For 21 months,Robert Mueller has been an omnipresent but unseen lead in D.C. drama.
Driving the news: As soon as he delivershis farewell letter or report, the protagonists become Attorney General William Barr, who'll decide what the public should see, and House Democrats, who are cranking up their own months-long Russia probe.
The Trump administration issued a rule Friday barring Planned Parenthood and other groups that offer abortions or abortion referrals from participating in the $286 million federal family planning program, reports the Washington Post.
What they're saying: Per the Post, critics of the mandate say it indirectly defunds Planned Parenthood, which provides general health care and STD treatment in addition to abortion services. The Title X program mostly serves low-income women. Supporters of the rule and antiabortion groups, like the the Susan B. Anthony List, say it will "disentangle taxpayers" from Planned Parenthood.
For a handful of hours next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the top-ranked government official on U.S. soil.
Driving the news: In a rare event on Monday, both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be overseas at the same time — Pence in Colombia, and Trump en route to his summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to three administration sources.
House Democrats on Friday introduced a resolution to block President Trump's national emergency declaration to fund his border wall.
Why it matters: Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the resolution will be brought to a vote on Tuesday. If the bill passes the House, the Senate would then be forced to take it up within 18 days — putting Republicans on the record on whether they support Trump's use of executive power. This could set up the first veto of Trump's presidency.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) told the Des Moines Register Thursday that he intends to run for re-election, even as he faces three Republican primary challengers amid intense backlash over his history of racist comments.
The backdrop: King was denounced by leaders in the Republican party and stripped of his committee assignments last month, after he made comments in the New York Times questioning when language like "white nationalist," "white supremacist" and "Western civilization" became offensive. He told the Des Moines Register he has "nothing to apologize for," and blamed the Times and other media organizations for orchestrating dishonest attacks that unleashed widespread "cyber bullying" against him.
President Trump's teambelieves Robert Mueller will submit his report "imminently," but is unsure exactly what that means, two sources familiar with the situation tell Jonathan Swan.
The big picture: These sources say the Mueller team hasn’t had a substantive or consequential conversation with Trump’s lawyers in weeks. That, coupledwith an inactive grand jury and members of Mueller’s team returning to their old jobs, has led Trump’s team to anticipate that Mueller could be done any day now.
Florida Democrats are increasingly frustrated with Bernie Sanders’ unwillingness to recognize Nicolás Maduro as a dictator and accept opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's legitimate president, according to a new Politico report Thursday.
Why it matters: The humanitarian and economic crises in the South American nation have dominated the political conversation in the country’s largest swing state. Republicans are seizing on the issue and President Trump, who is pushing Maduro to step aside, recently visited Miami where he sought to make inroads with Venezuelan-Americans and other Democratic-leaning Latinos who have fled Venezuela's authoritarian regime.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has named a diverse group to serve as the four national co-chairs of his 2020 presidential campaign: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen.
Why it matters: Cruz emerged as a fervent critic of President Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico. Following her public comments about the inadequacy of the administration's response, Trump fired back on Twitter by celebrating his "hurricane work" and calling her a "totally incompetent" mayor.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), sent a letter to Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Thursday criticizing his claims that President Trump's lawyers made false statements to federal ethics officials as "extremely unfair and unsupported accusations."
Why it matters: The letter highlights the increasingly contentious relationship between Cummings, who is leading House Oversight's onslaught of investigations into Trumpworld, and top Republicans on the committee. It also reveals how Republicans plan to publicly defend the president: by scrutinizing how Democrats seek and obtain information relating to their probes.
