Political Wire

Mueller Could Use Grand Jury to Get Sessions to Answer

June 14, 2017 at 7:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mike Allen: “Dems smell blood, but it’s not necessarily Jeff Sessions’. The attorney general held his own at his high-stakes Senate hearing, at one point raising his voice to declare he was ‘not stonewalling,’ and resented the ‘secret innuendo being leaked out there about me.'”

“But Democrats tell me that with his dodges, artful and otherwise… Sessions left a host of openings — about himself and President Trump — that congressional investigators will pursue. Bob Mueller’s prosecutors can be expected to do the same.”

Said ex-Justice department spokesman Matt Miller: “Sessions can probably get out of ever giving the answer to a Republican Congress, but my guess is his performance earned him a ticket to a grand jury.”

Most Trump Real Estate Now Sold to Secretive Buyers

June 14, 2017 at 7:34 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Since President Trump won the Republican nomination, the majority of his companies’ real estate sales are to secretive shell companies that obscure the buyers’ identities,” a USA Today investigation has found.

“Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before.”

Trump Sued by Nearly 200 Democratic Lawmakers

June 14, 2017 at 7:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

USA Today: “Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress filed a lawsuit against President Trump on Wednesday morning alleging that his continued ties to his business empire violate the U.S. Constitution. The unprecedented legal action accuses Trump of violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts or titles from foreign governments without congressional approval.”

“The lawsuit will have the greatest number of congressional plaintiffs of any lawsuit against the president in the nation’s history.”

House Republicans Say Trump Sold Them Out

June 14, 2017 at 7:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “Imagine if you’re a House Republican, and voted for the leadership’s health-care bill in May after being told that you were doing the newly elected president a solid. You listened to the White House’s pleading — perhaps you got a phone call from Vice President Mike Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus or even the president himself. The administration was on the Hill nonstop to push their legislation. You explained to your constituents that the late-in-the-game changes made to the bill helped cover more people. You celebrated with him in the Rose Garden after passage.”

“Now you hear the president has gone behind closed doors and told senators the House bill is ‘mean’ and says it doesn’t do enough to cover people. Wouldn’t that anger you? Well, it’s angering a lot of House Republicans, who believe their president put them at political risk with that comment.”

“If you’re a House Republican, are you going to help the White House next time after the president privately just dumped all over you after you cast a vote for him? A lot of GOP lawmakers are buzzing about it, and many are none too pleased with the president right now.“

Trump Won’t Fire Mueller… Yet

June 14, 2017 at 7:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The president… began entertaining the idea of firing Mr. Mueller even as his staff tried to discourage him from something they believed would turn a bad situation into a catastrophe, according to several people with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump’s interactions. … For now, the staff has prevailed.”

“But people close to Mr. Trump say he is so volatile they cannot be sure that he will not change his mind about Mr. Mueller if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised. And his ability to endure a free-ranging investigation, directed by Mr. Mueller, that could raise questions about the legitimacy of his Electoral College victory, the topic that most provokes his rage, will be a critical test for a president who has continued on Twitter and elsewhere to flout the advice of his staff, friends and legal team.”

Trump Gives Military Authority to Set Troop Levels

June 14, 2017 at 7:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump has given Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. official told Reuters, opening the door for future troop increases requested by the U.S. commander.

Black Voters Will Be Democratic Kingmakers in 2020

June 14, 2017 at 7:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Josh Kraushaar: “For all the talk about the power of progressives in the Democratic Party, one significant part of the Democratic coalition has been overlooked in the run-up to the next presidential election: African-Americans. Black voters made up at least 20 percent of the Democratic vote in at least 15 states during the 2016 presidential primaries (and comprise that share in three other states without exit polling: Louisiana, New Jersey, and Delaware). Without African-Americans, who gave 76 percent of their vote in the primaries to Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders easily could have been the Democratic nominee. Sanders won 49.1 percent of the Democratic white vote to Clinton’s 48.9 percent.”

“Black voters have historically rallied behind one Democratic candidate… Since 1976, the candidate backed by black voters became the Democratic nominee in seven of the nine contested nomination battles.”

Trump May Go Small

June 14, 2017 at 7:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Bill Clinton salvaged his presidency by focusing on small-ball policy wins. Now Team Trump is trying to master the art of thinking tiny. Faced with a rising drumbeat of scandal stemming from ongoing Russia probes, President Donald Trump is continuing to pursue a big, complicated legislative agenda — repealing Obamacare, reforming the tax system and passing an infrastructure package.”

“Any of those would be hard to achieve in perfect circumstances, but with the GOP ideologically fragmented and the White House distracted by legal trouble, it’s increasingly difficult to imagine Trump landing a big win.”

