Closing summary
- Donald Trump gave an over 80 minute State of the Union with wildly divergent tones on Tuesday.
- Trump attacked “ridiculous partisan investigations” while also announcing a summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and promising new funding to end the HIV epidemic.
- Members of Congress sang “Happy Birthday” to a survivor of both the Holocaust and the Tree of Life synagogue shooting during the speech.
- Former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams gave a well received Democratic response.
- Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also said she would make an announcement about a 2020 presidential campaign Sunday in Minneapolis.
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Updated
In an instant poll, CBS finds that voters gave Trump’s speech tonight a high grade
CBS NEWS POLL: 76 percent of viewers approved of what they heard in Pres. Trump's #SOTU speech; 72 percent said they approved of Pres. Trump's ideas for immigration. pic.twitter.com/VXJ09v6DKv
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 6, 2019
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Eric Trump says tonight was “the best speech [his father] had ever given.”
If you need a easy summary of reactions tonight, this is a good one.
Republican and a Democrat meet in Statuary Hall.
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) February 6, 2019
GOP Rep: Greatest speech ever
Dem Rep: Worst speech ever
Regardless of the reactions to the State of the Union, Republicans had one guaranteed win, picking up a previously Democratic state senate seat in a special election in Minnesota. The seat had been won twice by Barack Obama but Donald Trump won it in 2016.
We've updated the @DKElections special elections tracker with the results from MN #SD11, which the GOP picked up by a 52-46 margin. While that spread was 7% better than Hillary Clinton's performance, it was a steep (18%) plunge from Obama '12: https://t.co/qKXCHN4Cfj
— James Lambert (@hellofasandwich) February 6, 2019
Joe Kennedy III who gave the Democratic response last year, tweeted his thoughts on the speech tonight.
President Trump’s real record wasn’t on that teleprompter tonight. It is etched in the experiences of the people he has scapegoated, excluded, targeted and ignored over the past two years.
— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) February 6, 2019
Amy Klobuchar to announce decision on presidential bid on Sunday
In an interview with MSNBC, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota announced that she would make a decision about running for President on Sunday at an event in Minneapolis. Klobuchar would be the fourth female senator to join the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
I’m making a big announcement on Sunday. Join me there: https://t.co/Hz91NGE8hB pic.twitter.com/7Yz1dgaa31
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 6, 2019
Updated
Trump fell just short of Bill Clinton’s record for the longest State of the Union address ever. Clinton spoke for 89 minutes in 2000 and Trump spoke for 83 minutes tonight, just edging his 82 minute speech in 2018.
Delaware Democrat Chris Coons had an interesting response to Trump’s speech tonight
“It was a slap in the face with an olive branch,” Sen. Chris Coons says of Trump’s #SOTU speech
— Matt Laslo (@MattLaslo) February 6, 2019
The Republican National Committee has issued its formal response to Abrams.
“With extreme policies and an anti-free market agenda, Stacey Abrams was rejected by her home state of Georgia last November. Tonight, Abrams’ speech for a national audience replayed the same broken ideas that capsized her failed campaign. While President Trump outlined a unifying agenda to advance America’s progress, Democrats are still living in the past, mourning Abrams’ loss.”
Stacey Abrams’s response is getting good reviews
As rebuttals go, solid by @staceyabrams. No regrettable moments, gaffes or "they're laughing at you not with you" episodes. Lot of political skill.
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) February 6, 2019
Responses are hard, so it counts as a win just to get through without anything meme-able. Mission accomplished.
— Mac McClung Fan Account (@LPDonovan) February 6, 2019
There's a laundry list feel to this Abrams speech. Otoh there was one to the SOTU and she is, again, doing better than just about anyone else who's given these.
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) February 6, 2019
Abrams chastises Trump once again
So even as I am very disappointed by the president’s approach to our problems – I still don’t want him to fail. But we need him to tell the truth, and to respect his duties and the extraordinary diversity that defines America.
Abrams does use particular language talking about “eligible citizens” after her Republican opponent attacked her last year for claiming she wanted undocumented immigrants to vote.
This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country.
Abrams, who lost a tight race in Georgia with accusations of malfeasance against her opponent, now focuses on voting rights.
Voter suppression is real. From making it harder to register and stay on the rolls to moving and closing polling places to rejecting lawful ballots, we can no longer ignore these threats to democracy
Abrams now attacks Trump’s desire for a border wall and insists Democrats do not support “open borders.”
We know bipartisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan, but this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart. Compassionate treatment at the border is not the same as open borders. President Reagan understood this. President Obama understood this. Americans understand this. And Democrats stand ready to effectively secure our ports and borders. But we must all embrace that from agriculture to healthcare to entrepreneurship, America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants – not walls.
Abrams now attacks the Trump tax cut.
The Republican tax bill rigged the system against working people. Rather than bringing back jobs, plants are closing, layoffs are looming and wages struggle to keep pace with the actual cost of living.
Abrams now hits two key Democratic priorities, the need for increased gun control legislation as well to control the cost of higher education.
Abrams now attacks Trump as was previewed in an excerpt released before the speech.
The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people - but our values.
She contrasts this with her experience in Georgia and a call for bipartisanship.
We may come from different sides of the political aisle; but, our joint commitment to the ideals of this nation cannot be negotiable.
Abrams starts by describing her blue collar background, saying “These were our family values – faith, service, education and responsibility.”
Stacey Abrams begins Democratic response
Stacey Abrams, the losing Democratic candidate for Governor in Georgia, is now beginning her response.
If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea.
This is one of Trump’s bolder claims. It is a bit of a stretch. Tensions were building steadily over decades, particularly since the first North Korean nuclear test in 2006. There were four tests during the Obama administration, and one during the Trump era, in September 2017.
But the standoff came to the brink as a result of Trump’s rhetoric in late 2017 became as heated as Pyongyang’s, threatening to destroy the country with “fire and fury”.
At the start of 2018, Kim Jong-un, declared that the mission to produce a viable nuclear arsenal, and that the regime would henceforward pivot towards the economy. There have been no nuclear or missile tests since. It is unknowable to what extent this pause is due to Trump’s threats and to the international sanctions on Pyongyang.
Many North Korean experts have said that regime’s goal was to build a nuclear arsenal to guarantee its survival, and then negotiate with the West from a position of strength.
Updated
President Trump’s proposal to end transmission of HIV by 2030 with a new initiative comes amid criticism of the administration’s efforts to curtail LGBT rights.
