| | | | Trump's big shift toward legal status for some immigrants | | President Donald Trump threw a big curveball just hours ahead of his first prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress tonight -- saying at a meeting with television anchors that he wants to reform the nation's immigration system, with a path to citizenship for "Dreamers" brought into the country illegally as children and legal status for others.
What Trump said: "The time is right for an immigration bill, as long as there is compromise on both sides."
More from a senior administration official: Trump does not see the bill as something that would necessarily upset Trump's base, stressing that there would need to be "a softening on both sides." "It has to be a negotiation," the official said, arguing that the bill theoretically could make people on both the "far right" and "far left" happy -- and it's a negotiation the President believes he could successfully broker, the official said. CNN's Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and Tal Kopan have the story.
A sampling of the Republican reaction: "The most important thing is secure the border. Until that's done, you cannot even get to the other questions," Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told CNN. "I wish they would send me a memo when they're going to do something because some of us are in meetings all day long trying to do our job, and then I come out and get asked, 'What's your opinion?'" Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert said. More from CNN's Lauren Fox and Deirdre Walsh.
This all makes tonight must-see TV. Lawmakers want Trump to offer specifics on health care, immigration and more as he sells his agenda to Capitol Hill. CNN's Stephen Collinson raises the curtain.
Health care is huge. Republicans are struggling to identify a specific plan to replace Obamacare once they repeal it -- and Trump won't embrace a specific plan tonight, Politico's Josh Dawsey reports.
How Democrats will handle it: Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi told her colleagues Tuesday morning that they should "deal with this in the utmost dignity." In other words: No Rep. Joseph Wilson "You lie!" moments. "We cannot become them; we don't like what they did to our President," she said at the House Democratic Caucus meeting, according to a source in the room. "We have to come out tonight the winner in terms of dignity." The Democratic response will come from former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who expanded Medicaid despite leading a red state and is expected to speak to the human side of health care reform.
Check out this line from Pelosi, on how Democrats should treat Trump voters: "The way I told my members: It's like telling your friend the guy she's dating is a jerk. You can't tell her that. She has to find out for herself. You can give her clues and then eventually one thing will lead to another, she'll come to her conclusion. But if you tell her right up front, you'll lose a friend. So we're not interested in losing any friends. Let them find out." More from CNN's Dana Bash. | | "It's dead on arrival. It's not going to happen. It would be a disaster." -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, on President Donald Trump's budget proposal and its cuts to the State Department. Other Republicans are complaining Trump isn't touching long-term cost drivers like Medicare and Medicaid. | | | Notes from the left: Perez hits Trump; eyes on Obama | | Tom Perez erased any doubt whether he'll be a confrontational Democratic National Committee chairman today at the Latino Victory Fund, where he told attendees at a lunch event that President Donald Trump is dragging the nation "back to Jim Crow" and said Attorney General Jeff Sessions should "go shove it, sir."
The highlights:
-- On Trump's deportations and his travel ban: "I feel so frequently today like we should be setting our clocks back to Jim Crow. I feel so frequently like we should be setting our clocks back to the mid-19th century. ... And that is why it is so important for Democrats to lead the resistance today against Trump and the far-right Republicans."
-- On Sessions' 2006 attack on Dominican immigrants, in which he said on the Senate floor that "almost no one" from the Dominican Republic "is coming here because they have a provable skill that would benefit us and that would indicate their likely success in our society" -- Perez responded by saying: "Go shove it, sir."
-- Tough words for Democrats: "Here's the reality that we must confront: There are hundreds of thousands of Latinos that as we sit here right now, they are eligible to vote, they are United States citizens, and they are not voting. That one's on us, folks."
Across town...
Is Obama "ready to roll"? From Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere: "Barack Obama is getting closer to making his public reappearance in politics, his friend and former Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday. Holder said he's been talking to the former president about ways -- including fundraising and interacting with state legislators -- that could help the new National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Obama asked Holder to chair last year. 'It's coming. He's coming,' Holder said, speaking to reporters at a briefing for the new group. 'And he's ready to roll.'"
Speaking of Obama...
A $60 million double book deal? Barack and Michelle Obama are about to sell their memoirs for a record sum of money, per CNN's Brian Stelter.
One more Democrat to watch: Ben Jealous, the former NAACP head and Bernie Sanders supporter, is considering a run for Maryland governor. | | Top Donald Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci implied that Democrats could have something to do with attacks on Jewish community centers.
Trump did so, too, in a meeting with state attorneys general. Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro said in a statement: "The President first condemned the threats and intimidation then also suggested the 'reverse' may be true and that he planned to address the matter in his remarks tonight. I don't know what the President meant by that statement." | | 3 things you may have missed today | | Justice Department asks court to dismiss claim of discrimination in Texas voter ID case: The two primary claims in the case are that Texas passed its law with a racially discriminatory intent, and that it also had a racially discriminatory effect. More from CNN's Ariane de Vogue.
Trump says Barack Obama is behind the leaks: "I think he is behind it. I also think it is politics, that's the way it is," President Donald Trump said on "Fox & Friends." More from CNN's Eli Watkins.
Bush doesn't like the "racism and name-calling" under Trump: "I don't like the racism and I don't like the name-calling and I don't like the people feeling alienated," former President George W. Bush told People Magazine. | | | Ireland's Prime Minister is facing calls to break from tradition and skip the annual St. Patrick's Day festivities at the White House. ... President Donald Trump greeted the nation's governors by welcoming them "and their wives," apparently ignoring the reality that there are female governors. ... Donald Trump Jr. hinted that his sister, Tiffany Trump, may have a future in The Trump Organization. | | | 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 are talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
Post a Comment