Talks over government funding and the border wall broke down over the weekend. But by Tuesday there appeared to be a deal. On Thursday Trump agreed to sign the deal and promised to declare a national emergency at the same time. The Democrats used hardball tactics to negotiate the bill down to $1.375 billion and 55 miles of barrier.
Here is a list of quotes from the Washington Post article about how people tried to manage Trump’s emotions around signing the funding bill:
–“some Republican senators spent recent days on the phone, soothing him and trying to persuade him to hold his fire.”
–“He doesn’t seem to work on a totally rational basis,” Schumer said in the Post interview. “Little comments throw him off.”
–“When Shelby called Trump to brief him on the deal, he tried to sell the president on the idea that the $1.375 billion figure was merely a “down payment” on his wall”
–“Political dealmaking is a little different. I’m sure the president, he’s been there two years now, he’s probably learned that it’s different. We’ll see how the next year or two goes.”
–“Shelby approached Trump carefully, always framing the talks in cheery terms.”
–“Democrats, privately, were amused but made a conscious decision not to gloat — concerned that if they celebrated what they considered a victory Thursday they might anger Trump enough to veto the deal.”
Other details in the bill:
–“Only “existing technologies” are allowed, effectively prohibiting a concrete structure or any new prototypes that administration officials might try to put into place.”
–“Communities and towns along the border will also be able to weigh in on the location and design of the fencing.”
–“$750 million that can be shifted to detention centers”
–“oversight of ICE, and places numerous limits on the agency, outlining protections for pregnant detainees, requirements for publicizing data about who is in custody and prohibitions on destroying records.”
–“$560 million will go toward drug inspection at ports of entry”
–“$415 million for humanitarian relief — medical care, transportation and food for migrants”
Trump gave a rambling Rose Garden press event where he announced his national emergency to devote about $8 billion to his wall. While the national emergency law has been invoked many times since it was enacted in 1976, most of those cases were devoted to sanctions and trade regulations with foreign powers. Said one expert: “But there is no example where a president asked for funding for something from Congress, Congress said, ‘No,’ and the president said, ‘I’ll use emergency powers to do it anyway.’”
Here are excerpts of the Proclamation: “The Secretary of Defense … shall order as many units or members of the Ready Reserve to active duty … to assist and support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security at the southern border…. to use or support the use of the authorities herein invoked, including, if necessary, the transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over border lands.”
Russia Investigation
The Washington Post also wrote about the Manafort hearing transcripts released last week. The reporting reiterates the importance of the August 2 meeting with Kilimnik, and that it involved a Ukraine peace plan and a hand off of polling data, also that Manafort has consistently lied about this meeting.
Wednesday evening, the Manafort judge decided that he did in fact lie in three of the five instances the Mueller team accused him of, thus breaching his plea agreement.
McCabe began his book tour this week. He released a section of his book in The Atlantic in which he claimed credit for convincing Rosenstein into appointing a special counsel; described how Trump talked and operated like a mob boss. In a 60 Minutes clip released on Thursday he confirmed prior reporting on Rosenstein suggesting he wear a wire when with Trump, and that FBI leadership discussed the possibility of the 25th Amendment.
The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Barr as Attorney General on Thursday.
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Trump’s Job Approval: 41.8%