“The American public deserves a real commitment from their government to end the HIV epidemic,” said David Stacy, director of government affairs with the Human Rights Campaign.
“If this administration wants to combat the spread of HIV, they need to immediately end their efforts to cut Medicaid funding, undermine the Affordable Care Act, and license discrimination against communities most impacted by HIV. When it comes to public health, we cannot afford any more harmful attacks and empty promises from this president.”
About 47,500 people are newly infected with HIV each year, according to the CDC, two-thirds of whom are gay men. About 8% are injection drug users. Roughly 1.1 million Americans live with HIV/AIDS.
The initiative reportedly comes at the urging of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield, who was a controversial HIV researcher before leading the department.
The Trump administration has often worked to undermine programs many say are critical to stopping the spread of HIV. For example, the administration proposed cutting funds to a successful anti-AIDS program called Pepfar, and worked to gut Medicaid, a public health insurance program for the poor and disabled which HIV/AIDS patients disproportionately rely on.
Updated
The State of the Union is over
After a long speech, Trump finishes and works his way out of the House chamber
Trump ends on an optimistic note as the closing rhetoric is far more poetic than the rest of the speech.
We must keep America first in our hearts. We must keep freedom alive in our souls. And we must always keep faith in America’s destiny -- that one Nation, under God, must be the hope and the promise and the light and the glory among all the nations of the world!
As the speech ends, Trump pivots back to the beginning and asks once again for America to “choose greatness.”
This is the time to re-ignite the American imagination. This is the time to search for the tallest summit, and set our sights on the brightest star. This is the time to rekindle the bonds of love and loyalty and memory that link us together as citizens, as neighbors, as patriots.
This is our future -- our fate -- and our choice to make. I am asking you to choose greatness.
Congress has broken out into a rendition of Happy Birthday for Judah Samet, a survivor of the Holocaust and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting who turned 81 today.
Trump ad libs afterwards “they wouldn’t do that for me.”
Updated
Trump now details negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan
I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Our troops have fought with unmatched valor -- and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict.
Trump now describes his foreign policy as “principled realism.”
Trump: America will never be a socialist country.
Trump takes a pointed shot at those on the far left of the Democratic Party.
Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence –- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.
Trump gets bipartisan applause for announcing “two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim President, Juan Guaido.”
Trump formally announces second North Korean summit
Trump tells Congress:
If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. And Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.
Updated
Trump pivots to cultural issues and calls on Congress “to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.”
This comes after he attacks embattled Virginia governor Ralph Northam, saying Northam “stated he would execute a baby after birth.”
In addition to funding to fight AIDS, Trump calls for an extra $500 million to fight childhood cancer over the next ten years.
Trump calls for end of Aids epidemic in 10 years
In a bolder, bipartisan statement, Trump calls for increased funding to fight HIV and eliminate the disease in the next ten years
No force in history has done more to advance the human condition than American freedom. In recent years we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV and Aids. Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach. My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. We have made incredible strides, incredible. Together, we will defeat Aids in America and beyond.
Updated
Now Trump calls a tougher trade policy on China, for Congress to give him more freedom to impose tariffs as well as to pass the USMCA, Trump’s replacement for NAFTA.
Trump praises the increasing role of women in the work force to cheers, particularly towards the cluster of Democratic freshmen women wearing white in the chamber.
He then says “Don’t sit yet, you’ll like this” before noting “ we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before.” Nancy Pelosi raises out her hands behind him to urge Democrats to stand as the chamber breaks out into chants of USA, USA.
Trump adds “that’s great and congratulations.”
Trump: Walls work and walls save lives
Trump urges the efficacy of a border wall while asking Congress to compromise the subject which has become a symbolic totem for both parties.
Simply put, walls work and walls save lives. So let’s work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.
Trump now urges the building of a wall on the southern border, which he emphasizes will be a “smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier.”
In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall -- but the proper wall never got built. I will get it built.
This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier -- not just a simple concrete wall. It will be deployed in the areas identified by border agents as having the greatest need, and as these agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way down.
Trump takes a shot at those on the left of the Democratic Party who have called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
We will always support the brave men and women of Law Enforcement -- and I pledge to you tonight that we will never abolish our heroes from ICE.
The pledge comes after an extended tribute to Elvin Hernandez, an Hispanic-American ICE officer who fights sex trafficking. Per Trump, “Thanks to his work and that of his colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from horror and more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars in the last year.”
Trump gave one interesting ad lib in talking about immigration tonight adding that he wants legal immigrants “in the largest numbers ever.”
.@realDonaldTrump: “I want people to come into our country, in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.” “In the largest numbers ever” was ad libbed, not in prepared remarks.
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) February 6, 2019
Strangest line of the night: Trump saying he wants legal immigrants coming into the country in “the largest numbers ever.” That directly contradicts his claimed policy. Stephen Miller did not write that line!
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 6, 2019
Illegal immigration is now being painted as a populist issue by Trump:
No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.
Meanwhile, working class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal migration -- reduced jobs, lower wages, overburdened schools and hospitals that are so crowded you can’t get in, increased crime, and a depleted social safety net.
Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate -- it is actually very cruel.
Trump implores Congress to act on border security “out of love.”
Tonight, I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country.
Trump now warns of caravans of illegal immigrants approaching the southern border and claims Mexico is sending them in buses. Groans can be heard in the chamber.
Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection.
Trump now addresses the coming government funding deadline for the first time
The Congress has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our Government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border.
Trump goes on to hail the First Step Act
This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community. The First Step Act gives non-violent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. Now, States across the country are following our lead. America is a Nation that believes in redemption.
Trump is now spending a lengthy section of his speech talking the First Step Bill, the successful bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation which was passed last year.
He’s now talking about Alice Johnson, a first time non-violent drug offender who was sentenced to life in prison. Her case came to his attention due to lobbying from Kim Kardashian West and Trump commuted her sentence last year.
Trump now praises a variety of bipartisan legislation that passed in the last Congress including the farm bill, legislation to deal with the opioid crisis and to refigure the VA.
Trump criticizes "partisan investigations"
After hailing his economic successes , Trump attacks “ridiculous partisan investigations” as an obstacle, a pointed reference to Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in 2016 election. The line sparked a distinct eye roll from Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.
If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!
We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad.
