“Steve Bannon flew to Beijing last week for a secret meeting with the second most powerful Chinese Communist party official, less than a month after the former chief White House strategist declared that America was at ‘economic war with China,'” the Financial Times reports.
Trump Tax Plan Gains Momentum
“The White House plan for a massive package of tax cuts is gaining new momentum as Republicans attempt to set aside months of intraparty squabbling and unify behind a key part of President Trump’s agenda,” the Washington Post reports.
“Two developments are accelerating the effort: Key Senate Republicans reached a tentative deal this week to allow for as much as $1.5 trillion in tax reductions over 10 years; and there is a growing willingness within the GOP to embrace controversial, optimistic estimates of how much economic growth their tax plan would create.”
Axios: “Our GOP sources agree that chances are improved, with the most likely outcome being a significant tax cut for corporations, small businesses, and individuals making less than $150,000 a year.”
The Grease is Gone
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Trump Warns GOP Lawmakers to Vote for Senate Bill
President Trump warned Republicans to fall in line behind last-ditch legislation in the Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare, tweeting that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill will be remembered as “the Republican who saved Obamacare,” Politico reports.
He specifically singled out Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who is publicly opposed to the bill.
Quote of the Day
“The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
McConnell Lays It All on the Line
Politico: “He’s been battered by President Trump and had his vaunted legislative acumen called into question. Now, Mitch McConnell has a chance to put his cruel summer behind him. Over the next week, the Senate majority leader will try one last time to rescind the Democratic health care law. At the same time, he’s put his political reputation on the line in Alabama, where his chosen candidate, incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, faces off against anti-establishment Roy Moore in a special Senate election on Tuesday.”
“The typically cautious McConnell is taking huge gambles in both cases, and will emerge as a hero or goat within the GOP depending on how it all turns out. … McConnell will need everything to break his way to come out on top. Moore is leading in the polls and McConnell currently lacks the votes to repeal Obamacare.”
Sean Spicer Is Washington’s First Pariah
Politico: “Washington routinely forgives its philanderers, drug addicts and alcoholics, embezzlers, perjurers, bribers and bribees, liars, burglars and tax evaders, granting them the redemption of another term in office or a job in a lobbying shop or think tank after their scandal passes. It even absolved a drunk who killed a young lady, giving him a prince’s funeral when he died. The writer who said that there are no second acts in American life never lived here.”
“But that iron law hasn’t helped Spicer. Since leaving the White House this summer, he has gained admittance to a circle of one: He has become a Washington pariah. Nobody wants to be anywhere near him, but everyone wants to talk smack about him. He’s not just a punchline. He’s become a national laughing stock ever since his cameo on the Emmy Awards this week, where he attempted a joke about his most famous White House lie.”
Kim Calls Trump a ‘Deranged Dotard’
“Responding directly for the first time to President Trump’s threat at the United Nations to destroy nuclear-armed North Korea, its leader called Mr. Trump a ‘mentally deranged U.S. dotard’ on Friday and vowed the ‘highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history,'” the New York Times reports.
“Although Mr. Kim is often quoted by official North Korean news media, it is highly unusual for him to issue a statement in his name. In North Korea, the supreme leader’s statement carries a weight that surpasses any other formal document.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports Trump “announced new financial sanctions targeting North Korea as his administration seeks to build international support for more aggressively confronting the rogue nation.”
Sandoval Blasts Latest GOP Health Care Bill
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said that the flexibility fellow Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) promised will be good for Nevada in a health-care bill he’s sponsoring is a “false choice” because the legislation will also slash funding, the Nevada Independent reports.
Sandoval said he would not “pit seniors, children, families, the mentally ill, the critically ill, hospitals, care providers or any other Nevadan against each other” because of the steep cuts to federal funding the state would face if the Heller-sponsored measure were to pass.
Trump Aides Head for the Exits
“A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Trump’s first term is still months away. Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea that they’d stay for at least a year, enough to credibly say they’d served,” Politico reports.
