Ousted National Security Advisor Mike Flynn told the FBI and congressional officials investigating potential Trump/Russia ties he would submit to an interview in exchange for immunity from prosecution, officials close to the matter told the WSJ. According to the officials, the FBI and Senate Intel Committee have not yet accepted that deal.
Flynn's lawyer released a statement saying "outrageous" and "vicious" claims had been made about Flynn and that "no reasonable person... would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution."
General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit.
Flynn was dismissed after it surfaced that he had discussed lifting Obama-era sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and misled the White House about those conversations.
Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaking vote in the Senate today that rescinded an Obama-era regulation that prevented states from denying federal funding for family planning to health care providers that provide abortions, per the WSJ.
The regulation was designed to protect Planned Parenthood centers in states like Texas and Kansas, but Republicans argued that rolling back the rule doesn't cut any funding dedicated to women's health. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: "On its way out the door, the Obama administration issued a regulation that prohibited states from allocating certain health prevention funds in the way that best serve local communities." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the move "would let states treat women as second class citizens."
The two Republicans that broke ranks? Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).
At the Senate Intel Committee's hearing on Russian interference in the U.S. election, a series of the witnesses offered their perspectives on how the US should retaliate:
"I would caution the response if it's just in cyberspace...the asymmetry...if it's all our tools in the cyberspace and all their tools in cyberspace, Russia wins" — Kevin Mandia, Chief Executive Officer of cybersecurity firm FireEye
"I don't think we want to do a tit for tat on these things" — Ret. General Keith Alexander, former NSA director and CEO of IronNet Cybersecurity
"Certainly not militarily, that would be an escalation that's entirely inappropriate" — Thomas Rid, professor at the Department of War Studies at King's College in London
Why it matters: Even these cyber experts can't agree on what the next steps are for responding to the Russian interference. As Angus King said, "This country has no strategy or doctrine around cyber attacks…If our adversaries don't know we have it, it can't act as a deterrent."
Rep. Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said during a Thursday press conference that it is "highly concerning" that the White House letter — inviting ranking members of the committee to review the intelligence materials that chairman Devin Nunes has seen — came out the same day as the N.Y. Times story on Nunes' sources. "That timing is concerning," he added. Other notable takeaways:
Schiff said he will go to the White House as soon as they're ready for him, and noted that he will ultimately share what he finds with the rest of the committee.
On source of information: "To me this looks nothing like a whistle blower case," said Schiff. Paul Ryan previously suggested the source seems like 'whistle blower-type person.'
On Russia probe: "This won't distract us from our Russia investigation... if that's the object here, it will not be successful... this is too important not to go forward... We are going to get to the bottom of just what the Russians did and how they did it, and whether there was any coordination."
I just attended a meeting in Reince Priebus' office with Katie Walsh, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. They told a small group of reporters that Walsh was leaving the White House to join the pro-Trump outside group "America First Policies."
In her own words: "It has been the honor of a lifetime to work for President Trump in the transition and in the White House. I am excited for this new opportunity and the ability to continue to fight for the President's agenda to make America great again."
The briefing was dominated by the NY Times bombshell that the sources behind Devin Nunes' claims that Trump may have been monitored by the Obama administration were reportedly White House officials. Spicer said he wouldn't comment because he didn't want to "condone" or "validate" the reporting, but he didn't dispute it either.
Senators at the Senate Intel Committee hearing about Russia's influence in the 2016 presidential election are increasing the pressure to see Trump's taxes to root out the Trump-Russia connection.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): "I wrote a letter to the Chairman to look at Trump associates and — also taking this issue on as member of Finance Committee — to obtain and review Donald Trump's tax returns...I believe that a key to a successful investigation is following the money...There is a "history of money laundering in Russia...Russia's corruption problem might also be our corruption problem."
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM): It's "critical…that we follow the money."
There was an effort yesterday to get House GOP conservatives — the House Freedom Caucus and Republican Study Committee — to meet with GOP moderates — the Tuesday Group — to talk about a path forward after last week's failed health care effort.
It ended up deteriorating into blame-shifting and recriminations.
An administration draft proposal that has been circulated in Congress by the U.S. trade representative's office revealed that the U.S. might keep some of NAFTA's most controversial provisions, despite Trump railing against the "disaster" agreement during his campaign, per the WSJ. The recently obtained proposal reveals that the U.S.:
Would keep a disputed arbitration panel that allows investors to circumvent local courts to resolve civil claims, which critics argue infringes on national sovereignty.
Wouldn't use upcoming NAFTA negotiations with Mexico and Canada to deal with disputes over foreign currency policies or to discuss meeting numerical requirements for bilateral trade deficits.
Calls for allowing a NAFTA nation to reinstate tariffs in case of an influx imports that would cause "serious injury or threat of serious injury" to domestic industries.
As the WSJ points out, the draft appears to be a compromise between trade hawks, who hope NAFTA renegotiations will help set a new trade agenda; and moderates, who back the provision under the original agreement.
The NYTimes' Nate Cohn dug through the numbers in search of how Trump pulled it off, and it all goes back to the white working class:
If turnout played only a modest role in Mr. Trump's victory, then the big driver of his gains was persuasion: He flipped millions of white working-class Obama supporters to his side.
The voter file data makes it impossible to avoid this conclusion. It's not just that the electorate looks far too Democratic. In many cases, turnout cannot explain Mrs. Clinton's losses.
The White House and Chinese government have confirmed that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit U.S. President Trump at Mar-a-Lago on April 6-7, as Axios' Mike Allen reported earlier this month.
A federal judge in Hawaii has extended the restraining order placed two weeks ago on Trump's revised travel ban, per the Associated Press. The court concluded the plaintiffs established a "strong likelihood of success on the merits of their Establishment Clause claim."
What's next: The DOJ will either litigate the merits of the case or appeal.
