Spicer was back on camera for his Tuesday briefing after a weeklong hiatus — and he had a lot of ground to cover. Top of the list? The Obamacare repeal plan that was released last night. A stack of copies of the new bill was positioned on a table next to the briefing podium, signaling that — as Tom Price noted — "the bill is on the table." Clever. Other takeaways:
The super PAC that spent nearly $200 million trying to elect Hillary Clinton is now diving into a major and long-term digital effort to defeat Republicans and Donald Trump.
Guy Cecil, who runs Priorities USA, tells me his group spent more than $35 million on digital in 2016, and they're applying lessons learned from the cycle to a new digital outfit. They're in the early stages, so details are still light.
In the press' mad scramble to understand Steve Bannon, much has been made of the books he reads, which are wildly atypical for a chief strategist to a Republican President.
Nobody's mentioned one book that's been seminal to Bannon's thinking. It's called 'The Revolt of the Elites' and in it, the author Christopher Lasch argues that the "chief threat" to American democracy and Western culture comes not from the masses, but "from those at the top of the social hierarchy."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai met Monday afternoon with President Trump. An FCC spokesperson describes the meeting as "warm" and said that no "proceedings pending at the FCC were discussed."
A White House spokesperson said that the meeting had a broad focus and declined to specify which issues were discussed.
Some context: Pai has strong views on how the White House should interact with the independent commission. He criticized what he said was the Obama White House's undue influence over his predecessor, Democrat Tom Wheeler, in the fight around net neutrality, and congressional Republicans hit Wheeler's FCC for not disclosing some interactions with administration officials.
The white-hot controversy over President Trump's relationship to Russia made a cameo at the massive CERAWeek energy industry conference in Houston. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak, in a briefing reporters, fielded a question about whether he's had any contact with representatives of the Trump campaign or Trump administration over the last year, and whether sanctions were discussed.
"We haven't had any contacts," he said. Novak declined to offer a direct answer when asked whether the political controversy in the U.S. will make it more difficult to get sanctions imposed by the U.S. under President Obama lifted, but suggested the sanctions are counterproductive. "We have a lot of unused potential in the area of synergy and cooperation in energy," he said.
Why it matters: The controversy over Russia's role in the 2016 election and the Trump administration's contacts with the Putin regime will follow Trump and the Russians around everywhere. The sanctions imposed by the Obama administration have thwarted some of Exxon's work in Russia, where former CEO and current secretary of State Rex Tillerson aggressively pursued major projects.
Some of the president's top foreign policy advisors got together for a tactical press briefing to promote the president's "rightful authority" to revamp the ban. Their big talking points, which they followed by not allowing questions:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "We cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly."
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly: "We do not make the law but are sworn to enforce it. We have no other option. We are going to work closely to implement and enforce it humanely, respectfully, and with professionalism, but we will enforce the law."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "To our allies around the world: this order is part of our ongoing efforts to eliminate vulnerabilities that radical Islamic terrorists can and will exploit for destructive ends."
The Daily Beast got their hands on a Department of Homeland Security memo issued this past July warning government employees of approaches by foreign intelligence officials.
A caveat: Some of The Daily Beast's sources believed it to be "routine and somewhat obvious," while others saw it as a "serious indication" of Russian interference.
Its timing: A senior administration official said that Kislyak's presence at the RNC was "not unrelated" to the production of the memo. The memo was issued the day after then-Sen. Jeff Sessions met with Kislyak, although that meeting was not reported until last week.
Reaction from a Trump campaign staffer now working with the administration: "So yeah, we know him and he knows us, and you make small talk and you play that game. If you think that means I can't handle my shit and we're all Russian agents, go [f***] yourself."
The big takeaway from a current law enforcement official, "This is also known as one enormous Cover Your Ass…The bulletin is bullshit, but the threat isn't and people should know."
ABC's Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly had to interrupt White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders today to get a firm answer on whether President Trump accepts FBI Director James Comey's reported denials of wire taps targeting Trump Tower.
Her eventual answer: "You know, I don't think he does, George. I think he firmly believes that this is a storyline that has been reported pretty widely by quite a few outlets... and we believe that it should be looked at by the House Intelligence Committee."
Watching George Stephanopoulos make corn beef hash out of Sarah Huckabee Sanders is making me hungry for breakfast. pic.twitter.com/Vk1mlPKnxZ— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) March 6, 2017
The big details: It's effective on March 16th, Iraq is no longer on the banned list, Syrian refugees "are treated the way all refugees are" and green card and visa holders are excluded from the ban.
I have learned that some — though definitely not all — members of President Trump's inner circle share his belief that the Obama administration tapped his Trump Tower phones in October. And a White House official told me President Trump not only doesn't regret this weekend's fracas despite the lack of evidence for his astonishing claim, he is "absolutely convinced" he'll be vindicated.
A new CNN/ORC poll shows a strong majority of Americans in favor of a special prosecutor on Russia, although President Trump's approval ratings actually increased a percentage point over the past month. Other findings:
In favor of a special prosecutor: 82% of Democrats, 43% of Republicans, and 67% of Independents.
"Very concerned" on Russia contacts: 71% of Democrats, 7% of Republicans.
President Trump's interest in a merit-based immigration system is widely seen as a win for the tech industry by putting more emphasis on higher-skilled workers — the very type of worker tech companies need to hire.
