monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Preparations to punish Russia anew for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government over the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria caused consternation at the White House. Haley said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that sanctions on Russian companies behind the equipment related to Assad’s alleged chemical weapons attack would be announced Monday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

But Trump conferred with his national security advisers later Sunday and told them he was upset the sanctions were being officially rolled out because he was not yet comfortable executing them, according to several people familiar with the plan.

Administration officials said the economic sanctions were under serious consideration, along with other measures that could be taken against Russia, but said Trump had not given final authorization to implement them. Administration officials said Monday it was unlikely Trump would approve any additional sanctions without another triggering event by Russia, describing the strategy as being in a holding pattern.

Sometime after Haley’s comments on CBS, the Trump administration notified the Russian Embassy in Washington that the sanctions were not in fact coming, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said Monday.

The Trump team decided to publicly characterize Haley’s announcement as a misstatement. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday: “We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future.”

Privately, another White House official said Haley got ahead of herself and made “an error that needs to be mopped up.”

Remind me not to piss you off.

Forty-six percent (46%) of all voters believe Comey should be prosecuted for leaking information to the media at the time he was director of the FBI. That’s up from 41% last June following Comey’s admission under oath to a U.S. Senate committee that he leaked memos of his private meetings with Trump as FBI director to The New York Times through a friend.

Just 34% disagree and say Comey should not be prosecuted, down 13 points from 47% in the previous survey. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure.

as the worst president our Republic has endured

President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a federal judge Monday that he had three legal clients in the past year — the president, GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy and a third client whose identity he asked to keep secret.

BREAKING: Trump lawyer Michael Cohen did legal work for Fox News commentator Sean Hannity

Rasmussen, enough said.

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen did legal work for Fox News commentator Sean Hannity

A federal judge forced Michael Cohen to reveal his secret client. It’s Sean Hannity. (TP)

The fact that it took more than 24 hours after Haley's comments to issue a public clarification suggests that things weren't all that clear inside the White House on Sunday. Haley's office still hasn't sought to correct the record, despite it being perhaps the top story to come out of the Sunday morning news shows.

Regardless of whose fault it was, it suggests a lack of organization. And if this is Trump checking his administration's long-running drift toward a tougher Russia policy — something he hasn't previously done a whole lot to rein in — it could signal a very significant shift in posture, along with a very significant assertion of presidential prerogative.

Republicans Urge Trump Admin to Defund Planned Parenthood By Cutting Its Family Planning Funds

The Republican Study Committee, made up of 154 conservative House members, sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar asking for the change, the report states.

Here’s more from the report:

The members are also asking that Title X organizations be physically and financially separated from facilities that provide abortions.

“The Title X Family Planning Program is in dire need of review and updated regulations that ensure program integrity with respect to elective abortion,” members of the RSC wrote in a draft letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, obtained by The Hill.

The letter is being circulated for signatures among House Republicans by Reps. Ron Estes (Kan.), Vicky Hartzler (Mo.) and Chris Smith (N.J.)

Under current law, Title X funding recipients are required to offer counseling to women in the case of a positive pregnancy test on their options, which include adoption and abortion.

The members argue that the requirement deters organizations opposed to abortion from applying for the funds.

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The members also argue that allowing Title X organizations to be co-located with abortion providers “raises concerns about program integrity.”

Nonsense.

causes wouldn't be bias?