Asked in the Oval Office today if he trusts director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA director Gina Haspel to give him good advice, President Trump said, “No, I disagree with certain things that they said,” adding, “time will prove me right.”
Driving the news: Coats, speaking for Haspel and four other intelligence chiefs arrayed on either side of him, said at a Senate hearing Tuesday that North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons, ISIS is “intent on resurging,” Iran isn't currently pursuing a nuclear weapon and climate change is a national security threat.
After his intelligence officials contradicted President Trump multiple times in sworn, public testimony Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Trump tweeted that their national security assessments were “wrong!” and that perhaps they “should go back to school.”
Why it matters: This is not the first time President Trump has cast doubt on the findings of the U.S. intelligence community, especially when they run counter to his interests or preconceived notions. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, notes: "People risk their livesfor the intelligence he just tosses aside on Twitter."
Priorities USA, a progressive group and the largest Democratic super PAC, is sending FOIA requests to nearly 70 different national and state agencies that either Howard Schultz or his corporate entities may have interacted with at any point between August 1987 and June 2018.
Why it matters: The group is gathering as much potential opposition research as they can on Schultz and his business in anticipation of his decision to possibly run for president as an independent. This is yet another example of liberals trying to push Schultz out of the 2020 race before he begins, in part because they view his candidacy as a "threat" that could be "a major step toward re-electing Donald Trump," Priorities USA communications director Josh Schwerin told Axios.
The Senate voted 68-23 Thursday to advance a measure opposing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan — an amendment added to a broader Middle East policy bill expected to easily pass the Senate next week.
Why it matters: In a rare show of defiance against Trump, a majority of Republican senators supported the measure, which undercuts the president's justification for withdrawing troops from Syria and possibly Afghanistan by declaring that the Islamic State, or ISIS, remains a serious threat in both countries. The vote comes more than a month after 56 senators approved a resolution to pull U.S. support from the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen — another strong show of bipartisan opposition against Trump's isolationist foreign policy.
After the House-Senate Conference Committee met Wednesday to negotiate an immigration deal, House Democrats put forth a proposal that includes no funding for a physical barrier at the U.S./Mexico border.
Why it matters: Even though Democrats are offering hundreds of millions of dollars for things like border security technology and additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, Trump wants his wall and he's unlikely to approve anything without it — meaning we're either headed for another government shutdown on Feb. 15 or Trump will declare a national emergency to try to fund the border wall without Congress.
The House Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that it will hold a hearing on gun violence prevention on Feb. 6, the first House hearing on the topic in eight years.
Why it matters: Gun control is a key issue for the House's new Democratic majority as its advocates poured a huge amount of cash into the 2018 midterm elections, ending the NRA's longstanding dominance in spending on gun politics. And that's translated to policy work, as earlier this month, a group of bipartisan House members introduced a bill that would require universal background checks for gun purchases. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, said the hearing announcement showed that Democrats were "answering the call of the American people."
The House on Wednesday failed to pass a symbolic resolution that condemned the use of government shutdowns as a negotiating tactic, with Republicans blocking the measure from gaining the two-thirds support necessary to pass.
Details: As Roll Call notes, a two-thirds majority was required because Democrats brought the resolution under suspension of the rules, which is usually used to pass non-controversial measures. Democrats amended the resolution to strip out language that referenced President Trump's role in the recent 35-day shutdown, but Republicans nonetheless rejected it as a "political stunt" and a "glorified press release."
The Department of Homeland Security posted a final rule on Wednesday that will further favor applicants of the H-1B high-skilled visa who have more than a Bachelor's degree and require them to pre-register electronically with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before submitting their H-1B application.
Why it matters: The new system would make it statistically more likely for someone with a Master's degree from a U.S. university to receive an H-1B over those without their Master's or with one from a foreign university. The pre-registration system would ideally limit the paperwork USCIS has to go though, and will not be required until fiscal year 2020.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday railed against a sweeping election reform and anti-corruption package by House Democrats that includes a proposal to make Election Day a federal holiday, which he claimed would hand Democrats too much power.
"This is the Democrat plan to restore democracy? A brand-new week of paid vacation for every federal employee who would like to hover around while you cast your ballot? A Washington-based taxpayer-subsidized clearinghouse for political campaign funding? A power grab that’s smelling more and more like what it is.”
The big picture: Other provisions in the bill, which McConnell mocks as the "Democratic Politician Protection Act," would increase federal funding and provide paper ballots for state voter systems, expand access to early and online voter registration, restrict big money in politics, and require presidents to disclose their tax returns.
Several key figures within the conservative movement are condemning White House counsel Pat Cipollone following an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which claims Cipollone is holding up three of President Trump’s judicial nominations for the Ninth Circuit Court because of ongoing negotiations with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).
The big picture: The growing criticism on the right is that Cipollone and other White House staff are trying to undermine what they consider one of the president’s greatest achievements — packing the courts with conservatives — to appease liberal Democrats.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) told the Independent Journal Review Wednesday that he will support President Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, saying it’s the “right thing to do for Colorado.”
"Look, I’ve made it very clear that where I agree with the president, we will agree or where I disagree, we will disagree. But I’m going to fight like hell for Colorado. ... I know what Kamala Harris and I know what Bernie Sanders will do to Colorado, and that’s why I’ll be supporting the president."
Why it matters: Gardner, a "Never Trump" Republican who opposed Trump in 2016, is one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2020 in a state carried by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, another vulnerable Republican who cast the decisive vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh last year, told IJR she's not ready to say whether she will endorse Trump.
The Democratic-controlled House voted 259-161 on Wednesday to give federal employees a pay raise of 2.6%.
Why it matters: President Trump signed an executive order in December — just days into what would be the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — that eliminated a 2.1% pay raise for federal workers slated to take effect in January. Earlier in the year, Trump wrote that the pay freeze is intended to "put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course," and that "federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases."
Furious Democrats hope to pound Starbucks chairman emeritus Howard Schultz into an early departure from his exploration of an independent 2020 bid.
The state of play: These Democrats want to prevent the coffee king from siphoning anti-Trump votes and perhaps unintentionally helping re-elect President Trump. We're hearing threats of boycotts and social isolation, attacks on Starbucks, and emotional, insistent lobbying of his advisers.
The Trump Organization plans to implement the federal background check program E-Verify at all of its U.S. properties to determine whether employees are legally eligible to work, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The revelation Tuesday comes days after a Post exposé about the Trump National Golf Club in New York, which has reportedly employed undocumented immigrants for years. It's the first acknowledgment by the company that it has failed to properly screen its employees, despite President Trump calling during the 2016 campaign for E-Verify to be used by all employers. Media reports over the past year have suggested that Trump's properties have at times turned a blind eye to the immigration status of its workers.
Firearm sales dropped by 6.1% in 2018, marking the second straight year since the 2016 election that gunmakers and dealers have had to grapple with what industry groups call the "Trump slump," Reuters report.
The big picture: Trump's 2016 victory has largely eliminated concerns among pro-gun advocates that fear a crackdown on gun ownership. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates sales have plunged from 15.7 million in 2016 to 13.1 million in 2018 — a two-year drop of 16.5%. "Obama was the best-selling president for guns," Trisha Kinney, owner of a firearm retailer in California, told Reuters. "Every time he opened his mouth."
Hillary Clinton's former campaign chairman John Podesta told CNN's Erin Burnett Tuesday evening that Clinton has said she is not running for president in 2020, and that recent reports that she has not closed the door on another White House bid are "media catnip."
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