After delivering a campaign-style speech to the American Farm Bureau Federation, President Trump signed a pair of executive orders designed to expand access to broadband in rural America.
The details: The executive orders are intended to streamline the private sector's process of locating and accessing broadband infrastructure in the rural U.S. and federal properties managed by the Department of the Interior. Improving internet speed in rural America is seen as one way to address the lagging economic prosperity in those regions.
Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committe, said on Monday that he will retire from Congress at the end of this, his 13th term. The California Republican is the latest in a series of House Republicans to announce he'll not seek re-election.
Why it matters: Hillary Clinton won Royce's district by 9 points in 2016, and Democrats will be eyeing a pickup in the midterms. They need to flip 24 seats for a House majority.
A Senate resolution to block the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules has enough sponsors to force a vote on the floor of the chamber.
Why it matters: The measure only needs a simple majority to pass the Senate, and at least one Republican — Sen. Susan Collins — has previously expressed reservations about the FCC's repeal.
Reality check: A resolution to lift the repeal from the books is highly unlikely to pass a Republican-controlled House — and could be vetoed by the president.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on Air Force One Monday that President Trump won't have a psychiatric evaluation later this week during his first medical exam as president. That's not unusual — CNN looked at information released following the physical exams of the last five presidents, and none mentioned a mental health exam.
The backdrop: Michael Wolff's new book has inflamed the debate surrounding Trump's mental health. The president has pushed back, declaring himself a "very stable genius." CNN looked at information released following the physical exams of the last five presidents, and none mentioned a mental health exam.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Air Force One that President Trump will "absolutely" seek re-election in 2020.
The quote: "... absolutely, he's going to run for President again. I mean, that's what I'm saying. I'm going to direct the questions about whether he's going to run or not to the campaign that's already set up and established."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters on Air Force One Monday that he doesn't believe there "is any way back for Mr. [Steve] Bannon at this point," after his explosive comments to Michael Wolff in Fire and Fury, according to White House pool reports. "The president has been very clear on his thoughts," Gidley added.
"When you go after somebody's family, in the manner in which he did — two of the President's children who are serving this nation, sacrificing in their service — it is repugnant, it is grotesque. And I challenge anybody to go and talk about someone else's family and see if that person doesn't come back and come back hard," said Gidley.
The lawyer representing journalist Michael Wolff and the publisher distributing his new book sent a letter to President Trump saying, "My clients do not intend to cease publication, no such retraction will occur, and no apology is warranted," per ABC News.
The letter came in response to a notice from Trump's lawyers demanding that Wolff "immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the Book."
Sen. Bob Corker boarded Air Force One Monday afternoon to ride with President Trump to Nashville, Tennessee, where the president is scheduled to give a speech.
Flashback: Corker has been a frequent Trump critic. In October, the two were engaged in a public Twitter fight in which Trump said the senator lacked "guts" to seek re-election and Corker compared the White House to "an adult day care center." They've since mended their relationship, bonding over media scrutiny, per CNN. Trump often tweets about "fake news," and Corker says the media falsely reported that he ultimately supported the GOP tax bill because of an element that would benefit his personal finances.
The Trump administration will announce Monday that the nearly 200,000 people from El Salvador who have been allowed to live in the U.S. since a pair of devastating earthquakes battered their country in 2001 must leave or legalize their status by September 2019, according to the New York Times and Washington Post.
Why it matters: The move is the latest crackdown on immigration policy as Republicans and Democrats continue to showdown over how to respond to the administration's termination of DACA.
Oprah Winfrey is "actively considering" a run for president in 2020, according to a new report from CNN's Brian Stelter. The media mogul has been mulling entering the race for at least several months, but has yet to make up her mind — though she received extensive praise for her speech at Sunday night's Golden Globes.
"Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff made the rounds on the morning news shows Monday, where he was pressed about inaccuracies in his book.
Wolff initially insisted on CBS This Morning that "everything in the book is true."
But when Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski cited a specific instance where she was mischaracterized during a lunch, Wolff admitted: "Sometimes the sources get it a little off... I don't represent myself as being there. You're dependent on the people who were there."
CNN's Brian Stelter: "The tiptoeing is over. The whispers are turning into shouts. President Trump's fitness for office is now the top story in the country. That's partly due to Trump's behavior... partly due to Wolff's book... partly due to Trump's reaction to the book."
ICYMI: Trump chimed in on the subject over the weekend, branding himself "a very stable genius."
"When Deportation Is a Death Sentence: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. may face violence and murder in their home countries," by The New Yorker's Sarah Stillman.
Why it matters: This eye-opening piece is one that lawmakers and administration officials should soak in, about "a major legal battle over the U.S. government’s duty to protect prospective deportees who plead for their lives."
President Trump plans to visit the concrete-and-steel prototypes of his beloved border wall in San Diego after his State of the Union address on Jan. 30, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump insiders say that as they think about 2020, no promise is more vital in Trump Country. He can't blame Democrats for the fact that there's not a wall — he has to find a way to deliver one. It was such a central and symbolic promise that there's no averting your gaze from it.
With her heartfelt acceptance speech for the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille award, Oprah Winfrey sparked a blast of fervor that she should run for president in 2020. And a new report from CNN's Brian Stelter today states that she's been "actively thinking" about a bid for the past few months — which comes after her partner, Stedman Graham, told the Los Angeles Times last night that "she would absolutely do it."
Why it matters: Oprah hits all the right notes at just the right time for a media obsession. She’s not a white man, she’s liberal, she’s flirted with the notion of running, she’s a voice for women and the abused in a sullied Hollywood industry, she’s famous. She’s the anti-Trump, which helps explain this morning's over-the-top political speculation about a nine minute speech.
After his days of rage following the release of Michael Wolff's controversial book, President Trump spent some welcome time with his allies at Camp David.
A source familiar with the discussions — involving top administration officials and congressional leaders — told me the talks were important, above all, to re-establish a "feeling of camaraderie" after a rough few days. Trump was "very loose," the source added, "telling a lot of jokes to keep people in a good place."
