“New York prosecutors conducted an hourslong interview Thursday of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, asking a range of questions about Trump’s business dealings,” the AP reports.
“The interview focused in part on Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, his biggest and longest standing creditor.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany packed up her office in the White House on Friday, Bloomberg reports.
During her final press conference, given the day after the Capitol riot, she spoke for a total of two minutes before vacating the podium without answering any questions.
“Prosecutors in Georgia appear increasingly likely to open a criminal investigation of President Trump over his attempts to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 election, an inquiry into offenses that would be beyond his federal pardon power,” the New York Times reports.
“President Trump’s top economic adviser criticized his boss’s handling of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and said he was disappointed in the way Mr. Trump treated Vice President Mike Pence, while defending the administration’s policy legacy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Larry Kudlow: “I was hoping that he would come out quickly and make statements calling everybody back and stopping the violence.”
“President Trump is considering granting a pardon to Steve Bannon, his former White House chief strategist and top campaign aide, who was charged with swindling donors to a private crowdsourcing effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Politico reports.
“The potential pardon would follow a wave of reprieves the president has recently granted to political allies who have been convicted, charged or reportedly under federal investigation. Two additional batches of pardons are expected — one on Friday night and one Wednesday morning before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office.”
A senior administration official confirms to CBS News that the wording that has appeared on President Trump’s schedule lately — “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.” — was written by Trump himself.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell went to a meeting at the White House today with notes suggesting “martial law if necessary,” the Independent reports.
“The notes, captured by a photographer as Mr Lindell entered the Oval Office on Friday, come after Mr Lindell tweeted then deleted calls for the president to ‘impost martial law’ in the seven battleground states that won the election for Joe Biden.”
Philip Bump: “It’s hard to characterize how bizarre and outrageous this is. From Lindell having a platform in any media to hype his allegations to his being invited into the inner sanctum of American power to apparently argue to the president or his team that there’s a path to rejecting the legitimate election of President-elect Joe Biden? There aren’t sufficient adjectives to explore how far from normal — or reality — this is.”
“Frustrated by the loss of his Twitter account and forced to accept that he soon must leave office, President Trump has effectively stopped doing his job, delegating daily responsibilities to Vice President Mike Pence while hunkering down with a shrinking group of acquiescent aides and contemplating additional presidential pardons,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Trump had considered leaving the White House before his final day in office Wednesday, even as early as this weekend, but he has opted to depart on the morning of President-elect Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day, according to two people familiar with discussions who cautioned that, with Trump, plans are always subject to change.”
“Intrigued by the idea of upstaging Biden, the ever self-centered president has requested a major sendoff. It would begin with a throng of cheering, flag-waving staffers and supporters to see him off on the White House’s South Lawn, and continue to a more formal ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, featuring a red carpet, military band, color guard and 21-gun salute. He’ll make his final Air Force One flight to Florida, to take up residence at Mar-a-Lago, his West Palm Beach, Fla., estate.”
CNN: “Trump has been consumed by the unraveling of his presidency during his last days in office, according to people around him, which included a casual discussion among advisers recently about a possible resignation.”
“Trump shut the idea down almost immediately. And he has made clear to aides in separate conversations that mere mention of President Richard Nixon, the last president to resign, was banned.”
“He told one adviser during an expletive-laden conversation recently never to bring up the ex-president ever again. During the passing mention of resigning this week, Trump told people he couldn’t count on Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him like Gerald Ford did Nixon, anyway.”
A new Pew Research poll finds Donald Trump is leaving the White House with the lowest job approval of his presidency — 29% — and increasingly negative ratings for his post-election conduct.
Also interesting: 68% of public does not want Trump to remain a major political figure in the future.
“I think the president for all intents and purposes is not the president. He’s just nuts. He’s going crazy.”
— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), quoted by CBS News.
President Trump has repeatedly spoken by phone with Steve Bannon in recent weeks to seek advice on his campaign to overturn his re-election defeat, reconciling with his once-estranged ex White House strategist, Bloomberg reports.
Donald Trump is taking departure photos with White House staffers today, according to the Washington Post.
“The Pentagon, in a break with recent tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Trump,” Defense One reports.
“President Trump, on the eve of facing a historic second impeachment trial for inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, is having trouble finding a legal team to defend him,” Bloomberg reports.
“Allies of the outgoing president have been canvassing Washington’s legal landscape looking for representation but so far are coming up short. Lawyers who defended him in the previous impeachment trial, including Jay Sekulow and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, have said no this time.”
“Other lawyers who have defended Trump at times, including former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, Eric Herschmann, Pat Philbin and Marc Kasowitz aren’t interested in joining a team this time, the people said. Some of the lawyers who don’t want a role have privately said what Trump did was indefensible.”
“The D.C. Attorney General’s office has notified Donald Trump Jr. that it wishes to interview him as part of a lawsuit alleging that President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee improperly funneled money to the president’s business,” the Washington Post reports.
“Snapchat will permanently ban President Trump’s account on Jan. 20, after locking it indefinitely last week following the Capitol siege,” Axios reports.
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.
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