President Trump boasted of the "unity" within the Republican party during a lunch with GOP senators Tuesday. He was seated beside Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who has condemned the "flagrant disregard of truth and decency" of politics in the Trump era and urged his colleagues against "complicity" with the president. Trump's quote:
"There is a great spirit in the Republican party like I've never seen before, like a lot of people say they've never seen before," said Trump. "They've never seen anything like this, the unity."
More from Trump:
Why he endorsed Roy Moore: "We want strong borders, we want stopping crime. We don't want a liberal democrat that's controlled by Chuck Schumer. We don't want that for Alabama "
On choosing to take the tax bill to conference: "We had a choice, we could've gone directly for a vote and we decided let's put it into the conference and let's come out with something where everting is perfecto."
There was not one Trump tweet on Twitter's top 10 list of most retweeted tweets of 2017, but Obama tweets made up three of the top 10, according to Politico.
Why it matters: Trump has boasted about his Twitter followers, has become an infamous tweeter and loves to compare himself to the former President. Just this past weekend, Obama seemingly taunted Trump when he said, "I've got 100 million Twitter followers. I actually have more than other people who use it more often," while speaking at a leadership forum in New Dehli, India
President Trump's expected recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has caused worldwide criticism warning the change could halt the peace process and damage relations across the Middle East. Israeli security forces are preparing for any possible response in the region.
Why it matters: President Trump is in the midst of phone calls to leaders in the Middle East regarding the anticipated announcement. Trump called Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, PM Netanyahu and King of Jordan Abdullah. Minutes before the phone call with Trump, Abbas spoke on the phone with French president Emanuel Macron who lobbied Trump yesterday against any unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
A coalition of five Native American tribes are suing President Trump for his decision to shrink Utah's Bears Ears National Monument by millions of acres — the largest-ever reduction of a national monument. The tribes argued in a lawsuit filed late Monday night that a U.S. president only has the legal power to create a national monument, not to downsize one, per the Associated Press.
The backdrop: The lawsuit isn't a surprise, as several tribes and conservation groups had threatened to go to court if Trump moved forward with the reduction. An alliance of environmental groups also sued Trump Monday over his order to downsize Grand Staircase by 50%.
Aneesh Chopra, the United States' first chief technology officer under the Obama administration, told Axios' Mike Allen this morning that he believes expanding tech literacy is a "wildly bipartisan" issue in government today. Chopra specifically cited the work of the Jared Kushner-headed Office of American Innovation as something that "mirrors very nicely" his Obama-era tech initiatives.
A big quote: "While you'll generally see those of us in the Obama world sort of fret all of those decisions [by the Trump administration], on this topic you'll see a lot of alignment and a lot of support."
Amazon dominates the voice-assistant market, per eMarketer, which is skyrocketing in use amongst millennials — Amazon's Echo has 70.6%, Google Home takes up 23.8%, and everyone else: 6.6% (Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon and Mattel).
Adapted from a May 2017 eMarketer chart; Chart: Axios Visuals
Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to Deutsche Bank several weeks ago "to provide information on certain money and credit transactions" for accounts owned by President Trump and his family members, according to a Reuters report that cites "a person close to the matter."
Why it matters: The revelation could illustrate the ever-expanding nature of Mueller's probe, which has long been rumored to be exploring potential financial crimes by Trump and his closest associates.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) will announce Tuesday he will not seek re-election, according to his brother's grandson, Ian Conyers, a Michigan state senator, per the NYT. The younger Conyers plans to run for the open seat.
Why it matters: Ian Conyers' explanation for the retirement doesn't mention the sexual harassment allegations about the representative: "His doctor advised him that the rigor of another campaign would be too much for him just in terms of his health." Conyers was publicly accused of sexual harassment by another former staffer late yesterday, per the Detroit Free Press. The affidavit from Elisa Grubbs, who says she worked for Conyers for about 12 years, brings the number of Conyer accusers to at least seven.
