Tax reform and the end of year spending deal will consume all of Washington's oxygen until the end of the year. But quietly, a potentially far more important, though far less sexy story is unfolding.
If Mitch McConnell's schedule goes to plan, the week after Thanksgiving the Senate Majority Leader will confirm his ninth federal judge. That would beat President Reagan's eight in his first year — the most in recent history. And it triples the three federal judges President Obama appointed in his first year in office.
Rob Goldstone, the music publicist who helped arrange the June, 2016 Trump Tower meeting between the Trump campaign and a Russian lawyer and lobbyist has broken his silence in an interview with Philip Sherwell in the Sunday Times of London.
Key takeaways: Goldstone, who says he was in the meeting at Trump Jr.'s request, says after beginning under the premise of dirt on Hillary Clinton, the meeting shifted focus to the Magnitsky Act. He describes Jared Kushner as "furious," and says Paul Manafort seemed to be paying little attention to what was being said.
Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs, both attempted on Sunday to explain President Trump's silence on the accusations of child sexual abuse and other sexual misconduct against GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore:
The top U.S. nuclear commander stirs an online ruckus by saying he'd resist a commander-in-chief's order for a nuclear strike if it were illegal.Why it matters: Needless to say, this isn't normal. The fact that this is even a topic of conversation reflects Trump anxiety among many former national-security officials, including some Republicans.The backdrop,via CNN: The "remarks come after a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week on the President's authority to launch nuclear weapons — the first such ... hearing in more than 40 years."Speaking yesterday at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, Gen. John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which oversees nukes and missile defense, said what would happen if he were ordered to launch a nuclear strike (CNN, AP, Reuters):
"I provide advice to the President ... He'll tell me what to do, and if it's illegal, guess what's going to happen? I'm gonna say, 'Mr. President, that's illegal.'"
"Guess what he's going to do? He's going to say, 'What would be legal?' And we'll come up with options of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that's the way it works. It's not that complicated."
"I think some people think we're stupid. We're not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?"
"If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life."
Sen. Jeff Flake didn't realize his mic was still on after speaking at a tax reform event, telling Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles: "If [Republicans] become the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, we are toast," according to Arizona's ABC affiliate.
Why it matters: Flake has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, as well as the current attitude in the Republican Party, especially since announcing he won't seek re-election. And there's a split in the party over Roy Moore because while many Republicans have spoken out against him, the President has stayed silent.
Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), Air Force General John Hyten, said he would refuse illegal orders from President Trump, according to CBS.
"I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do...And if it's illegal, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to say, 'Mr. President, that's illegal,'" Hyten said at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia. "And guess what he's going to do? He's going to say 'What would be legal?' And we'll come up with options...It's not that complicated."
Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in October that Trump would spend at least $430,000 of personal funds to pay legal fees of current and former campaign and White House staff wrapped up in the Russia probe. And now he has officially begun paying his own legal fees, which were previously covered by the RNC.
Why it matters: Now the question is how to meet ethical and regulatory standards so it doesn't appear that Trump's personal payments are influencing his staffers in the Russia investigation. Bloomberg reports the Office of Government Ethics are working with a tax firm to iron out those details.
An emergency funding request of $4 billion dollars sent to Congress last week shows a new interest from the Trump administration in dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat; it wants to stop nuclear weapons from flying before they even really get started, the NYT reports. This would interfere with control systems in the North or shoot them down just after liftoff.
Why it matters: Other methods of intercepting North Korean missiles only work about half the time — and that's only in test situations.
It was the lead story of the "CBS Evening News." ... On "NBC Nightly News," it was: 'DOUBLE STANDARD?" ... ABC's "World News Tonight" called it 'SELECTIVE OUTRAGE?"
"[A]fter a wave of harassment claims against powerful men in entertainment, politics, the arts and the news media, the discussion has come full circle with President Trump criticizing the latest politician exposed for sexual misconduct even as he continues to deny any of the accusations against him."
President Trump's taunting of Senator Franken ("Al Frankenstein") for an accusation of sexual harassment, while maintaining a restrained response to the Roy Moore alleged revelations, is re-raising past questions about the president's own treatment of women."
[A]s one prominent figure after another takes a dive, the question remains: Why not Trump?" AP asks:
"The charges leveled against him emerged in the supercharged thick of the 2016 campaign, when there was so much noise and chaos that they were just another episode for gobsmacked voters to try to absorb."
"[T]he president who rarely sits out a feeding frenzy is selectively aiming his Twitter guns at those under scrutiny. ... Trump has been largely mum as Washington Republicans try to figure out what to do about Moore."
The response ... At yesterday's White House briefing, Sarah Sanders said: "The American people, I think, spoke very loud and clear when they elected this President."
"I think in one case, specifically, Senator Franken has admitted wrongdoing, and the President hasn't. I think that's a very clear distinction."
Following the disaster of Hurricane Maria, more than 168,000 Puerto Ricans have fled to Florida, according to the New York Times.
Why it matters: Puerto Ricans could "tilt Democratic," according to the Times, and thousands of them voting in Florida could impact a crucial swing state in presidential elections. There are "well over a million" Puerto Ricans living in Florida as of this year, compared to less than 500,000 in 2000, the NYT reports.
A senior Russian official emailed senior level aides of Trump's campaign team offering to set up a "backdoor" meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin, NYT reports.
Why it matters: Although the meeting never actually happened (Jared Kushner and others eventually declined the invitation at the advice of others), it's the latest example in a growing list of ways the Trump campaign team had contacts with Russian officials discussing meetings with Trump.
