| | | | The Trump White House's alternate universes | | Viewed one way, Donald Trump's presidency is off to a solid start. He's following through on his populist pledges to blue-collar voters -- pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, setting a start for NAFTA's renegotiation, cozying up to labor leaders in a White House gathering, schmoozing with congressional leaders in a way former President Barack Obama never did and advancing the Keystone pipeline, all in just two days.
This is the version of the Trump White House that conservatives like to focus on. It is -- out of political necessity -- the only one House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pretend exists. The Atlantic's David A. Graham made the case for examining this version of Trump's universe today.
Boy, the other version... Just take a look at CNN.com's blaring, full-page headline this afternoon, on a day Trump hoped would be dominated by his Keystone move: | | Trump's ego keeps getting in his way. First, he couldn't believe his inauguration crowd was smaller than Obama's. Then, Trump -- unable to accept the reality that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton -- last night told congressional leaders he still believes 3 to 5 million people voted illegally. Today, press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that yes, Trump does believe this claim -- which he has never provided evidence to support.
"The President does believe that. I think he's stated that before, and stated his concern of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign, and continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have brought to him," Spicer said. He offered no new evidence -- and in the past, Trump's campaign has offered only misleading claims, as CNN's Kevin Liptak and Dan Merica explain here.
How is this going over?
Here's what Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN's Manu Raju: "I would urge the President to knock this off. This is the greatest democracy on Earth. You're the leader of the free world. And people are going to start doubting you as a person if you keep making accusations against our electoral system without justification. This is going to erode his ability to govern this country if he does not stop it."
Here's the question: Is this the only thing that matters? Can Trump even function as President while indulging bonkers conspiracy theories? Here's what two of our CNN colleagues had to say on-air right after Spicer's press briefing today:
David Chalian: "This is nothing short of astonishing. ... It's the President of the United States thoroughly undermining the very (small-D) democratic foundations of the country. No other policy question really matters at that point."
Brian Stelter: "The only word I can think of is 'crazy.' This is crazy. ... If you care about facts, just a dark day. ... What's next? Is NASA going to say the moon is made of green cheese?" | | Widespread voter fraud is not happening. Period. | | To be absolutely clear: There is no evidence whatsoever of millions of fraudulent votes. Fact-checker after fact-checker after fact-checker has explained why President Donald Trump's claims are wrong. Sean Spicer seemed to know this, too: He described Trump's view as a "belief" -- and never suggested he held the same belief.
A number of studies have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The Truth About Voter Fraud, a report written by experts at The Brennan Center for Justice, found voter fraud rates were between 0.00004% and 0.0009%. After the election, Trump's own lawyers even argued in a Michigan court: "All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake." (Emphasis theirs.)
If 3 to 5 million illegal votes were being cast ... it would be a HUGE story -- an existential threat to American democracy. So journalists in the briefing room tried asking Spicer: Will the White House investigate Trump's belief that this is happening?
"Maybe we will," Spicer said.
Don't miss this: CNN's Jake Tapper had a great interview on Trump's unsubstantiated claims with Jason Kander, Missouri's secretary of state and a rising Democratic star after his strong (but unsuccessful) run against Sen. Roy Blunt last year: | | "Mr. Trump did say some things during the campaign that I wish he had not said. They're totally unrealistic, make no sense whatsoever." -- Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, during Mick Mulvaney's confirmation hearing to head President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget. | | | Crowd size came up again. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley asked Rep. Mick Mulvaney at his confirmation hearing for director of the Office of Management and Budget about which inauguration had a larger crowd -- President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration or President Donald Trump's inauguration. Mulvaney responded he wasn't sure what that had to do with OMB, but said 2009 was bigger.
Merkley's angle here: Can Mulvaney -- and the Trump administration more broadly -- be trusted to present accurate data? "I am deadly serious about giving you hard numbers, and I intend to follow through on that," Mulvaney said. | | Confirmation roundup: Key moments with Price, Mulvaney | | House and Senate Republicans depart for Philadelphia tomorrow for their annual retreat. But before they do, the Senate voted to confirm South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as UN ambassador.
