“As many as 10 Republican senators are considering bucking President Trump on a resolution that would limit his ability to take military action against Iran,” The Hill reports.
“The increasing number is the latest sign of growing GOP frustration over the Trump administration’s justification for the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.”
“Federal prosecutors told a judge they are prepared to release sealed materials in search and seizure warrants against Roger Stone issued during the FBI probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia,” Courthouse News reports.
Paul Manafort said he used Fox News host Sean Hannity to receive backchannel messages from President Trump while prosecutors investigated him for financial crimes, according to newly released memos from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Daily Beast reports.
New York Times: “Almost immediately after ending his White House employment, Stephen Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Trump, forged a lucrative financial relationship with a mysterious Chinese billionaire who was sought by Beijing for extradition from the United States.”
“China’s government had already accused Guo Wengui, a real-estate magnate also known as Miles Kwok, of money-laundering, bribery and rape when he and Mr. Bannon developed a mutually beneficial relationship that began with a $150,000 loan to Mr. Trump’s one-time confidante.”
“It escalated to a yearlong million-dollar contract.”
Paul Manafort’s fraud case in New York was dismissed, blocking local prosecutors’ effort to undercut a potential pardon from President Trump, the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “Mr. Manafort had been charged in Manhattan with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies. But Justice Maxwell Wiley of State Supreme Court dismissed the indictment, saying the charges violated the legal principle of double jeopardy, which holds that a defendant may not be tried twice for the same conduct.”
Paul Manafort has been hospitalized for a “cardiac event” while serving his over seven year sentence for charges related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, ABC News reports.
“Manafort was scheduled for a court appearance on Wednesday but his attorney was informed that he would not be appearing.”
Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in prison — to be served on weekends — on Tuesday in a Washington, D.C. federal court, Axios reports.
He also received three years of probation and a $20,000 fine.
“Roger Stone, a former aide and longtime friend of President Trump, was found guilty on Friday of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election in what prosecutors said was an effort to protect Mr. Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“Stone was charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee, trying to block the testimony of another potential witness and concealing reams of evidence from investigators.”
NBC News: “He is the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of Mueller’s probe.”
“Stone’s sentencing was set for Feb. 6 and he could face up to 20 years in prison.”
Politico: “As U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. imposed the sentence of nine years and two months on Jeffrey Yohai, the judge blasted the would-be real estate developer as a serial scammer whose ‘horrific’ crimes posed a significant threat to the public.”
“Yohai pleaded guilty to a brazen array of frauds, including renting out luxury homes without the permission of their owners, selling non-existent backstage passes for the Coachella music festival, and pawning band equipment that belonged to someone else.”
Politico: “Call it the Cliff Notes version of the Mueller report. That’s what a new panel of Washington, D.C., jurors heard Wednesday morning as federal prosecutors delivered a tight synopsis of how Roger Stone came to be a defendant in the last indictment to come from the special counsel’s office.”
“It was a powerful moment delivered exclusively to a courtroom audience. Anyone who’s been following Robert Mueller’s work closely would recognize all the pieces of the story. But to the 12 jurors who might be coming in cold, it was a stark and concise opening narrative explaining how the colorful characters in Trumpworld gossiped and plotted around Russia’s digital thefts of Democratic emails during the 2016 election — and the role Stone played in that story.”
NBC News: “Jury selection in the trial of Roger Stone, the longtime confidant and adviser to President Trump, got off to a bizarre start on Tuesday as Stone left the proceedings due to what he said was food poisoning.”
“Jury selection begins Tuesday in the trial of longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone, accused of lying to Congress and pressuring another person to do the same thing,” NBC News reports.
“A Trump friend for more than 30 years who served as an adviser to his 2016 campaign, Stone has called himself the victim of a political prosecution. During the months leading up to the trial, he was repeatedly admonished by the judge to stop making public comments about the case that could influence the potential jury pool.”
Out this week: To Plea or Not to Plea: The Story of Rick Gates and the Mueller Investigation by Daphne Barak.
The book reveals why Rick Gates pled guilty in the Mueller probe and the lasting repercussions of this ordeal.
“Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are examining Rudy Giuliani’s business dealings in Ukraine, including his finances, meetings and work for a city mayor there,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Investigators also have examined Mr. Giuliani’s bank records.”
“Witnesses have been questioned about Mr. Giuliani since at least August by investigators, who also want to know more about Mr. Giuliani’s role in an alleged conspiracy involving two of his business associates, the people said. The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York.”
“Try to impeach him, just try it. There will be a spasm of violence and insurrection in this country like you’ve never seen. Both sides are heavily armed. A politician who votes for it will be endangering their own life.”
— Trump confidant Roger Stone, quoted by Yahoo News.
Trevor Potter and Delaney Marsco: “Rudolph W. Giuliani is not the secretary of state. In fact, he has no official position in President Trump’s Cabinet or administration. Yet he is traveling the world holding himself out as a U.S. government operative, engaging in some unknown amount of ‘unofficial’ diplomacy and insisting his work is not only officially sanctioned by the president but also assisted by the State Department. The president’s ‘private lawyer’ is not charging Trump for his services, but he and his law firm are known to have dozens of clients — including foreign entities — who are paying for whatever services they think Giuliani can provide for them.”
“That is a very convenient setup for Giuliani — but it leaves the public in the dark about the wealthy special interests who might be subsidizing his gratis work for Trump — or for whom he might actually be working while invoking Trump’s name and that of the State Department. Because Giuliani is not officially a federal employee, he can sidestep ethics obligations that would require transparency behind the foreign or domestic interests who are paying him.”
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was asked in a Fox Business Network interview if he had drunk “a little merlot with dinner” and was told he sounded “a little slurry.”
Washington Post: “In his quest to rewrite the history of the 2016 election, President Trump’s personal attorney has turned to an unusual source of information: Trump’s imprisoned former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.”
“Rudy Giuliani in recent months has consulted several times with Manafort through the federal prisoner’s lawyer in pursuit of information that would bolster his theory that the real story of 2016 is not Russian interference to elect Trump, but Ukrainian efforts to support Hillary Clinton.”
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.