| | | | | John Kelly hasn't been chief of staff to President Donald Trump for even a year yet, but he appears to have learned one of the real estate tycoon's most central life lessons: Never, ever apologize. "I have absolutely nothing to even consider resigning over," Kelly told reporters at the White House on Friday in response to questions over his botched handling of the allegations of domestic abuse against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter.
The problem is: Kelly's defense -- and defensiveness -- simply doesn't jibe with what we know of the timeline of events surrounding Porter's firing. Kelly told reporters that the first time he heard of the "serious accusation" against Porter came on February 6 -- the same day Porter resigned. But we know from CNN's own reporting that Kelly had some knowledge of the allegations against Porter long before that -- as far back as the fall of 2017. And according to the Daily Mail's David Martosko, whose publication broke the news about abuse allegations against Porter, the first accusation against Porter that the Daily Mail took to the White House was from Jennifer Willoughby, one of Porter's ex-wives, who claimed Porter "physically dragged her, naked, out of a shower."
So, yeah.
My question: Why didn't the chief of staff investigate the circumstances surrounding Porter's marriages? Those allegations were serious enough that they were keeping the staff secretary from receiving a permanent security clearance. Kelly did nothing about them from last fall to February.
Why didn't Kelly act sooner? No one really knows. But, here's my two-pronged educated guess: 1) He liked Porter and 2) He felt Porter was a useful piece of his grander efforts to manage Trump and the White House.
Remember that Kelly took it as his mission to limit the staff's access to Trump and Trump's access to a wide variety of news sources. Porter was an ally in that effort. As staff secretary, Porter was not only almost always with Trump but the person who literally handed Trump most of what he saw and read. Porter became a key Kelly ally -- a second set of eyes and a gatekeeper.
I get that. But it's hard in retrospect to see Kelly's opinion of Porter as anything more than as a misjudgment. Porter might have seemed great to Kelly, but the allegations made by his ex-wives, which Porter has denied but offered no proof for that denial, are extremely serious.
The Point: At a minimum, Kelly could apologize for misjudging Porter and, in so doing, denigrating the allegations made by both of Porter's ex-wives. But, in Trumpworld, apologizing equals weakness. And weakness equals death. So John Kelly isn't sorry. Not one bit.
-- Chris | | "Now, what I've done going forward is I've instructed those same individuals (who handle my security) to accommodate those security threats in alternate ways, including -- up to and including, flying coach going forward.
-Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt on his future air travel plans. He's been criticized and investigated for flying first class, or using a private plane or military jet, on the taxpayers' dime. | | | LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH? | | CNN's Kevin Liptak reports today on Trump's SAD! staffing predicament:
"President Donald Trump can't fire who he hates -- but can't seem to keep who he loves.
His attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who has long borne the brunt of Trump's insults, is openly flaunting his feud with the President. His chief of staff, John Kelly, keeps making enemies within. His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster -- who's never clicked with Trump -- remains in his post as finding a replacement proves difficult. And special counsel Robert Mueller, ever a Trump target, nevertheless keeps encroaching.
Meanwhile, longtime communications guru Hope Hicks announced her departure on Wednesday after three years of near-constant proximity to Trump. Senior adviser Jared Kushner has seen his top-level security clearance stripped and along with it his West Wing prestige status. And Trump's top economist, Gary Cohn, is threatening to quit after a rushed announcement on steel tariffs."
So what's Trump doing about the folks he'd like to see go?
Well, according to The New York Times, he's enlisted Kelly in an effort to nudge Kushner and Ivanka Trump out the door -- even as he tells the couple privately they should stay.
WAIT, WAIT: Here's Chris on why the current, corkscrewing state of affairs is bound to get progressively worse in the coming days and weeks.
| | | Want to listen to a full Lumineers set? Yeah, Chris too. Here's the band's set from a 2017 music festival in Belgium. | | TRADE WAR, HUH, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? | | Chris asked this question (more or less) to CNNMoney economics reporter Patrick Gillespie after Trump trumpeted a trade war on Twitter this morning, Here's what Gillespie said:
"America's last trade war exacerbated the Great Depression in the 1930s, when unemployment rose to 25%. Claiming it was protecting American jobs, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930. The original bill was meant to protect farmers. But to build political support, many lawmakers asked for tariffs -- or taxes -- on all sorts of goods in exchange for their vote.
Several nations, such as Canada, slapped steep tariffs -- or taxes -- on US goods shipped and sold abroad. For example, US exports of eggs to Canada fell to 7,900 in 1932 from 919,000 in 1929, according to Doug Irwin, a Dartmouth professor and former trade adviser to President Reagan.
The result: US imports fell 40% in the two years after Smoot-Hawley. Banks shuttered. Unemployment shot up. Surely, there were a litany of factors at play. But economists widely agree Smoot-Hawley made the Great Depression much worse than otherwise."
READ their full Q&A here.
| | Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is on his way out (he's retiring at the end of the year), but not before making it precisely how much he dislikes Obamacare and how little he thinks of its supporters. Here's the money quote, via CNN's Nicole Chavez:
"(We) finally did away with the individual mandate tax that was established under that wonderful bill called Obamacare. Now, if you didn't catch on, I was being very sarcastic. That was the stupidest, dumbass bill that I've ever seen."
He added:
"Some of you may have loved it. If you do, you are one of the stupidest, dumbass people I've ever met. There are a lot of them up there on Capitol Hill from time to time."
Then, a day later, he added this apology:
"Yesterday, I made a poorly worded joke about Obamacare supporters -- a joke that was not reflective of my actual feelings towards my friends on the other side," he said in a statement.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 54% of adults approved of the law, while 42% disapproved. | | DROWNING IN THE BLUE WAVE | | After neglecting downballot races for so long, Democrats in 2018 are looking to compete pretty much everywhere. The surge of candidates, though, is causing a new round of infighting.
Not surprisingly, the latest controversy -- further stoked by this Washington Post report on Friday -- centers on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is the party's House campaign arm.
With so many new candidates flooding previously low-profile races (in newly competitive districts) the DCCC is having some trouble trying to thin the field. Now, critics are accusing it of trying to weed out more progressive, anti-establishment challengers.
CNN's Eric Bradner took a look at some early Democratic midterm flashpoints, including one remarkable story out of Texas. | | Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross was awake and fighting this morning, defending Trump's proposed tariff on steel and aluminum imports. He used a can of Campbell's Soup to make his point about steel, then it was on to aluminum:
"Here's a can of Coca Cola," he said. "Coca Cola has three cents' worth of aluminum in it. So if that goes up 10%, that's three-tenths of a cent. I just paid $1.49 for this can of Coke. It doesn't mean anything. So all this hysteria is a lot to do (sic) about nothing."
Go on then, buy the world a Coke and tell them to subscribe to The Point. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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