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Kyle Kondik
‏Verified account
@kkondik
CRYSTAL BALL HOUSE RATINGS CHANGE: WI-1 moves from Likely Republican to Toss-up w/ Paul Ryan's reported retirement. Full explanation to follow.

For years, Donald Trump assured the public that he would never telegraph his military plans. Lastly, for reasons the White House hasn’t explained, the president has spent a fair amount of time doing the opposite.

Trump declared two weeks ago, for example, “We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon…. Very soon – very soon we’re coming out.” (The Trump administration said soon after that it disagrees.)

This morning on Twitter, the president signaled the opposite intention.

Quote:

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”

About a half-hour after taunting Russia and signaling a missile attack, Trump tried a more conciliatory tone.

Quote:

“Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?”

The idea that the U.S./Russia relationship is worse now than during the Cold War is difficult to take seriously – maybe he’s never heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis? – but also note the shift from one tweet to the next. First he said, “Get ready Russia,” which was soon followed by a call for international cooperation.

All of which led Trump to blame the deteriorating conditions on the investigation into the Russia scandal...

Wayne Allyn Root
‏@RealWayneRoot
Now I get it. Robert Mueller is a little sex-obsessed pervert jealous @realDonaldTrump was a billionaire Playboy with beautiful starlets & playmates. CLEARLY Mueller has never been attractive to a woman is his life. Now it all makes sense. #MUELLERPERVERT

Judd Legum
‏Verified account
@JuddLegum
The top Republican candidate to replace Paul Ryan is an avowed white supremacist https://goo.gl/jxZz7u

Just a thought

Bill to Protect Special Counsel Mueller Is Headed for a Committee Vote

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote in the coming weeks on bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday that would allow special counsels like Robert S. Mueller III to appeal their firing to a panel of judges and possibly be reinstated.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, was seeking expedited consideration of the bill that would have allowed for a vote as soon as next week. That pace was slowed somewhat by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, his Democratic counterpart, who said the committee needed another week to review an amendment Mr. Grassley planned to offer.

The chairman’s request came as many Republicans continue to say that no legislative action is necessary, despite continuing threats from President Trump against Mr. Mueller and senior Justice Department officials. Republican leaders have steadfastly maintained that Mr. Trump knows the consequences of firing Mr. Mueller too well to do so.

But Republicans are under pressure to shift their stance. Even if the legislation never passes Congress, a bipartisan committee vote would send a signal to Mr. Trump and push Republican leaders to respond.

The compromise bill, written by Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans, and Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey, both Democrats, would enact a statute codifying an existing Justice Department regulation that says a special counsel may be fired only by the attorney general, and only for good cause, like misconduct.

The bill also creates a 10-day window within which a special counsel can seek judicial review of the firing. If it is determined that the special counsel was not, in fact, fired for good cause, then he would be reinstated. In the interim, it would ensure that the special counsel’s staff and investigative materials are preserved.

Democrats, who have been clamoring for Congress to act to protect Mr. Mueller, touted the new legislation as a breakthrough but privately conceded that odds remained stacked against its passage. Mr. Tillis, in his own comments, sought to put distance between the measure and the bubbling tensions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible ties to the Trump campaign.

Mr. Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference

Ignore it?

Bill to Protect Special Counsel Mueller Is Headed for a Committee Vote

A woman who carried out a 2015 affair with Gov. Eric Greitens (R) accused him of coercing her into unwanted sexual contact while she wept on the floor of his basement, according to testimony included in a highly-anticipated Missouri House committee report released Wednesday evening.

The 25-page report includes graphic, disturbing claims about a March 2015 encounter at Greitens’ St. Louis home. According to the woman, Greitens held her down in a “bear hug,” fondling her while she wept “uncontrollably,” before pulling out his penis and putting it near her face.