Omarosa Manigault, who was the only African American woman among President Trump's senior White House staff, drew attention to the Trump administration's lack of diversity when she resigned on Wednesday. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders maintained that the White House has "a really diverse team" across all departments, and are always trying to add to it.
The reality: Manigault, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, was one of two black officials among Trump's three dozen-plus team of Cabinet members and senior staffers.
President Trump says he's confident the GOP tax bill will get Sen. Marco Rubio's vote despite a Washington Post report that Rubio is threatening to vote against the plan unless it includes the child tax credit expansion he has been advocating for.
Trump made the comments at a White House event where he "cut the red tape" of government regulations and claimed his administration has ended 22 old regulations for every new one created.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday, "We're really proud of the work we've done already with Senator Rubio, doubling the child tax credit."
Moments before, the Washington Post reported that Marco Rubio informed Senate leaders he would vote against the Republicans' $1.5 trillion tax plan unless it includes the child tax credit provision he has been advocating for.
News outlets are starting to share rumors that Paul Ryan's seriously considering retirement from his House Speaker role after the 2018 midterms.
Mark Fuller of the Huffington Post reports that the buzz has reached members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who believe Ryan'll be out after he gets tax reform done. And Politico's Tim Alberta and Rachael Bade say Ryan's talked with close aides about leaving after the 2018 midterms.
Republicans are considering bumping up the expiration date for individual tax cuts from the end of 2025 to the end of 2024, the Washington Post reports. This would give them extra revenue to work with while staying within budget rules. The lower corporate rate is expected to be permanent, as it was in both the House and Senate bills.
Why this matters: This is ammo for the argument that the tax bill is mainly for the rich. While Republicans insist that a future Congress won't ever let the lower individual rates expire, the move would be an admission that the bill will end up costing much more than $1.5 trillion.
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) will not seek reelection following allegations of sexual harassment from multiple former staff members, Politico reports.
When accused of using public funds to settle sexual harssment charges, Farenthold originally claimed he had done nothing wrong. The House Ethics Committee recently initiated an investigation into the claims, and today CNN reported that a former senior aide planned to tell his damning account of Farenthold's misconduct.
Before he took office, President Trump was urged by his closest circle of advisors, including Jared Kushner and Reince Priebus, to publicly admit that U.S. intelligence agencies were right about Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election, the Washington Post reported. Trump refused and still refuses, denying that anything other than his own campaigning tactics won him the presidency.
Why it matters: Trump's distrust of U.S. intel has led to zero White House initiatives in looking at how to prevent future cyberattacks. Sources told the Post that there has not been a single Cabinet-level meeting about Russia's election interference. There's been more effort into finding ways to roll back some of Obama's sanctions on Russia.
President Trump is slowly but surely giving Democrats an increasing shot at winning the House and Senate in 2018. If this happened, the House would surely move to impeach him.
The big picture: The numbers — not just in Alabama, but for the totality of elections in 2017 — have top Republicans rattled:
Stacia Robitaille, wife of Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille, tweeted on Monday that President Trump once told her she was "coming home with him" at Madison Square Gardens."
I was once on a elevator alone with @realDonaldTrump (& a man w/him) at Madison Square Gardens. He was aggressive & told me I was coming home with him. I laughed, stating I was married to a Ranger. He guaranteed me my husband didn’t make as much money as him. #ThisIsOurPresident— Stacia Robitaille 🦋 (@StaciaRR) December 12, 2017
