Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended Attorney General William Barr's handling of the special counsel's still-secret investigation on Russian interference in a Wall Street Journal interview published on Thursday, rejecting claims by Democrats that the country's top law enforcement officer has been misleading.
"He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre."
— Rosenstein said in his first interview since Barr released his 4-page summary
The backdrop: Barr said last month in his "principal conclusions" of Robert Mueller's report that the probe found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. He has since been under intense pressure by Democrats demanding the full, unredacted 400-page Mueller report be delivered to Congress for the sake of transparency. He told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that he will release it "within a week."
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin made a rare move on Thursday breaking with his party by endorsing embattled Republican Sen. Susan Collins' 2020 re-election bid, saying he would travel to Maine to campaign for her if asked, and it "would be an absolute shame" for "America to lose someone like Susan Collins."
Why it matters: Collins, who cast the decisive vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh last year, is one of the most vulnerable Republican senators seeking re-election. Democrats are targeting her seat following their increasingly strong showing in the state. Manchin and Collins are among few remaining moderate senators.
Two new polls issued this week — an Iowa poll from Monmouth University and a New Hampshire poll from St. Anselm College — found that Mayor Pete Buttigieg is polling 3rd in favorability behind 2 other 2020 candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Why it matters: Iowa and New Hampshire will be the first two states to hold Democratic primaries, giving early insight into how the country will respond to candidates.
Top Democrats in both the Senate and House sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr on Thursday reiterating their demands for him to release the full, unredacted Mueller report to Congress — while also condemning him for comments he made on Wednesday suggesting that intelligence officials "spied" on the Trump campaign in 2016.
"[W]e would be remiss not to express profound concern about your comments before the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding your apparent view of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Your testimony raises questions about your independence, appears to perpetuate a partisan narrative designed to undermine the work of the Special Counsel, and serves to legitimize President Trump's dangerous attacks on the Department of Justice and the FBI."
2020 candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) released a new corporate tax proposal on Thursday that would create a new 7% tax on corporations' profits over $100 million.
Details: Warren's proposal estimates that her "Real Corporate Profits Tax," which targets the profits reported by companies on their financial statements and would come in addition to existing tax liabilities, could bring in $1 trillion over 10 years. She used Amazon as a prominent example, arguing her proposal would have caused the tech giant to pay $698 million in taxes in 2018 instead of $0, despite its record profits.
The Trump administration appealed a recent court decision striking down Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Work requirements are one of the Trump administration's signature health care achievements, especially after failing to reform Medicaid through the 2017 health care bill.
Democrats' 2020 race is already one for the history books: There’s a tighter pack, more diversity, more authentically viable candidates, more early money, and more creative, meaty ideas than anyone expected.
Why it matters: This is a big, durable field of candidates with staying power — promising a long, diffuse scramble to define liberalism. It is unfolding in a reality distortion field, with early money and social media attention signaling Democrats are more liberal than they actually are.
President Trump criticized the European Union for being "tough" on the U.K. by granting it a 6-month extension to Brexit and alluded to imposing tariffs on the EU late Wednesday.
Hours after President Trump said during a visit to San Antonio he'd "have to call up more military" at the southern border Wednesday, 2020 Democratic hopeful Julián Castro at a rally in the city called the administration's immigration policies an "absolute failure."
Details: Trump made the comments before a closed-door fundraising dinner. Castro said at a rally later "we choose compassion over cruelty," according to the Texas Tribune. "I see my grandmother in the faces of the little children separated from their parents," he said. Castro has struggled to make an impact in a crowded Democratic field and has yet to reach 65,000 donors — a qualification requirement for the first Democratic debates.
Freshmen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said that with every conservative critique they each receive, death threats spike.
An investigation into President Trump's sister Maryanne Trump Barry's finances came to a close upon her retirement as a federal appellate judge, the New York Times reports.
Background: Barry's finances came under scrutiny when an investigation by the New York Times alleged the Trumps were involved in tax schemes that increased their inherited wealth. Barry was co-owner of a company established to have the family's money flow through, per the New York Times. She was also nominated to an appellate court by President Clinton in 1999.
Vice President Mike Pence pushed back against South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's recent questioning of his religious faith, views on LGBTQ rights and silence on the President’s conduct, telling CNBC in an interview on Wednesday that he "had a great working relationship” with the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful.
Catch up quick: Pence, the former Indiana governor, has long been targeted by the left for his stance on gay marriage. Buttigieg, who's openly gay and has been the mayor of South Bend, Indiana since 2012, said at an event over the weekend: "If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. ... It's something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable. Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church."
