Defense Secretary James Mattis has responded to claims in Bob Woodward's upcoming book saying the allegations "were never uttered by me or in my presence... the idea that I would show contempt... or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone's rich imagination."
Woodward recounts that after Trump left a meeting with Secretary Mattis on North Korea, "Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like — and had the understanding of — 'a fifth- or sixth-grader.'"
President Trump told the Daily Caller in an interview Tuesday that he "had a lawsuit prepared" against NBC regarding the legality of the leaked "Access Hollywood" tape during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The details: Trump didn’t say when he had planned to file suit but explained, "I had a lawyer hired to bring a suit right after the election ended, but one problem arose. I won the election." Trump claimed that NBC leaked the tape to the Washington Post, which obtained the recording. "[T]hey couldn’t put it up themselves, because they would have had tremendous liability," he told the Daily Caller.
In a letter to President Trump's lawyers, special counsel Robert Mueller's office said they will accept written responses from Trump regarding whether his campaign team colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt report, citing two people briefed on the letter. The letter was sent on Friday.
Why it matters: Mueller's team did not ask for written answers regarding whether the president tried to obstruct justice, stating that they recognize the subject could prevent the president from agreeing to an interview. Haberman and Schmidt write that this aspect, along with the tone of the letter, "prompted some Trump allies to conclude that if an interview takes place, its scope will be more limited than Mr. Trump’s legal team initially believed."
President Trump took to Twitter to defend Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday, saying the senators and protestors criticizing him are "looking to inflict pain and embarrassment" on him by trying to disrupt his nomination.
"The Brett Kavanaugh hearings for the future Justice of the Supreme Court are truly a display of how mean, angry, and despicable the other side is. They will say anything, and are only...looking to inflict pain and embarrassment to one of the most highly renowned jurists to ever appear before Congress. So sad to see!"
Why it matters: Kavanaugh's confirmation process has been shrouded in chaos after 22 protestors were arrested at the start of his first hearing and several Democratic senators sought to delay the process, citing transparency concerns.
The latest book on the White House will be harder to shake off, even as President Trump claims parts of it "could be just made up by the author."
Why it matters: It's not normal for a president's team to fear he's a national security risk, as Bob Woodward's book claims — or to keep information from his desk and ignore his orders.
The White House responded to explosive claims in Bob Woodward's new book saying the allegations are "nothing more than fabricated stories." Chief of Staff John Kelly also refuted the notion that he called President Trump an "idiot" and "this is the worst job" he's ever had.
Key quotes: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad." Gen. John Kelly explained, "The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true... This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes."
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said those who are cited in Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, "Fear," as disparaging President Trump "should be questioning why they are there" and "get another job," per CNBC.
“That's the kind of disloyalty that leads to you leaving, not staying and undermining the president.”
A new poll shows Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right, nationalist party, overtaking the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to pull into second place ahead of a crucial regional election next month in Bavaria, reports Reuters.
The big picture: The surge follows anti-immigrant demonstrations last week in the city of Chemnitz, where about 6,000 people marched after a German national was killed, allegedly by two refugees. SPD is currently in coalition with Angela Merkel's center-right Central Democratic Union (CDU), making AfD the largest opposition party. The rise of the AfD contributed to an immigration standoff that threatened to bring down Merkel's government in June. She's just one of the many European leaders attempting to fend off anti-migration, populist forces.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is set to announce Tuesday that former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl will fill the late Sen. John McCain’s Senate seat through at least the end of the year, The Arizona Republic reports.
The big picture: Kyl served for 18 years in the Senate and retired in 2013 when he was the second-highest-ranking Republican senator.
Top Trump White House staffers like Jim Mattis and John Kelly privately trashed their boss as incompetent, even viewing him as a threat to national security, Bob Woodward reveals in his forthcoming book, "Fear."
The big picture: Backbiting and blind quotes are a norm for a White House, and many claims from Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury" didn't survive close inspection. But Woodward has reported on presidents for decades — with even Trump reportedly wanting to be interviewed.
Twenty-two protestors have been arrested for causing disruptions during Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Tuesday, while Democrats attempted to delay the process over concerns about a lack of transparency and questions about President Trump's legal troubles.
The bottom line: Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who was forced to give his opening statement an hour later than scheduled, refused to allow a vote on the Democrats' motion to adjourn and has pledged to continue the confirmation hearing despite interruptions.
Why it matters: Women are a key group for Trump to have on his side going into the midterms, and ultimately 2020. Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman told Axios' Jonathan Swan that college-educated women have never "been this fervently anti-Republican," thanks to issues like family separation at the border and Trump's behavior. The 66% of women who disapprove of Trump — and 59% who "strongly" disapprove of him — could be a problem for Republicans come November.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee moved to postpone Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Tuesday — in the minutes before it was set to begin — arguing that they had not had the chance to review 42,000 pages of documents released by a Bush White House lawyer late Monday night.
The big picture: Democrats have called Kavanaugh's confirmation process one of the least transparent in Supreme Court history, with the Trump White House invoking executive privilege to withhold more than 100,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh's time as a White House lawyer in the administration of George W. Bush. Meanwhile, Republicans argue that they have released more records for Kavanaugh than they have for any other nominee, and maintain that Democrats are trying to obstruct the process.
Democrats are launching a new super PAC called Change Now, supported by a coalition of Democratic groups, including the Service Employees International Union and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Victory Fund. It will spend more than $5 million, including six-figure TV ad buys, starting today through Nov. 6.
Why it matters: The group is targeting some of the most vulnerable Republicans, like Reps. Rod Blum, Steve Chabot and Mike Coffman, and it plans to expand into other districts.
A key historic pattern that has traditionally shaped dynamics around U.S. energy policy and elections has all but disappeared heading into this year’s midterms. Robust U.S. shale gas and shale-oil production have greatly diminished voter concerns about energy availability and affordability — although a gasoline price spike could quickly rekindle them.
Why it matters: At the same time as voter focus on energy has declined, the two major parties have also developed a deeply polarized gap on climate policy, with only 18% of Republicans concerned a “great deal” about global warming compared to 66% of Democrats. These two factors together mean that the energy policy dynamic has now shifted firmly from Congressional production of complex and broad energy legislation — such as the comprehensive, “something for everyone” bills in 2005 and 2007 — to an increasingly complex, unpredictable and partisan dance between the executive branch, regulators, states and courts. This means that while the midterms won’t have a huge impact on the U.S. energy policy outlook, it will be at stake in 2020.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has given himself a January deadline to decide on a 2020 presidential run, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: Running against Biden is what President Trump fears most, his advisers told Axios' Mike Allen earlier this year. Biden is one of the most popular figures among Democrats, but he could face resistance from the party's increasingly vocal progressive wing, which would likely prefer potential candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.
President Trump's approval ratings have declined in all but one state with a competitive 2018 Senate race, but he's only below 50% in four of the 10 Trump-voting states with vulnerable Democratic senators, according to Morning Consult's monthly tracking poll.
Why it matters: To win the Senate — a goal that's less likely than winning the House — Democrats would need to win 14 of these 17 races. And with a packed fall campaign schedule, Trump plans to make the midterms more, not less, of a referendum on him.
