Breaking: Trump To Speak On Shutdown; Will He Invoke A National Emergency?

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Gubmint Shutdown, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

The White House is now making plans for an afternoon event today, where President Trump is poised to make an announcement about the border and the government shutdown, per @jeffzeleny @kaitlancollins. Invoking national emergency has been on the table — Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2019 People I’ve been talking to this morning are convinced, following the arrest of Roger … Read More

Breaking — Day 35 Of Government Shutdown Brings Stoppage of Flights Into LaGuardia

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Gubmint ShutdownLeave a Comment

NBC New York reports: A ground stop has been ordered at LaGuardia airport due to staffing related issues, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday. The stop was ordered shortly before 10 a.m. Some arriving flights are also being delayed. The government shutdown has entered its 35th day, the longest federal shutdown over. CNN reports that Newark and Philadelphia are also affected. … Read More

Boom: Stone Indicted, Arrested

Ken AshfordCrime, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

AP: Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, was arrested in the special counsel’s Russia investigation in a pre-dawn raid at his Florida home on Friday and was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing the probe. The seven-count indictment against Stone, a self-proclaimed “dirty trickster,” is the first criminal case in months from special counsel Robert Mueller. It provides … Read More

Pelosi Wins SOTU War

Ken AshfordCongress, Democrats, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Donald Trump blinked. There’s simply no other way to interpret this tweet sent at 11:12 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday night: As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the … Read More

Breaking: Witness Tampering Successful

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

pic.twitter.com/YGSjuaXenv — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Recall that the president told @JudgeJeanine last weekend that media and prosecutors ought to be looking into Cohen's family, suggesting a look at private citizens. One in a series of suggestions that Cohen family be pursued that POTUS has made. — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 23, 2019 Reporting by @KatyTurNBC just on … Read More

Breaking: Trump Will Show Up For SOTU Anyway

Ken AshfordCongress, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Just released by the White House: Puerile, of course. We’re actually going to have a showdown over this now? TLDR of the president’s letter to Nancy Pelosi: He’s daring her to formally uninvite him from delivering the State of the Union Tuesday. — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 23, 2019 If that is true… then she should formally uninvite. This Trump … Read More

Trump May Be At His Wit’s End With Rudy

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair: Every time Rudy Giuliani opens his mouth in front of a reporter, something bad seems to happen. Donald Trump’s beleaguered lawyer has, over the past few weeks, given one  disastrous interview after another. The latest fiasco came Monday, when Giuliani participated in a rambling Q&A with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner. After telling Chotiner he only had a moment before he took a shower, Giuliani unspooled a … Read More

I’m Sick Of The Covington Catholic Teen Incident, But This One Thing I Believe

Ken AshfordFake News, Race, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Adam Serwer: The incident became a national story in part because of the way the images seemed to confirm first one sweeping narrative, and then another, opposite one: the first, that the heart of Trumpism is prejudice; the second, that anti-prejudice, abetted by the liberal media, has become a malevolent force comparable to racial oppression. But only one of these … Read More

Movement, Ever So Slightly, On Ending The Government Shutdown

Ken AshfordCongress, Gubmint Shutdown, Immigration and Xenophobia, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

NY Times: WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday offered the first glimmers of a potential resolution to the five-week partial government shutdown, scheduling procedural votes Thursday on President Trump’s proposal to spend $5.7 billion on a border wall and a competing bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8. The plan for the Senate to consider the … Read More

Trump Is The Underdog For 2020

Ken AshfordElection 2020, PollsLeave a Comment

He seems stuck at 41-42%, no matter who he runs against. Our new national poll finds no matter what Dem you test against Trump, he is stuck at 41-42% Biden 53 Trump 41Sanders 51 Trump 41Harris 48 Trump 41O'Rourke 47 Trump 41Warren 48 Trump 42Booker 47 Trump 42Gillibrand 47 Trump 42:https://t.co/3qotAuZKDj — PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) January 22, 2019

We Now Know Why There Have Been So Few Press Briefings In The White House Press Room

Ken AshfordTrump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

ABC News reports: President Trump said in a Tuesday tweet that he’s directed White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders “not to bother” with press briefings because “certain members of the press” cover her “rudely” and “inaccurately.” The current 35-day streak without a press briefing from the White House podium is the longest on record since the tradition started during President Bill … Read More

Nothing Is Real (And Nothing To Get Hung About)

Ken AshfordFake News, L'Affaire RusseLeave a Comment

This weekend saw the entire country come to terms with the new media, social media, and what is real. It started off with a bombshell to quelch a previous bombshell. Friday evening, special counsel spokesman Peter Carr issued a rare statement rejecting the central claim in a BuzzFeed article, that Mueller has corroborating evidence (including testimony from Cohen) indicating Trump directed Cohen … Read More