The Democratic donor, billionaire and environmental activist has become a leading voice in the anti-Trump movement (his “Need to Impeach” campaign has earned millions of signatures) and now he's engaging every member of Congress.
Steyer bought 535 copies of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” book to have hand-delivered to all the House reps and senators, per an interview he did with California’s KQED radio station.
What’s next: Steyer will be in D.C. on Monday making an announcement about his future political plans, which could be that he’s running for California governor or as a challenger to Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her U.S. Senate seat.
Editor's note: We updated to correct the spelling of Sen. Feinstein's name.
Pause for a moment, and really let this sink in. The President of the United States this morning declared he's not mentally unstable, and in fact is a genius: "Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. ... I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!"
Nothing like this has ever been uttered in public by a sitting president in the existence of our nation. Nothing. And it puts us in uncharted waters:
The Trump administration is asking for $18 billion in spending over 10 years to extend the southern border wall with Mexico, according to the Associated Press.
Why it matters: Per the AP, this is one of the administration's "most detailed blueprints" of Trump's plan for the border wall, which was a staple of his campaign. The request comes amid Congressional negotiations on what to do about immigrants who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children, known as "dreamers."
The wall will be "first and foremost" in any dreamer-related legislative package, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson tells the AP.
Twitter responded Friday to the calls to ban President Trump from the service — without mentioning him by name.
"Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," the company wrote in a blog post. "It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions." It also said that no "one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions [about how to enforce the platform's rules].
Why it matters: Some on the left had called for Trump's account to be removed after an aggressive tweet about Kim Jong-Un that invoked his authority over the nation's nuclear arsenal. It's not the first time: some think he should have been banned from the platform for earlier messages.
Go deeper: Axios' Ina Fried on the debate over whether Trump should be banned from the platform.
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham have made a criminal referral against Christopher Steele, the British spy who authored the dossier detailing Russia's interference in the election, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The senators wrote in a cover letter that Steele knowingly made misleading or incorrect statements to federal authorities "regarding his distribution of information contained," the Times reports. And this is "the first known congressional criminal referral in connection with the meddling," NYT notes.
The FBI is renewing an examination into the Clinton Foundation and its activities, including a series of interviews with those linked to the foundation over whether donations were made to curry political favor while Hillary Clinton was secretary of State, the NYT's Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman report, confirming parts of a report out Thursday from The Hill's John Solomon, which cited a witness and law enforcement officials.
Why it matters: In 2016, prosecutors ended the earlier investigation into the Clinton Foundation for lack of evidence. This new push comes after renewed calls from Trump, from his Department of Justice, and from top Republicans to look at the foundation. The foundation denies wrongdoing.
More than 70% of voters support tougher penalties for undocumented immigrants who have been previously deported or have committed crimes in the U.S. as well as giving law enforcement officials more power to detain undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, according to a poll by America First, a non-profit formed by Trump campaign aids to support the president's agenda, provided to Axios.
Why it matters: Democratic lawmakers are currently pushing for legislation to protect DREAMers. In exchange, Republicans and President Trump are insisting that other immigration reforms are included, specifically a wall along the southern border and the end of the lottery visa system.
The Trump administration has delayed an Obama-era requirement that communities research their levels of housing segregation and present proposals to fix it in order to receive federal housing aid, per The New York Times.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development didn't repeal the rule outright, but stated that proposals submitted under the requirement would no longer be reviewed.
Why it matters: Experts told NYT that the decision could presage HUD cutting the rule entirely, allowing a reversion to the pre-2015 mean where the federal government could turn a blind eye to effective segregation — for example, by allowing local governments to place housing projects only in majority-black neighborhoods.
Drudge tweeted Thursday "LIFE AFTER MERCER! BANNON FINDS NEW BILLIONAIRE, MILES KWOK..."
Background: Miles Kwok, aka Guo Wengui, is a controversial, self-proclaimed billionaire and member of Mar-a-Lago who fled China and has taken up refuge in a Manhattan penthouse while awaiting a decision on his U.S. asylum application.
President Trump introduced a new nickname for his former chief strategist Steve Bannon in a morning tweet, calling him "Sloppy Steve" while pushing back against Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury":
Trump reupped the nickname later in the morning, part of his scorched-earth campaign against Bannon that began earlier this week.
Sources who've spoken to Steve Bannon tell me they're perplexed by his apparent fixation on Andrew Weissmann — the Russia investigation prosecutor described as Robert Mueller's "pit bull."
The intrigue: What's raised the eyebrows of some who've heard Bannon hold court about Weissmann is that he refers to him only positively and with great admiration.
President Trump re-emphasized his willingness to pass DACA legislation as long as immigration reforms included a wall along the southern border and the end of the visa lottery system in his meeting with Republican lawmakers on Thursday, according to a White House readout.
"We're going to have a wall -- remember that -- we're going to have a wall to keep out deadly drug dealers, dangerous traffickers, and violent criminal cartels."
More quotes:
"The lottery system is a disaster.... So we're going to end it. The lottery system has to be laughed at by countries outside of our country when they send these people in."
On DREAMers: "Hopefully, everything is going to work out very well.... we really are at a point where I think we could do something spectacular for the people on the border, the people coming through."
There are definitely parts of Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury" that are wrong, sloppy, or betray off-the-record confidence. But there are two things he gets absolutely right, even in the eyes of White House officials who think some of the book's scenes are fiction: his spot-on portrait of Trump as an emotionally erratic president, and the low opinion of him among some of those serving him.
Why it matters: Wolff captures the contempt some Trump aides have for the president and his family. Axios' Jonathan Swan notes that this includes people you see trumpeting their loyalty to him.
President Trump is so furious about Michael Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury," that some aides are just trying to avoid him. Key aides tried to talk him out of legal threats against the author and Steve Bannon, the key source.
Lawyers laughed: Does Trump really want to give discovery to Michael Wolff?
The Department of Homeland Security may end a practice that allows H-1B visas to be extended while the holder's green card is pending, two tech industry sources familiar with the process tell Axios. The possible change is part of President Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiatives, as McClatchy DC first reported earlier this week.
Why it matters: This would affect hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who have been working in the U.S. on H-1B visas and have green card applications pending. It would also affect some big tech companies, particularly India-based IT firms that heavily use H-1B visas to fill technical roles.
"2017 turned out to be the global economy's best year since 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund, and 2018 looks even better," the WashPost's David Lynch writes:
The takeaway: "Investors and corporate executives ... have learned to cope with an unpredictable president, often by ignoring his most provocative statements ... the contrast between Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and the placid economic scene is striking..."
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd, and former Obama administration Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco are the new tri-chairs of an effort The Aspen Institute is launching this morning that aims to address a wide range of cybersecurity vulnerabilities on a national scale.
Why it's different: The Aspen Cyber Strategy Group, as the effort is known, is starting with the understanding that many past efforts have been more talk than action. It wants its 35 members of academia, the government, and the private sector to contribute concrete actions that can be taken.
