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

Trump on GM: 'They better open a new plant in Ohio' – as it happened

Trump at the White House on Monday.
Trump at the White House on Monday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Summary

  • Donald Trump says “I don’t believe” the climate report issued by his administration.
  • Jerome Corsi, an associate of Roger Stone, has said he has refused a plea deal offered by special counsel Robert Mueller.
  • Outgoing Republican congresswoman Mia Love criticized Donald Trump in her concession after losing her re-election bid.
  • Trump will hold two rallies tonight in Mississippi for Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith who faces Democrat Mike Espy tomorrow in the special election runoff there for United States Senate.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has issued a statement about Russian aggression in the Kerch Strait yesterday.

Beto O’Rourke is continuing to play coy on a 2020 presidential bid.

The Government Accountability Office will launch an investigation into whether members of Donald Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, had improper influence over the VA.

The investigation comes after Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz of Hawaii suggested the government watchdog look into this in August.

Updated

Bob Corker, the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, says he expects a vote this week on a resolution to end US support for the Saudi coalition in Yemen.

Updated

The Senate is due to vote on the confirmation of Thomas Farr to be a federal district court judge in North Carolina today.

Farr has long been controversial and is vocally opposed by African American and voting rights groups over his work for Jesse Helms and as well as for defending voter ID laws and legislative maps later ruled an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

With all 49 Democrats and Republican Jeff Flake opposed, the vice-president, Mike Pence will currently cast a tiebreaking vote if no other Republican opposes Farr’s nomination.

Updated

Although Seth Moulton says he wants to speak with Nancy Pelosi about the speaker’s race, the vocal Pelosi opponent has apparently yet to reach out to her.

Updated

Trump has now weighed in on next week’s runoff for secretary of state in Georgia. The race between Democrat John Barrow and Republican Brad Raffensperger will be the last statewide race of 2018 and test of Democratic intensity after Stacey Abrams’s narrow loss in the gubernatorial race.

Updated

Another newly elected Democrat has announced their support for Nancy Pelosi for speaker.

Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts just announced that she would back Pelosi.

Updated

A second new poll in Mississippi has Cindy Hyde-Smith’s lead narrowing to six points.

The poll from Change Research has Hyde-Smith at 51% with Democrat Mike Espy at 45%.

Updated

Trump tells GM to 'open a new plant' in Ohio

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump said “General Motors better damn well open a new plant there very quickly.”

The president added that he told GM CEO Mary Barra “I love Ohio. I told them: ‘You’re playing around with the wrong person.”

Updated

Trump says that he has talked to GM CEO Mary Barra about the layoffs announced earlier today. He insisted that the move was unconnected with his increase in tariffs on steel.

Trump says he doesn't believe his adminstration's climate report

The climate report, issued Friday, detailed the major economic impact that global warming will have on the United States and would reduce the American economy by as much as 10% by the end of the century.

Updated

Despite her controversial comments, African American Republicans in Mississippi are standing by Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Charles Evers, the brother of civil rights hero Medgar Evers, told McClatchy:

“I just think Cindy Hyde-Smith will work more with the president. Espy’s a friend of mine, and he’ll be fighting the president. We don’t need a senator that’s going to be fighting. The president is a supporter of Mississippi.”

President Donald Trump has suggested on Twitter that the United States start its own cable news channel.

It is unclear how this would fit in with existing outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.

Tulsi Gabbard is going to New Hampshire this weekend. The three term member of Congress from Hawaii who has been the subject of controversy over her meeting with Bashar al-Assad, will be holding several events in the Granite State.

If Andrew Cuomo decides to mount a presidential bid, he can potentially point progressive successes next year in Albany.

Ken Lovett at the Daily News argues in a column that with Democrats finally taking control of the New York State Senate, Cuomo can use the expected torrent of liberal legislation to boost his bona fides nationally.

Even progressive activists who initially fought against Cuomo’s reelection to a third term as governor this year acknowledge quick passage of liberal initiatives could boost him nationally.

“It’s ironic,” said one. “He spent years emboldening the Republicans in the (state) Senate who blocked many of the issues that could now help him moving forward if the Democrats pass them next year.”

