Politics

The Hill reports: President Trump considers the declaration of a national emergency to circumvent Congress and begin construction on a border wall to be on the table, his top spokesperson said Wednesday. Though Trump didn’t mention the possibility of a declaration during a primetime address to the nation Tuesday night, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News that …

The New York Post reports: “Becoming,” the memoir by former first lady Michelle Obama, has emerged as the bestselling hardcover book in 2018, with 3.4 million copies sold, despite its November release. According to stats released by NPD Bookscan, which tracks about 80 percent of the retail market, Obama’s book surged, with 712,000 sold in the week before Christmas. That …

The Daily Beast reports: Airport security screeners forced to work without pay during the government shutdown have been calling out sick. But now the mad-as-hell workers are actually quitting their jobs. “Some of them have already quit and many are considering quitting the federal workforce because of this shutdown,” Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA …

CNN reports: Patience is beginning to wear thin among Senate Republicans for a prolonged government shutdown, with a growing number at risk of revolting if the fight over funding President Donald Trump’s border wall drags out indefinitely. “I think we can walk and chew gum,” GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said on Tuesday, adding she’s “amenable to a process …

“Anybody who honestly looked at what was said tonight, this was a win for the president, and on several fronts. The president did something he doesn’t do very often, and I thought he did it, for him, very well, which was to show a softer side, to make a more compassionate argument, and to tone down the rhetoric. We need …

ABC News reports: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his role in the coming weeks, multiple sources familiar with his plans told ABC News. Rosenstein has communicated to President Donald Trump and White House officials his plan to depart the administration around the time William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, would take office following a Senate …

Charles Pierce writes at Esquire: In Tuesday’s Washington Post, Max Boot, the former imperialist cheerleader now d/b/a Never Trumper extraordinaire, addressed one of the nation’s pressing problems: the popularity of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rookie congresswoman from New York and subject of a current conservative obsession bordering on a full-on manic episode. I admit, I was dubious about AOC. But then, for …

NBC New York reports: New York City will begin guaranteeing comprehensive health care to every single resident regardless of someone’s ability to pay or immigration status, an unprecedented plan that will protect the more than half-a-million New Yorkers currently using the ER as a primary provider, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. NYC Care is expected to launch in the Bronx …

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a lower court order requiring an unnamed foreign-owned corporation to comply with a subpoena said to be part of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The court dissolved a temporary stay that had been put in place by Chief Justice …

Politico reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ripped Senate Democrats on Tuesday, comparing their plan to prevent the chamber from taking up legislation to a “partisan tantrum.” “Now they’re threatening to shut the Senate down, too. They’re threatening to shut down efforts to protect our allies and strengthen our relationship with Israel. Something they all recently claim to support,” …

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 Hill reports: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said that she believes the U.S. is “absolutely” ready for a woman of color as president. Harris made the remarks during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” to promote her new memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.” “Is this country, after what [President] Trump has unleashed and what we …

Variety reports: NBC, Fox, ABC and CBS confirmed that they will air a Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s primetime address on border security on Tuesday evening, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested the time. Other broadcasters, like Telemundo and PBS, also will carry Trump’s speech and the response, as will cable news networks, …

Talking Points Memo reports: Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with then-candidate Donald Trump’s inner circle, was charged last month with obstruction of justice, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. Prosecutors accuse Veselnitskaya of lying about her cooperation with a “Senior Russian prosecutor” in drafting “supposed investigative findings” for an asset forfeiture case …

NPR reports: Tuesday is a historic day in Florida. Under an amendment passed by the voters in November, as many as 1.4 million former felons are regaining the right to vote. The referendum overturned a 150-year-old law that permanently disenfranchised people with felony convictions. Before the change, people who served their time could apply for clemency to a board headed …

The Hill reports: Vice President Pence on Tuesday said President Trump has the “impression” that previous presidents wanted to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall, following claims from Trump that former presidents have told him that they wanted to build a wall. Spokespeople for multiple former presidents, including Former President Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush, in recent days have publicly …

CNN reports: Following news that the networks would air Trump’s immigration address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement that they should be given an equal amount of time to respond. “Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will …

Axios reports: President Trump is curious — and White House aides, alumni and reporters are anxious — ahead of the Jan. 29 publication of the tightly embargoed “Team of Vipers,” a delicious, unsparing memoir by former Trump aide Cliff Sims. ABC News has won a fiercely competitive effort to score the first broadcast interview with Sims, whose book deal was …

CNBC reports: Blackwater founder Erik Prince said Monday that he would have preferred getting a “proctology exam” to being interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators about his meeting with a Russian investor linked to Vladimir Putin. But the controversial security consultant told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that his previously reported sit-down with Mueller’s team regarding that curious encounter …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Patience has apparently already run out for some Democrats waiting on Beto O’Rourke to announce whether he’ll run for president. A group of Democrats led by a key South Carolina Democrat and a TV actress have created a “Draft Beto” campaign with a goal of raising $1 million and setting up a grassroots network to help …