This afternoon, President Trump went to see a 4th-grade class at St. Andrew Catholic School in Florida with Betsy Devos, Gov. Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner and Ivanka.
According to the pool report, Trump told one girl who wanted to start her own business, "That's a good idea. Make a lot of money, right? But don't run for politics after."
Just before leaving the classroom, he told a little African American girl with braids, "Oh that hair is beautiful. I love that hair, right?" After passing another African American girl with braids, he repeated, "I love her hair!"
Trump then met with local educational officials and beneficiaries of school choice policies.
Peter Thiel's chief of staff Michael Kratsios has been named Trump's deputy chief technology officer, reports TechCrunch. Politico was first to report the appointment. Prior to his high-ranking role at Thiel Capital, Kratsios was the chief financial officer of Clarium Captial Management, another company founded by Thiel.
His close relationship to Thiel — who has been one of Trump's closest advisors on all things tech since the RNC — has likely helped Kratsios in scoring the new title. He fills the role that had been held by former Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray.
Interestingly, the White House has yet to name a Chief Technology Officer, which oversees the administration's technology and innovation agenda. That role was held by former Google engineer Megan Smith.
The White House declined to comment, and Kratsios did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak is back in the limelight, bringing a second Trump official into a delicate situation.
Trumpworld: First there was retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who lied about his phone conversations with Kislyak, and ultimately resigned from his position as National Security Advisor. Second was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who claimed he hadn't met with any Russians, then admitted he'd twice met with Kislyak. He's also met with Jared Kushner, in addition to two other Trump campaign members.
Democrats: Sen. Claire McCaskill falsely tweeted Thursday that she had never met with him, and Politico reported on Friday that Kislyak met with Nancy Pelosi, who earlier claimed they hadn't.
So who is this man who has gotten so many U.S. officials in trouble?
You already saw the leaks from Sean Spicer's attempt to stop leaks from the White House press shop. Now Reuters has a comprehensive look at the administration's attempts to stop the leaks that Trump hates so much. Spoiler: it's produced a whole new series of leaks.
National Security Council: The classified system used to share documents has been locked down, per Reuters. That's in response to the leaks on Trump's calls with Mexico and Australia.
Homeland Security: Officials there are wary as the department attempts to identify the leaker of the draft memo the AP published late last month. An anonymous bureaucrat told Reuters the "atmosphere has become toxic, and that is not conducive to the work."
Treasury: Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly told senior staff in their first meeting that they could be monitored to prevent leaks. Treasury denies that account.
State Department: Officials have reportedly reverted to face-to-face communication, wary of monitoring. That's a consequence of a "culture of intimidation," per a source quoted by Reuters.
Rather than take aim at President Trump Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel, GWB chose to poke fun at himself instead. When asked whether the impersonations of him during his presidency got under his skin — as Alec Baldwin seems to have done to Trump — Bush said no, and gave Kimmel a little anecdote about Will Ferrell's SNL sketch of him:
"I had dinner with Lorne Michaels, the head of 'Saturday Night Live,' and he said, 'I put a great speechwriter [Ferrell] on you, and he came up with "strategery."' And I said, 'Wait a minute, I said "strategery."' And he said, 'No, you didn't say "strategery."' I said, 'I damn sure said "strategery."' He said, 'We invented it.' I said, 'Well, let me ask you this: Did he come up with 'misunderestimate?'"
Good morning, Day 43 of the Trump presidency — a week from halftime of the 100 days.
I was chatting with a smart Republican about the White House's Russia issues, and he said: "This is the rare case where the smoke IS the fire."
What he meant is that even if the White House wound up being right that there's no "there" there (harder to see, with each day's revelations), the warning signs and botched reactions and mounting questions have themselves become huge problems for the President.
Donald Trump took to Twitter late Thursday night to call out Democrats for blowing the "narrative" surrounding Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of proportion, adding that Dems were just "saving face" after losing an election "that everyone thought they were supposed to win."
In four tweets, Trump emphasized that Sessions "is an honest man" and reiterated that he believes the AG did nothing wrong. The president also pivoted back to the administration's leaking problem: "The real story is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total 'witch hunt!'"
ICYMI: Sessions announced today that he is recusing himself from all investigations involving the Trump campaign amid the drama surrounding his meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has approached Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the Trump-Russia dossier, about testifying before its members, The Independent reports.
The most explosive elements of the dossier remained unconfirmed but the FBI considered Steele sufficiently credible that it once planned to pay him to continue his work. The committee now wants to discuss his findings.
Where it'd go down: Still unknown, as Steele doesn't want to travel to the US, but the committee is said to be open to meeting in the UK or on neutral ground.
Will it go down? Possibly. The Independent say's he's "willing to speak" if senators meet his preferred security measures. That'll be crucial, especially as an NBC News report describes him as living in "virtual hiding in Europe."
