Axios

Special counsel Robert Mueller has submitted a court document outlining how former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort breached his plea deal.

The big picture: Mueller alleges that Manafort lied about his interactions with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, who is believed to have ties with Russian intelligence, and Kilimnik's role in witness tampering. Manafort also lied about a wire transfer to a firm that was working for him, information pertinent to another Justice Department investigation, and his contact with Trump administration officials in 2018.

Special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York have each submitted sentencing memos for President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, after Cohen pleaded guilty in two different cases related to his work for Trump and the Trump Organization.

The big picture: The Southern District of New York recommended Cohen serve a range of 51 to 63 months for four crimes — "willful tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, illegal campaign contributions, and making false statements to Congress." Mueller, meanwhile, did not take a position on the length of Cohen's statement, but said he has made substantial efforts to assist the investigation.

Prosecutors from New York’s Southern District are recommending a "substantial term of imprisonment" for President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for campaign finance and tax violations, as well as lying to Congress, despite his cooperation with the investigation.

The two big revelations from that memo and a separate sentencing filing released Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller and his team:

• Mueller's team disclosed that a Russian national reached out to Cohen in November 2015 and claimed they could offer the Trump campaign "synergy on a government level."
• The federal prosecutors revealed that Cohen paid off two women "in coordination with and at the direction of" then-candidate Donald Trump — described as "Individual 1" — to hide his extramarital affairs.

President Trump tweeted Friday that he thinks his former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell" in his leading role at the State Department.

The backdrop: Tillerson said Thursday at an event in Texas that Trump "often" asked him to do things that would break the law. The conversations between the president and his then-Secretary of State about what Trump could not do "strained" their relationship, as Trump "would get very frustrated."

President Trump plans to nominate the head of the Army, General Mark Milley, to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. officials told the AP.

Details: President Trump is expected to announce the nomination at the Army-Navy football game on Saturday. Dunford was first nominated as chairman by President Barack Obama in 2015. Trump nominated him again for the same position last year, to serve a two-year term that expires in the Fall of 2019.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at an event in Houston, Texas, on Thursday that President Trump would "often" tell him things he wanted to get done which would have violated the law, the Houston Chronicle reports.

"So often, the president would say here's what I want to do and here's how I want to do it and I would have to say to him, Mr. President I understand what you want to do but you can't do it that way. It violates the law."

Details: Per the Chronicle, the conversations between the two about what Trump could not do "strained" their relationship, as Trump "would get very frustrated."

President Trump said Friday that he will nominate Bill Barr to serve as attorney general.

The big picture: Barr served in the same role during George H.W. Bush's administration from 1991 to 1993. He'll be taking over for acting-Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who has sparked controversy over whether his nomination was legal. Democrats have threatened to investigate whether Whitaker can serve as acting attorney general given he wasn't Senate-confirmed, and Trump has faced pressure from some Republicans to quickly nominate someone to lead the Justice Department permanently.

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, star of House Dems' freshman class, is using her social-media mastery and her fearless organizing instinct to give a more activist face to the new Congress even before she's sworn in.

The big picture: Very unusually for a first-year lawmaker, let alone a victor who isn't even in office yet, Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly driven news since the midterms, including these tweets yesterday:

President Trump faces three clear and imminent threats as he heads toward his 2020 reelection race — the economy slipping, Congress flipping and a Russia probe drip, drip, dripping. And few inside the White House feel he is yet prepared or staffed for the hell about to hit them. 

Why it matters: The combination of hazards bearing down on the president is more intense than at any previous point in his presidency, current and former administration officials tell Axios.

Housekeeper Victorina Morales, who worked at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. for more than five years, shared her story with the New York Times as one of several undocumented immigrants who cleaned Trump's property and served clubgoers before and during Trump's presidency.

Why it matters: Morales, who risked deportation to tell her story, said she was in awe of being close to such important people, like cleaning the president’s villa while he watched TV nearby and seeing White House chief of staff John Kelly come to consult Trump. But while working, she concealed hurt from an administration that has fought for border security and pronounced anti-immigration rhetoric as a key political agenda, she said.

North Carolina Democrat Dan McCready told local news station WSOC-TV on Thursday that he has withdrawn his concession to Republican opponent Mark Harris, whose campaign is facing mounting allegations of “concerted” electoral fraud with absentee mail-in ballots.

Why it matters: This comes as an ongoing investigation has increased the possibility that a new contest could be called by the North Carolina Board of Elections, which had refused to certify results for the 9th congressional district race last month. According to unofficial results, Harris currently holds a 905-vote lead over McCready.

Go deeper: North Carolina House race in doubt over claims of electoral fraud

California Democrat TJ Cox won the House race in California's 21st district after his Republican opponent Rep. David Valado conceded the race on Thursday afternoon, the Mercury News reports.

Why it matters: Valado was initially declared the victor by the Associated Press, but Cox took the lead in the race at the end of last month. Cox's victory gives Democrats their 7th flipped seat in California and their 40th nationwide.

Senators from both parties have expressed dismay at the results of the delayed and incomplete CIA briefing on Jamal Khashoggi's murder, implying that Secretaries Pompeo and Mattis were not forthcoming at their own briefing the week before. Some senators have also publicly expressed clear views that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s killing, counter to the White House narrative.

The big picture: The Khashoggi fallout has created a breach in confidence between the executive and legislative branches of government on national security, even while the same political party controls both branches. When Democrats take control of the House next month, tensions are likely to worsen.

North Carolina GOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse told the Associated Press that the organization would support a new election in the state's 9th congressional district if it is determined that absentee ballot fraud changed the outcome of the race.

The big picture: North Carolina's Board of Elections declined to certify results for the district's midterm race last month, citing "claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee by-mail ballots" after a contractor for the GOP candidate's campaign was accused of collecting and filling out hundreds of voters’ absentee ballots.

Go deeper: North Carolina House race in doubt over claims of electoral fraud

Both houses of Congress passed a continuing resolution on Thursday to push the government shutdown deadline to Dec. 21.

The big picture: The shutdown standoff — originally set for this week — was delayed after the death of former President George H.W. Bush. Democrats are still refusing to give Trump the $5 billion he wants for his border wall, though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has reportedly offered the president $1.6 billion for border security — a move that prompted backlash from many progressives. A meeting between Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also been delayed until next week, Politico reports.

Tangier/Rabat/Casablanca, Morocco — Moroccan authorities are using force and committing human rights violations amid efforts to block migrants from crossing into Europe, migrants and rights groups told Al Jazeera.

The backdrop: Almost 50,000 of the 54,922 arrivals into Spain this year have been by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2,000 people have died in the Mediterranean trying to reach the European country, with over 550 of them having departed from Morocco. The numbers would have been far greater if Morocco had not prevented nearly 70,000 attempts to cross into Spain this year, authorities in the North African country say.

An unfolding investigation by election officials into allegations of "concerted fraudulent" absentee mail-in ballots in North Carolina has roiled one of the country’s last unresolved midterm House races, increasing the possibility that a new contest could be ordered.

The big picture: The allegations leveled against the campaign of Republican Mark Harris, who holds an unofficial 905-vote lead over his Democratic opponent Dan McCready, run counter to the baseless claims of rampant voter fraud by Democrats often trumpeted by President Trump and other Republican officials.

Today's meeting of tech CEOs at the White House is expected to be a relatively routine affair — a far cry from the contentious early days of the Trump administration.

Why it matters: It's a sign that Silicon Valley has stabilized its relationship with Trump, finding ways to work with the administration as many other industries do. As one veteran tech industry policy adviser put it, "The fear and loathing of early 2017 has passed."