In a speech Saturday afternoon, President Trump confirmed that in order to end the government shutdown, he is proposing a 3-year extension of protections for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in exchange for $5.7 billion in border funding, as first reported by Axios' Jonathan Swan.
The big picture: As indicated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 30 minutes before Trump's address, this proposal is likely dead on arrival. Pelosi said in a statement: "[Trump's] his proposal is a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people's lives."
Four women from the No More Deaths advocacy group were convicted on misdemeanor charges Friday for entering a national wildlife refuge without permits to provide life-saving aid to migrants crossing the Arizona border with Mexico, AP reports.
The big picture: Judge Bernardo Velasco's decision was the first conviction of humanitarian volunteers in a decade, according AP. The women — Natalie Hoffman, Zaachila Orozco-McCormick, Oona Holcomb and Madeline Huse — were attempting to leave water and food for migrants traveling through the Cabeza Prieta refuge.
Speaking to reporters Saturday morning, President Trump offered praise to special counsel Robert Mueller for putting out a statement that disputed parts of an explosive report from BuzzFeed News.
"Yes, I thought that the BuzzFeed piece and maybe equally as bad, the coverage of the BuzzFeed phony story. It was a total phony story, and I appreciate the special counsel coming out with a statement last night. I think it was very appropriate that they did so, I very much appreciate that."
Why it matters: Trump has unleashed countless Twitter tirades decrying the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt" over the past year and a half, but Mueller's decision to take the rare step of going on the record to dispute the BuzzFeed story — and Trump's subsequent praise of that decision — may make it more difficult for the president to condemn future moves as politically motivated.
"Advisers to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz have been exploring the possibility of launching an independent bid for the White House in 2020," the WashPost's Michael Scherer reports.
Why it matters: "Trump’s opponents, including many Democratic strategists, have expressed concerns that a serious three-way race in November would divide the Democratic vote in a way that helps Trump win reelection."
President Trump plans to use remarks from the Diplomatic Reception Room on Saturday afternoon to propose a notable immigration compromise, according to sources familiar with the speech.
Details: The offer is expected to include Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for wall money in exchange for the BRIDGE Act — which would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — and also legislation to extend the legal status of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, according to a source with direct knowledge.
A new coalition of four parties in Sweden's parliament voted Friday to elect center-left Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to a second term, 18 weeks after an election in which Löfven's Social Democrats finished with their lowest vote share since World War I, Politico Europe reports.
The big picture: The Sept. 9 election left the Swedish government in a state of flux, with no party commanding an absolute majority and the far-right, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats earning a record 17.7% of parliamentary seats. The establishment center-left and center-right coalitions ruled out working with SD — who have roots in neo-Nazism — forcing a rejiggering of political alliances that at points seemed impossible.
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), whose district shares 820 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico, told Rolling Stone that the border crisis Trump speaks of is a "myth," and that his wall is the "most expensive and least effective way to do border security."
Details: Hurd said using eminent domain to take land for the border wall would impact 1,000 Texas property owners and that building a wall is “third-century solution to a 21st-century problem.” Hurd believes that the $67 billion of drugs coming into the country does amount to a "crisis," but said that the U.S. should do more to combat the root causes of illegal immigration by working closely with Mexico and countries in Central America plagued by "violence and lack of economic opportunities."
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has formally requested that the FBI investigate whether Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen lied under oath when she told Congress in December 2018, "We've never had a policy for family separation."
The big picture: A newly released memo reveals that DHS and Justice Department officials floated a proposal in December 2017 to specifically target migrant parents for criminal prosecution in order to deter families from crossing the border. The memo, which also included other possible policy proposals, ultimately became the basis for the "zero-tolerance" policy, which led to thousands of children separated from their parents.
President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani issued a statement Friday denying the BuzzFeed News report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Why it matters: This is the Trump team's first direct denial of the explosive allegations. It comes after White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley and Kellyanne Conway declined to explicitly deny the report this morning.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office announced today they are postponing her 7-day trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan after learning "the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans," according to a statement.
Why it matters: By leaking even more information about this trip — after Pelosi aides had previously asked news organizations not to publicly report the details due to national security concerns — her office said going ahead with the visit would "further endanger our troops and security personnel, or the other travelers on the flights."
The cover of The New Yorker next week is "Walled In" by John Cuneo, who last year depicted President Trump enjoying a day of golf in the swamp.
Why it matters: Next week's cover nods to a magazine cover from another era — a drawing from 1962 about the Berlin Wall ("Wall of Shame") by Boris Artzybasheff for Time Magazine. “When it comes to drawing Trump, I’ve kind of hit the wall myself,” Cuneo said. “Half of a face is more than enough."
"Democratic leaders reacted with fury and demanded an investigation [late last night] following a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a lucrative condo project in Moscow in the lead-up to the 2016 election," per the WashPost.
What they're saying: "If the Buzzfeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached," tweeted Joaquin Castro, a House Democrat whose twin brother Julian is a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
President Trump was frustrated about leaks — specifically leaks attributed to "White House officials" — that were critical of him.
Behind the scenes: Cliff Sims, a young White House communications aide who had bonded with Trump during the campaign, slipped through the private dining room and was ushered into the private study, just off the Oval Office.
Two years ago, the Women's March sparked a movement that propelled a record number of women into politics. But today, it is fractured and so controversial that prominent Democratic women are steering clear of it altogether.
Why it matters: This year's march is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Washington D.C. and 280 other places across the country. But despite its early momentum, the march has become at best an afterthought and at worst politically toxic for elected officials and political organizations that once supported it.
