Axios

Chelsea Manning, the former Army private whose prison sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama after being convicted of giving sensitive government records to Wikileaks, has filed to challenge Maryland Senator Ben Cardin for his seat, according to the Washington Post.

Background: After being released from prison, Manning moved to Maryland which she claims as her "home state," the Post reports. In September, Harvard rescinded its offer for her to speak on campus as a Visiting Fellow.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Rev. Bernice King, said Trump's election is "the opportunity for America to correct itself" and that it "could be a blessing in disguise," per AP.

One more thing: She also weighed in on his Twitter use. “This is what I would like President Trump to do: Don’t let the King Holiday find you using your Twitter account in an inappropriate way,” King told the AP. “If he can dare to do that, I would be proud on that day that our president honored Dr. King by not doing things that are offensive.”

Criticism over Donald Trump's behavior and the handling of the Russia investigation dominated Sen. Chuck Grassley's town hall event on Friday morning, the Des Moines Register reports.

Why it matters: The meeting took place in "a rural western Iowa county where Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly two-to-one," the Register reports, and where Trump swept more than half of the vote during the 2016 election.

It's Saturday morning and Trump is tweeting. In addition to celebrating the stock market, he's blaming Democrats for the failure to reach an agreement on DACA. "The Democrats are all talk and no action. They are doing nothing to fix DACA. Great opportunity missed. Too bad!" he wrote.

Why it matters: Trump will likely need to sign off on a bipartisan DACA deal to avoid a government shutdown (unless it's removed from the spending bill). But Trump rejected a DACA deal that was crafted by a group of bipartisan senators, including 3 Democrats.

The Huffington Post obtained a pre-decisional draft of the Trump administration's 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), in which the Department of Defense calls for development of more nuclear warheads.

"The United States remains committed to its efforts in support of the ultimate global elimination of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons...Nevertheless, global threat conditions have worsened markedly since the most recent 2010 NPR...The United States now faces a more diverse and advanced nuclear-threat environment than ever before."

Why it matters: Former administrations have reduced the nuclear arsenal. President George W. Bush cut it by half, per the NYT, and his father reduced it by 41%. President Obama said that the U.S. was committed "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," although the Times reports he cut our supply "less than any other post-Cold War presidency."

The full statement from the White House after President Trump's medical exam today:

"The President’s physical exam today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center went exceptionally well. The President is in excellent health and I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday."

The African Union Mission issued a statement on Friday in response to Trump's remark on Thursday, in which he deemed some African nations "shithole countries."

"The African Union Mission wishes to express its infuriation, disappointment and outrage over the unfortunate comment made by Mr. Donald Trump ... While expressing our shock, dismay and outrage, the African Union strongly believes that there is a huge misunderstanding of the African continent and its people by the current Administration. There is a serious need for dialogue between the US Administration and the African countries."

Go deeper: The outcry over Trump's remarks.

The government is seven days away from shutting down over an impasse on immigration and this week of talks between the White House and Congress may have only made things worse. What one senior GOP aide told us today:

Everybody hates each other right now.

Between the lines: This will not be solved by the so-called "Gang of Six" group of senators looking for a big immigration deal — Sen. Graham's flattering of Trump didn't work – because what they're pursuing is miles away from what President Trump or the GOP House and Senate will agree to. In fact Republican leaders don't even see the Jan. 19 spending deadline as deadline for Dreamers at all.

Lawmakers and leaders from around the world are condemning President Trump for reportedly complaining about immigrants coming to the U.S. from "shithole countries" during an Oval Office meeting.

President Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, arranged for former adult film star Stephanie Clifford (whose stage name is Stormy Daniels) to be paid $130,000 in October 2016 to keep her from "publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump," the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and misconduct during his campaign, all of which have been denied by Trump and his team. Cohen told the Journal that Trump "vehemently denies any such occurrences as has Ms. Daniels."

Sen. John McCain is the latest official to give his take on President Trump's controversial remarks reported yesterday, where he reportedly complained about protections for immigrants from "shithole countries":

Sen. Tim Scott told the Post and Courier that Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed Trump's "shithole countries" comment to him. He added that Graham said reports of the remarks are "basically accurate."

Inside the room: Sen. Dick Durbin said Graham, who was in the Oval Office meeting on Thursday, "spoke up and made a direct comment on what the president said," which took "extraordinary political courage," per the Post and Courier.

Sens. David Perdue and Tom Cotton released a joint statement in response to backlash over President Trump's "shithole countries" remarks, claiming that they "do not recall the President saying these comments specifically."

The Russian hacking group that targeted the DNC in 2016 is planning another cyber attack, this time against the Senate, reports the Associated Press.

Why it matters: The cyber campaign, spearheaded by a group known as "Fancy Bear," is preparing to once again influence public opinion by hacking the emails of America's politicians, says cybersecurity firm Trend Micro.