Voters Trust Comey More Than Trump

June 14, 2017 at 7:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Voters have greater faith in former FBI Director James Comey to tell the truth than in President Donald Trump, who has disputed the veracity of Comey’s sworn testimony before a Senate committee last week. A new Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted in the days following Comey’s appearance before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 45% of voters said they trust Comey more to tell the truth, compared to 32% for Trump. Twenty-three percent have no opinion.”

Northam Wins In Virginia

June 13, 2017 at 10:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, “backed by almost every Democratic elected official in the state, defeated the populist campaign of former congressman Tom Perriello, who had the support of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, in a race that resembled the national party’s struggle over its future direction,” the Washington Post reports.

In the Republican race, Ed Gillespie “was hoping to fend off a stronger-than-expected challenge from rival Corey Stewart, whose strength was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night.”

Trump Says House Health Care Bill Is ‘Mean’

June 13, 2017 at 4:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Congressional sources say President Trump has told Republican senators that the House health care bill is “mean” and that the Senate version should be “more generous,” the AP reports.

“The remarks were a surprising critique of a Republican-written House measure whose passage Trump fought for and embraced. They also seem to undercut efforts by Senate conservatives to impose restrictions in their chamber’s legislation, such as curbing the Medicaid health care program for the poor and limiting the services insurers must cover.”

Sessions Denies Suggestion He Colluded with Russia

June 13, 2017 at 3:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Attorney General Jeff Sessions forcefully denied meeting with any Russian officials in 2016 to discuss the presidential campaign, calling allegations that he had undisclosed meetings with them an “appalling and detestable lie,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“He also specifically denied holding any private meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. at the Mayflower Hotel, a Washington establishment that has been the subject of speculation in recent days.”

Senate Bars Reporters from Filming In Hallways

June 13, 2017 at 2:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Reporters covering the U.S. Senate have been told they can no longer film interviews with senators in the hallways outside their offices, an abrupt break with precedent that has set off alarm bells for journalists and media watchdogs,” CNN reports.

“The announcement, which comes as Senate Republicans are drafting a health care bill in a process shrouded in secrecy, prompted a flurry of tweets from concerned journalists who feared the move would enable the Senate to conduct public business in private and without accountability.”

Pelosi Predicts Trump Will ‘Self-Impeach’

June 13, 2017 at 1:35 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) believes President Trump will “self-impeach” and that Democrats should wait for the Russia investigations — especially special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe — to play out before pushing to remove him from the Oval Office, Politico reports.

“Pelosi’s views are important because while she has publicly dismissed discussions on impeaching Trump, her remarks show she thinks the president will ultimately take some action that will be egregious enough to make it easy for Congress to act.”

Internal House Budget Feud Threatens GOP Agenda

June 13, 2017 at 1:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“House GOP efforts to write a fiscal 2018 budget are deadlocked amid Republican infighting, a divide that threatens to undermine President Trump’s agenda by stalling tax reform and delaying progress on appropriations,” Politico reports.

“The House Budget Committee is months behind its usual timeline in releasing and marking up its annual fiscal blueprint. While the panel said it hoped to release the budget by early June, conference-wide bickering over priorities and spending levels have all but ground the process to a halt.”

Trump Disapproval Hits New High

June 13, 2017 at 1:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Gallup daily tracking poll finds President Trump’s approval rate at a lowly 36% to 60%.

Only Political Ruin Will Cause GOP to Abandon Trump

June 13, 2017 at 11:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jennifer Rubin: “What if Trump decides to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, as Trump confidante Chris Ruddy, chief executive of NewsMax, said Trump is considering? That would spark a good deal of outrage in the press and among independents and Democrats. It might even cost Trump some support from sensible Republicans. A wholesale mutiny among Republicans however would not be guaranteed — even then. That reality gives one a full appreciation for how reluctant Republicans are to step out of line — even when it comes to defending an independent investigation by a man many of them praised.”

“In sum, the sad answer is that these Republicans won’t act out of principle, won’t challenge the right-wing echo chamber and won’t give up the delusion that they can get parts of their agenda through. Given truth serum, nearly all would prefer Pence to replace Trump; they just cannot summon the courage to make that happen. I suppose some undeniable smoking gun either of Trump’s Russian complicity or obstruction could force their hand, but increasingly it looks like the only thing that will convince them to abandon Trump is the certain prospect of political ruin. Even more likely, they’ll have to lose the House in 2018 before they realize Trump is politically radioactive.”

For members: History Shows the Bottom Can Fall Out Quickly for Trump

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

June 13, 2017 at 10:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“My expectation would be that this would be the last straw for Republicans — that they would finally have to stand up to the president. Of course, that expectation has proved illusory in the past. So there’s no guarantee.”

— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), quoted by the Washington Post, on speculation that President Trump might fire special counsel Robert Mueller.

Members Get the Full Experience