A delegation of House Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is kicking off a trip through the Middle East on Saturday which includes a stop in Jordan, Politico reports.
Why it matters: The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, didn't agree with President Trump's announcement that Jerusalem would be named the capital of Israel. Pelosi said the 10 Democrats' visit to Jordan comes "at a vital time in the U.S. relationship with this key ally." Pelosi's office told Politico the trip will focus on "global and regional security and cooperation issues."
The big picture: Most of Congress didn't really read it; Trump threatened to veto the bill yesterday, and ended up signing it anyway. He said he would never sign a bill like that again, but it was too late: a White House official told Axios' Mike Allen that Trump's signing led to "the hardest I've ever seen the base turn on Trump over anything."
A former White House official tells me that online conservative ire (Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, etc.). about the spending bill President Trump signed yesterday — after a puzzling tweeted veto feint — "is the hardest I've ever seen the base turn on Trump over anything."
Why it matters: "A big reason why people voted for him was because of his apparent willingness to stand up to the entrenched political class in both parties. Voters wanted a fighter who wouldn't back down to 'the swamp' like a 'typical politician," the official told me.
On Jan. 26, just over a year into his presidency, President Trump had a president's dream: peace and prosperity. The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all hitrecord highs.
Where it stands: Since then, Trump has injected multiple new risks into the system.
President Trump tweeted on Friday evening that to avoid having "this omnibus situation from ever happening again," he wants Congress to re-instate "a line-item veto."
Why it matters: This would allow him to veto specific parts of a bill without getting rid of the entire thing. Trump was deeply unhappy with the $1.3 trillion spending bill approved by Congress early Friday morning, but signed it anyway on Friday afternoon.
The bottom line: Sessions fired McCabe two days before his pension — he was already planning to retire last weekend — and writes he was fired "in the most disembodied, impersonal way." He said he was "not surprised" by Trump's praise of his removal, and that he was told by "a friend....that CNN was reporting that I had been fired." Axios' Jonathan Swan also reported he was informed he was fired by Sessions "at least nine minutes before the media."
Former Vice President Joe Biden squashed the idea of a tussle with President Donald Trump in an interview with Pod Save America, clarifying that he meant he would have "[taken] him behind the gym" in high school, had Trump made crude remarks in front of his sister.
Why it matters: Trump responded to a comment from Biden earlier in the week, tweeting that the former Vice President "would go down fast and hard" in a fight. While speaking with Pod Save America, Biden said: "I shouldn't have brought it up again, because I don't want to get in the mosh pit with this guy."
Since the signing of the Taiwan Travel Act last week, the U.S. has sent two senior officials to Taiwan — Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing Ian Steff, South China Morning Post reports.
Sources close to President Trump say he feels John Bolton, hurriedly named last night to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, will finally deliver the foreign policy the president wants — particularly on Iran and North Korea.
Why it matters: We can’t overstate how dramatic a change it is for Trump to replace H.R. McMaster with Bolton, who was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush.
The reason John Kelly and White House communications officials insisted late last week that McMaster wasn't going anywhere for now — despite a WaPo story saying he was done — was because the president told them to say that. And they genuinely thought he’d take some time to ease McMaster out.
What I'm hearing: An administration source told me that the aides thought Trump probably believed that in the moment..."He’s impulsive. He makes snap decisions but they're weird snap decisions ... He publicly ruminates for six months and then says: 'I have to do this right now.'"
House Speaker Paul Ryan touted the defense spending increase, Sen. Rand Paul angrily tweeted about arcane government spending, and Democrats shook their head at the lack of gun control measures. But most members of Congress accepted the omnibus spending bill for what it is: A giant collection of what has to get done to keep the government functioning, while mustering enough votes to pass.
Why it matters: This is a $1.3 trillion dollar bill affecting every branch of government that passed mostly because it had to. Members voted on it without really reading it, as it was released Wednesday night and passed the Senate shortly after midnight Friday.
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal detailed her relationship with President Trump — which he has denied — in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night, including the first time she met Melania and how he tried to pay her after the first time they had sex.
The details: The alleged affair took place while he was married to Melania and shortly after his youngest son was born. McDougal said they met while the Apprentice was filming at the Playboy mansion, and began seeing each other "quite frequently." She told Cooper that Trump told her he loved her "all the time," and that there "was a real relationship there."
