| | | | Trump's budget: Increases for defense, cuts for agencies | | President Donald Trump tomorrow will call for a substantial increase in military spending and look to safeguard Social Security and Medicare from any cuts in his first major step toward compiling a budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, a senior administration official tells CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
Feeling the pinch: The budget outline will also call for spending cuts to several federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
It's a preview of this week's main event.The announcement will come a day before Trump's joint congressional address on Tuesday, where he is expected to lay out his agenda and legislative priorities.
Also breaking tonight: Trump's nominee for secretary of the Navy, Philip Bilden, has withdrawn his name from consideration, Bilden and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Sunday in statements. The reason: Bilden's business interests created complications. From CNN's Ralph Ellis. | | Spicer's war on leaks includes a staff 'phone check' | | White House press secretary Sean Spicer's attempt to identify leakers, and his request that staffers not leak anything about it ... well, leaked, to Politico's Annie Karni and Alex Isenstadt.
Spicer's unusual move, per CNN's Dylan Byers: He called staff into his office last week to reiterate his frustration with the leaks, sources with knowledge of the matter said. He informed them that the use of encrypted texting apps, like Signal and Confide, was a violation of the Federal Records Act. Spicer asked his staff to provide him with their cell phones so he could ensure they were not using those apps or corresponding privately with reporters. Spicer asked to review both his staff's government-issued and personal cell phones, the sources said. He also specifically asked his staff not to leak information about the meeting or his efforts to crack down on leaks to the media, one source said.
Maybe even weirder: White House counsel Don McGahn was standing by as Spicer made the order.
Speaking of those texting apps Spicer warned his aides against using... | | Elsewhere in the Trump administration...
Tonight at the White House: Governors in town for a National Governors Association meeting will meet with President Donald Trump. The hot topic: Health care, and what to do about the Medicaid expansion that is extending coverage to millions in their states and propping up some state budgets.
Staffing up: Trump's team is continuing to take shape -- albeit slowly. He still has to fill nearly 2,000 jobs, CNN's Tal Kopan reports.
'Radical Islamic terrorism': Meanwhile, his new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster says the term "radical Islamic terrorism" isn't helpful -- a direct break from Trump. The story from CNN's Evan Perez.
The talk this week:
The Trump-Russia talk isn't going away. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican lawmaker in a California swing district, said a special prosecutor should investigate reported communications between the Trump campaign and Russians known to US intelligence, not Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
What Chris Christie would have done: Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said FBI Director James Comey should speak to FBI Assistant Director Andrew McCabe about approaching White House chief of staff Reince Priebus earlier this month. "I would have sat them down and said, 'You're not to have those conversations with people who could be in the orbit of an investigation, because you never know where the investigation is going to go,' " the New Jersey governor told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday. As for what Priebus should have done, Christie said, "If you've got something to say about that, talk to the White House counsel about it." | |
"I told them I don't want to meet the President."
-- Bill Owens, the father of Navy SEAL killed in Yemen raid, to the Miami Herald on what he told the chaplain who informed him that Donald Trump was on the way to greet his son's flag-draped casket when it arrived at Dover Air Force Base. | | | Democrats select Perez as the new party chair | | Democrats chose former Labor Secretary Tom Perez over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison as their new chairman on Saturday, concluding a hotly contested race to lead a battered party as it tries to channel the anti-Trump energy of its base into an electoral rebound.
Perez's unity move: He quickly appointed Ellison as the deputy chair of the DNC. Eric was there and has the full story. CNN's Greg Krieg was there as well, and he looks at the progressive blowback over Perez's win.
The final days: Former Vice President Joe Biden and several aides to former President Barack Obama -- including Valerie Jarrett and David Simas -- made calls to undecided members in an effort to sway them toward Perez. In Ellison's camp, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and supportive members of Congress put pressure on DNC members with phone calls.
The Sanders wing of the Democratic Party is disappointed ... but let's take a quick status check: In 2016, Sanders won 39 of the 447 DNC voting members' support. Ellison just won 200 of them. The party is increasingly cohesive in its move left and its embrace of economic populism. | | Christie's harsh words for GOPers ducking town halls | | New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Republican lawmakers should hold town halls even if that means confronting hundreds of angry progressive constituents. "Welcome to the real world of responsibility," Christie told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday. "I understand why members of Congress don't like it," Christie said. "But you know what? You asked for the job. Go do it."
Christie said some of the attendees are "professional protesters," which he defined as those wearing the same shirts and carrying pre-made signs, comparing them to teachers' unions that criticized him in New Jersey. "You've got to work through that," he said. "You've got to stand up, let them yell themselves out." | | | An international show of support for the director boycotting the Oscars over Trump's travel ban: London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined the crowd in Trafalgar Square to watch "The Salesman," an Oscar-nominated foreign film. The director, Asghar Farhadi, said he would boycott the Oscars over Trump's policies. Before courts suspended the President's executive order restricting travel from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Farhadi said he would be unable to make it to the ceremonies because of the travel ban. More from The Sun's Paul Harper. | | 5 things you might have missed this weekend | | No Trump at annual dinner: Every year, elite members of the political media, Washington socialites, politicians and a grab bag of celebrities gather for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, an event that ranges from a cozy spectacle to an awkward affair. The President won't attend this year, though. Former President Ronald Reagan was the last to miss the event -- he was recovering from being shot. More from CNN's Dylan Byers.
Democrat wins special election in Delaware: Control of the Delaware state Senate -- and Democrats' ability to keep full control over the legislatures and governor's offices of six states -- was on the line Saturday, when the Democrat won a contest that generated outsized attention. The Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal has more.
Former President of Iran writes to Trump: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- the Holocaust-denying former symbolic leader of Iran -- sent about 3,500 words to Trump. He praised Trump for pointing out "corruption" in the United States and criticized the America for its dominance in international politics. Here's a write up from the AP's Nasser Karimi and the full letter as posted on Iranian state media FARS.
Thousands rally in Moscow for murdered opposition leader: Just outside of the Kremlin two years ago, Boris Nemtsov was murdered. Crowds marched through the streets to mark that anniversary and lay flowers on the bridge where he was gunned down. The full story from Al Jazeera.
Five years since Trayvon Martin's killing: NBC's Trymaine Lee catalogs the movement that continues to this day regarding racism, criminal justice and violence as Sunday marks the fifth year since Martin was shot and killed. | | | The Trump administration is forgoing informal talks with North Korea. ... The House GOP health care plan leaked. ... DNC chair Perez wants an independent investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. | | | 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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