likes,” the New York Times reports.
“The White House is the only property that Mr. Trump has slept in that is more famous than one of his own, and he seems in awe.”
“Among modern American presidents, Mr. Trump may be best situated to work where he lives. For decades, he has lived in a penthouse apartment on the 58th floor of Trump Tower and taken an elevator down to the 26th floor, where he has a corner office with views of Central Park. Many presidents have complained of being cooped up inside the White House — George W. Bush in particular said he missed the outdoors — but Mr. Trump can go for days without breathing in fresh outside air.”
Trump Hotels Plots Big Expansion
President Donald Trump’s hotel-management company wants to expand its namesake luxury hotels across the U.S. while it holds off on new overseas business, Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danzinger: “There are 26 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., and we’re in five. I don’t see any reason that we couldn’t be in all of them eventually.”
Trump Advisor Is Registered to Vote In Two States
White House adviser Stephen Bannon is apparently registered to vote in two places, New York City and Sarasota County, Florida, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Trump Poised to Reopen ‘Black Site’ Prisons
“The Trump administration is preparing a sweeping executive order that would clear the way for the C.I.A. to reopen overseas ‘black site’ prisons, like those where it detained and tortured terrorism suspects before former President Obama shut them down,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump’s three-page draft order… would also undo many of the other restrictions on handling detainees that Mr. Obama put in place in response to policies of the Bush administration.”
“If Mr. Trump signs the draft order, he would also revoke Mr. Obama’s directive to give the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all detainees in American custody. That would be another step toward reopening secret prisons outside of the normal wartime rules established by the Geneva Conventions, although statutory obstacles would remain.”
Nebraska Lawmaker Resigns Before Being Booted
Embattled Nebraska state Sen. Bill Kintner (R) resigned from the legislature following months of criticism from lawmakers, constituents and Gov. Pete Ricketts, the Omaha World Herald reports.
“Kintner, who admitted last year to using a state laptop to engage in cybersex with a woman he met online, became the target of a barrage of criticism during legislative floor debate this week after he retweeted a Twitter post that appeared to make light of sexual assault.”
The Lincoln Journal Star reports Kintner made the announcement “shortly before his fellow senators were scheduled to consider resolutions to expel him.”
