On the Monday following Thanksgiving, the principals of President Trump’s National Security Council met to discuss what the administration would do about recognizing the capital of the state of Israel. A federal law requires the U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem unless waived by the president every six months—something every occupant of the White House since Bill Clinton has done. Trump, who has already waived it once, has been signaling he would likely change the status quo. The deputy national security adviser, Rick Waddell, presented the principals with the options, one of which included declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel while still waiving the law to move the embassy. Jonathan Swan at Axios first reported Trump was likely to announce some version of this plan on Wednesday of this week. Read more... |
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2018 Watch—Appearing in Utah Monday, President Trump encouraged Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican senator, to seek an eighth term. “You are a true fighter, Orrin,” Trump said to applause in Salt Lake City. “We hope you will continue to serve your state and your country in the Senate for a very long time to come.” Hatch, who will be 84 years old next November, had reportedly considered retiring in 2018, paving the way for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to seek his seat. But Politico reports Trump is going “all out” to stop Romney, a sharp Republican critic of the president, from getting into the Senate. |
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My colleague Andrew Egger has more on Trump’s visit to Utah: President Donald Trump on Monday announced his administration would reduce two vast national monuments in Utah, arguing that the monuments amounted to a federal land grab by past Democratic presidents. Speaking in Salt Lake City Monday afternoon, Trump signed a proclamation reducing the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by nearly 2 million acres combined, telling Utahans they were better equipped than the federal government to responsibly care for their state’s lands. “We know that people who are free to use their land and enjoy their land are the people most determined to conserve their land,” Trump said. |
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Special Election Watch—After spending weeks inching back toward Roy Moore’s Senate campaign, President Trump finally offered an unambiguous endorsement of the embattled candidate Monday, tweeting a message of support, condemning his Democratic opponent, and calling Moore to wish him good luck Monday afternoon. The Republican candidate announced that the president had called just after noon, saying Trump had closed the call by saying “Go get ’em, Roy!” Read more... |
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And Another One—The Washington Post, which first broke the story of Moore’s misconduct, has a new story featuring one of the women, Debbie Wesson Gibson, offering more evidence of her relationship with Moore when she was 17 and he was 34: a graduation card signed by Moore. “‘Happy graduation Debbie,’ it read in slanted cursive handwriting. ‘I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that you’ll be a success in anything you do. Roy.’” As the Post notes, Moore has backtracked on admitting he knows any of the women who have accused him of improper relationships. |
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Will Donald Trump pardon Mike Flynn, his former national security adviser who last week pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of lying to the FBI in exchange for his cooperation with the Mueller investigation? The president suggested Monday morning that Flynn is getting a bum rap. “I feel badly for General Flynn,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “He’s led a strong life, and I feel very badly about it. I will say this: Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI and nothing happened to her. Flynn lied, and it destroyed his life, and I think it’s a shame. Hillary Clinton on the Fourth of July weekend went to the FBI, not under oath—it was the most incredible thing anyone has ever seen—lied many times, nothing happened to her. Flynn lied, and it’s like it ruined his life. It’s very unfair.” |
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What Did McGahn Know?—CNN reports, meanwhile, that White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in January that Flynn had lied to the FBI. “White House counsel Donald McGahn told Trump that based on his conversation with then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, he believed Flynn had not told the truth in his interview with the FBI or to Pence, the source said,” reported CNN. “McGahn did not tell the president that Flynn had violated the law in his FBI interview or was under criminal investigation, the source said.” |
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Meanwhile, the plot thickens around FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was reassigned from the Mueller investigation this summer after it was discovered he had exchanged anti-Trump text messages with another FBI employee with whom he was having an extramarital affair. CNN now reports more details on Strzok’s involvement in another high-profile investigation, this one into Hillary Clinton’s private email server: Electronic records show Peter Strzok, who led the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server as the No. 2 official in the counterintelligence division, changed Comey's earlier draft language describing Clinton's actions as "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless," the source said. The drafting process was a team effort, CNN is told, with a handful of people reviewing the language as edits were made, according to another US official familiar with the matter. |
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Travel Ban Watch—The Trump administration’s ban on travel into the United States from six Muslim-majority countries is still being challenged in the lower courts. But the administration won a temporary victory Monday afternoon when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of lifting two injunctions against the ban, allowing it to go into effect as other legal challenges continue. Opponents have argued that the ban amounts to religious discrimination, while the administration says it is simply restricting travel from countries that pose a security risk due to shoddy information sharing or security practices. “We are not surprised by today’s Supreme Court decision permitting immediate enforcement of the President’s proclamation limiting travel from countries presenting heightened risks of terrorism,” the White House said in a statement Monday evening. |
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Photo of the Day
Young fans in Salt Lake City greet President Trump on December 4, 2017. (Adrian Carasquillo/BuzzFeed) |
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