Representative Tim Murphy told KDKA's Jon Delano he won't be seeking re-election in 2018, just a day after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported he pushed his mistress to have an abortion earlier this year despite his pro-life political stance.
Why it matters: There are three Democrats already vying for his seat, according to Ballotpedia. Murphy, who has been in Congress since 2003, ran unopposed — by Dems and Republicans alike — in every election since 2012.
Special Counsel Robers Mueller's team has taken over FBI inquiries into the dossier a British spy compiled on alleged links between Trump associates and Russia, Reuters reports. The unverified dossier raised the possibility Trump could have been vulnerable to Russian blackmail during the election.
Why it matters: It appears Mueller's extra muscle may be needed, as the Senate Intelligence Committee said earlier Wednesday it had "hit a wall" in assessing the veracity of the document. Chairman Richard Burr said they had trouble getting Christopher Steele, the dossier's author, to come before the committee to discuss the details.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin are (D-IL) re-introducing a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that never made it to the floor last year. It calls for lower minimum sentences for drug offenders, targets violent criminals and calls for a National Criminal Justice Commission to conduct a review of the criminal justice system.
Why it matters: The Senators hope that the bill can receive bipartisan support by reducing sentences for non-violent drug offenders, but still enforcing harsher sentences for violent criminals. "This bill strikes the right balance of improving public safety and ensuring fairness in the criminal justice system," Sen. Grassley said in the press release.
Senator Bob Corker told reporters Wednesday he thinks "Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos." Corker added that Tillerson is not being supported in the way that I would hope" and "is in an incredibly frustrating place."
The backdrop: Corker's comments followed a report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a moron — which the State Department has since refuted — and considered resigning.
Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and vice chair Mark Warner (D-VA) made it clear Wednesday that they still have a lot of work to do regarding the Russia investigation, including learning more about the extent of Moscow's impact on the 2016 election and whether any Trump campaign members colluded in the interference.
"It's safe to say that the inquiry has expanded slightly," Burr said. He said he still hopes the committee can complete its probe by the end of 2017, but emphasized they must be finished and "make our facts public" prior to the 2018 midterm primaries.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson almost resigned over the summer around the time of President Trump's controversial speech at the Boy Scouts' Jamboree, according to an NBC News report. Tillerson also reportedly called Trump a "f***ing moron" following a national security meeting at the Pentagon in July, as NBC News' Stephanie Ruhle told Hugh Hewitt. Tillerson's spokesman at the State Department flatly denied the report.
Why it matters: Tillerson reached that point after months of foreign policy disputes with Trump, specifically on Iran and Qatar. It reportedly took personal interventions from Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly to get Tillerson to reconsider.
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.