Trump pronounces “the state of our union is strong” to chants of USA, USA in the chamber.
Trump adds “that sounds so good.”
Trump celebrates rolling back Obamacare as Republicans universally applaud and Democrats sit quietly
Trump asks Americans to choose greatness
In his remarks, Trump pointedly rejects the politics of “resistance” and ask Americans “to choose greatness.”
But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution -- and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.
Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.
We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction.
Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.
Trump notes “there is nothing anywhere in the world that can compete with America”
Trump acknowledges Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the moon, who is in the audience tonight. Aldrin gets bipartisan support as Trump notes the coming 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon.
Trump gets bipartisan applause as he says “winning is not victory for our party, winning is victory for our country.”
As he stands before the House chamber, enjoying the applause, Trump’s tie is noticeably askew, which is raising concern.
FIX THE TIE. FIX THE TIE.
— Matt Gorman (@mattsgorman) February 6, 2019
The state of the president's tie is askew.
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) February 6, 2019
Trump now shakes hands with Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, who will be sitting behind him as he stands at the dais and prepares to deliver the speech
The House Sergeant at Arms has just announced Trump’s entrance into the chamber as he shakes hands with members who have staked out seats for hours to grab a picture and a few seconds on national television with him.
First Lady Melania Trump has entered the House Chamber now to loud applause. CNN reports this is her first public appearance since December 27, 2018.
Updated
As part of preparations for the summit that Trump is expected to announce tonight, an American diplomat is flying to Pyongyang to work out final details.
State Dept Special Representative to North Korea, Steve Biegun, is heading to Pyongyang to solidify details of the summit, including the city where it will take place. He will also press for his NK counterpart to attend a series of working level meetings bet’n now and the summit.
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) February 6, 2019
President Donald Trump is expected to announce a second summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un tonight at the end of the month. It is reportedly likely to be held in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Sources tell Fox News President Trump is expected to announce tonight that his summit with Kim will be Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam. Sources have told Fox News the most likely location is Da Nang, which hosted the APEC conference in 2017, per @johnrobertsFox
— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) February 6, 2019
Updated
Rick Perry, the Secretary of Energy, will be the designated survivor tonight. In case of a catastrophic disaster, he will not be present at the Capitol to ensure that someone in the presidential line of succession will survive.
Perry is a former Texas governor who mounted unsuccessful presidential bids in 2012 and 2016.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the designated survivor tonight for President Trump's second State of the Union address, @NoahGrayCNN and @betsy_klein report
— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) February 6, 2019
Trump is yet again emphasizing the need for wall and a crackdown on illegal immigration in an excerpt from his speech released by the White House
No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s WORKING CLASS and America’s POLITICAL CLASS than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.
Trump also is using much of the traditional boilerplate that presidents from both parties use in State of the Union addresses.
The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican Agenda or a Democrat Agenda. It is the agenda of the American People.
In the 20th century, America saved freedom, transformed science, and redefined the middle class standard of living for the entire world to see. Now, we must step boldly and bravely into the next chapter of this Great American Adventure, and we must create a new standard of living for the 21st century.
Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.
Updated
Steve King, the Iowa Republican who lost his committee assignments after asking when the term “White Supremacist” became offensive in the latest of a series of offensive and racially charged comments over two decades in politics, has his own interesting State of the Union guest tonight.
Having only one ticket, I invited one of two guests for the State of the Union tonight, #sotu Lynnette Hardaway & Rochelle Richardson, otherwise know as Diamond & Silk. Diamond won the coin toss. Both will be my guest speakers at COS in the morning. pic.twitter.com/bCutypAOoJ
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) February 5, 2019
Updated
Ralph Northam contemplating leaving Democratic Party
The Washington Post reports that embattled Virginia governor Ralph Northam is considering giving up his party affiliation as calls for him to resign come from all corners.
Northam has faced national opprobrium since a racist picture from his medical school yearbook emerged showing a man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan hood. Northam has denied being the man in the picture but admitted to wearing blackface in a Michael Jackson dance party in 1984.
🚨Ralph Northam has considered leaving the Democratic Party and governing as an independent https://t.co/aquxT46b1U
— Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) February 6, 2019
Tonight Xavier Becerra will be delivering the Democrats’ Spanish language response to President Trump’s State of the Union— and he’s had plenty of practice. The California Attorney General has challenged the president’s policies through more than 100 legal actions over the past two years and has plans to use his time to push back against the Administration’s claims. That’s a large part of why the party selected him for the role.
“Xavier Becerra embodies the promise of America,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement released with the announcement. “Throughout his career and most recently as the first Latino to serve as state attorney general in California history, he has kept that promise alive for millions of children and families across the nation by protecting access to affordable health care and defending the dignity of everyone in our country from the Trump administration’s harmful and divisive attacks. His moral and vigilant leadership on behalf of hardworking families is a critical marker for all who believe that our country’s best days are still ahead of us”.
During his reelection campaign last year, Becerra put his fight against the Trump Administration front and center, highlighting the 45 lawsuits that included contesting the President’s border wall as a violation of environmental laws, getting injunctions that protected reproductive rights under the Affordable Care Act, and litigation arguing against the addition of a census question on citizenship.
“These aren’t lawsuits that affect just a small community or part of California. Most of these lawsuits impact the entire state, plus people outside” he told The New York Times, adding having a response in Spanish is critical to ensuring non-English speaking Americans feel like they count. “It’s an opportunity for everyone in America to hear what the state of the union is and to hear the other side”.
Becerra has had many firsts in his life. He was the first Latino to serve as Attorney General in the state, appointed by then-governor Jerry Brown to replace Kamala Harris’s spot after she was elected to the U.S. Senate. He was the first member of his family to attend college, earning undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford. The 12-term former congressman was also the first Latino to serve on the House Ways and Means committee.
Becerra previously delivered then Spanish language response to the State of the Union in 2007. Then, he called for key progressive policies including healthcare and immigration reform, and minimum wage increases in Bush’s first State of the Union after Nancy Pelosi became Speaker for the first time.
It has been less than two months since Maria Mendoza-Sanchez was granted reentry into the US following her deportation a year and a half ago — and tonight she will be seated in the audience as the president gives his State of the Union address. The guest of California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mendoza-Sanchez is one of many partisan plus-one’s invited by Democrats, who will be in attendance to serve as a rebuttal to Trump’s immigration rhetoric.
