Dana White, the Pentagon's Press Secretary, said Thursday she was pretty sure Secretary Mattis will be in "suit and tie" while visiting the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on his upcoming visit.
White was answering a question about reports from South Korea that South Korea's Defense Minister, Song Young-moo, wanted Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, to wear a military uniform to the DMZ to send a strong military message to the North. This is an implicit confirmation that Mattis will be visiting the DMZ.
The Trump administration will be apologizing to Tea Party groups that underwent extra IRS scrutiny when applying for tax-exempt status during the 2012 election, and the settlement will include a "very substantial" payout, according to a lawyer representing more than 400 groups in the class-action suit. The Department of Justice did not make reference to a payout.
Why it matters: The payout would go to the "conservative, anti-establishment movement that is something of a forerunner to Donald Trump's populist, America-first presidential campaign" and it "would close a chapter in a political scandal that dogged the Obama administration and remains a source of outrage for Republicans," AP's Sadie Gurman writes.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin told Axios that the GOP Senate primary in Mississippi could be heated this year, and warned that President Trump should "stay out of it" or risk angering grassroots voters.
Why it matters: Martin explained that when Trump does something Tea Party voters disagree with, they often "blame" Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for "influencing him," rather than faulting Trump himself (she pointed to Trump's backing of incumbent Luther Strange in the Alabama GOP primary). But despite their unwavering support for Trump, Martin suggested that voters may not be so forgiving in Mississippi if the president endorses incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker over state Sen. Chris McDaniel (should McDaniel choose to run).
The House passed the Senate's budget resolution by a vote of 216-212 this morning, paving the way for the GOP's tax plan over the coming weeks.
What's next: Paul Ryan has promised a blazing fast timeline for passing a Republican tax plan, hoping to get it done by Thanksgiving — but promising earlier this month that he'd keep the House in session through Christmas if necessary.
President Trump again waded into the Virginia gubernatorial race on Twitter this morning, attacking Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam on the economy and crime while stating that GOP candidate Ed Gillespie "might even save our great statues/heritage!"
Fact check: Virginia's unemployment currently sits at 3.7% — below the national average of 4.2%. Of course, it's also worth noting that Virginia's population growth slowed in 2016 for the third straight year as more people left the state than moved in, especially in highly-skilled northern Virginia.
A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (the Senate Leadership Fund) revealed plans to attack Steve Bannon personally "as it works to protect GOP incumbents facing uphill primary fights," the Washington Post reports. The group plans to spend millions boosting candidates with traditional GOP profiles and excoriating those tied to Bannon, highlighting his hard-line populism and attempting "to link him to white nationalism to discredit him and the candidates he will support."
Why it matters: "The turbulence presents a danger to Republicans' narrow 52-seat majority in the Senate, with seasoned GOP lawmakers deciding against seeking reelection amid the political storm — and with many GOP voters cheering the rancor that Bannon has stoked."
For the CIA, hedge funds and the largest retail enterprises, the confounding problem is the same: too much data. The world and its actors have never seemed more complex, and with no way to absorb a meaningful part of the information out there, events appear harder than ever to understand.
A business opportunity: We are seeing a slew of startups promoting artificial intelligence as a solution. The latest is Primer, which, backed by $14.7 million in venture funding, says it sorts millions of news sources and any other data thrown at it, and then crystallizes what's important in concise, natural language.
Why it matters: It will take time to gauge the accuracy of tools like Primer's, and its founder says it does not supplant human intelligence. But it — and rival products — appears to be a solid first crack at breaking through the mountain of data weighing down our best analysts, and shaping it into useable bites and form.
Joe Biden, who's been coy about a potential presidential bid since leaving the Obama administration, admitted to Vanity Fair's David Kamp that he's not ruling out a 2020 bid.
I haven't decided to run. But I've decided I'm not going to decide not to run. We'll see what happens. — Joe Biden
President Trump on Wednesday directed the Transportation Department to launch a pilot program to make it easier to test and deploy drones in select cities across the country. The pilot program is intended to test different models for drones to be used — for delivering cargo or emergency supplies, for example — that can then be evaluated for more permanent deployments.
Why it matters: A growing number of companies such as Amazon, Alphabet, UPS and Intel, are interested in tapping drones for a wide range of uses, but current FAA rules prohibit commercial drones from flying outside of the operator's line of site, above people, or at night. Those restrictions severely limit the practical uses for drones, and companies have been pushing for more clarity and flexibility to operate them.
House Ways and Means chairman Kevin Brady suggested Wednesday that the tax bill he is planning to introduce next week could include changes to 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts, per the Washington Post.
Why it matters: President Trump told Senate Republicans on the Hill yesterday that he ended the 401(k) debate and he tweeted Monday that there would be "NO change" to current the plans. However, some party members involved in tax reform policy are showing resistance.
America's North Korea envoy, Joseph Yun, has been warning lawmakers that North Korea has been avoiding talks with the U.S. in response to Trump's attacks on Kim Jong-un, NBC reports, citing "multiple U.S. government and congressional officials." This comes after Tillerson said in Beijing that the U.S. has "three" channels open to North Korea.
Impact: Yun's warnings inspired Senator Bob Corker's comments that the administration is fraying diplomatic efforts, per these sources. East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau Spokesperson Justin Higgins for his own part said that although "we still want to see a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear and missile threat, now is clearly not the time for talks."
Get smart: Amid all the chaos in Washington right now, and despite some Republicans complaining about Trump in private, the reality is that nearly all of them continue to publicly bow to him. As Axios' Mike Allen wrote today, this is the story of the moment. Trump is as strong as ever.
Senator Jeff Flake, who announced he's not running for reelection in Arizona the next cycle told Morning Joe one of the reasons he's standing down is because constituents see "not standing with the president is somehow not conservative…that's something that's got to change." Other thoughts from the Senator:
Despite the fact that Trump enjoys public support (despite private gripes) from most of the 49 Senate Republicans (asides from Senators Flake, Corker, and McCain) and 239 House Republicans, including every person in elected leadership, some Republicans fear his inexplicable fights with GOP senators could have downstream consequences he doesn't seem to be considering:
Why it matters: Republican strategist Alex Conant emails: "To be successful, Trump needs a united Republican Party. A divided party loses elections."
