GOP Rep. Trent Franks will resign from Congress effective January 31, he announced Thursday evening. Franks, who has represented Arizona in Congress since 2002, said in a statement that he had raised the topic of surrogacy with two female staffers due to difficulties he and his wife were having with infertility, "making each feel uncomfortable."
The House Ethics Committee released a statement saying it will "have jurisdiction to determine whether.... Franks engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment and/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment." Paul Ryan's office said after Ryan heard "claims of misconduct," which Franks "did not deny," he told Franks he should resign.
President Trump's public approval rating is 32%, according to a new Pew Research poll. That's significantly lower than all recent presidents at this point in their presidencies — Obama (49%), W. Bush (80%), Clinton (48%), H.W. Bush (71%), Reagan (49%).
Why it matters: His approval has fallen 7% since February, and 12% among Republicans — though at 76% he still remains popular within his own party. With Democrats, his approval has fallen from 8% to 7% since February.
Congress has passed a short-term spending bill to fund the government through December 22. The bill passed the House — with 14 Democrats supporting the bill, and 18 Republicans voting no — and Senate, and is headed to President Trump's desk. The bill will also fund the Children's Health Insurance Program through the end of the year.
Senators voting no: Lee (R), Sasse (R), Ernst (R), Rounds (R), Cruz (R), McCain (R), Hirono (D), Gillibrand (D), Harris (D), Sanders (I), Warren (D), Merkley (D), Markey (D), Booker (D). Republicans were concerned about defense funding, while Democrats raised the fact that no fix was included for DACA.
What to watch for: The next showdown, in two weeks.
Two Democratic lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct were pushed out of Congress this week, while Republican Trent Franks announced his resignation Thursday night after being advised to step down by House Speaker Paul Ryan. However, Republicans have yet to apply similar pressure in two of their most prominent cases of alleged misconduct: Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and President Trump.
The bottom line: There's a clear difference in how each party is handling sexual misconduct. Republicans — especially if Roy Moore becomes a U.S. senator — will have to decide whether to impose the same standards on members of their own party. And of course, there's the irony Franken mentioned in his farewell speech — the Republican president was caught on tape boasting about sexual assault.
President Trump and Vice President Pence sat down with bipartisan congressional leaders — Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Sen. Chuck Schumer — at the White House this afternoon to discuss averting a government shutdown at some point this month.
After Pelosi and Schumer cancelled a similar meeting last week over a combative Trump tweet, POTUS expressed a more positive view about today's summit:
"We’re all here today as a very friendly, well-unified group, well-knit together group of people. We hope that we’re going to make some great progress for our country. I think that will happen and we’ll appreciate it very much."
Reps. John Lewis and Bennie Thompson will not be attending the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum this weekend in protest of President Trump's attendance.
The two lawmakers said in a statement: "President Trump's attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum... After President Trump departs, we encourage all Mississippians and Americans to visit this historic civil rights museum."
Why it matters: Lewis was a key leader and icon of the Civil Rights movement, and has been criticized by President Trump in the past for being "all talk...no action."
In the five months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun sales rose and people took their guns out of storage. This exposure led to at least 60 more accidental deaths than would otherwise have happened — and 20 of them were children, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science.
The details: These charts show monthly changes away from the expected seasonal rate of gun purchases and accidental firearm deaths in children. Following Sandy Hook, both spike dramatically.
Republicans want the FBI to stay out of politics while Democrats are asking the bureau's director, Christopher Wray, to stand up to the president, Politico reports.
Why it matters: Trump attacked the FBI on Twitter last weekend — "Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI 'agent's role in Clinton probe under review.'" He also criticized the two agents who were recently let go from Bob Mueller's probe for sending anti-Trump tweets.
Wray told lawmakers on Thursday, "The work that we do is not easy. But the FBI is passionate and mission-focused."Republican Judiciary Chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte: "It is absolutely unacceptable for FBI employees to permit their own political predilections to contaminate any investigation. Even the appearance of impropriety will devastate the FBI's reputation."
Ranking Democrat Rep. Jerrold Nadler: "It cannot be a coincidence that you sent this message to your agents just hours after President Trump launched an online tantrum aimed largely at the bureau as an institution... You should do more than send a private email to your employees . You must stand up to the president of the United States."
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken announced his decision to resign "in the coming weeks" during a speech on the Senate floor. More than 30 of his Democratic Senate colleagues called for him step down yesterday after a seventh allegation of sexual misconduct against Franken (which was followed shortly by an eighth). Franken referenced both President Trump and Roy Moore during his announcement, saying: "There is some irony that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party."
What's next: Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton will choose Franken's immediate replacement. He said he'll make that decision "in the next couple of days," but his pick is rumored to be Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. A special election for the remainder of his term will be held in November 2018, opening the seat for the midterm elections during what Democrats hope to be an electoral wave in their favor.
The most popular hashtag used by members of Congress in 2017 was #trumpcare, with nearly 12,000 posts using the tag, according to a report by Quorum, a public affairs software platform. Health care hashtags held four of the top five spots and #taxreform was #3.
The most retweeted tweets: Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the winning slot with his tweet: "President Trump, you made a big mistake. By trying to divide us up by race, religion, gender and nationality you actually broughy us closer." It was retweeted 452,940 times, per Quorum.
Domestic politics drove President Trump's potentially costly decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital: Even senior White House officials said they're "prepared for derailment" of Middle East peace efforts — temporarily, they hope.
Barak Ravid of Israel's Channel 10 News, an Axios contributor, gives me this day-after scouting report from Tel Aviv:
The tide turned on Sen. Al Franken on Wednesday after a seventh accuser came forward with allegations against him.
According to Politico, several Democratic women senators "had been talking among themselves about the Franken allegations for weeks," and decided that the next credible allegation would be the last straw. That led to a domino effect, with the vast majority of Senate Democrats now having called for Franken's resignation, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Donald Trump Jr. cited attorney-client privilege on Wednesday in order to avoid answering questions from the House Intelligence Committee about a conversation between him and his father, President Trump, per Politico. The conversation took place after news broke about Trump Jr.'s meeting in Trump Tower with Kremlin-connected individuals, and Trump Jr. said there was an attorney present.
Ranking Democrat of the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, said that's not a legitimate reason to invoke that privilege: "I don't believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present...That's not the purpose of attorney-client privilege."
Why it matters: This was the first time Trump Jr. has been questioned by the intelligence committee over his meeting, which he agreed to in hopes of getting negative information on Hillary Clinton. Schiff said "very central conversation between father and son."