“Maria is a beloved nurse, neighbor and friend in the East Bay. She is a living example of the incalculable contributions that immigrants make to our communities every single day,” Congresswoman Lee said in a statement released with the announcement.
Trump is expected to double down on calls for support for his border wall, and his claims that its construction is the most pressing national priorities. But Mendoza-Sanchez’s story, recently recounted in the San Francisco Chronicle, shows the other side of the immigration reform debate and highlights how harsher policies against immigrants can tear families and communities apart.
“In the past, [Trump] has used public appearances like this to demonize immigrants, spread misinformation and deceive the American people,” Lee wrote in an email to supporters today. “But we all know that real people — neighbors, friends and classmates — have suffered because of the actions of the Trump Administration. That’s why I will be bringing Oakland resident Maria Mendoza-Sanchez as my guest to the State of the Union tonight”.
As a teenager, Mendoza-Sanchez left her home in Mexico and hiked across the US border. She cleaned houses, sold fruit, and slept only a few hours each night, working her way through city college and into a nursing program to fulfil her dreams of becoming a nurse. Before she was deported in 2017 — the result of harsher penalties for undocumented immigrants issued by the Trump Administration — her dreams had come true. All that was missing was a visa, which had been struggling to get for roughly 15 years.
For two years before she was deported, Mendoza-Sanchez was a nurse in the oncology department at a public hospital in Northern California. But, she was ineligible to apply for a visa because of how she originally came into the US.
She spent more than a year away from her three daughters, the job she had worked so hard to get, and the community her family called home. Her husband is still separated from the family, and had to stay behind in Mexico. But Mendoza-Sanchez was one out of 65,000 who was lucky enough to be picked for a visa lottery. Her H-1B work visa, sponsored by her employer, Alameda Health Services, will give her the chance to return to nursing in the US for the next three years, with the potential for an additional three if granted an extension.
“I was thrilled that Maria was able to return home – but I haven’t forgotten the many families across the East Bay who remain in limbo,” Lee wrote. “I hope that Maria’s attendance at the State of the Union will highlight the urgency around comprehensive immigration reform. Every day that we delay is another day that families suffer needlessly. Rest assured that I will keep fighting for immigration policies that treat every person with dignity, respect and compassion”.
Along with Mendoza-Sanchez, ex-Trump National Golf Club employee Victorina Morales, an undocumented worker from Guatemala who was fired from the club after revealing her citizenship status in an interview with The New York Times, will also be in attendance. She was invited by Democratic New Jersey Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Stacey Abrams to slam Trump in Democratic response
Excerpts of the Democratic response from former Georgia state legislator Stacey Abrams have just released. Abrams, who lost the 2018 governor’s race in the Peach State and is being heavily recruited to run for Senate in 2020, attacks Trump and blames him for the 35-day partial government shutdown.
Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers. They waited in line for a box of food and a sliver of hope since they hadn’t received a paycheck in weeks.
Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games is a disgrace.
The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people - but our values.
Elizabeth Warren self-identified as "American Indian" in 1986
The Washington Post reports that in registering for the Texas bar, Elizabeth Warren wrote that her race was “American Indian.” She told the Post in an interview “I can’t go back. But I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted.”
Warren’s ethnic heritage has long been a partisan trip line. The Massachusetts Democrat was attacked in 2012 Senate race for representing herself as a Native American in order to take advantage of affirmative action. Warren insisted that she relied on family stories but a prominent Massachusetts right wing radio host nicknamed her “Fauxcahontas” to emphasize what he viewed as a lie.
That nickname has since been transmuted by Donald Trump to simply be “Pocahontas” and has been construed as an ethnic slur by some. In an effort to put the issue behind her, Warren released a video that included a DNA test of her heritage. That sparked even more criticism from Native Americans about whether she was attempting to circumvent the tribal citizenship process.
CNN reports that President Donald Trump met with contractors at the White House on Monday to discuss building a border wall.
The meeting comes less than two weeks before the next government funding deadline. Trump has long insisted that he won’t sign a bill to fund the government that doesn’t include wall funding. Democrats won’t support a bill that funds a wall. The resulting impasse led to a five week shutdown in December and January before a temporary compromise was reached.
CNN reports one unique detail from the meeting:
The President is so fixated on building the wall that he told a group of political allies on Monday that he wants to paint a section of current border fencing where it meets the ocean in San Diego, a person familiar with the exchange told CNN’s Jim Acosta. Trump complained he was told by a general that painting that area could harm the environment.
At least four Democrats are boycotting the State of the Union tonight.
John Lewis, a veteran congressman from Georgia and civil rights hero is boycotting as are Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Lewis’s fellow Georgian, Hank Johnson.
I'll be joining @RepJohnLewis and others in boycotting the #SOTU. I’ll come to the House Chamber for the State of the Union when I can hear from a president who will tell the #Truth. I’ll watch on TV, Trump’s preferred medium, although I won’t be his audience, his believing base. https://t.co/ZC6coCNpHl
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) February 4, 2019
Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard received the endorsement of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke on Tuesday.
Gabbard, who is mounting a longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, was praised by Duke as “a candidate who will actually put America First rather than Israel First.” The Hawaii Democrat repudiated the endorsement.
However, the endorsement is likely particularly unwanted as Gabbard is already facing scrutiny for her visit to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017 as well as past homophobic comments.
In a preview of the speech given to influential Republicans at the White House yesterday, Trump said much of the speech would be about foreign policy. However, it doesn’t appear the deficit will come up as White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says “nobody cares” about the growing deficit. Mulvaney was an ardent fiscal hawk while serving as a Republican member of Congress.
Trump told supporters 40-50% of speech will be about foreign policy. When asked if the deficit will be mentioned in #SOTU speech, chief of staff Mulvaney said “nobody cares,” per attendee https://t.co/YeBTSdF3HX
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) February 5, 2019
Politico reports White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to Camp David on Friday.
The invitation marks rare outreach across the aisle by the Trump White House which has struggled to build relationships with Democrats, particularly in the wake of the president’s inflammatory rhetoric.
Trump will not be attending.
Beto O'Rourke says decision on presidential bid will come by end of the month
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the former Texas congressman said he will decide on a presidential bid by the February. O’Rourke, who narrowly lost a Senate race to Ted Cruz, has been contemplating a White House bid and went a much publicized road trip in Feburary that he chronicled in posts on the website Medium.
