| | | | The Senate's SCOTUS showdown comes this week | | Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both put on strong displays of confidence over Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation vote, but with opposite predictions (surprise!).
Schumer said he'd have the votes to filibuster President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, while McConnell, with a "so be it" kind of tone, pledged that he'd send Gorsuch to the nation's top court this week one way or the other. Taken together, the promises chart a course for the "nuclear option," or changing Senate rules to allow leadership to cut off debate with a simple majority of 51 votes, marking the end of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.
Gorsuch, meanwhile, picked up one more Democratic vote today: Sen. Joe Donnelly, who made a point of saying he wanted to maintain the filibuster rule.
If enough Democrats join the Republicans to invoke cloture, then McConnell would have no need to change Senate rules. But it looks like Democrats are still in the game for holding onto the votes they need to filibuster.
As the vote gets closer, keep an eye on the handful of remaining undecided Democrats. Here's a guide. | | "I don't regret anything" -- President Donald Trump on his tweets in an interview (paywall) with the Financial Times. | | | | A member of the House Freedom Caucus hits back at the White House's social media director, who called for a primary challenge to take him out. | | Flynn left Russian speaking fees off initial financial disclosures | | Over the weekend, the public learned that this White House is very, very wealthy. But the main attention-grabber from the White House's release of financial disclosures of 180 of its officials, some of which CNN has viewed over the last few days, came from someone who doesn't even work there anymore: ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In forms Flynn submitted in mid-February, he left out money he received from Russian entities, including RT, a state-funded TV network, for speaking engagements. But he included those and other fees in updated forms that he filed Friday.
The disclosure forms also paint a portrait of a White House filled with wealthy people, from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who could have assets in excess of $700 million, to Gary Cohn, who was president of Goldman Sachs until taking the White House job. Read the whole story from CNN's Theodore Schleifer, Julia Horowitz and Eugene Scott. | | | Health care is back on the menu, according to President Donald Trump. He even grabbed a game of golf with Sen. Rand Paul to talk about the issue, per a White House spokeswoman. | | Three stories you may have missed | | Democrats cool to immunity offer: CNN's Jake Tapper asked Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, about ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn's request for immunity in exchange for testimony related to the panel's investigation of allegations that associates of President Donald Trump colluded with Russian operatives to influence the US election. Schiff said he'd treat Flynn's request with "healthy skepticism." My write-up of the interview.
Russia condemns US on civilian deaths: Russia calls the Pentagon's reaction to the US coalition's possible role in the deaths of more than 100 civilians in Mosul, Iraq, "absurd." Read more from CNN's Matt Rehbein and Julia Jones.
China establishes back channel ahead of visit: Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to spend a couple of days with Trump this week in a meeting that could be contentious, but his government has worked to smooth the meeting up a bit with Jared Kushner, The New York Times' Mark Landler reports. | | | President Donald Trump is set to welcome Egyptian ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. ... House Freedom Caucus member Jim Jordan says Trump shouldn't blame the caucus group for the defeat of the GOP's health care bill. ... Sen. John McCain says Trump and former President Ronald Reagan aren't comparable. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he doesn't expect the government to shut down at month's end. | | Thanks for reading the CNN Politics Nightcap. Your bartender is Eli Watkins. The tip jar: nightcap@cnn.com. | | | 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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