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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Ben Jacobs in Washington

Top White House aide 'fired' after Melania Trump intervention, report says – as it happened

Mira Ricardel, right, on Tuesday with Donald Trump at the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ricardel was escorted from the premises.
Mira Ricardel, right, on Tuesday with Donald Trump at the Roosevelt Room of the White House. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ricardel was escorted from the premises. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

I’ll leave you with Sabrina Siddiqui’s latest on Mira Ricardel. Thanks for reading.

Updated

Summary

  • Top national security aide Mira Ricardel may or not be fired after First Lady Melania Trump called for her ouster.
  • Robert Mueller’s investigators are asking questions about Nigel Farage.
  • CNN is suing the Trump Administration over the revocation of Jim Acosta’s White House pass
  • A Republican congressman from Maine is seeking to overturn the state’s voter approved ranked choice voting system because it might cost him his seat.

Turnout among Latinos was “historic” – and a record number of Latinos are headed to Congress, according to the congressman who oversaw the Democrats’ plan to take back the House.

“Latino voters played a pivotal role in taking back the House,” DCCC chairman Ben Ray Luján said on a conference call hosted by Latino Victory Fund. He said the Latino vote was especially consequential in a handful of House races across demographically diverse Sun Belt battlegrounds of Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Texas.

Luján, whose oversaw the 2018 House battlefield and is the first Latino to serve in the role, attributed the high turnout among the Democratic base – which includes Latinos, millennials, African Americans, Asians and women – to an “unprecedented” $30m investment.

“Latinos showed up to the polls because we talked to them, we listened to them, our candidates connected with their personal stories, we knocked on their doors and we reached out to them online,” he said.

As Donald Trump roiled his base with warnings of a migrant caravan and gang violence, Dan Sena, the DCCC executive director and the first Latino to helm the committee, said the group honed in on a positive message – trying to create an environment in which Latinos had something to vote for rather than against.

“We wanted voting to feel good rather than simply what is at stake and kids in cages and Trump,” he said. “So we spent a fair amount of time really studying how to create urgency without making it feel overly heavy and overly sad.”

Sena added that the strength of the Latino vote is no longer a hypothetical.” The proof is in the pudding,” he said, that investing in communities of color is “necessary to the longterm success of the party”.

In 2018, Latinos voted overwhelmingly for Democrats by a margin of nearly 3 to 1, according to Matt Barreto, co-founder of Latino Decisions. His polling found that 73% of Latinos voted for Democratic candidates while only 23% voted for Republicans.

Barreto said Latinos identified healthcare as the most important issue followed by the divisive rhetoric around immigration.

Latino voters said they were “tired of the discussion of immigrants in such a negative and racist,” which Barreto said is how the respondents characterized the commentary from Trump and Republicans.

Cristóbal Alex, the president of Latino Victory Fund, said he was “taken aback” by how “vile and racist” the Republican attack ads were at the end of the campaign. But he believes the result of 2018 midterm elections – with Democrats reclaiming the House and winning senate seats in Arizona and Nevada – showed that this approach was unsuccessful.

“They were right in one respect: there was a caravan that showed up on election day – that showed up at voting booths across the country with Democrats turning out in historic numbers proving that their attempt failed,” he said.

Updated

Bloomberg to make decision on presidential bid this winter

In an interview with the Associated Press, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said he’ll make a decision on a presidential bid in the coming months.

“I think January, February would be about as late as you can do it and as early as you can gather enough information,” said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg spent $110m to help Democrats during the midterms, a figure that represents a mere fraction of the billionaire’s net worth of over $40bn.

Updated

President Donald Trump appears to have committed a gaffe in the White House celebration of Diwali today. Although he mentioned its origins as the Hindu Festival of Lights, he neglected to mention that it is celebrated by Hindus several times on Twitter until finally getting it right

For those following leadership races in the new Democratic majority, there’s one less bit of drama to worry about as Steny Hoyer has locked down more than enough support to return as majority leader in 2019.

Politico is reporting that one possibility to replace Kirstjen Nielsen at the Department of Homeland Security is Tom Homan, the former director of ICE.

Mira Ricardel not fired?

CNBC is now reporting that the Wall Street Journal story was wrong and that Ricardel is still a White House employee since this saga couldn’t get any weirder.

Updated

Mira Ricardel Fired

An hour after Melania Trump called for the sacking of deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel, the White House aide has been fired.

The Wall Street Journal reports she was escorted out of the White House minutes ago. Only two hours before her dismissal, she attended a White House Diwali ceremony with Trump.

There’s no winner expected today in Georgia’s 7th congressional district. Results won’t be certified in an unexpectedly tight congressional race, leaving suspense to continue later in the week.