For those looking for a good way to visualize the “blue wave” of the midterm elections, this graphic contrasts Democratic success in the midterms with Trump’s margins in 2016.

George Papadopoulos has reported to prison. The former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor will serve two weeks in jail as part of his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller.

Many are comparing the special election in Mississippi to that in Alabama last year but there are many cultural differences between the two states. This is one of them.

A new tracking poll from Gallup as Trump’s disapproval at 60%, a new record for the President.

If you’re looking for a job and want to help Democrats appeal to voters in rural areas, there is now an opportunity available.

Bloomberg reports that Trump is considering John James, the losing Republican Senate candidate in Michigan, to replace Nikki Haley as the Ambassador to the UN. James is a West Point graduate and Army veteran.

Polling has been sparse ahead of tomorrow’s special election runoff in Mississippi but one new poll gives Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith a ten point lead over Democrat Mike Espy. The winner will fill the remainder of the term that Republican Thad Cochran was elected to serve in 2014. After Cochran’s resignation earlier this year, Hyde-Smith was appointed to the seat.

Congress will pass one bill before it leaves for the year even if the government isn’t funded. It is set to name a post office outside Seattle for Jimi Hendrix.

Two older Republican senators up in 2020 have yet to commit to running for re-election.

Both Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Pat Roberts of Kansas are iffy on running again according to CNN.

In her concession, Mia Love, who Trump criticized by name after the election, slammed the president.

“The President’s behavior towards me made me wonder: What did he have to gain by saying such a thing about a fellow Republican,” Love said during her speech in Salt Lake City. “It was not really about asking him to do more, was it? Or was it something else? Well Mr. President, we’ll have to chat about that.”She continued, “However, this gave me a clear vision of his world as it is. No real relationships, just convenient transactions. That is an insufficient way to implement sincere service and policy.”

Updated

Michael Warren at the Weekly Standard has a great look at the Republican wipeout in Orange County, California.

Although Orange County was once the GOP’s base in California if not the entire country, Democrats swept all of the jurisdiction’s congressional seats in the midterms.

Mark Meadows, one of the leaders of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, is using the events at the US-Mexico border yesterday to urge Congress fund President Donald Trump’s border wall before the government funding deadline.

Trump and some Republicans have threatened to push for a government shutdown if there is no funding for a wall.

Seth Moulton, one of the leaders of the Democratic rebels seeking to oust Nancy Pelosi is backtracking, the Washington Post reports.

A high-profile critic of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi signaled on Monday that he is seeking to hold negotiations with her about changes to her leadership team, a development that makes her ascendancy to the speakership likelier as her opponents continue to struggle to recruit a challenger.

The decision by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) to shift his attention from Pelosi — by far the front-runner for the speakership and currently running unopposed — to potential discussions over the lower-ranking positions of House majority leader and House majority whip underscored Pelosi’s strength and the desire of her critics to reshuffle the leadership even if she holds the gavel.

Republican Mia Love concedes in Utah

Mia Love has finally conceded in Utah.

The freshman Republican lost to Democrat Ben McAdams in a race that the Associated Press called last week.

Updated

Kirsten Gillibrand faces backlash as a potential 2020 presidential candidate over her role pushing Al Franken to resign, Politico reports. The New York senator faces continuing ire from some Democratic donors who thought she was opportunistic in pushing for the ouster of a Democrat whom they personally liked and felt was a key figure in the legislative fight against Trump’s agenda.

Jared Kushner pushed to inflate Saudi arms deals to $110bn – report

ABC News reports that Trump’s false claims that the United States has $110 billion in arms deals with the Saudis comes from Jared Kushner.

Kushner, in a bid to symbolically solidify the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia while claiming a victory on the president’s first foreign trip to Riyadh, pushed State and Defense officials to inflate the figure with arms exchanges that were aspirational at best, the officials said. Secretary of Defense Mattis supported Kushner’s effort and ultimately endorsed the memorandum, according to a former NSC official familiar with the matter.

