The New York Times is reporting that former Playboy model Karen McDougal has reached a settlement agreement with American Media Inc. to let her out of a contract that silenced her from telling her story about an alleged affair she had with President Trump.
The details: The settlement gives American Media "the right to up to $75,000 of any future profits" her story generates, per the Times, adding that McDougal is allowed to keep the $150,000 payment she received. Her lawyer, Peter Stris, told the Times the settlement is a "total win."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a lead co-sponsor of key legislation on prison reform, bailed on a meeting with Jared Kushner, according to an aide familiar with the situation.
Why it matters: Kushner was coming to the Hill to lend White House support to a bill co-sponsored by Jeffries and Republican Doug Collins. Overhauling prison reform is a rare issue that finds support in parts of both parties on Capitol Hill and from the Trump administration.
There's just a 3-point margin between Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O'Rourke, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.
Between the lines: 51% of independent voters support O'Rourke over Cruz, which is one group of voters that could help him pull of a win. And Cruz's job approval rating (47%) and favorability (46%) aren't exactly high marks for the incumbent senator. The top two issues for the state are immigration and health care, followed by the economy and gun policy.
Sen. Mike Lee wants to unite a pair of Senate criminal justice reform bills, taking a prison reform effort, adding reductions of certain mandatory minimum sentences and limiting the ability of prosecutors to “stack” multiple mandatory sentences.
Why it matters: Prison reform focused on rehabilitating prisoners through educational programs, vocational training and therapy has gained traction in the House. But Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley won't back down on reforming harsh sentencing guidelines, despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions opposition.
Slide Fire, a manufacturer of bump stocks, is shutting down its operations on May 20, according to a notice on their website's homepage.
Flashback: President Trump called for a ban on bump stocks, which are used allow semi-automatic weapons to fire continuously, earlier this year after it became known that the accessory was used in recent mass shootings, including the Las Vegas shooting in October.
Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the panel will take up legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller even though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said such a bill was unnecessary and that he wouldn't bring it to the Senate floor, reports the Hill.
The details: A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill last week that, if passed, would ensure that only a senior Department of Justice official could fire a special counsel, like Mueller. And if a court determines a special counsel was fired without "good cause," the person would be reinstated.
Conservative groups and Republican foreign policy leaders are using Mike Pompeo's meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un to target red-state Democrats who are wavering on supporting Pompeo's confirmation as Secretary of State.
What they're saying: These groups argue that Pompeo's North Korea visit is a game changer, and that expediting his confirmation process is a major national security interest. They'll also argue that in rejecting Pompeo, who has already negotiated on behalf of the president for a planned meeting of the two leaders, these vulnerable senators are playing partisan politics instead of doing their job to protect the American people.
Retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker said Wednesday that he will not campaign against Phil Bredesen, the Democratic ex-governor who is running for his senate seat, calling Bredesen a good businessman and friend during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, per Roll Call.
Why it matters: Tennessee is one of the 3 most vulnerable Senate seats for Republicans, and though Corker said he would support whoever becomes the Republican Senate candidate — Republican Rep. Marsha is expected to secure the nomination — he said he doesn't plan to put any of the $6 million funds in his Senate campaign account toward the Tennessee race.
President Trump contradicted his own comments from last year on the role that the Russia investigation played in the firing of former FBI director James Comey in a Wednesday tweet:
Flashback: In May 2017, Trump told NBC's Lester Holt about his decision to fire Comey: "In fact, when I decided to just do it I said to myself, 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'"
Former FBI Director James Comey said that the Republican Party "has left [him] and many others" and that he "can't be associated with it," thanks to the influence of President Trump during an interview with ABC News' podcast "Start Here" :
“These people don’t represent anything I believe in. ... I see the Republican Party, as near as I can tell, reflects now entirely Donald Trump’s values. It doesn’t reflect values at all. It’s transactional, it’s ego-driven, it’s in service to his ego. And it’s, I think, consoling itself that we’re going to achieve important policy goals — a tax cut or something."
Fox News' Sean Hannity speaks with President Trump several times a week and is "one of the few people who gets patched immediately to Trump," per the WashPost: "The phone calls ... come early in the morning or late at night ... They discuss ideas for Hannity’s show ... and even ... what the president should tweet."
For the first time on Twitter, President Trump directly addressed Stormy Daniels and her accusation that she was physically threatened in 2011 over an alleged affair with the president, calling it "a total con job."
His prior comments: Trump has only publicly addressed the Stormy scandal once before, issuing a terse one-word "no" earlier this month when asked if he knew about a $130,000 payment to cover up the alleged affair, per CNN.