Two major pieces of news from today's confirmation hearings:
Tom Price commits to coverage for everyone on Obamacare. Trump's Health and Human Services nominee told Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon: "I guarantee you that the individuals that lost coverage under the (Affordable Care Act), we will commit to making certain that they don't lose coverage under whatever replacement plan comes forward." More from CNN's MJ Lee and Tami Luhby.
Mulvaney's budget-cutting ways draw McCain's ire. Arizona Sen. John McCain blasted Trump's choice to head the Office of Management and Budget, Rep. Mick Mulvaney -- a House Freedom Caucus member and champion of previous government shutdowns. There was this: "You've spent your entire career pitting the debt against our military and each time for you, the military was less important." Then this zinger: "What were you thinking, honestly, when you voted for an immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan?" And finally: "So the answer to that is withdraw all troops from Afghanistan? Congressman, that is crazy." CNN's Tal Kopan has a roundup.
So will McCain vote against Mulvaney? "I haven't decided," he told CNN's Manu Raju tonight. Why does McCain's vote matter so much? Tal emails: Republicans only have a one-vote majority on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, meaning McCain's vote could deadlock the panel's vote to advance Mulvaney's nomination if all Democrats vote against him. It's not a guarantee of stopping the nomination -- he could still come to a floor vote -- but it's unusual for a nominee to be confirmed without the support of the committee hearing the nomination.
On infrastructure policy ... Democrats are trying to drive a wedge between Trump and the Hill GOP. Here's Eric's look at how -- with Sen. Chuck Schumer revealing his talks with Trump. "I told him repeatedly, 'If you want to do a bill like this, you're going to have to tell a lot of your Republicans -- particularly on the right wing -- that they're not going to get their way,' " Schumer said. "And he acknowledged that. So we'll see what happens." | | | The Badlands National Park official account tweeted statistics about climate change on Tuesday that could contradict how President Donald Trump's administration may want to present it. The tweets were up for a few hours before they were deleted.
This isn't the first time an account has gone rogue in response to Trump's administration. On Friday, the National Park Service retweeted messages that compared the crowd sizes at Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration to Trump's inauguration. Representatives from the new administration asked the Interior Department's digital team to temporarily stop using Twitter as well -- a decision the agency now claims was out of a concern the account was hacked. Here's Daniella's story. | | Trump talks Supreme Court vacancy as Hill buzzes | | President Donald Trump met this afternoon with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, and the leaders of the Judiciary Committee -- Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dianne Feinstein, D-California -- today to talk about the Supreme Court vacancy.
Who he's considering, per CNN's Ariane de Vogue: Trump himself said on the campaign trail that he would look at judges William Pryor and Diane Sykes as top contenders, and has touted his list of 20 possible choices from conservative legal circles. Sources close to the search say as things stand now, Judge Neil Gorsuch has emerged on top of the list as well as Judge Thomas Hardiman. Ariane has in-depth looks at each candidate here.
The latest Supreme Court gossip: CNN's Phil Mattingly emails: Over the weekend it became clear to several congressional staffers in contact with the White House and outside groups working on the nomination who spoke to CNN that Gorsuch is the front-runner -- and that alone has created an amplification of sorts throughout the rest of Capitol Hill. Gorsuch is repeatedly mentioned as the leading candidate in chatter around the Senate, but it's difficult to pinpoint whether that's being driven by actual direct knowledge, or just an amplification of what in-the-know staffers became aware of a few days prior. The reality is it's likely the latter. Only a small circle have real insight into the decision. Even that number drops dramatically when it comes to who is actually involved in the pick. | | Trump overrules Obama, advances Keystone pipeline | | | President Donald Trump signed executive actions to advance approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. The decision to advance the pipelines cast aside efforts by President Barack Obama's administration to block construction of the two pipelines, while making good on one of Trump's campaign promises, CNN's Athena Jones and Jeremy Diamond report. Opponents of the pipeline projects quickly condemned the decisions. And environmental groups and activists were also quick to slam the decision, with Tom Steyer, the president of NextGen Climate and a liberal mega-donor, accusing the Trump administration of putting "corporate interests ahead of American interests." | | | Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says he's not running for president. ... A new website allows ice cream fans to send a package of Dippin' Dots to White House press secretary Sean Spicer with a single click. ... British designer Aruna Seth flew $800 boots from London for Tiffany Trump's inauguration wear. | | | 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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