| | | | Advice from Obama and Pence: Blame the other side | | President Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence brought the same message to Capitol Hill this morning: In the upcoming health care battle royal, blame the other guys.
The Obama meeting: In the closed-door session with only Democrats, the President urged fellow party members to not "rescue" President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures, according to sources in the room. He also floated this idea: Start referring to the GOP's new plan as "Trumpcare."
The Pence meeting: Speaking with House Republicans, Pence was instructing the GOP to argue they are only trying to clean up Democrats' mess. Pence recalled his time in the House and accused Democrats of breaking the promises made at the time. "The reality is that I was here in March of 2010 in another capacity when Obamacare was signed into law," Pence said alongside other GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. "I remember all those promises. We were told that if you like your doctor, you can keep it. Not true." | | "If a nominee for a critical job doesn't understand what the Russians are up to, I'll have a hard time believing they have the judgment to do their job." -- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on supporting President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees if they don't accept US intelligence on Russia's alleged hacking. | | | | President-elect Donald Trump's opinion on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, has flip-flopped since 2010, CNN's Andrew Kaczynski reports.
CNN's KFile uncovered a 2010 interview when Trump called WikiLeaks "disgraceful" and suggested there be a "death penalty" for its actions.
During Trump's campaign, he repeatedly cited information released by WikiLeaks to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. | | Pence's role: Like Dick Cheney's -- including an office | | Republicans on Capitol Hill are still feeling out President-elect Donald Trump -- but they're warmly embracing his vice president, Mike Pence.
A House-side office: Visits like the one Pence made to Capitol Hill today are set to become more permanent. Like Dick Cheney, the soon-to-be vice president will have office space in both the Senate -- where he technically presides as president and will cast tiebreaking votes -- and the House, too. He also plans to attend weekly policy lunches, positioning Pence as the President-elect's chief fixer on Capitol Hill.
What about newer members -- the ones who weren't yet around when Pence left his House leadership post and became governor of Indiana in 2012? "When someone that's respected comes in, you can just tell -- it's a walks-on-water-type feeling there," said relative newcomer Rep. Dave Brat, R-Virginia. "So that spreads; other people can feel that." | | Yesterday, we told you about Vice President Joe Biden's amazing swearing-in ceremonies, but let's not let this get lost in the shuffle.
While Kansas Republican Rep. Roger Marshall's family posed for their photo op, his son dabbed next to House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan didn't know what was going on. | | Manchin skips Obama, sets his own meeting with Pence | | President Barack Obama was on Capitol Hill today to meet with only Democrats. Vice President-elect Mike Pence was there to meet with just Republicans. And Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- the chamber's most conservative Democrat -- didn't like it.
So Manchin requested his own meeting with Pence. "I want to talk to him about health care, so I have a better understanding," he said.
Is Manchin with Republicans on repealing Obamacare? Not quite. "They're trying to tell us, just vote to repeal," he said. "I can't do that. And I've not seen a replacement. I've been here for six years and haven't seen a replacement yet. ... I know that Vice President Pence, he basically expanded Medicaid ... in Indiana. How can you expand it on one hand and have to go back and say we're repealing it?" | | Omarosa joins the White House | | Omarosa Manigault will join President-elect Donald Trump's White House team in a role expected to focus on public engagement, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux and Daniella Diaz report.
Her title? Assistant to the President and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison focusing on issues such as community outreach.
She gained prominence after she served nine weeks as a contestant in Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice," before he fired her. But she stayed close to Trump after she left the show. | | | California investigators wanted to file a lawsuit in 2013 against a bank owned by Steven Mnuchin, the nominee to become Treasury secretary, for misconduct during foreclosures. ... California Democrats in the state legislature have hired former Attorney General Eric Holder to help them with expected court battles against President-elect Donald Trump's administration. ... The DC Cannabis Coalition plans to hand out at least 4,200 free joints on Trump's inauguration day. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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