Michael Cohen, President Trump's former attorney who until June served as the Republican Party’s deputy finance chair, today changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat, according to a knowledgeable source.
Between the lines: The move fits a pattern of Cohen publicly breaking from the man for whom he once said he’d take “a bullet.” Cohen went online around noon to the Albany-based New York State Board of Elections to make the change, according to the source.
Kanye West discussed gun violence and racism in America at length in a roller coaster, 25-minute appearance in the Oval Office during a meeting with President Trump and former NFL running back Jim Brown, stating that Trump is on a "hero's journey" before ending things with a hug.
The details: West — at the White House to discuss prison reform, a cause championed by his wife, Kim Kardashian — explained his support for Trump, telling him that his "Make America Great Again" hat makes him "feel like Superman." Trump called Kanye's comments "really nice" and "from the heart" and praised both him and Brown as "special people."
President Trump said Thursday during an expansive interview on "Fox & Friends" that he would overrule Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he tries to stop a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill in the Senate, a favorite project of Jared Kushner.
“There has to be a reform because it's very unfair right now. It's very unfair to African Americans. It's very unfair to everybody. And it's also very costly.”
Why it matters: In the past, Trump has been more hesitant on the topic — particularly regarding federal sentencing guidelines — thanks to tough-on-crime Republicans like Sessions and Sen. Tom Cotton. His latest remarks are a victory for Kushner, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, Sen. Dick Durbin and other members of Congress who have worked to get the reform bill through the House to find compromise in the Senate.
President Trump called into "Fox & Friends" on Thursday morning for a lengthy 47-minute interview, discussing virtually every hot news topic of the moment.
The bottom line: Trump's freewheeling interviews on the friendly turf of "Fox & Friends" seemingly allow him free rein to speak his mind. He told the hosts that only their program — not even Fox News as a whole — is exempt from the "dishonest media" label.
Discussing potential 2020 opponents on "Fox & Friends" Thursday, President Trump said that Eric Holder "better be careful what he's wishing for," referring to Holder's statement that when Republicans "go low, we kick them."
"He better be careful what he's wishing for. ... That's a disgusting statement for him to make. For him to make a statement like that is a very dangerous statement. ... Holder is — he's got some problems. And I don't see him running. And if he did run, I think he gets gobbled up before he even gets to the election itself."
During a recap of his 2016 election victory at a Pennsylvania rally on Wednesday night, President Trump joked about "the rules of #MeToo," implying they kept him from using the phrase "the woman who got away" when referring to the state's significance for previous Republican presidential candidates.
The big picture: Trump has publicly pushed back on the #MeToo movement recently after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault and misconduct. He said earlier this month that it is a "very scary time for young men in America" because men are "guilty until proven innocent."
Top foreign policy lawmakers in the Senate on Wednesday enforced a law that requires President Trump to launch an investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and enforce sanctions against any foreign individual found responsible for the matter.
The details: The effort, led by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and top Democrat Bob Menendez, requests an investigation under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act that requires the president to give a report to Congress within 120 days. The senators called the disappearance "a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights."
President Trump told reporters on Wednesday evening that the 832-point dip in the stock market is a self-correction and said the Federal Reserve has "gone crazy" after it raised interesest rates.
"I think the fed is making a mistake. It’s too tight. I think the Fed has gone crazy. You can say that’s a lot of safety, actually, and it is a lot of safety and it gives you a lot of margin, but I think the fed has gone crazy."
Why it matters: Trump has criticized the Fed for raising interest rates before, but also touted the rise as a signal of a strong economy. The move to raise interest rates was not unexpected and rates are still low amid Wednesday's market crash.
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has responded to President Trump's comment last week that voters "will never forgive" her for voting against Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, saying she knows her state's political terrain "better than he does," per the Associated Press.
The big picture: The Alaskan senator who is up for re-election in 2022 told reporters Wednesday that her "barometer is not necessarily what the president says but what the people of Alaska say." Murkowski was the only Republican senator who opposed Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted President Trump Wednesday for writing what Sanders called "blatant lies" in a USA Today op-ed that attacked Democrats who support "Medicare for All," reports The Hill.
"Bottom line is he's trying to frighten seniors and suggest that Medicare for all would cut back the benefits they have. The truth is it would expand the benefits that they have. ... His op-ed should not surprise the American people in that it is full of lies.”
President Trump said Wednesday that he spoke with high level officials in Saudi Arabia on the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist that Turkish investigators reportedly say was murdered in the Saudi consulate.
Details: Trump didn't disclose the details of his conversations with Saudi officials, but he described circumstances as a "bad situation." Khashoggi is known as a critic of the Saudi government and went missing after visiting the consulate to retrieve a document required to marry his Turkish fiancee. Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations.
A group of seven bipartisan senators plan to "demand answers" in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday over the United States' involvement with the ongoing civil war in Yemen, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The details: Last month, Pompeo certified U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen despite warnings from State Department experts. Per WSJ, the lawmakers — Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley, Chris Murphy, Chris Coons and Jeanne Shaheen; and Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Jerry Moran and Todd Young — are asking Pompeo to justify his decision by the end of October.
President Trump raised a bid from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson to build a casino in Japan during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to a report from ProPublica's Justin Elliott.
Why it matters: Abe and his aides were "incredulous" that Trump "would be so brazen," according to a source briefed on the conversation. The project is a top priority for Adelson, who donated $25 million to Trump's campaign and inauguration, because Japan only recently legalized casinos and the market is considered a "holy grail" in the industry, Elliot notes. Adelson dined with Trump the night prior to the meeting.
Kellyanne Conway criticized Hillary Clinton on "Fox and Friends" Wednesday morning, calling the former secretary of state's comments on civility "graceless" and "a little bit dangerous."
The backstory: Clinton, speaking on CNN Tuesday, said, "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about" — comments that quickly gained speed on social media. This morning, Conway pushed back on those remarks and even took a jab at what she described as Clinton's "privilege," including "her marriage to a much more popular — a man who was actually a two-term president that she’ll never be.”
Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg wrote on Instagram (followed by Facebook and Twitter) that he's now officially a Democrat.
Why it matters: Bloomberg, looking ahead to a possible 2020 presidential race as a Democrat, is heading toward spending $100 million on House Democratic races, and made a surprise contribution of $20 million to Senate Democrats.
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley doesn't seem like a natural fit for President Trump's administration: As the first female and first minority governor of South Carolina, she had nearly opposite views on trade, immigration and globalism.
The bottom line: The key is that Trump sees hiring as casting, so it's clear why Haley became such a high-profile member of his Cabinet — with him praising her yesterday, during her Oval Office departure announcement, for making it "a very glamorous position."
Senior people in the White House have the impression that Dina Powell, former top official in the Bush and Trump administrations, can have the UN ambassador job if she wants it.
The big picture: Trump has been speaking glowingly about Powell, privately and publicly, and she has strong allies in Nikki Haley, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. In fact, Powell was Haley's No. 1 recommendation to succeed her.
An abrupt spike in the number of Guatemalan families in Arizona's detention facilities has forced federal immigration authorities to release hundreds of parents and children in recent days to church shelters and charities, reports the Washington Post.
The details: A spokeswoman for ICE, Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, said the agency does not have the capacity to conduct case reviews without risking violating court-mandated limits on how long children can be held in detention facilities. The Post cites an anonymous Department of Homeland Security official saying the government has seen record numbers of family units coming across the border. September arrest totals haven't been published, but the official said the number of parents with children is expected to exceed the 12,774 family members arrested in August.