Beto says decision will come before the end of the month
— Katie Glueck (@katieglueck) February 5, 2019
The Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) apologized to a Buzzfeed reporter after an agent quizzed extensively about the website’s reporting at JFK Airport.
After Mack, an Australian citizen, was returning to the United States after getting his visa renewed, he was asked a torrent of questions by an agent at passport control about Buzzfeed’s reporting on Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In a statement to Buzzfeed, CBP Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs Andrew Meehan said:
“On behalf of the agency, I would like to extend our apologies to Mr. David Mack for the inappropriate remarks made to him during his CBP processing upon his arrival to the United States. The officer’s comments do not reflect CBP’s commitment to integrity and professionalism of its workforce. In response to this incident, CBP immediately reviewed the event and has initiated the appropriate personnel inquiry and action.”
Elizabeth Warren and her husband Bruce have a net worth somewhere between $4 and $11 million and she received a book advance worth $300,000 last year.
The Massachusetts senator outlined her assets in financial disclosures filed Tuesday. She and her husband have previously disclosed their tax returns and had a gross income of $913,000 in 2017.
Warren is the first 2020 presidential candidate to release their financial disclosure.
NEW: @SenWarren, D-Mass., has filed her presidential candidate personal financial disclosure. We have the document. Read it here, along with lots of other facts about her political and personal finances. https://t.co/p1WGb4bytv
— The Center for Public Integrity (@Publici) February 5, 2019
Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not attend State of the Union
Only four of the nine Justices on the United States Supreme Court are expected to attend tonight’s State of the Union. Attendance by the Court has become increasingly spotty since Obama directly criticized the Court’s ruling in Citizens United during his 2010 speech. Justice Samuel Alito responded by mouthing “not true.”
Among the five not attending is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who had cancer surgery in December. Ginsburg made her first public appearance yesterday since the surgery at a concert in Washington.
Supreme Court justices expected to attend State of the Union:
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) February 5, 2019
Chief Justice Roberts
Justice Kagan
Justice Gorsuch
Justice Kavanaugh
Updated
A group of “MAGA all-stars” are seeking ways to privately fund a wall on the United States’s southern border.
Last week in McAllen, Texas, an assortment of Trumpists met to discuss building a wall even if Trump can’t. It included Steve Bannon, baseball great Curt Schilling, former Colorado congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo and Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state.
As Politico reports:
The idea, which began in December as a Florida man’s quixotic online crowdfunding campaign, is becoming something more, well, concrete. Big name Trump supporters like Bannon, a former Trump campaign and White House strategist, have flocked to the project. And they have initiated talks with the Israeli firm that constructed that country’s border fence with Gaza, the group told POLITICO. They expect to hold a town hall in Tucson, Arizona, as soon as Friday and to visit the border in Laredo, Texas, next week . . .
Bannon told POLITICO that his team is studying whether their wall could be constructed from the hemp-based building material hempcrete. “Do you understand the irony of using hempcrete to keep out marijuana?” Bannon said. The group has already entered into a partnership with the Kansas-based America’s Hemp Academy to supply the material if it is ultimately selected for use, according to organizers.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is visiting Iowa later this month as she explores a presidential bid.
Klobuchar, a three-term Democrat first elected in 2006, has long been considered a potential presidential prospect and has occasionally made trips to Iowa, a state that is on Minnesota’s southern border.
As Politico reports:
A December poll shows Klobuchar could be well positioned in her neighboring Iowa, where at 10 percent, she placed fourth in a crowded Democratic presidential field. She headlined several events throughout the fall in the state, stumping for Iowa Reps. Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne in the runup to the midterms.
If Klobuchar enters the fray, she would become the first official candidate who hails from the Midwest, a critical battleground region in the 2020 map. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown — who is also considering a presidential run, but hasn’t formally launched — held events throughout Iowa last week, as he kicked off his ‘Dignity of Work’ listening tour.
Klobuchar has frequently said that the eventual 2020 Democratic nominee must focus on Midwestern voters, bringing “an understanding of those voices that weren’t heard in 2016 from the Midwest and really from the middle of the country.”
Nine classmates of embattled Virginia governor Ralph Northam have signed a letter insisting that he was neither the man in blackface or the man in a Ku Klux Klan hood in a picture on his medical school year book page.
NEW: Letter from nine of @RalphNortham med school classmates:
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) February 5, 2019
“We fully believe Governor Ralph Northam is neither of the individuals in those repugnant costumes. We attended classes with the Governor. We socialized with him. We knew him very well.”
Northam has faced near universal calls to resign after the picture came out and he since admitted to appearing in blackface as part of a Michael Jackson dance party. He has insisted though that he was not in the picture.
Fans and protesters alike turned out in New York’s Times Square on an unusually warm February Tuesday at the Playstation Theater where talk-show legend Oprah Winfrey was due to interview once-Democrat Golden Boy and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke.
Amidst other celebrity guests like Bradley Cooper and Michael B. Jordan, all eyes are on O’Rourke during Winfrey’s show as he re-emerges into the political scene. Though potential presidential ambitions have simmered in rumors, O’Rourke has kept a relatively low-profile the past few weeks after his narrow loss to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a move atypical of potential presidential candidates.
Looking to capitalize on the media kerfuffle around O’Rourke’s appearance, a group of about 30 protesters supporting the controversial Green New Deal gathered outside the theater to pressure O’Rourke into voicing his support.
Protesters held signs reading “Green New Deal” and “What’s your plan?”, along with other like “No fossil fuel money” which referred to O’Rourke’s purported broken pledge to not take oil and gas money for his campaign. The group chanted “What do we want? Green New Deal” and held their signs as ticket holders of the event lined up in front of the theater to go through security. Some in line were handed fliers that had a picture of Beto and a slogan “Step Up Or Step Aside.”
“This is the beginning of an effort… where we’ll be consistently protesting and urging candidates to step up their game,” said Pete Sikora of New York Communities for Change, a grassroots organizing not-for-profit that coordinated the protest with the other organizations like Sunrise Movement, a climate change youth activist not-for-profit. “Not only do we want them to support a Green New Deal, but we want them to put it as a central part of their platform.”
Specific policies within the plan have yet to unfold, but the general gist is massive government investment into clean energy jobs and infrastructure as well as policies that support low-income communities, like a federal job guarantee. Originally touted by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement, the deal has received support from presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker.