“But in the aftermath of a wave of abrupt, high-profile departures over the summer that culminated with former strategist Steve Bannon’s ouster in August, aides up and down the chain are reaching out to headhunters, lobbyists, and GOP operatives for help finding their next job.”
“They’re talking to headhunters about positions as in-house government affairs experts at major companies, or as executives at trade associations, universities, or consulting firms – ironically, jobs that run counter to Trump’s ‘drain the swamp’ mantra.”
Pruitt’s Security Detail Has Swelled to 18 People
“Scott Pruitt’s round-the-clock personal security detail, which demands triple the manpower of his predecessors at the Environmental Protection Agency, has prompted officials to rotate in special agents from around the country who otherwise would be investigating environmental crimes,” the Washington Post reports.
Health Care Debate Scheduled for Next Week
CNN will host a town hall with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who will be debating health care with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Monday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET.
Duterte Will Order Son Killed If Allegations Are True
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte “has said he will have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician are true, and that the police who carry out the hit will be protected from prosecution,” AFP reports.
“Paolo Duterte, 42, this month appeared before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker he was a member of a Chinese triad who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.”
Mueller Wants Air Force One Phone Records
“Special counsel Robert Mueller has sought phone records concerning the statement written aboard Air Force One defending a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians at Trump Tower last year that was set up by Donald Trump Jr.,” Politico reports.
Trump Campaign Had a Direct Connection to Facebook
Stephen Bannon told Vanity Fair that Jared Kushner, who oversaw the data operation of the Trump campaign, consulted regularly with Facebook director Peter Thiel:
When I asked Bannon about whether Thiel had some part in the data operation leading up to the election, he said, “When I joined the campaign, we were 16 points down and 85 days out. So I wasn’t working closely with Peter at that point.” He paused for a moment and then added, “Jared was interfacing with him pretty regularly.” On data?, I asked. “Data and other things. Ask Jared.” A source close to Kushner, however, denied that Thiel “worked with Jared on the campaign’s data operation.”
The role that data played in Trump’s victory appears to be of particular interest to legislators and prosecutors delving into the campaign’s interactions with Russian associates. As has been widely reported, separate probes, in the words of the McClatchy news service, have been “examining whether the Trump campaign’s digital operation—overseen by Jared Kushner—helped guide Russia’s sophisticated voter targeting and fake news attacks on Hillary Clinton in 2016.”
Facebook Will Give Congress Copies of Russian Ads
Facebook reversed itself and will give Congress copies of 3,000 political ads bought through Russian accounts, the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “The high-profile announcement came after Facebook spent two weeks on the defensive amid calls for greater transparency about 470 Russia-linked accounts the company took down after they had promoted inflammatory messages on divisive issues. Facebook had previously shown Congressional staffers a sample of the ads, some of which attacked Hillary Clinton or praised Donald J. Trump, but had not shared the entire collection.”
Politico: “The ads have become of increasing interest to Mueller and his team, according to people familiar with the investigation, because they could show Russian efforts to interfere — and who was behind them.”
Sanders Rips Trump While Defending Iran Deal
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “used a foreign policy speech to knock President Trump’s handling of the Iran nuclear deal, Russia and his rhetoric on the violence in Charlottesville,” The Hill reports.
Said Sanders: “I call on my colleagues in the Congress, and all Americans: We must protect this agreement. President Trump has signaled his intention to walk away from it, as he did the Paris agreement, regardless of the evidence that it is working.”
Stephen Miles: “In laying out a principled and bold progressive vision for recentering US foreign policy at the core of a progressive platform, Senator Sanders has given voice to those of us who have always believed that our values don’t simply stop at the water’s edge.”
Republicans Attempt to Buy Murkowski’s Vote
A Republican Senate aide told Independent Journal Review that Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) are attempting to buy Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) support through new changes to their controversial Obamacare repeal proposal before an expected vote next week.
“This draft includes 3 separate provisions benefiting Alaska.”
Most interesting: Alaska and Hawaii would “continue to receive Obamacare’s premium tax credits” despite them getting repealed in the rest of the country.
