The House Judiciary Committee announced it will hold a hearing on Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. to assess the Trump administration‘s use of family separation at the border, aiming to finally hold the administration accountable for what it calls an “inhumane and callous policy."
Why it matters: Oversight of the Trump administration is ramping up now that the Democrats control the House. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen will also testify before three committees next week — Senate Intelligence, House Intelligence and House Oversight — after postponing his appearances for health reasons.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken to President Trump and recommended U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft as the next UN ambassador, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Details: Like McConnell, Craft is from Kentucky, where she and her husband, billionaire coal CEO Joe Craft, rank among the state's highest-profile Republican donors. She previously served as an alternate delegate in the U.S. delegation to the UN during the George W. Bush administration, specializing on the issue of U.S. engagement in Africa.
What he's saying: "I'm gonna be the secretary of state as long as President Trump gives me the opportunity to serve," he said on the Today Show. "I love doing what I'm doing."
In an interview with Pod Save America's Tommy Vietor airing Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren explained why she — unlike fellow senator and 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders — has chosen to identify as a "Democrat capitalist," rather than a "democratic socialist."
"I see the value of markets and that they can produce a lot of good if they have rules. But let us all be clear: Markets without rules are theft and I am opposed to theft. There is a reason that the folks on Wall Street, the big CEOs, don't want me to even be in the Senate. ... Because I get how the system works and how it can work when it works right. And how these are the guys who are ripping it off and make it not work."
House Democrats plan to introduce a resolution on Friday seeking to terminate President Trump’s national emergency declaration, Politico reports, citing a letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Details: According to Politico, Pelosi sent the letter to Democrats and Republicans Wednesday night, stressing that Trump cannot bypass Congress and that his move violates the Constitution. It's unclear when the bill would reach the floor for a vote, but it's expected to easily pass the House. The Senate would then be forced to take up the resolution, putting Republicans on the record on whether they support Trump's use of executive power, which some have already criticized.
President Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old Alabama woman who traveled to Syria in November 2014 to join ISIS, to return to the U.S.
The big picture: Muthana who is presently detained in a Kurdish refugee camp, has pleaded with the U.S. government to allow her to return with her toddler son and stand trial, telling The Guardian that she regrets joining the terrorist group. Earlier on Wednesday, Pompeo said Mathana would not be re-admitted into the country because she has no "legal basis" to claim American citizenship. However, a representative for Muthana claims she is a citizen and that she was born to a former diplomat in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.
Jessica Denson, a former staffer on President Trump's 2016 campaign, filed a class action suit on Wednesday to annul every nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreement the campaign required employees, volunteers and contractors to sign, BuzzFeed News reported.
The details: The lawsuit, filed before the American Arbitration Association, argues that the language of the NDA is "impermissibly vague" and unlawful. If the NDAs are invalidated, former staffers would be able to speak openly about their time on the campaign trail without fear of facing financial penalties. Denson was ordered to pay nearly $50,000 to the campaign after filing a separate 2017 suit alleging that she experienced discrimination and harassment.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign estimates he raised $5.9 million from 225,000 individuals donors in the first day following his official announcement on Tuesday morning.
The big picture: Sen. Kamala Harris, the biggest fundraiser in the race to date, raised $1.5 million from 38,000 online donors in the 24 hours after she announced her presidential bid last month. The individual donors, who on average donated $26 to Sanders' campaign, reflect the established power of his fundraising machine as he kicks off his second White House campaign.
Fox News has run more coverage on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) than on any of the likely or possible 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls apart from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The big picture: The WashPost analyzed data to uncover which 2020 Democratic candidates and potential runners had the most Fox News airtime since the midterm elections. Coverage of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Warren soared when they entered the race, but they were often mentioned on Fox News even before announcing their presidential ambitions.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told CBS News that he still isn't ruling out a Republican primary challenge against President Trump in 2020, saying Trump "does things in a way that aren't great for the Republican Party, or for the country."
What he's saying: "I was just sworn in a month ago for my second term," said the popular centrist governor, who has publicly shunned Trump. Hogan has planned a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association. "I've got a lot of work to do here in Maryland. … I would say I'm being approached from a lot of different people and I guess the best way to put it is, I haven't thrown them out of my office."
Dan and Axios' Mike Allen discuss how Republicans plan to frame 2020 around a new paradigm, and if it's a plan that would have worked better in 1988 than in 2018.
White House officials and sources close to President Trump are treating Andrew McCabe's book as an opportunity.
What's happening: These people plan to keep promoting bits from "The Threat," which has rocketed past Michelle Obama's "Becoming" to #1 on Amazon's best-sellers list, that support their "deep state" narrative. They also plan to argue that the rest of the former FBI deputy director's claims are a pack of lies.
Democrats seem to be addicted to old age ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
By the numbers: Sen. Bernie Sanders, 77 (five years older than President Trump, a spry 72), jumped into the race yesterday. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 69, was one of this cycle's first to announce. For some in the party, former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, is the savior.
The era of the geek candidacy is over. For the first time, the ability to understand the impact of technology and explain it to the American voter isn’t something that sets a Democratic presidential aspirant apart — it’s expected.
Why it matters: The debates that drive presidential races — like how to create economic opportunity, protect national security and safeguard democratic institutions — are all being shaped by rapid technological change.
The U.S. ambassadors appointed by President Trump have given more financial support to his election than any cohort of ambassadors in recent history, even as they demonstrated fewer qualifications for the job, according to a new study of ambassadorial appointments over the last three decades.
President Donald Trump late Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Jeffrey Rosen to serve as the Justice Department's new deputy attorney general.
The big picture: Rosen, who is currently deputy transportation secretary and has previously been confirmed by the Senate, will replace Rod Rosenstein, who is reportedly expected to step down by mid-March. Rosen previously worked for nearly 30 years at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where recently-confirmed Attorney General William Barr also worked prior to his nomination.
In a video announcing his bid for president today, Bernie Sanders, the grandfatherly senator from Vermont, brought up an unusual talking point: artificial intelligence and robotics.
What he said: Right at the halfway mark of the 10-minute video, Sanders took a stance on the future of work. "I'm running for president because we need to understand that artificial intelligence and robotics must benefit the needs of workers, not just corporate America and those who own that technology," Sanders said.
Beto O'Rourke, who reportedly plans to decide whether to run for president in the next 10 days, said Tuesday at an honorary luncheon in El Paso that he would not rule out the VP slot in a 2020 presidential election, AP reports.
Between the lines: In December, former Vice President Joe Biden's camp said they were eyeing O'Rourke to share the 2020 ticket. At the time, O'Rourke said he wouldn't dismiss the idea. O'Rourke is also reportedly toying with the idea of challenging Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican whip.
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