Though most ticket holders in line said they were mostly excited to see Winfrey, who herself has denied rumors of a presidential run, a few O’Rourke voters and fans are in the audience.
Olga Espinal of Queens, New York, came to the event with her daughter, Daniella Rico. Both said they were excited to see O’Rourke and would likely support O’Rourke if he decided to run for president.
“I was really excited about him during the campaign,” said Espinal, who is originally from Colombia. “He’s compassionate, he’s different. I like his approach to immigration.”
Winfrey’s interview with O’Rourke is set to air Feb. 16 on her cable TV channel OWN.
Summary
-
The White House promised this morning that Donald Trump’s State of the Union address will focus on unity. The president is set to deliver a message of optimism and ‘comity’, aides said, in his speech to the House.
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But Trump almost immediately undermined that promise, as he picked a fight with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and criticized the media. Trump said Schumer: “[Is] upset that he didn’t win the Senate, after spending a fortune, like he thought he would. Too bad we weren’t given more credit for the Senate win by the media!
- Elswehere, Former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler moved a step closer to being in charge of the Environment Protection Agency. In his recent confirmation hearing Wheeler downplayed the severity of man-made climate change.
Updated
Trump Mar-a-Lago visits cost nearly $1m-per-day
Donald Trump’s four visits to Mar-a-Lago in early 2017 cost the taxpayer $13.6m, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
Between February 3 and March 5 2017 Trump spent all but one weekend at the Florida resort, a total of 15 days, at an average cost of nearly $1m a day.
The president’s trips incurred $10.6 million for operating costs of government aircraft and boats, according to the GAO, a non-partisan body. Those trips cost a further $3 million for “temporary duty costs” of the government employees who supported Trump’s travel, including transportation, lodging, and meals and incidental expenses.
Trump has made multiple trips to Mar-a-Lago since those early visits.
Business trips taken by Trump family members cost the US taxpayer further hundreds of thousands of dollars, the GAO said.
“The United States Secret Service incurred about $396,000, primarily for temporary duty costs, while protecting Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump during three international trips taken in January and February 2017,” the report said.
Updated
A federal judge has agreed to dismiss a legal claim by Stormy Daniels against Michael Cohen.
US District Court Judge James Otero allowed Daniels to drop a defamation case against Cohen on Monday. The claim was part of a larger lawsuit Daniels filed against Trump last year, arguing that a non-disclosure statement agreed with Trump was void as the then-presidential candidate hadn’t signed it.
That case against Trump is still ongoing.
In December a separate case from Daniels against Trump, for defamation, was dismissed by Otero. Daniels was ordered to pay Trump nearly $293,000 for his attorneys’ fees.
Pelosi invites transgender soldiers to State of the Union
Nancy Pelosi has invited two transgender soldiers to the State of the Union tonight, in a likely rebuke to Donald Trump.
Captain Jennifer Peace and Major Ian Brown, both active duty members of the US army, will be Pelosi’s guests in the chamber, along with Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser, DNC Chair Tom Perez and a number of activists.
Trump summarily barred transgender people from the military in a series of tweets in July 2017, reportedly taking military leaders by surprise. The president said the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender (sic) in the military would entail”.
A 2016 study commissioned by the Department of Defense found that allowing transgender people to serve in the military would have “minimal impact” on medical costs or on readiness.
Updated
Virginia governor Ralph Northam is still clinging to office, as the furore continues over the ‘blackface’ scandal of his own making.
Northam is said to be weighing whether or not to resign as governor, with Democrats in Virginia and beyond calling for him to leave his position.
State senator Louise Lucas, a prominent African-American lawmaker and former Northam ally who has pressed for him to step down, told the Associated Press that Northam doesn’t need to take a few more days to make up his mind.
“I am so praying that he will do that and get it behind us,” Lucas said. “What’s a little bit more of time going to do for us?”
The Associated Press writes that the recruiting arm for senate Republicans is poking at Stacey Abrams, even before she delivers the formal rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union message.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a brief video online Tuesday, stringing together snippets of past comments by Abrams – including her stating: “This is not a speech of concession” after her narrow loss to Republican Brian Kemp in last year’s race for Georgia governor.
Other clips show Abrams talking about impeachment, presumably for Trump, and telling an interviewer that she tells folks she’s ‘met herself’ and “I’m not overly impressed.”
At that point, the words, “Finally, something we agree on,” appear on screen.
Abrams is being encouraged by Democrats to run for Senate next year against first-term Republican Senator David Perdue of Georgia.
Meanwhile, she’s crafted the cover pic on her Twitter account to show her beaming confidently and reminding her third of a million followers that she’ll be giving the response to the SOTU tonight.
Updated
Democrats are making a powerful statement without anyone uttering a word at the State of the Union address tonight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will sit on the dias behind Trump; Stacey Abrams, who narrowly missed becoming Georgia’s first black woman governor, will deliver the Dems’ official response. And now White House aspirant Kamala Harris is set to deliver what’s being called a “prebuttal” address live on Facebook before the event.
NEWS: I'm delivering remarks tonight on Facebook Live ahead of the President’s State of the Union Address. It's critical we speak truth to the American people during this inflection moment in our country's history. Tune in at approximately 7:45PM ET --> https://t.co/J944ScCiVq
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) February 5, 2019
Updated
The Associated Press writes that Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on a high-profile appeals court said Tuesday she cringes at some of the language she used as a college student in writing about sexual assault, race and equal rights for women.
Neomi Rao told the Senate judiciary committee that writings in which she criticized affirmative action and suggested that intoxicated women were partly responsible for date rape do not reflect her current thinking.
“I like to think I’ve matured as a thinker, writer and a person,” she said at a confirmation hearing for a seat on the US Circuit court of appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Trump nominated Rao for the seat left vacant when Brett Kavanaugh joined the supreme court.
Rao, who currently serves as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said there were “certainly some sentences and phrases” from her college writing in the 1990s that “I would never use today.”
Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, who recently revealed she was raped by her boyfriend as a college student, said Rao’s writings “give me pause,” in part because of the message they send to young women who may be reluctant to report a rape, as Ernst was.
Rao called rape a “horrible crime” and said anyone who commits rape should be prosecuted. Her comment that women should stay sober to avoid placing themselves at risk was merely “common sense” advice that her own mother gave her, Rao said.
Rao, 45, worked in the George W. Bush White House but has never tried a case in state or federal court.
