Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are joining Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm founded by former Trump campaign aides, Politico reports.
The big picture: Zinke resigned as interior secretary amid several investigations into his travel and potential conflicts of interest, including a Justice Department probe into whether he lied to investigators from the Interior's inspector general's office — a potential criminal violation. Zinke is the first Trump Cabinet member to join a lobbying firm after leaving the administration.
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that would force the Trump administration to withdraw U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) grilled President Trump's special representative to Venezuela Elliott Abrams during a House Foreign Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, arguing that she doesn't understand why the committee should believe Abrams' testimony in 2019 since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in the 1980s about the Iran-Contra affair.
The House Homeland Security Committee has finished the first of two panels of election cybersecurity hearings Wednesday, a sign of the Democratic majority's priorities.
Why it matters: While a Republican Senate had been on board with providing new election security funding to the states during the last Congress, the Republican majority in the House had thwarted that push.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been trying to encourage Amy McGrath, the first female U.S. Marine to fly in an F-18 during combat, to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky next year, Politico reports.
Yes, but: McGrath failed to win her House bid last year, and Kentucky Republicans believe they have a playbook for how to defeat her again in 2020. Politico reports that McConnell's team is already conducting opposition research against McGrath while senior Republicans are set to meet in Washington about a potential campaign against her.
Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said at an Axios event on Wednesday that he saw the logic behind T-Mobile's planned purchase of Sprint, while also acknowledging the importance of competition in wireless technology.
Why it matters: Top executives from the two companies will be grilled by the Democratic-led House Energy and Commerce Committee about the deal later on Wednesday morning.
Despite President Trump's stated dissatisfaction with Congress' bipartisan border security deal, he intends to sign it in order to avoid another partial government shutdown on Friday, report CNN and the Wall Street Journal.
Reality check: The WSJ's Rebecca Ballhaus cautions that a White House official noted that Trump was set to sign a funding bill in December before being convinced otherwise by conservative allies, kicking off a 35-day shutdown. And Politico Playbook reported Wednesday morning that some key last-minute disagreements still remain among congressional negotiators before the deal can be finalized.
Some of the left's skepticism of Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) stems from his reputation as a friend of pharma, and he's trying to change that reputation as he runs for president.
Why it matters: As Democrats figure out what and who they want in 2020, a whole lot of the process revolves around health care — not just in the potential litmus test of Medicare for All, but also drug pricing, the Affordable Care Act and how to balance all 3 of those issues.
With two days left before the start of another partial government shutdown, there are still disagreements between congressional Republicans and Democrats on some of the specifics of their border security deal that was announced earlier this week, Politico Playbook reports.
Reality check: The two sides are still working out the exact language that would grant $1.375 billion to fund President Trump's border wall — as well as wrangling disputes on back pay for federal contractors and an extension for the Violence Against Women Act. Though the issues are relatively small, Playbook notes that the clock isn't on lawmakers' side: "Many of these issues can be worked out. But there is very little time."
In El Paso on Monday night, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) rode with President Trump in "The Beast," the president's heavily armored Cadillac.
What happened: Miller says Trump was "upset" that the city's Republican Mayor Dee Margo publicly contradicted him on the success of El Paso's border wall. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick were also on the ride from Air Force One to the rally.
Chris Christie told Trump stories for nearly an hour last night at the Manhattan home of hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen.
What he's saying: Standing in front of 10-foot-high windows on the first floor of a home that resembled a gallery of modern art, the former New Jersey governor said "the thing I’m proudest about" — now that his book, "Let Me Finish," has been out for two weeks — is that nobody he wrote about, some of whom still work in the White House, had dared to deny what he'd written.
Mueller is just the beginning. House Democrats plan a vast probe of President Trump and Russia — with a heavy focus on money laundering — that will include multiple committees and dramatic public hearings, and could last into 2020.
The state of play: The aggressive plans were outlined yesterday by a Democratic member of Congress at a roundtable for Washington reporters. The member said Congress plans interviews with new witnesses, and may go back to earlier witnesses who "stonewalled" under the Republican majority.