“We need to sell them as much as possible,” Kushner told colleagues at a national security council meeting weeks before the May 2017 summit in Saudi Arabia, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.

Updated

Kelli Ward, the conservative Arizona Republican who mounted an unsuccessful bid to be the GOP Senate nominee this year, is now seeking to become chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

The New York Times has a remarkable profile of a gay liberal couple in New York that have become major Trump donors.

One striking scene is below:

There was the time, earlier this year, at Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar in Midtown Manhattan, when Mr. White spotted Chelsea Clinton across the dining room.

Offended that she failed to acknowledge him, Mr. White said, he whipped out his phone and dialed Donald Trump Jr. “He said, ‘Do you want me to come over? I’m at the office, do you want me to?’”

Mr. White added: “Trump picks up on the first ring. If you want to get to Chelsea Clinton, you have to call through five people.”

Republicans are far outpacing Democrats in outside spending in the special election runoff in Mississippi. The GOP has outspent Democrats by a nearly four to one ratio in the race.

Tim Ryan, the local congressman, has issued a statement slamming Donald Trump over the announcement that GM will close its plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The plant, located in the Mahoning Valley, is in the heart of a traditionally Democratic industrial area that has trended towards Republicans in the Trump era.

Another Democratic signer of the anti-Pelosi letter is backing away.

Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts seemed to say in an interview on Sunday that he would support Pelosi on the floor.

“If it becomes as a choice between a Republican and Nancy Pelosi, I’ll obviously support Nancy Pelosi, But I do think we risk losing the majority in the House — we risk having Trump elected for another four years — if the Democrats don’t offer a new direction in the Democratic Party.”

Nancy Pelosi.
Nancy Pelosi. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Updated

Another key figure in the Trump administration is leaving.

Jordan Karem, who served as Trump’s bodyman since March, is returning to the private sector. In that role, Karem spends more time with Trump than almost any other person. He joined the Trump campaign as an advance staffer in the summer of 2015.

Bernie Sanders is facing a decision about whether to run for President in 2020 and gamble the political capital that he accumulated in his insurgent bid in 2016 on another campaign.

As Gabe Debenedetti frames the choice in New York Magazine:

Some close Sanders allies do think his path to the White House has never been clearer. But other friends have warned him there’s a good chance that if he enters the race, his first day will be his best day. They’ve softly nudged him to consider the symbolic power of handing off his mantle to a younger leader — as well as the influence he’d wield over the primary races if he strategically withheld his support.

Kid Rock is not just “born free” but home free after a ruling from the Federal Election Commission about his pretend bid for the Senate last year.

The musician, whose legal name is Robert Ritchie, flirted with a Senate bid in an effort to attract publicity for his new album.

In a ruling, the FEC said:

Ritchie — who respondents credibly argue is barred from being identified as “Kid Rock” on a Michigan election ballot — does not appear to have taken even the most basic steps to become a candidate. There is no evidence that Ritchie ever established a committee or campaign account, sought ballot access, hired a campaign staff or political consultants, sought to participate in a candidate debate, opened a campaign office, or solicited contributions for a campaign. Nor does the record show that Ritchie made statements indicating he was a candidate under his legal name . . .

Even assuming that Ritchie’s conduct technically violated FECA, further pursuing this matter would have been an unwise use of Commission resources.

Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii had a long Twitter thread this weekend about the 2020 presidential campaign which was of note. Schatz once again insisted that he was not running, making him one of the rare senators to rule themselves out of the race.

The Guardian’s Dave Taylor did a two part series on Mueller this weekend about his background from serving in Vietnam to running the FBI and on his conduct of the investigation.

Corsi has said he will not take a plea deal with Mueller because he does not believe he “willfully lied.”

One of the biggest upsets on election night was when Democrat Joe Cunningham won in South Carolina’s First Congressional District. The coastal district centered on Charleston is Republican leaning but Cunningham was able to best Republican Katie Arrington, who had taken down Mark Sanford in the primary for being insufficiently pro-Trump.

The Charleston Post and Courier has a great blow by blow on how the upset happened.

