Nancy Pelosi's office got an unusual visitor today, as Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined environmentalists in a climate change protest at the minority leader's office.
The big picture: Democrats are riding a wave of at least 32 new House seats, and the new members have an expectation for change that may remind some of eight years ago.
President Trump announced Tuesday that he had nominated Neomi Rao, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to fill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Why it matters: The D.C. Circuit is widely considered the nation’s second-most powerful court and a stepping stone to a Supreme Court seat. Axios’ Jonathan Swan reported last month that Trump had interviewed Rao for the position and liked the idea of nominating a minority woman, though sources felt he came away unimpressed from their initial meeting.
About 100 migrants who have traveled hundreds of miles through Mexico could reach the U.S. port of entry between Tijuana and San Diego, California, on Sunday, ABC News reports.
The big picture: There are an estimated 11,000 migrants mostly from Central America traveling in multiple caravans toward the U.S. right now. Around 80 members from the LGBT community arrived at the border on Sunday, after traveling on anonymously donated buses, per NBC San Diego. Thousands of U.S. troops and militia groups are at the border in anticipation of these caravans.
President Trump defended his decision to skip a Saturday trip to a World War I cemetery in France due to weather conditions in a Tuesday morning tweet, claiming that the Secret Service had turned down his suggestion to drive there.
"By the way, when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO, too far from airport & big Paris shutdown. Speech next day at American Cemetary in pouring rain! Little reported-Fake News!"
President Trump is seeking to remove Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen with "a replacement who will implement his [immigration] policy ideas with more alacrity," the Washington Post reports.
Between the lines: As Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in April, Nielsen has long been viewed as Trump's "immigration scapegoat" as she is often the one forced to shoot down his unvetted ideas on border security — which sometimes come from people outside the White House, including Fox News personalities. Nielsen was chosen for the job by Chief of Staff John Kelly, her predecessor at DHS, who WaPo reports is battling against her potential dismissal.
In private conversations after the midterms, many top Republicans and Democrats said that President Trump seemed to be heading into his 2020 re-election race in a relatively strong position.
The big picture: They couldn't be more wrong. In fact, all the big trends are working against Trump and the GOP, based on factors that are hiding in plain sight. Despite the conventional wisdom, many people around Trump and in GOP leadership share this dim view.
Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has picked up an insurmountable lead over Republican opponent Rep. Martha McSally, handing Democrats a seat Republicans have held since 1994, the AP projects.
Why it matters: Sinema will replace retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and is set to becoming the first woman to represent Arizona in the Senate. Even though Republicans will maintain control of the Senate next year, Sinema’s victory has chipped away the durable majority they were hoping to cement. The bitterly fought contest comes to an end after President Trump and some national and state Republicans cast doubt on the elections legitimacy as Sinema’s lead was expanding each day as new ballots were being counted.
Florida Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter said there is no evidence of wrongdoing in Broward County, where some Republicans — including President Trump and Gov. Rick Scott — have, without evidence, accused Democrats of committing voter fraud, reports AP.
The big picture: Tuter added that the rhetoric surrounding the ongoing recount in Florida's Senate and gubernatorial races must be toned down in order to assure citizens that the election's integrity is being protected. In addition, Sen. Bill Nelson, who currently trails Scott by about 0.14% in the Senate race, is suing the Florida Department of State in hopes of counting absentee ballots that were postmarked before Election Day but delivered late. Scott, meanwhile, will be traveling to Washington to participate in lawmaker orientation activities even as the recount continues, reports NBC News' Ali Vitali.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a record-breaking average of 44,631 immigrants in its detention centers daily, the Daily Beast reports.
Why it matters: That's 4,000 more people than Congress has funded, and some immigrant rights groups want to know where the money is coming from, according to the Daily Beast. Earlier this year, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security used $169 million of funds from other sub-agencies — including the Federal Emergency Management Agency — to help fund ICE's detention efforts.
Last month, President Trump hailed Turkey's release of American pastor Andrew Brunson as a “tremendous” step toward better relations between the two countries. The administration is betting that, after the crisis that rocked U.S.-Turkey relations over the summer, bilateral ties will normalize.
Reality check: With the exception of a brief moment after Trump was elected, the U.S.-Turkey relationship has been rife with tension, and the two countries’ interests still do not align. The U.S. and Turkey are divided over Syria, Ankara’s ties to Moscow, the fate of Fethullah Gulen — the alleged mastermind of the failed 2016 coup attempt — and the detention of Americans in Turkey.
After working to undermine the legitimacy of the press and the Mueller investigation, President Trump is now targeting the electoral process as insurance against possible Republican losses in too-close-to-call races in Florida and Arizona.
Why it matters: The president is doing more than any top official in memory to cast doubt on the outcomes of elections.
Ascendant House Democrats gearing up to aggressively probe the White House are facing pressure to pursue another target too: ExxonMobil.
Why it matters: Democrats are taking power for the first time since a wave of investigative reporting in 2015 about how much Exxon knew internally about global warming decades ago and its past funding of groups that publicly disputed the science.
Health care was a central part of Democrats' successful takeover of the House, and it will also be one of the first areas where they use that newfound power, the New York Times reports.
What we're watching: House Democrats will likely vote to participate in the legal defense of the Affordable Care Act, against a lawsuit aiming to get the law thrown out. Democrats also will likely use their new House majority to try to stabilize the ACA's insurance markets, according to the NYT, and to investigate the Trump administration's handling of the ACA.
House Democrats plan to probe every aspect of President Trump’s life and work, from family business dealings, the Space Force and his tax returns to possible "leverage" by Russia, top Democrats tell us.
What they're saying: One senior Democratic source said the new majority, which takes power in January, is preparing a "subpoena cannon," like an arena T-shirt cannon.
Now that they're set to assume control of the House, there are at least 85 topics that Democrats have said they'd target — or are expected to target — in the forthcoming torrent of investigations and subpoenas to be directed at the Trump White House, according to Axios' reporting and analysis of members' public comments.
Between the lines: Don‘t expect everything all at once. Incoming House Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff told "Axios on HBO" that each committee plans to prioritize what they view as the most pressing topics, which he says range from Trump's potential business dealings with Russia to where things currently stand with North Korea.
Women running for Congress during the 2018 midterm elections tried a new tactic — focusing their campaigns on their personal experiences — and, as a result, at least 123 women won their races, as illustrated in this clip from "Axios on HBO."
Political campaigns and super PACs spent at least $3.2 million at properties owned or licensed by The Trump Organization in this year’s midterm election cycle, according to CNN’s analysis of Federal Election Commission records, adding that post-election financial documents could further increase that number.
Details: The Republican National Committee spent at least $1.2 million since 2017, the most of any single group, and Trump's own presidential re-election campaign spent more than $950,000 since the start of 2017. This revelation comes as Democrats, who will take control of the House next year, seek to make good on their pledge to use oversight powers to probe Trump's businesses amid concerns about potential violations.
House Republicans and Democrats will soon elect their leaders to take them through the 2020 elections. Here’s a read of the field, from well-placed Republican and Democratic sources.
What's happening: Republicans go first, holding their leadership elections on Wednesday.
Legislation designed to reduce federal prison sentences for some non-violent crimes and to help prisoners prepare for freedom is inching its way toward the Senate floor. And it just got a big boost from an unlikely ally: rank-and-file police.
What's happening: The Fraternal Order of Police — the largest law enforcement labor organization in the U.S. — announced Friday its support of a bipartisan Senate criminal justice reform bill, which would lower certain mandatory sentences, incentivize prison rehabilitation programs, provide sanitary products to women and potentially release around 4,000 people.