Ousted National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, met with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. in December at Trump Tower, the White House has told the NYT. The New Yorker previously reported that Kushner had met Kislyak.
Why it matters: The FBI is investigating ties between Trump's associates and Russia, and the list of those with confirmed contacts is growing. Kushner is one step closer to Trump than either Flynn or Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sessions recused himself from a Trump-Russian investigation minutes ago after failing to disclose meetings last year with Kislyak. Flynn's conversations with Kislyak led to his resignation.
The White House on the meeting: "They generally discussed the relationship and it made sense to establish a line of communication. Jared has had meetings with many other foreign countries and representatives."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is in hot water after reports surfaced that he had meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign — especially since he denied any such communication during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Top politicians — from both parties — find this problematic. While many have called on Sessions to recuse himself from any Russia investigations, others argue recusal isn't enough, and have stated that he should resign from his Cabinet position immediately. He just did the former, but has shown no indications of stepping down from his job. Below is an interactive list of the names:
Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters that he still has "total confidence" in his AG, and added that he "doesn't think" he needs to recuse himself.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. The presser comes as Sessions receives mounting criticism for meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign. He said during confirmation hearings that he had "no contact with the Russians".
Donald Trump says he still has "total" confidence in Sessions.
The White House found out about Jeff Sessions' contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. from press reports, according to a CNN report citing a senior administration official. Trump has not yet commented on the matter.
This comes as the number of Congressmen and women calling for Sessions to either recuse himself from the Trump-Russia probe or resign swells.
Note: Before Mike Flynn was ousted as National Security Advisor, reports circulated that VP Mike Pence learned of Flynn's contacts with Russia from press reports.
Top White House officials were scrambling last night to grasp the significance of Jeff Sessions' contacts with Russia's ambassador and figure out what to do about it.
Sources close to the President's inner circle and to Sessions are very defensive and believe the "opposition party" media is elevating mundane interactions. Despite the growing clamor from Democrats, there's about a zero percent chance President Trump will fire Sessions or that the House will impeach him — the only ways he could leave.
This does, however, strengthen the case for an independent investigation, and the chances just got a lot higher that Sessions recuses himself from any FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's alleged contacts with Russian officials. Especially now that some prominent Republicans believe this should happen.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested to Morning Joe on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from the Russia investigation. "I think it would be easier... yes," he said.
Update, via McCarthy on Fox News: "I'm not calling on him to recuse himself. I was asked on Morning Joe, if he needs to recuse himself as going forward. As you just heard, Attorney General Sessions said he would rescue himself going forward - appropriate, and that's all my answer was. It's amazing how people spin things so quickly."
As President Trump's motorcade arrived back at the White House at 10:50 p.m. after his Capitol speech, he invited a dozen gleeful aides up to the residence for a celebration. Over Diet Cokes, they relished the reviews that were popping on their iPhones, shouting out the latest poll or pundit to go their way.
The inner circle knew that the accolades would be short-lived — Trump was in a new mode, not a new man. A top adviser said: "The question for me is: Is this a harbinger, or a one-off?"
Democratic lawmakers are calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign after reports surfaced that he had meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential election. Sessions denied any communication with the Russians during his confirmation hearing.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: "After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russians, the Attorney General must resign," she said in a statement released late Wednesday night. "Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Warren: The situation is "not normal," she wrote on Twitter. "We need a real, bipartisan, transparent Congressional investigation into Russia. And we need Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who should have never been confirmed in the first place — to resign. We need it now."
Rep. Elijah Cummings, a ranking member on the House Oversight Committee: "It is inconceivable that even after Michael Flynn was fired for concealing his conversations with the Russians that Attorney General Sessions would keep his own conversations secret for several more weeks... Sessions should resign immediately."
In the bipolar Trump presidency, on one side is Darth Vader Steve Bannon and on the other is Trump's Manhattanite daughter Ivanka. These two people occupy opposite sides of the president's brain and impulses. Bannon is the guy goading Trump to go scorched Earth on the media and reminding him of his hardline campaign promises. Ivanka pushes gentler tones and more liberal lines. Caught in the middle of this war for bandwith is the president.
Construction on a border wall may not begin as quickly as Donald Trump would like, as the Department of Homeland Security could only find $20 million for the project.
The president planned to use DHS funds until he could get Congress on board but Reuters found that far less is available for the wall than he might have hoped.
Sean Spicer on January 25: "At this point, [Trump's] goal was to get the project started as quickly as possible using existing funds and resources that the [DHS] currently has and then to move forward and work with Congress on an appropriations schedule."
What $20 million gets Trump: Just a "handful of contracts for wall prototypes," according to Reuters. The government had previously estimated that a single mile of the proposed 1,257-mile wall would cost $17.8 million.
Why it matters: The administration is now going to have to look to Congress to fund for the wall, with an estimated price tag of around $20 billion. With other big ticket items on the Trump agenda — think: infrastructure, Obamacare — that cash might not come so easily.