Liberal activists and some Democrats have seized on Rao’s writings, in which she also derided LGBT rights as part of a “trendy” political movement and questioned the science behind global warming.
Rao said on Tuesday she believes in equal rights for women and LGBT people and said she believes in the “overwhelming” scientific consensus that climate change is real.
Updated
Early afternoon summary.
During his State of the Union address tonight, Donald Trump is expected to talk up his presidency so far, as commanders-in-chief are wont to do, no matter the reality, and will also call for unity, while trying to project a bipartisan message.
Putting a bipartisan spin on things will be tricky, however, just days after the government shutdown ended but there is still no deal in sight on the president’s border wall.
Trump’s latest term for border security is a ‘human wall’ of military personnel. It will be interesting to see how many times he uses the word ‘wall’ in the SOTU speech and how many times it has caveats, such as human, barrier, fence, “whatever you want to call it”.
POTUS is expected to declare triumph over ISIS in Syria, despite defense leaders’ suspicion that the group has not been defeated, let alone their ideology.
A Senate committee advanced the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
Updated
Donald Trump has issued a statement welcoming the Year of the Pig.
Today, people across the United States and around the world mark the beginning of the Lunar New Year with spectacular fireworks displays, joyful festivals, and family gatherings. This is a sacred time for many people of Asian descent, and it is an opportunity for all Americans to honor the important contributions these communities have made to the story of American greatness.
As families, friends, and loved ones gather to welcome the Year of the Pig, we join in sharing our best wishes for good health, prosperity, and happiness.
Next year is the Year of the Rat.
Ivanka Trump remained silent on the Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault allegations. She made no comment after the Access Hollywood tapes recorded her father talking about sexually assaulted women.
Ivanka Trump also supported Kim Reynolds for Iowa governor – someone that Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi noted has a “horrific record on women’s health” – and kept quiet for months about her father’s policy of separating children from their mothers and fathers at the border. (She did eventually say she was “very vehemently against family separation”.)
But, you know, fine:
Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up. I choose the latter. https://t.co/MFri4xKhNI
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 5, 2019
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee will have a subpoena prepared should acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker try to dodge “uncomfortable questions” when he testifies before the panel on Friday, Reuters reports.
“To be clear, I hope never to use this subpoena,” committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told Reuters. Nadler said Whitaker should expect questions at the hearing about his communications with the White House and his refusal to recuse himself from the Mueller probe.
“If he appears on time and ready to answer those questions, the subpoena will be entirely unnecessary,” he added.
Updated
The Fox News poll mentioned here found that 70% of Americans are in favor of increasing tax rates on incomes over $10m – and 65% favored higher taxes for incomes over $1m.
Fox, apoplectic over its own polling showing wide public support for @AOC and @ewarren's wealth tax proposals, literally blames the fact that schools teach kids to be fair:
— Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) February 5, 2019
"The idea of fairness has been promoted in our schools for a long time." pic.twitter.com/GowAZWYWpZ
Updated
Trump is expected to declare near-total triumph over the Islamic State group in Syria in his State of the Union address Tuesday, but U.S. defense officials are increasingly fearful that the militants are simply biding their time until the Americans leave the battlefield as planned, the Associated Press reports:
IS militants have lost territory since Trump’s surprise announcement in December that he was pulling U.S. forces out, but military officials warn the fighters could regroup within six months to a year after the Americans leave.
A Defense Department watchdog report released Monday warned of just such a possibility.
The Islamic State group “remains a potent force of battle-hardened and well-disciplined fighters that ‘could likely resurge in Syria’ absent continued counterterrorism pressure,” the report from the inspector general said.
The top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel, told a Senate committee on Tuesday that of the 34,000 square miles of territory that IS once held, it now controls less than 20 square miles.
“It is important to understand that even though this territory has been reclaimed, the fight against ISIS and violent extremists is not over and our mission has not changed,” Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Updated
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, in an appearance on CNN, makes another pitch for Donald Trump’s proposed deal to trade temporary protections for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children for his border wall.
She blasted Democrats for choosing not to counter the offer, which they quickly rejected.
“No’ is not a counter-proposal. It’s a child-like response,” she said, adding of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comment that she would offer “one dollar” for the wall, “It’s actually an insult to our border patrol agents.”
Conway said that Trump would be willing to call his wall a fence or anything else in order to get Democratic support, a point Trump has changed his stance on repeatedly.
Democrats, she said, have gotten “tongue tied” in discussing the wall. “I don’t know if they’re trying to say Wawa, my favorite store,” she said. “Call it what you want, but get it done.”
Asked about Donald Trump’s golf clubs’ own employment of many undocumented immigrants - at least 18 of whom have been recently fired, according to the Washington Post - she offered little defense and instead tried to change the subject to Democrats troubles in Virginia.
Updated
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, in a speech on the Senate floor, says Donald Trump’s economy and healthcare system are failing Americans, while the state of his administration is chaos.
President Trump will report tonight on the state of our union.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 5, 2019
But, the state of the Trump economy is failing America’s middle class.
The state of the Trump healthcare system is failing American families.
The state of the Trump Administration is chaos. https://t.co/TFZmaoD2Jw
Trump shoots back that Schumer is “just upset that he didn’t win the Senate, after spending a fortune, like he thought he would.”
I see Schumer is already criticizing my State of the Union speech, even though he hasn’t seen it yet. He’s just upset that he didn’t win the Senate, after spending a fortune, like he thought he would. Too bad we weren’t given more credit for the Senate win by the media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2019
Many observers have noted the irony of the attack, coming as the White House has pledged a speech focused on unity.
The White House has said the State of the Union tonight will call for unity https://t.co/7GUgm7JZfl
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) February 5, 2019
Updated
Senate advances nomination of former coal lobbyist to run EPA
From the Guardian’s Emily Holden in Washington:
A Senate committee advanced the nomination of Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a party line vote, Republicans sent the nomination to a final vote on the Senate floor. Wheeler, formerly the deputy administrator, has been running the agency since Scott Pruitt stepped down amid myriad ethics scandals.
Wheeler has continued many of the same priorities Pruitt pursued to roll back environment and climate regulations and to ease pollution rules for industry. In his recent confirmation hearing, he downplayedthe severity of man-made climate change.
“In many instances Mr. Wheeler has gone further than his predecessor in his rejection of important measures that are supported by environmentalists and industry,” said the Senate environment panel’s ranking Democrat, Tom Carper.