John Kasich will be in New Hampshire this week.

The Ohio governor, vocal Trump critic and 2016 presidential candidate will be in the Granite State “meeting with old and new supporters” according to a release. Kasich is holding three public events on Thursday, two in Manchester and one in Concord.

Steve King is also the subject of a searing op-ed in the New York Times, which is unsurprising. Its author though is Adam Rubenstein, the deputy opinion editor at the Weekly Standard.

Rubenstein went to Iowa to report on King and recorded the congressman obliquely comparing immigrants to dirt.

At the day’s next event, in Webster City, Mr. King opened by telling supporters about his recent pheasant hunting trip. He spoke of a pheasant noodle soup that he makes, and the jalapeño peppers he grows and puts in the soup to give it a kick. Then the conversation turned:

Mr. King: “I guess I’m going to have to go and get some dirt from Mexico to grow the next batch.”

He and the audience laugh together.

Audience member: “Trust me, it’s on its way.”

Mr. King: “Well, yeah, there’s plenty of dirt, it’s coming from the West Coast, too. And a lot of other places, besides. This is the most dirt we’ve ever seen.”

King retaliated and blocked Rubenstein from his election night event and labeled the conservative opinion journal “antifa news” on Twitter.

Iowa governor Kim Reynolds has issued a pointed rebuke to Steve King, the controversial Republican congressman from her state who has repeatedly praised white nationalists.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Reynolds said: “I think that Steve King needs to make a decision if he wants to represent the people and the values of the fourth district or do something else, and I think he needs to take a look at that.”

The statement comes after Reynolds didn’t criticize King during her tight election against Democrat Fred Hubbell. King served as her campaign co-chair and they appeared together in an election-eve rally in north-west Iowa. However, Reynolds ran for ahead of the controversial King who only scrapped by a four point victory in a deep red congressional district.

Her comments are a clear indicator that now that the election is over, fellow Iowa Republicans are ready to throw King under the bus ahead of 2020.

Updated

The reason that Melania Trump wants top national security aide Mira Ricardel fired apparently doesn’t have anything to do with policy. Instead, it is about a dispute over plane seating when the first lady visited Africa last month.

Reuters has fleshed out some of the details as well:

One of the sources said that their dealings over the trip “didn’t go well”. The other source said that Melania Trump felt that Ricardel tried to short-change the first lady in terms of US government resources allocated to support her Africa tour.

Needless to say, while first ladies have clashed with White House staffers – most famously Nancy Reagan had a poisonous relationship with White House chief of staff Donald Regan – there is no precedent for the wife of the president to call on her husband to fire a staffer.

Updated

In the ever normal world of Florida politics, Senator Bill Nelson has called for Governor Rick Scott to remove himself entirely from the recount process. Scott currently has a narrow lead over Nelson in the state’s contested Senate race.

Melania Trump calls for top Bolton aide to be sacked

Melania Trump has called for Mira Ricardel, a top aide to John Bolton, to be fired. This is a rare public intervention by the first lady into the functioning of the administration.

In a statement to ABC News, Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Trump, said: “It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House.”

Ricardel has long been at odds with the defense secretary, James Mattis. The veteran of the George W Bush administration had previously served in Trump’s commerce department before being appointed deputy national security Adviser by Bolton when he succeeded HR McMaster.

Updated

Kavanaugh replacement announced

Donald Trump announced at a White House Diwali ceremony today that he has nominated Neomi Rao to replace Brett Kavanaugh on the DC circuit court of appeals.

Rao, a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, currently runs the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which helps to draft federal regulations.

Updated

Mark Sanford, who lost the primary for his House seat in South Carolina for being insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump, has written an op-ed in the New York Times about the experience and what the GOP should learn from the midterms.

His primary opponent, Katie Arrington, went on to lose the general election to Democrat Joe Cunningham in what was considered a relatively safe Republican district.

Sanford argues:

Republicans got a wake-up call last week. But will we wake up?

My party would be wise to take a step back from President Trump’s approach to politics. We should renew our commitment to tenets like environmental conservation and financial responsibility. We should run from the president’s zero-sum approach to politics.

One freshman member of Congress doesn’t seem to be showing up in Washington.

Brenda Jones, who won the special election to succeed John Conyers in Michigan’s 13th congressional district, has yet to appear in Washington and will not be sworn in today.

The problem is that while Jones won the special election, she didn’t win the regular one. Instead, Rashida Tlaib won. The Muslim-American woman took advantage of a far more splintered field while only four African American candidates ran in the special, there were six in the general in the majority black district which led to the split decision. If she gets sworn in for a six-week-term in Congress, Jones would have to resign her position on Detroit’s city council. The special election had been long delayed. The result is that that congressional district may go over a year without any representation in Congress.

