| | | | Washington bracing for CBO score on health care bill | | On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, is expected to release its assessment of the American Health Care Act -- the bill Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump have wrapped their arms around.
And a lot of people, from the bill's critics to Ryan himself, say they expect the CBO to say it will cover a lot fewer people than Obamacare.
Getting ahead of that news, Ryan has come out in a few interviews arguing the bill will lower coverage numbers, but that's a good thing because the free market is doing it.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has emerged as one of the bill's biggest critics, predicted on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the CBO will warn about people losing coverage, and the bill won't have enough votes to pass anyway, which will force Ryan to negotiate with conservatives.
What's more, Paul said Ryan is misrepresenting the political situation by indicating the bill is inflexible and Paul believes Trump is very much open to making a new deal. Here's my writeup of the back and forth.
Meanwhile, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price have been downplaying the relevance of the CBO.
Also worth reviewing: CNN's MJ Lee, Lauren Fox and Deirdre Walsh got inside the room Friday, showing how Trump's mixed messages behind closed doors are leaving Republicans confused. Can they make a deal?
And although they have limited influence, Democrats like Sen. Cory Booker are saying they will steadfastly oppose the GOP effort, while Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said a bad, rushed bill could cost his party their majority in the House. | | "The only bipartisan thing left in America is the fight against cancer." -- Former Vice President Joe Biden at SXSW | | | | Rep. Steve King using the phrase "restore our civilization" while praising far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders. | | And then there's Preet Bharara | | In one fell swoop on Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked 46 US attorneys to resign. The move itself, while uncharacteristically abrupt, is common for a new administration. What seized the headlines, and ultimately generated the greatest deal of controversy, was the one man who would not go quietly: US Attorney Preet Bharara.
He tweeted on Saturday that he had refused to resign and was instead fired. CNN's Laura Jarrett and Jake Tapper have the full blow-by-blow, reporting that President Donald Trump, through an assistant, tried to reach Bharara and left a voicemail. Bharara notified Attorney General Jeff Sessions' chief of staff about the call, saying he wasn't going to talk to Trump because protocol forbade sitting US attorneys from talking to the President, a source said.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente then called Bharara on Saturday to ask if it was true that he was refusing to resign, and Bharara told him yes.
Boente then called Bharara back and said Trump was firing him, the source said. Read The New York Times' Maggie Haberman's take as well.
Bharara's firing marked the end of an era for the Southern District of New York. The "Sheriff of Wall Street," as he was sometimes called, inflicted much of the punishment banks felt in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.
Bharara sought out corruption cases, and his ouster left a number of high-profile investigations dangling. CNN's Stephen Collinson takes you through this chapter of Bharara's career, concluding that it's almost certain this isn't the end of his story.
Indeed, on Sunday, Bharara dropped this curious tweet, saying: "By the way, now I know what the Moreland Commission must have felt like."
Make of that what you will. Here's The New York Times' Benjamin Wiser in 2016 on the Moreland Commission. | | | President Donald Trump has lunch with some members of his Cabinet and staff Saturday at his golf course in Potomac Falls, Virginia. | | 7 things you might have missed | | McCain tells Jake Tapper that Trump needs to put up or pull back: Sen. John McCain called on President Donald Trump to substantiate his claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower during the campaign. Here's the full story from Jake's interview on "State of the Union."
Roger Stone plays down contact with hacking entity: The longtime Trump associate is defending his contacts with "Guccifer 2.0," the person or persons (aka Russian intelligence, according to US officials) who claimed to be behind the DNC hacking. More from CNN's Gloria Borger and Matt Korade.
Making a case that Democracy is dying: It's controversial and maybe overstating things, but a growing group of scholars has been saying democracy, as a dominant idea, is in danger. Brian Klaas writes his argument in Quartz.
Budget director offers a theory: Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told CNN's Jake Tapper that during President Barack Obama's tenure, he thought the administration was "manipulating" jobs data. From CNN's Jill Disis.
Looking ahead: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading to Washington, where she will meet with Trump. Reuters' Noah Barkin has the walkup.
Trump invites Palestinian leader: According to both Palestinian media and a White House statement, Trump invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to the White House to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Read Al Jazeera.
Tracking down WikiLeaks' CIA source: Investigators looking into the sourcing behind WikiLeaks' alleged trove of CIA documents have a few things they're going on, the Wall Street Journal's Shane Harris and Robert McMillan report, citing "people familiar with the investigation." | | | An intruder breaches security at the White House complex. ... Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is being demonized. ... Judges say Texas' redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act. ... Donald Trump Jr. says he has basically "zero contact" with his dad. | | | 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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