Carper urged Republicans to slow down the confirmation process to examine some of Wheeler’s proposals to amend rules for mercury emissions from power plants and pollution from cars.
Updated
BuzzFeed News has published a cache of internal Trump Organization documents detailing negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
.@BuzzFeedNews published a cache of Trump Org docs that lay bare the secret negotiations that continued after Cohen claimed Trump Moscow was abandoned. They reveal the effort to get the tower built was entwined with the ups and downs of Trump's campaign.https://t.co/e3pfjdrr1L
— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) February 5, 2019
From the report:
The documents, many of which have been exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News, reveal that — despite Trump’s claim that the development was never more than a passing notion — the effort to get the tower built was long-running, detail-oriented and directly entwined with the ups and downs of his campaign.
As Trump went from rally to rally, vociferously denying any dealings in Russia, his representatives, Michael Cohen and his associate Felix Sater, worked with Trump Organization lawyers and even Ivanka Trump to push forward negotiations to build a 100-story edifice just miles from the Kremlin. The fixers believed they needed Putin’s support to pull off the lucrative deal, and they planned to use Trump’s public praise for him to help secure it. At the same time, they plotted to persuade Putin to openly declare his support for Trump’s candidacy. “If he says it we own this election,” Sater wrote to Cohen.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests her supporters may want to skip watching tonight’s State of the Union speech.
None of it https://t.co/k2SY2NnTpB
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 5, 2019
I’m so excited for @staceyabrams, and I’m excited for all of us - it’s a blessing to hear her insight every time.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 5, 2019
If you’re skipping watching #SOTU tonight, be sure to tune in afterwards to watch her. ☺️https://t.co/WdvWx0DeYm
Senator Richard Blumenthal plans to vote against the confirmation of William Barr, Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
The nomination is expected to come up in the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
“I will vote against his nomination in committee on Thursday,” Blumenthal said, according to the Hill.
He cited Barr’s refusal to commit to releasing the full report of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian election interference and the potential of collusion with Trump’s campaign.
“The defining question for me was his declining to commit to release the Special Counsel’s report fully and completely,” Blumenthal said. “He chose not to make the commitment to release that report completely and directly to Congress and the American people.”
Donald Trump has a new idea - a “Human Wall” to secure the southern border. Presumably such a “wall” would be made up of military troops.
Tremendous numbers of people are coming up through Mexico in the hopes of flooding our Southern Border. We have sent additional military. We will build a Human Wall if necessary. If we had a real Wall, this would be a non-event!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2019
Democrats are spotlighting climate change with a number of their State of the Union guests, the Washington Post reports.
Longtime climate activist Bill McKibben was invited by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin. Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, will attend as the guest of Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey. University of Washington professor Lisa Graumlich, a pioneer in using tree rings to understand climate trends, was invited by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the Post reports.
“Instead of tackling the problem head-on, President Trump is burying his head in the sand and handing out favors to his friends in the coal industry,” Jayapal said.
The Trump administration has a plan in place to fight expected efforts by Congressional Democrats to get ahold of Donald Trump’s tax returns, Politico reports.
Federal law gives three Congressional committees - including the House Ways and Means Committee, now controlled by Democrats - the power to obtain the tax filings of any individual or business from the Internal Revenue Service. That includes Trump, who unlike every other presidential nominee in modern history refused to make his taxes public. A vote by the committee and the full House could then make the tax returns public.
But the Treasury Department does not plan to give them up without a fight, according to the Politico report. They plan to use legal maneuvers to delay the release, while arguing publicly that the request is a partisan exercise.
Donald Trump is “as committed today as he’s ever been to border security”, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN this morning.
Asked about the president’s State of the Union address tonight, Sanders said observers would have to wait and see on the content of the speech, but on border security she pledged that the president is “not gonna stop until we fix this problem”.
Crime will only fall if we “have real border security and that includes the wall”, Sanders said.
Asked whether the structure is “a wall or fence” – Trump last week returned to saying wall, having previously suggested the wall could be a barrier, or a fence, Sanders said: “What we’re looking at is a steel barrier that you can see through.”
Of the subpoena issued to Trump’s inauguration committee this morning, Sanders insisted: “This has nothing to do with the White House.”
She blamed “hysteria over the fact this president became president” for the multiple investigations into the Trump campaign and people in his orbit.
Regarding the Mueller investigation and whether Trump would commit to releasing the final report, Sanders said the White House was “going to let [his] attorneys figure it out”.
Updated
Donald Trump is expected to pick Treasury Department official David Malpass to head the World Bank, Politico reports.
The choice is a clear sign the Trump administration is looking to rein in international financial institutions, according to Politico. Malpass has been critical of the World Bank, global organizations like it “have grown larger and more intrusive” and “the challenge of refocusing them has become urgent and more difficult.”
The US has traditionally been allowed to choose the leader of the World Bank, but a pick like Malpass could generate opposition.
Updated
A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told health insurance executives that Democratic leadership has deep reservations about single payer healthcare, the Intercept reports.
Wendell Primus, Pelosi’s top healthcare adviser, met with Blue Cross Blue Shield executives in December and told them Democrats were more focused on lowering prescription drug prices, rather than pushing for “Medicare for All” as some progressives would prefer.
He told them Democrats were wary of single payer because of its huge cost, the widespread opposition it would generate, and the difficulties of implementing it, according to the Intercept report.
Trump prepares for State of the Union address
Good morning. Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union speech tonight, where we’ll be listening to see if he makes any news on how he plans to force through a wall on the US-Mexico border. Will he declare a national emergency, or force another government shutdown when the current three week federal spending bill expires?
Trump will address a more hostile audience this year, with a Democratic-controlled House and a record number of female lawmakers. In the gallery overhead there will be two former employees of Trump’s New Jersey golf club, both immigrant women who have gone public about its hiring practices. A number of other lawmakers are bringing as guests immigrants who were separated from their families at the border, and other guests intended as shots across the bow at Trump.
Trump will have guests of his own, and First Lady Melania Trump is bringing an 11-year-old boy named Joshua Trump who has been bullied because of his last name.
Donald Trump is expected in his speech tonight to announce a push to end transmissions of HIV by 2030.
It’s one section of his agenda that could draw bipartisan support.
The plan calls for more funding for AIDS prevention and treatment, the Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of Health and Human Services who has been working on the project, is giving a keynote speech at the American Public Health Association this morning where he may provide some details.