Roger Stone associate offered a plea deal by Mueller

Jerome Corsi, a prominent right wing conspiracy theorist and friend of Roger Stone, says the special counsel has offered him a plea deal.

The midterms have looked more successful for Democrats in the days and weeks following as more and more races have been called in their favor.

This provides a capsule view of how things looked the day after versus how they do now.

Congress will have a record number of women next year and it is already having an impact on the institution.

As Politico reports:

The influx is forcing lawmakers to reassess policies to make Capitol Hill more female- and parent-friendly. Renovations are already underway to install nursing stations around the Capitol. And there’s talk among Democratic women about how to best arrange the congressional schedule so that parents can video chat with their kids over dinner, help them with their school work and make it home three days a week.

Potential 2020 Democrats are finding new and innovative ways to woo voters in early states. One pioneer has been Cory Booker who hunted photos of him with attendees at an event in Iowa on Facebook, printed them, signed them and mailed them back with thank you notes.

Legal marijuana may be coming to Connecticut next year. The Nutmeg State may be the next place in the United States to have fully legal recreational marijuana.

Democratic gains in the state legislature have meant that recreational marijuana appears likely to be passed not just on policy grounds but as a tool to raise revenue. Earlier this year, the neighboring state of Massachusetts became the first state on the east coast to have fully legal marijuana

Jockeying over committee spots has already started in the new Senate and there is the worry that with Republicans expanding their majority, California Democrat Kamala Harris may be pushed off the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Harris is the most junior member of the committee but many Democrats want to find ways to keep her on. Her colleague, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, told the Washington Post, She’s a real lawyer, she is the real deal, she’s a pro, and she also happens to be an African American woman. She belongs on that committee . . . she is an ideal member.”

Government funding isn’t the only key deadline this week. The federal flood insurance program will expire on December 1 without an extension.

About 5 million homes in the United States are covered by the program and any home sales in flood zones in the United States that have federally backed mortgages are required to have policies in the program.

Although there have been efforts to revamp the program, senators are now pushing for a simple six month extension until reforms can be passed.

Federal flood insurance is usually sold and serviced by private companies, who receive commissions from FEMA for the work. The government became the nation’s biggest insurer of flood risk after private insurers began pulling out of the market at the end of the 1960s.

FEMA was supposed to price policies so the program would be self-sustaining, but many older homes were given subsidies to encourage communities to participate in the federal program, which was seen as an improvement over taxpayer-funded disaster aid.

In years when there were catastrophic storms — Katrina and Rita in 2005, Sandy in 2012 and Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017 — claims overwhelmed reserves and FEMA had to borrow money from the federal treasury. Even after Congress forgave $16 billion of the program’s debt last year, the NFIP still owes about $21 billion and pays $400 million a year in interest to the government.

Democrats are considering using the coming government funding deadline as leverage to pass legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Any funding bill would require 60 votes in the Senate and without legislation being passed by December 7, much of the government would shutdown including the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans are still confident that Cindy Hyde-Smith will pull off a win in Mississippi’s special election runoff for the Senate. However, they are acknowledging that Hyde-Smith’s gaffes have given Democrat Mike Espy an opening.

Still, White House officials have long expressed unease about Hyde Smith and worry that she wasn’t ready for prime time. Earlier this year, two Trump aides implored Gov. Phil Bryant to appoint someone else to the seat following the retirement of longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. But they’re convinced that Hyde-Smith will pull out a win, even if it’s narrower than it should be.

One Republican working on the runoff who requested anonymity to discuss private polling said the race has tightened recently, but expressed confidence Hyde-Smith would be elected. “A win’s a win,” the Republican said.

A potential Democratic presidential candidate is heading to Iowa this weekend.

Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar is the keynote speaker at the convention of the Iowa Farmers Union.

Opening summary

Good morning.

President Donald Trump is in Mississippi today stumping for Cindy Hyde-Smith after a long weekend on the golf course, Congress is coming back to Washington with 11 days before a government funding deadline and Nancy Pelosi is two days away from her first hurdle to become Speaker as Democrats hold leadership elections.

It’s Monday in American politics.

Updated

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