We hear the White House tomorrow will send Cabinet officials their first draft budget numbers.
One budget we'll be watching especially closely is the EPA ,which is the leading edge of the first wave of Trump's planned "deconstruction of the administrative state." Expect massive, transformational cuts, particularly to climate-change programs, top officials tell us.
Trump has made clear he wants the EPA to get back to its core missions of clean air and clean water. He views many of the global-warming programs as superfluous additions made by an out-of-control Obama EPA.
But, but, but ... Don't expect the topline budget numbers to change dramatically. Money saved from cuts to EPA and other agencies will be used to bolster the military — which is exactly what Trump promised on the campaign trail.
President Trump, on the increased chatter on Russia:
Why it matters: A pair of prominent members of Congress, Reps. Darrell Issa and Nancy Pelosi, have separately called for a special prosecutor on Russia and Trump. This is a sign that Trump won't take such an effort in stride.
Sean Spicer did a phone check on White House communications staffers last week after several leaks about the administration painted a poor picture of the Trump team in the media. That crackdown on leaks was then leaked to Politico.
Spicer warned that using encrypted texting apps that delete messages — such as Confide, the use of which by DC Republicans was first covered by Axios — violates the Federal Records Act. He consulted with White House counsel Don McGahn before the meeting and White House lawyers were present during the meeting. The Federal Records Act pertains to federal agencies, while the Presidential Records Act covers the president and his or her staff.
Per Politico's Annie Karni: "Spicer also warned the group of more problems if news of the phone checks and the meeting about leaks was leaked to the media."
Trump tweeting two months in advance that he'll skip the White House Correspondents' Association dinner April 29. It's a fine night in a crammed room with episodic humor and celebrity sightings, with scholarships awarded to journalism students who have contagious enthusiasm and idealism. In the scheme of things, the president's presence doesn't make or break it.
Spicer cherry-picking media orgs for briefings. The briefings are marginally useful at best (transcript here of what the excluded reporters missed), and a terrific waste of time at worst. Twitter will tell you anything of substance that happened. So the time is better spent working the phones.
While bosses were home on recess last week, the White House held two bowling nights and a bowling lunch for top staff left in D.C. (The White House's two-lane alley has photos on the wall of past presidents bowling.) So far, 45 Hill aides have watched one of Washington's great spectacles — a Marine One departure from the South Lawn.
That's the president dining at Trump Hotel in DC with Ivanka, Jared, Nigel Farage, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and several other unidentified people, as photographed by IJR reporter Benny Johnson:
At Trump hotel. Secret Service swarms the place. Trump walks in, sits down next to me w/ Gov. Rick Scott, Nigel Farage, Ivanka & Kuchner pic.twitter.com/5ZgTUixvwR— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 26, 2017
Why it matters: This will only amplify calls for Congress to investigate Trump's lease of the hotel, which Rep. Jason Chaffetz has promised to investigate, although he's produced nothing so far.
At CPAC Steve Bannon mentioned three White House priorities, the third of which was the deconstruction of the administrative state.
But the big lesson of CPAC is that there is a fourth, unmentioned in public white papers and executive orders. It's the deconstruction of the mainstream media.
What we learned this week: President Trump and his chief strategist Bannon made clear in the hierarchy of their speeches at CPAC that their war against institutions like CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times is no sideshow. It's a central, formalized, priority of this administration.
The desired outcome: A media environment where suspicion — or ideally outright disbelief — is the first instinct of American news consumers.
Interest in traveling to the U.S. has dropped 17% since Trump's inauguration, according to Hopper, an app for tracking flight price quotes. Hopper tracks between ten billion and fifteen billion airfare price searches every day.
Data: Hopper Research; Methodology: Comparing the weekly average flight searches to the U.S. on Hopper during Dec. 29, 2016 - Jan. 18, 2017 and Jan. 26 - Feb. 1, 2017; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios
President Trump announced on Twitter Saturday afternoon that he is skipping the 103rd annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner amid an increasingly tense relationship with the media.
Some have even questioned whether the event will still go on as planned, but news organizations' strong interest in tickets for the April 29 dinner suggests that the night will remain sold out, as always.
Breitbart's Washington editor Matthew Boyle is scheduled to interview President Trump on Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, according to sources familiar with the arrangements.
Why this matters: It's the latest sign of Breitbart's clout and comes amid access concerns by reporters at outlets like the New York Times and CNN, which were shut out of a gaggle with Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday.
Churches around the country are gearing up to shelter immigrants imperiled by raids and in what BuzzFeed calls a "modern-day underground railroad" also work to spirit people to Canada. Members of churches are also signing up to volunteer spaces in their homes to hide immigrants. BuzzFeed says more than 800 churches have signed up with the National Sanctuary Movement to support the effort.
Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher, California Republican Darrell Issa said the House and Senate intelligence committees will investigate potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign activities, which will require a special prosecutor:
"You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign and who is an appointee. You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take — not just to recuse. You can't just give it to your deputy. That's another political appointee."
Clip below (the relevant bit starts six minutes in)...
A day after word that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI to talk to the media to clarify reports about Trump campaign aides' contact with Russians, another doozy — one that's likely to increase congressional interest, and perhaps lead to an independent, 9/11-style commission:
Today's WashPost lead story, "Key officials were asked to rebut Russia report: White House arranged calls to media," by Greg Miller and Adam Entous: "The Trump administration has enlisted senior members of the intelligence community and Congress in efforts to counter news stories about Trump associates' ties to Russia ... Acting at the behest of the White House, the officials made calls to news organizations last week."