Sixteen-year-olds may vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Under legislation that looks likely to pass the Washington DC city council, the franchise would be extended to 16- and 17-year-olds. Although minors are allowed to vote some municipal elections, this bill would be the first to allow them to vote in federal elections. Under the 26th amendment, no one over the age of 18 can be denied the ability to vote because of their age, there is no lower limit.

If passed, the legislation is unlikely to change the results of DC’s three electoral votes. Hillary Clinton won the District in 2016 by a margin of 91%-4%.

Updated

The federal investigation of Bernie Sanders’s wife Jane and her stewardship of a failed Vermont college has apparently ended. This clears one potential obstacle for Sanders mounting a presidential bid in 2020.

Farage subject of questioning in Mueller investigation

Prosecutors for Robert Mueller have asked about Nigel Farage in the Russia investigation.

Jon Swaine and Stephanie Kirchgaessner report for the Guardian that Jerome Corsi, a Roger Stone associate who expects to be indicted, says he has been asked about Farage in the course of the investigation.

Updated

The announcement yesterday that West Virginia state senator Richard Ojeda would mount a quixotic presidential campaign is an indication of another trend among Democrats – that many of their biggest stars in the 2018 election were losing candidates.

Hanna Trudo at National Journal notes the interesting path forward for candidates who gained national attention but failed to receive enough votes at the ballot box.

Updated

Democrats are vowing to scrutinize Trump’s appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general once they formally take the majority in January. However, Republicans are far less concerned about Whitaker and comments that he made about the Mueller investigation prior to joining the justice department last year.

Updated

A Trump administration official has been indicted in Alabama for violating state ethics laws.

Trey Glenn, the south-east regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been indicted for incidents dating to before his tenure in the administration when he worked to block EPA efforts to clean up a Birmingham neighborhood.

Updated

As rumors surrounding the future of John Kelly as chief of staff swirl, one possible contender for the job is ruling himself out. OMB head Mick Mulvaney is now telling people that he is not interested in the position.

The lame duck session of Congress will begin today with three new members of the House of Representatives. All three won both special elections last week.

Representative-elect Kevin Hern, (R-OK), Oklahoma’s first congressional district

Representative-elect Joe Morelle (D-NY), New York’s 25th congressional district

Representative-elect Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district

Updated

Gwinnett county, Georgia will begin counting provisional ballots this afternoon. There are 2,400 to 2,500 outstanding ballots in the suburban Atlanta county including 1,500 in Georgia’s seventh congressional district a race that has yet to be called.

Incumbent Rob Woodall currently leads Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux by 900 votes in the race.

Updated

One of the biggest upsets on election night was the victory of Democrat Max Rose in New York’s 11th congressional district comprising Staten Island and part of Brooklyn.

Ginia Bellafante for the New York Times captures some of the political and cultural reasons behind his win.

Updated

Mira Ricardel, a top aide to John Bolton, is reported on the way out according to the Wall Street Journal.

Ricardel joins the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, as well as potentially chief of staff John Kelly on the chopping block.

Updated

The president has now weighed in on the recount process in Florida.

Updated

The effect that Donald Trump has had on American politics was made clear last week when Democrats won a number of districts that had been gerrymandered to be Republican.

By upending traditional coalitions, the president turned safe districts drawn for suburban Republicans blue. In Illinois, Democrats won two House seats drawn for Republicans. However, Republicans held on to a rural downstate seat drawn in 2010 for a Democrat.

Updated

At least nine House candidates attending new member orientation in Washington DC haven’t officially won their races and several are not considered likely to win.

Updated

Things are getting off to an interesting start on Capitol Hill where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is participating in a sit-in in the office of Nancy Pelosi to demand “a Green New Deal”.

The protest, which is led by two groups, Justice Democrats and Sunrise Movement , bashes Pelosi for “her intention to promote a ‘bipartisan marketplace of ideas’ and re-launch a toothless special committee from 2007 on climate change which resulted in weak cap-and-trade legislation passing the House in 2009 before failing in the Democratic-controlled Senate”.

The cap and trade bill barely passed the House by a margin of 219-212 and didn’t receive a vote in the Senate. The vote was considered politically toxic by many Democrats and help contribute to a number of them losing their seats in the midterms.

Updated

There is more reporting on a shakeup within the Trump administration. ABC News is reporting that Trump is considering Nick Ayres, the current chief of staff to Vice-President Mike Pence, as a replacement for John Kelly.

Updated

The White House has issued a statement on the CNN lawsuit:

“We have been advised that CNN has filed a complaint challenging the suspension of Jim Acosta’s hard pass. This is just more grandstanding from CNN, and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.

