Bloomberg scooped on Friday that Trump wants the Commerce Department to seek the harshest maximum tariffs on global steel imports: 24 percent.
I’m told that’s accurate, but with one small tweak: Sources tell me the president has told confidants he actually wants a *25* percent global tariff on steel because it's a round number and sounds better.
In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for drug trafficking offenses. And President Trump loves it. He’s been telling friends for months that the country’s policy to execute drug traffickers is the reason its drug consumption rates are so low.
"He says that a lot," said a source who's spoken to Trump at length about the subject. "He says, 'When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] 'No. Death penalty'."
The president’s personal pilot is on the administration's short list to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump has told a host of administration officials and associates that he wants John Dunkin — his longtime personal pilot, who flew him around the country on Trump Force One during the campaign — to helm the agency, which has a budget in the billions and which oversees all civil aviation in the United States.
What I'm hearing: One industry insider equated this to the Seinfeld episode when Cosmo Kramer used his golf caddy as a jury consultant. A senior administration official told me that comparison is completely unfair. The source confirmed Trump recommended Dunkin and that he’s sat for an interview for the post. That source said he was impressive.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has put plans to visit President Trump at the White House on hold after the two world leaders had a contentious phone call about the border wall, the Washington Post reports, citing U.S. and Mexican officials.
The details: "Peña Nieto was eyeing an official trip to Washington this month or in March, but both countries agreed to call off the plan after Trump would not agree to publicly affirm Mexico’s position that it would not fund construction of a border wall that the Mexican people widely consider offensive," according to the Post.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) — who has a countdown clock on his iPhone showing how many days he has left in office — left little mystery about his plans when asked about running for president:
Be it guns or global warming, a fascinating trend is unfolding in the Trump era: Corporations, under intense social pressure, are filling a void left by governmental gridlock or avoidance.
In most cases, this phenomenon is inspired not by the pure benevolence of corporations. Instead, it’s intense pressure from social media mobs and idealistic millennials in the companies’ workforces, who expect their employers to take stands.
The Democrats' rebuttal to Rep. Devin Nunes' memo was released on Saturday, and states that the FBI and DOJ "did not 'abuse' the [FISA] process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign," contrary to what the Nunes memo claims.
Why it matters: These memos have taken on a role in the inter-party battle over Russia that is in some ways disproportionate to what they actually contain. Sean Hannity, for example, claimed the Nunes memo revealed something "far worse than Watergate" and Trump claimed he was "totally vindicated" by it. Democrats countered that the Nunes memo was a piece of propaganda maliciously designed to undermine the Russia probe. We're seeing similar reactions now — but in reverse.
President Trump reiterated support for arming teachers in U.S. schools on Saturday, saying school shootings "will not happen again."
Why it matters: Trump's making clear that the controversial policy, which he first proposed during the White House listening session earlier this week, was not just a fleeting suggestion. He said on Thursday that armed teachers could "immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions." A new CBS News poll found that Americans are split on the idea.
Democrats aren't in a hurry to help Republicans fix significant glitches the tax law that was written without their input, Politico reports.
Why it matters: There are more hiccups in the bill than is normal even for complex legislation, Politico reports, which some experts have blamed on "the breakneck pace at which the legislation was pushed through Congress." One blocks retailers and restaurants from using tax write-offs for remodeling; another "prevents people making various types of improvements to non-residential real estate from immediately deducting their entire cost, as lawmakers intended," with a typo exacerbating that error.
Politico reports that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster wrote in an unclassified memo to Defense Secretary James Mattis that President Trump wants his military parade to take place on Veteran's Day. Per McMaster's memo, the parade would start at the White House and move to the Capitol.
The backdrop: Trump's inspiration for the military parade came from attending France's Bastille Day celebration. The plan has drawn criticism for its likely cost and the signal it sends to the world.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein warned the White House two weeks ago that "significant information requiring additional investigation" would create an additional setback in the security clearance process of senior advisor Jared Kushner, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The situation surrounding former White House aide Rob Porter and his security clearance has called into question other officials who are operating on an interim clearance, Kushner among them. According to the Post, Rosenstein "did not provide any details to the White House" about the information that needs further scrutiny.
Last week, GOP senators demanded that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice explain an email she sent herself in the waning hours of the Obama presidency. In her response, obtained by Axios, Rice denied having ever been briefed about the so-called Steele dossier or FISA applications to surveil Trump personnel.
Why it matters: When Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sent Rice questions about the email, which documented a meeting between top officials in the Justice Department, FBI and President Obama, right wing outlets took it as a bombshell. Grassley and Graham focused on whether the meeting discussed the Steele dossier and why it took Rice two weeks after the meeting to send the email.
