Donald Trump

The Washington Post reports: Democratic leaders reacted with fury and demanded an investigation late Thursday following a new report that President Trump personally directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the president’s push for a lucrative condo project in Moscow in the lead-up to the 2016 election. The Thursday night report from BuzzFeed News cites two …

The New York Post reports: Hours after President Trump grounded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to visit the troops in Afghanistan, first lady Melania Trump was winging her way to Mar-a-Lago — on a government jet. Politico writer Jake Sherman made the discovery while listening to air traffic control and noted that EXEC1F was headed to Palm Beach airport. …

Talking Points Memo reports: The Trump campaign on Thursday issued a fundraising pitch centered on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) request to reschedule this year’s State of the Union speech until the government is reopened. President Trump claimed in a campaign email sent to supporters that Democrats “illegitimately ‘disinvited’ me from making my scheduled and VERY important State of the Union …

The BBC reports: Mr Trump’s cancellation of the trip emerged barely half an hour before the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives was scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon. A White House official told US media the president was able to halt the foreign trip by Mrs Pelosi and a congressional delegation because they were set to use military …

Politico reports: President Trump on Thursday said he is canceling Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned international travel in response to her request to postpone the State of the Union address due to the government shutdown. In a letter to Pelosi, Trump told her a congressional delegation trip she intended to take to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan “has been postponed.” The president …

The New York Times reports: President Trump announced Thursday the results of a missile defense review that he said would update a decades-old system and protect the United States from emerging threats — adopting a Cold War stance while also promoting futuristic ambitions with his much-touted Space Force. At the Pentagon, Mr. Trump said the strategy would help deter hostile …

The Associated Press reports: The number of furloughed federal employees seeking unemployment benefits jumped in the first two weeks of the shutdown, topping 10,000 during the week of Jan. 5. The Labor Department said Thursday that is double the number of federal workers who sought aid in the previous week. Typically fewer than a thousand former federal employees apply for …

NPR reports: More than half of registered voters say they have made their minds up against supporting President Trump in 2020, according to a new poll. In a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist Institute survey released Thursday, 57 percent of registered voters said that they would definitely not support Trump in 2020, and would instead “vote against” the president by supporting one of …

Stars & Stripes reports: In a letter recognizing the anxiety among Coast Guard members who missed paychecks Tuesday because of the partial federal government shutdown, Adm. Karl L. Schultz announced a $15 million donation to support servicemembers. The donation to the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, a nonprofit charity that aids members of the Coast Guard, from USAA, a financial services …

ABC News reports: The broader impact of the shutdown on the U.S. economy may be double what was expected, White House economists confirmed on Wednesday, Day 26 of the political standoff. Meanwhile, thousands of employees have been called back to work without pay because of the risks posed for their agencies if, for example, airports continue to run with fewer …

Axios reports: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in “Let Me Finish,” a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump “trusts people he shouldn’t, including some of the people who are closest to him.” Christie asserts that Trump has a “revolving door of deeply flawed individuals — amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons …

The Associated Press reports: A top member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said Wednesday that flying is “less safe today than it was a month ago” due to the partial government shutdown. “I would say [flying] is less safe today than it was a month ago, absolutely,” Trish Gilbert, the executive vice president of the labor union, said …

Newsweek reports: Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has said that Donald Trump will not back down over his demands for $5.7 billion to fund his promised southern border wall, as he is “dead in the water” if it does not get built. Speaking to HBO’s Vice News Tonight, Coulter said she is backing the president during the ongoing government shutdown as …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an incoherent early-morning tweet in which he badly bungled the spelling of the word “hamburgers.” Trump on Tuesday morning boasted of having the champion college football team from Clemson over to the White House on Monday, where he served them piles of fast food that he had ordered. Burger King, whose …

The Associated Press reports: Passengers at the nation’s busiest airport are feeling the pinch of the government shutdown and it’s coming in the forms of long security lines. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is warning passengers to give themselves at least three hours to clear security. Issues with screenings have prompted several airports – including Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Miami …

Politico reports: President Trump on Monday shared an op-ed from a writer claiming to be an anonymous senior member of his administration who harshly criticizes federal workers as disloyal to the White House and worthy of losing their jobs. The writer of the op-ed, headlined “I’m a Senior Trump Official and I Hope a Long Shutdown Smokes out the Resistance,” …

The Rising reports: A National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) official warned Tuesday that if the partial government shutdown continues for another few months, there won’t be any workers left, citing many cannot sustain working without due pay. “If this thing were to drag on for two months, three months, maybe even six; what would the effects be for the …

Reuters reports: President Trump on Tuesday questioned why Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) continues to receive a salary during a prolonged partial government shutdown, which has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay. Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but her spokesman, Drew Hammill, tweeted in response to Trump that the House has “repeatedly …

Glorious Leader is even lying about how many hamberders: The grand total? According to our count, Trump spent about $2,911.44 on feeding the team. A sixth of that is the fries alone, though, so take with a grain of salt. (The fries; also the estimate.) Half of the cost was incurred at McDonald’s alone. This total includes 319 sandwiches, 177 …

The New York Times reports: There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States. …