About 43% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or a child of an immigrant, per a new study from the Center for American Entrepreneurship: That number is slightly higher within the high-tech companies on the list, at roughly 46%. The companies linked to immigrants are located in more than half of all states.
The backdrop: A battle is raging over the Trump administration's plan to rescind the International Entrepreneur Rule which grants temporary visas to foreign startup founders meeting certain criteria. Last week, a court blocked the Department of Homeland Security's attempt to delay the implementation of the rule.
President Trump told reporters in Utah Monday that he is encouraging Sen. Orrin Hatch to run for reelection. His endorsement of the 83-year-old follows a Politico report that Trump is "going all out" to persuade Hatch to run in order to avoid any chance of Mitt Romney taking his place.
Why it matters: Senior administration officials told Politico that Trump values the bond he has with Hatch, who has been a loyal defender of the president. Romney sharply criticized Trump during the 2016 campaign, calling him a "phony" and "a fraud," and would likely butt heads with the president if elected to the Senate.
The Trump administration is pulling the plug on the The Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems, a group that helped local officials prepare for extreme weather and other natural disasters. Its chairman Jesse Keenan told Bloomberg the group was "one of the last federal bodies that openly talked about climate change in public."
Why it matters: The Trump administration has ended or altered "a series of federal climate-related bodies" so far this year, Bloomberg said. The Community Resilience Panel was created after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore said President Trump called him on Monday after his full-throated endorsement, saying that Moore is a "fighter" who would help him pursue his major agenda items in Congress. The Moore campaign said Trump wrapped up his call saying, "go get 'em, Roy!"
Background: Moore has been under intense scrutiny amid multiple accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances on teenage girls in the 1970s. In recent comments, the President stopped short of explicitly endorsing Moore in the closely watched special election to be held next week.
Time Magazine has released a list of finalists for their "person of the year:" Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Jeff Bezos, Colin Kaepernick, The Dreamers, Robert Mueller, Patty Jenkins and Donald Trump.
Why it matters: President Trump was named Person of the Year by the magazine last year, and tweeted a couple weeks ago that he he had told Time "no thanks" when they informed him he would "probably" receive the title again. Time denied the story. Trump has often boasted about being on the cover of Time magazine, and the Washington Post discovered that fake Time Magazine covers featuring Trump are hanging in several of his golf clubs.
President Trump told reporters while boarding Marine One Monday that he feels "very badly" for his fired National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI on Friday.
He also claimed that Hillary Clinton has lied repeatedly to the FBI "and nothing happened to her," while Flynn's life has been ruined by doing the same. "I think it's a shame," he said. (Note that Former FBI Director James Comey said in July 2016 that Clinton never lied to the bureau).
President Trump is expected to announce today a reduction by as much as 92% of the land protected as part of Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, The New York Times reports. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will also lose about half of its protected land.
Why it matters: This would be the largest reduction of a national monument, and will be at the center of a debate over how much land a president is able to set aside as a national park or monument. The Times says the move comes "as the administration pushes for fewer restrictions and more development on public lands."
President Trump issued his first full-throated endorsement of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of multiple instances of sexual misconduct with teenage girls in the 1970s, in a tweet this morning:
BIlly Bush, the "Access Hollywood" correspondent on the infamous tape with Donald Trump, writes in the New York Times that Trump is "indulging in some revisionist history" by claiming he didn't say the offensive things on the tape.
Of course he said it. And we laughed along, without a single doubt that this was hypothetical hot air from America's highest-rated bloviator. Along with Donald Trump and me, there were seven other guys present on the bus at the time, and every single one of us assumed we were listening to a crass standup act. He was performing. Surely, we thought, none of this was real. We now know better.
Bush also passes along a previously unreported quote from Trump when asked about inflating his ratings: "People will just believe you. You just tell them and they believe you."
Flashback: The NYT reports Trump is telling associates the voice on the tape isn't his.
