Dumpster Fires

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is “very pissed off” and “really hopping mad” at former aide Cliff Sims’ new book that reveals firsthand the chaos and infighting that is ever present in his White House, according to several current and former White House officials. Some Trump advisers have urged him not to lash out at Sims. Their message to Trump, …

Mediaite reports: Ann Coulter ripped President Donald Trump following his big announcement this afternoon that there is a deal to end the shutdown that does not include money for the wall. “Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” she tweeted. Coulter …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would agree to a deal to fund the government without money for his much-desired border wall, effectively bringing an end to the longest shutdown in American history. The framework of the arrangement remained unclear. But a Democratic Hill aide said—and Trump later confirmed—that it would extend funding for …

In yet another juicy excerpt from Cliff Sims’ Team Of Vipers, he recounts doing a project for Kellyanne Conway on her laptop as a stream of her iMessage chats crossed its screen. Over the course of 20 minutes or so, she was having simultaneous conversations with no fewer than a half­-dozen reporters, most of them from outlets the White House …

Fox News reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office accused the Trump administration on Friday of leaking plans for a congressional delegation to fly commercial to Afghanistan after they were denied military aircraft, saying the related security risks have forced them to postpone the trip — in the latest escalation of the bitter feud over the partial government shutdown. A senior …

Axios has obtained an advance excerpt from former Trump aide Cliff Sims’ Team Of Vipers tell-all and wow, it’s a doozy: “Give me their names,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “I want these people out of here. I’m going to take care of this. We’re going to get rid of all the snakes, even the bottom-­feeders.” Only in retrospect did …

Vanity Fair reports: Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, installed in the job just before Christmas, may already be looking at escape routes. Unlike his long-suffering predecessor, John Kelly, Mulvaney has indicated he’s prepared to walk away if things go south with the president. “Mick has both eyes open,” said a person who spoke with Mulvaney recently. “So far, Trump …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by …

Axios reports: Another reason this is a historic week — and what President Trump should really worry about — is that lots of different Republicans have been turning on him over different topics. A former Trump aide who asked to be described as “a Trump ally” told Axios that the sudden wave of criticism from the Hill over Syria and …

CNN reports: “One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect …

The Washington Examiner reports: The South Carolina Republican Party could cancel its marquee presidential nominating contest in 2020 in a move to protect President Trump from any primary challengers. Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP, said he doesn’t anticipate Trump would face a primary challenge. But McKissick would pointedly not rule out canceling the primary, indicating that that …

Vox reports: John Kelly will depart as White House chief of staff near the end of this year, President Trump told reporters Saturday. The president said he would announce Kelly’s replacement in the next few days. Kelly’s exit comes after several months of relative personnel stability in an infamously tumultuous White House. But with the midterm elections now over and …

Glorious Leader is ever so pissed at his former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who earlier today declared (on video) that his former boss is undisciplined, won’t read anything, much less his press briefings, and had to be talked about committing “illegal acts” multiple times. The infighting will never end. But now the press gets to resurface all of the …

Politico reports: One day after first lady Melania Trump’s office called for the ouster of deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, a White House official confirmed Wednesday that Ricardel is still employed there. The first lady’s rare public foray into West Wing personnel battles reportedly stems from a dust up between Ricardel and the East Wing over a recent trip …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resigned at the request of President Trump. The move follows months of Mr. Trump expressing his displeasure with Mr. Sessions in critical tweets. The abrupt move ended Mr. Sessions’ tumultuous tenure as the nation’s top law-enforcement officer. Throughout, he couldn’t shake Mr. Trump’s displeasure over the special-counsel investigation into Russian …

The New York Times reports: An argument last February between the White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, and Corey Lewandowski, an informal adviser to President Trump, turned into a physical altercation that required Secret Service intervention just outside the Oval Office, according to a half-dozen people familiar with the events. The episode, details of which have not been …

Glorious Leader just tweeted an attack on Michael Avenatti in his first public mention of Avenatti’s name since the Stormy Daniels scandal broke way back in January. Meanwhile we just got this: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday said the latest sexual misconduct allegations made against him were “from the Twilight Zone” and never happened. “This is ridiculous and …

The New York Times reports: The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit. Mr. Rosenstein made these suggestions in the spring …

Politico reports: Following a week of brutal headlines for the White House, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that explosive allegations from journalist Bob Woodward’s new book and an anonymous New York Times op-ed are warping voters’ opinions of President Donald Trump’s executive branch. The majority of those polled, 61 percent, say the Trump administration is running chaotically, compared with …

Raw Story reports: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday encouraged her Twitter followers to call the opinion desk of the New York Times to ask them to identify the “gutless coward” who wrote a scathing editorial about President Donald Trump. She actually gave the Trump cultists the phone number at the Times. This will not end well. …