Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Nick Ayers told wealthy GOP donors to move to "purge" lawmakers who refused to support President Trump at a closed-door Republican National Committee event today, per Politico.
Why it matters: Pence, a former congressman, has been a bridge between Trump's more populist tendencies in the White House and the establishment Republicans in power on Capitol Hill. Having such a prominent member of his staff deliver such a targeted message makes it clear that frustrations with Congress are coming to a head inside the Trump administration.
President Trump and First Lady Melania met with victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico Tuesday, shaking their hands, posing for photos, listening to their stories, and offering reassurances.
"Your governor and your mayor have done really a fantastic job," Trump said in San Juan. "We're going to help you out. Have a good time."
President Trump met with political and military representatives in Puerto Rico Tuesday to discuss the ongoing recovery effort following Hurricane Maria. Trump, who repeatedly praised the good work of federal responders, also drew comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, suggesting that Puerto Rico should "be very proud" to have fared better:
"Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe, like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody's sever seen anything like this. And what's your death count as of this moment? 17? [Gov. Ricardo Roselló says 16] … 16 versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud. Only 16 instead of thousands in Katrina."
President Trump is on the ground in San Juan, Puerto Rico to survey relief efforts following Hurricane Maria. He'll attend a briefing later this afternoon with the governors of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz — whom he's recently attacked via social media.
The State Department ordered the expulsion of 15 Cuban diplomats due to the mysterious health attacks that have affected at least 22 employees at the U.S. Embassy in Havana and caused the U.S. to greatly reduce its staffing there. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement that the decision was "due to Cuba's failure to take appropriate steps to protect [American] diplomats."
Why it matters: It's yet another sign of worsening relations with Cuba under the Trump administration, even as the White House has stopped short of blaming the Cuban government for the attacks. In response, a Cuban official called the expulsion "irresponsible" and "hasty," per the AP.
House Republicans are considering having homeowners choose between taking the deduction for local property taxes and the one for mortgage interest, per the AP. The previous iteration of the tax plan showed the number of consumers that would likely take the mortgage interest deduction was effectively decreased and would have likely increased taxes for middle-income homeowners.
What it means: The House GOP is trying to curry favor with lawmakers from high-tax states who are not completely on board yet with the tax reform plan.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said in a statement Tuesday that she has accepted an invitation from President Trump to join him in a briefing while he's in Puerto Rico today. Trump has called her an "ingrate" and accused her of "poor leadership" in recent days, after she publicly begged him for help and said the federal response had been inadequate.
"I have accepted the invitation on behalf of the people from San Juan and out of respect for the American people, represented by the Capital Office of the President of The United States. I will use this opportunity to reiterate the primary message: this is about saving lives, not about politics; this is also about giving the people of Puerto Rico the respect we deserve; and recognizing the moral imperative to do both."
A day after Americans woke up to the worst mass shooting in the country's modern history, authorities are still trying to learn more about the suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, who opened fire on a country music concert from a towering hotel across the Las Vegas Strip at 10:08 p.m. PT on Sunday.
IBM is launching a major lobbying effort to urge Congress to find a legislative fix that will let so-called "Dreamers" stay in the country. But instead of relying on lobbyists, the company is letting its own employees do the talking: IBM will bring some of its more than 30 Dreamers on staff to Washington to share their stories with lawmakers.
Why it matters: A number of tech companies have vocally defended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is set to phase out starting next spring. Many DACA beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, work at companies like Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, who has a more cordial relationship with the Trump administration than most tech executives, is the only major tech CEO to directly lobby leaders in Congress and the administration on the issue.
Here's how the Las Vegas shooting compares to all of the U.S. mass shooting events since 2013, using data from the Gun Violence Archive. The group uses a broad definition of mass shootings: any reported incident where at least four people were shot or killed — excluding the shooter — at the same time and location.
Sen. Rand Paul tweeted a shot across the bow to Congressional Republicans over the GOP tax plan this afternoon:
Why it matters: Republicans can only afford to lose three votes on tax reform, and retiring Sen. Bob Corker has made it clear that he won't vote for a bill that increases the deficit. Now, Paul's tweet only complicates the matter further — and puts the pressure on Mitch McConnell to deliver a final bill that's acceptable to his members.
President Trump was joined by First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Pence and his wife Karen on the White House lawn this afternoon for a moment of silence for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting.
Sarah Sanders was choked up Monday while she detailed some of the horrific stories of the victims who were attacked in Las Vegas on Sunday night. She also pointed to the acts of heroism that were shown on the scene, stating that "The American spirit cannot and will not ever be broken."
Paul Manafort was told that his campaign work for President Trump would "hugely enhance [his] reputation" with a billionaire Russian oligarch he'd previously worked with, according to email exchanges obtained by The Atlantic.
Think back: The Washington Post dropped a scoop a few weeks ago that Manafort promised "private briefings" to Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin. The emails obtained by The Atlantic make clear the full scope of Manafort's conversations with one of Deripaska's acquaintances, which include surreptitious references to a New York meeting to discuss "the guy who gave [Manafort his] biggest black caviar jar."
President Trump addressed the country Monday from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room following the attack on Las Vegas late Sunday night when a shooter opened fire on an outdoor concert.
His quote: "My fellow Americans. We are joined together today in sadness, shock and grief... It was an act of pure evil."
Democrats took the opportunity after the mass shooting in Las Vegas to call for more policy changes, including Sen. Chris Murphy, who became a leading advocate against gun violence following the Newtown elementary school shooting:
"This must stop. It is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren't public policy responses to this epidemic. There are, and the thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with legislative indifference. It's time for Congress to get off its ass and do something."
Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was welcomed back to Capitol Hill Thursday with a standing ovation from his fellow Congressman, sat down with Politico's Tim Alberta to share the emotional story of his near-death experience after being shot at a Congressional baseball practice in June. After coming close to bleeding out on the field, Scalise recalls his first memory of the gunfire:
Standing on a baseball field, "you're not thinking 'that's a bullet' ... I felt it … and I just went to the ground. I still had enough energy to start crawling—I'm crawling just to get away. And then my arms just gave out. And at that point, I'm just lying on the ground and I'm hearing gunfire. And so I just started praying. I mean, literally, just started praying. It was weird: I got almost an ease over me, because I felt like, you know what, there's nothing I can—I can't move. So I'm just going to pray to God and put [it] in his hands."
American spies were reportedly among the first and most severely affected victims of the mysterious health attacks which have led to hearing loss and brain injury on U.S. diplomats in Cuba, per AP.
Why it matters: Prior to this report, U.S. officials had described the 21 victims simply as "members of the diplomatic community," which suggested that only bona fide diplomats and their family members were hit, suggesting no rational motivation for the attacks aside from upsetting U.S.-Cuban relations.