CNN, who has nearly 50 additional hard pass holders, and Mr. Acosta is no more or less special than any other media outlet or reporter with respect to the First Amendment. After Mr. Acosta asked the President two questions—each of which the President answered—he physically refused to surrender a White House microphone to an intern, so that other reporters might ask their questions. This was not the first time this reporter has inappropriately refused to yield to other reporters.

The White House cannot run an orderly and fair press conference when a reporter acts this way, which is neither appropriate nor professional. The First Amendment is not served when a single reporter, of more than 150 present, attempts to monopolize the floor. If there is no check on this type of behavior it impedes the ability of the President, the White House staff, and members of the media to conduct business.”

Forget 2020, the 2019 elections are already happening.

The off-year will see three states, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi, holding gubernatorial elections.

In Kentucky, Democrat Rocky Adkins is already preparing to challenge incumbent Republican Matt Bevin. Adkins, the House minority leader in the Kentucky House of Representatives, will face state attorney general Andy Beshear in the state’s primary election.

Updated

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid after winning his re-election bid last week.

His opponent, Republican Jim Renacci, is not happy about it. The congressman has been complaining on Facebook.

Newly elected senators are already getting temporary offices set up in the Capitol less than one full week after the midterms.

Maine congressman suing to overturn state election law

Bruce Poliquin, a Republican congressman from Maine, is suing to invalidate the state’s ranked choice election law.

A law approved twice via referendum in Maine allows voters to rank their choices for office. If no candidate receives 50%, voters’ second choice is then counted.

Poliquin currently has a narrow lead over Democrat Jared Golden by a margin of 46.2% to 45.5%. However, 8% of the vote went to left-leaning independent candidates and the expectation is that most of those voters had Golden as their second choice. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the second choice ballots from being counted, which would make Poliquin the winner.

Updated

Another Mueller indictment is apparently coming.

Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist who played a key role is pushing attacks on John Kerry’s war service in 2004, said he expects to be indicted. Corsi insisted in a online broadcast Monday that he was the victim of “a perjury trap”.

Updated

There are issues in Florida outside of Broward county.

In Bay county, located in the state’s panhandle, 147 ballots were returned via email. This is in violation of state law. The county was badly damaged by Hurricane Michael.

Updated

Trump’s private schedule doesn’t just have “executive time” any more. Apparently, “policy time” has been added as well.

Olivier Knox, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, has issued a statement on the lawsuit.

The White House Correspondents’ Association strongly supports CNN’s goal of seeing their correspondent regain a US Secret Service security credential that the White House should not have taken away in the first place. Revoking access to the White House complex amounted to disproportionate reaction to the events of last Wednesday. We continue to urge the Administration to reverse course and fully reinstate CNN’s correspondent.

The President of the United States should not be in the business of arbitrarily picking the men and women who cover him.

Updated

The lawsuit filed by CNN and Jim Acosta is now posted online. You can read it here.

A new poll of potential Democratic candidates in 2020 shows a splintered field with no candidate getting more than a quarter of the vote.

The poll from Morning Consult and Politico shows Joe Biden leading the pack at 26%, Bernie Sanders second at 19% and Beto O’Rourke in third place at 8%. The poll shows how divided Democrats are nationally without any clear frontrunner.

Updated

CNN suing the Trump administration

CNN is suing the Trump administration over the revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s White House pass.

The lawsuit comes a week after Acosta was banned and the White House used a doctored video to justify this.

Updated

On Monday night, Amy Totenberg, a federal judge in the northern district of Georgia, ruled that the state’s election results cannot be certified before Friday.

The order was prompted by a lawsuit brought by the non-profit Common Cause to ensure that provisional ballots would be counted in the Peach state. Georgia election officials had been preparing to certify the results of the race as early as Wednesday, six days before the deadline to do so.

Updated

There may be another shakeup in the Trump administration.

The Washington Post reports that Trump is preparing to fire Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary.

Trump has long been unhappy with Nielsen, a close ally of the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, who was her predecessor at DHS. However, dismissing her now would force confirmation battles for two key law enforcement positions in the next Senate with the attorney general vacancy as well.

Updated

Monday night, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner in Arizona’s Senate race. Sinema bested Republican Martha McSally in a tight race between two female members of Congress. Her win also is the second Senate seat picked up by Democrats in the 2018 midterms after Jacky Rosen bested incumbent Republican Dean Heller in Nevada.

So far, Republicans have picked up three Senate seats in Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota and are leading in Florida.

Good morning. Arizona has a new senator, Florida still is in the middle of a recount and Donald Trump is angry at France. It’s Tuesday in American politics.

Updated

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