Go deeper: The firm says they've discovered a number of suspicious-looking websites designed to mimic the look of the Senate's internal email system. Read more on AP.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday that President Trump's "shithole countries" comment on Thursday was "very unfortunate" and "unhelpful." He said he believes immigration is "a thing to celebrate."

Go deeper: How Congress responded to Trump.

John Feeley, the United States' ambassador to Panama, has resigned, stating that President Trump's policies make it impossible for him to work in an apolitical fashion, per Reuters. His resignation came yesterday, according to Univision, before Trump's widely reported comments branding African nations as "shithole countries."

From his resignation letter: "As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies. My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come."

During an appearance on MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson, former RNC chairman Michael Steele said that President Trump's "shithole countries" comment is "incontrovertible" evidence that Trump is racist. His full response:

After denying reports that he called Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as “shithole countries," Trump suggested that maybe he should record future Oval Office meetings.

Yes, but: Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who was at the meeting, confirmed Trump's remarks this morning: "I've been seeing the comments in the press, and I've not read one that is inaccurate."

Sen. Dick Durbin, who was in the Oval Office meeting with President Trump on Thursday, told reporters today that media reports surrounding Trump's "shithole countries" comments yesterday were accurate:

"The president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used those words. It is not true. He said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly ... I cannot believe that in the history of the White House — in that Oval Office — any president has spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.

A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll shows that 55% of Americans (and 54% of independents) think Trump's mental fitness is a legitimate issue. But this is as partisan as any other question, with most Republicans saying the questions are "unfair and politically motivated."

Well, Trump gave his skeptics plenty of fodder yesterday, including a bizarre midnight tweet.

President Trump refuted a Washington Post report that claimed he referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as “shithole countries."

The backdrop: The stunning comments were reportedly made during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, where Trump argued against restoring protections for people who arrived in the U.S. from those countries. The White House later put out a response to the Post report clarifying Trump's position, without denying that he made that comment.

Ever heard of potassium iodide? If you haven’t, it’s a drug that’s supposed to help protect people against radiation poisoning. And per Kaiser Health News, sales went through the roof after Trump tweeted about how his “nuclear button” was bigger than North Korea’s.

• One distributor of the drug said he sold out of a month’s supply of the drug in about 48 hours after the tweet.
• The catch: It’s not actually recommended by either the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It only protects against radioactive iodine, and if that’s not present, the drug is “not protective and could cause harm,” per the CDC.

The bottom line: Yes, www.nukepills.com is a thing.

A bipartisan group of six senators presented Trump with a DACA deal that included proposals for handling the diversity visa lottery system, chain migration, and Dreamers' future in this country. Now Trump is trashing it on Twitter this morning after rejecting it yesterday.

Why it matters: Trump needs bipartisan support to pass a spending bill that includes both border security funding and immigration reform — two areas in which Democrats and Republicans draw hard lines. The six senators whose proposal he rejected represent five different states and account for many different factions of the Senate (from leadership to ranking members on committees covering nearly every policy).

President Trump confirmed via a tweet late Thursday night a Daily Mail report that he cancelled a planned trip to London in February to open the newly-built United States embassy:

Good job, America — you turned the president's brain into another partisan fight. A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll shows that a little more than half of Americans think President Trump's mental fitness is a legitimate issue — but Democrats overwhelmingly say it's an important issue while most Republicans say the questions are "unfair and politically motivated."

At this point, Congress' best excuse for not passing a bill to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program has nothing to do with CHIP itself. It's about keeping it around for leverage to help pass other, more controversial measures.

Why it matters: Congress had been fighting about how to pay for a CHIP extension, but new cost estimates have put that issue to bed. Yet Congress still has no real strategy to pass a CHIP bill, months after the program's funding technically expired. And millions of families — who aren't accustomed to Washington's assumptions about what must eventually happen — are unsure what will happen to their sick kids' health insurance.

President Trump went after FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was removed from Robert Mueller's team over anti-Trump texts, in an interview Thursday with the Wall Street Journal:

"... and what went on with the FBI, where a man is tweeting to his lover that if she loses... we’ll go to phase 2, and we’ll get this guy out of office. I mean, this is the FBI we’re talking about. I think that is — that is treason. See, that’s treason right there."

Between the lines: Trump was asked twice whether such behavior made him less likely to meet with Mueller and dodged, repeatedly saying he'd been completely "open" with the investigation.

Go deeper: Read the transcript.

Thursday afternoon, President Trump reportedly asked in a meeting: "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries coming here?"

There was immediate reaction on Capitol Hill: Sen. Orrin Hatch said he looks forward "to getting a more detailed explanation" on the comments; Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said Trump "is a bad person;" Congresswoman Mia Love, who is Haitian-American, called on Trump to "apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned."

Rep. Mia Love, a Utah Republican, has demanded an apology over President Trump's reported comment that the U.S. shouldn't be "having all these people from shithole countries" like Haiti and countries in African:

“The President’ comments are unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values."