1/ Trump questioned why the US would admit people from “shithole countries� like Haiti or African after lawmakers floated the idea of restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?� Trump said, suggesting that the U.S. should instead bring more people from countries like Norway than African or Haiti. The White House didn’t deny Trump that called those countries “shitholes.� In a June meeting on immigration, Trump said Haitians “all have AIDS� and complained that Nigerians would never “go back to their huts� in Africa. (Washington Post / New York Times)

2/ The Trump administration will let states require people to work for Medicaid. Under the new guidance, states can now require Medicaid beneficiaries to work, volunteer or participate in job training. The elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and children are excluded. It’s the first time in the fifty-year history of the program that Medicaid recipients may be required to hold down a job in order to receive benefits. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)

3/ The House reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the US intelligence community to collect Americans’ email, text messages, photos, and other electronic communication without a warrant. The legislation, which passed 256 to 164, renews the program for six years and will now head to the Senate. (New York Times)

4/ Trump sent a series of confusing tweets about his position on the bill after a Fox News analyst appealed directly to Trump on-air, urging him to oppose the bill. First, Trump tweeted in apparent opposition to the bill that the “controversial FISA ACT … may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?� About 90 minutes later, Trump reversed course, tweeting that “today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!� (CNN / USA Today)

Disproven and paid for by Democrats “Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?� @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess!

1/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA, the Obama-era program that allows undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children to remain in the United States. A San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge said Jeff Sessions’ claim that the program is illegal was “based on a flawed legal premise,� and ordered the administration to resume accepting DACA renewal applications. Trump responded, calling the court system “broken and unfair.� Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that the decision was “outrageous.� (Politico / Reuters / New York Times)

It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.

2/ Trump declined to commit to an interview with Robert Mueller when asked at a news conference today. He said it “seems unlikely,� but that “we’ll see what happens.� Trump repeatedly argued there has been “no collusion� between his campaign and Russia, and questioned why he would need to be interviewed. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)

3/ Trump’s personal attorney filed lawsuits against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier. The lawsuits, one in federal and the other in state court, both claim that the dossier contained “false and defamatory� allegations against Trump that resulted in “harm to his personal and professional reputation, current business interests, and the impairment of business opportunities.� (ABC News / CNN)

4/ A panel of federal judges ruled that North Carolina’s congressional map was unconstitutional on the grounds that Republicans drew the map with the intention of gaining a political advantage. The ruling, which imperils Re...

1/ Trump’s secretaries of state and defense are trying to convince him not to conduct a “bloody nose� attack against North Korea. Mattis and Tillerson are warning Trump that “a sharp, violent response to some North Korean provocation� is risky and could result in a global – possibly nuclear – catastrophe. (Business Insider)

2/ Dianne Feinstein released the full transcript of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The head of the research firm behind the dossier of allegations against then-candidate Trump told congressional investigators that someone from inside Trump’s network had also provided the FBI with corroborating information during the campaign. Simpson had asked the committee last week for the transcript to be made public, but Republican leaders declined prompting Feinstein to post the transcript today with “no agreement� from committee Republicans. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico)

📄 Excerpts from the Fusion GPS testimony.

Read the full transcript of Glenn Simpson’s Senate testimony. (Senate.gov)

3/ Robert Mueller could interview Trump in the next few weeks on a limited set of questions. Mueller told Trump’s lawyers in late December that he’d likely request an interview with Trump. A person familiar with the discussions said Mueller is most interested in whether Trump tried to obstruct justice. (The Washington Post / New York Times)

4/ White House officials believe that Trump will be “sunk� if Robert Mueller looks into Trump’s finances as part of the Russia probe. “People don’t think in the White House — don’t think that he colluded with Russia,� Michael Wolff said, author of

1/ Trump’s legal team anticipates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will try to directly interview Trump as part of the Russia probe. The team wants to submit written responses to Mueller’s questions instead of having Trump appear for a formal, one-on-one sit-down. Mueller informed Trump’s lawyers last month that he may want to interview Trump “soon.� A person with direct knowledge of the discussions described them as “preliminary and ongoing.� (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)

2/ Trump requires more “executive time� to watch TV, make phone calls, and tweet than he did in the early days of his presidency. The official schedule says Trump spends “executive time� in the Oval Office every morning from 8am to 11am, but officials say it’s spent in his residence. Trump often comes down to the Oval Office around 11am. By comparison, George W. Bush usually started his day in the Oval at 6:45am and Obama would arrive between 9 and 10am, after his morning exercise. That’s not all, Trump has several additional hours of “executive time� sprinkled throughout his schedule. All told, Trump spends roughly 5 hours on executive time over the course of an 8-hour workday. (Axios)

3/ Over the weekend, Trump defended his mental fitness, describing himself as a “very stable genius� in response to details in Michael Wolff’s book that he is mentally unfit to serve. He insisted that opponents and the media were attacking his mental capacity because they had failed to prove collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump tweeted that “my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.� (New York Times / CNN / The Guardian)

Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....

....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....

1/ Trump ordered the White House’s top lawyer to stop Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia investigation, saying he expected his attorney general to protect him. Don McGahn unsuccessfully lobbied Sessions to remain in charge in March 2017. Trump reportedly erupted in anger in front of several White House officials. The previously unreported details have legal experts suggesting that there is currently a larger body of public evidence tying Trump to a possible crime of obstruction. Robert Mueller’s investigation is currently investigating whether Trump obstructed justice while in office and whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. (New York Times)

THE TIMELINE:

Comey testified on May 3rd that the Russia investigation was ongoing to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Two days after Comey’s testimony, a Sessions aide approached a Capitol Hill staff member asking for derogatory information about the FBI director. The attorney general wanted one negative news article about Comey per day.

Comey was fired on May 9th.

🇷🇺 What you need to know about the Russia investigation.

2/ A third Republican called on Jeff Sessions to resign, saying he “is not able to take the reins and direct� the Russia probe because of his recusal. Chris Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, joins Mark Meadows, Freedom Caucus chair, and Jim Jordan, a member who sits on the oversight and judiciary committees in the US House of Representatives, who have called for Sessions to resign this week. (CNN)

3/ Paul Ryan supported House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes’ threat to hold officials at Justice and the FBI in contempt of Congress if they didn’t meet Nunes’ subpoena demands. Over the summer, Nunes subpoenaed the Justice Department and FBI for documents related to the dossier about Trump’s connections to the Kremlin and whether the FBI used information from the dossier to apply for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct surveillance on Trump associates. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray argued that the documents were highly classified and would not be released or shared outside the bureau. (CNN)

4/ Republican senators recommended possible criminal charges for the author of the Trump-Russia dossier. Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham suggested that the Justice Department investigate Christopher Steele for possibly lying to the FBI. (Washington Post / New York Times)

5/ The FBI is actively investigating allegations of corruption related to the Clinton Foundation. Prosecutors shut down the investigation in 2016 due to lack of evidence. FBI agents from Little Rock, Arkansas, are looking into whether Hillary Clinton promised or performed policy favors in exchange for donations to the foundation while she was secretary of state. (

1/ Steve Bannon received a cease and desist letter from Trump’s lawyer accusing him of breaching his confidentiality agreement by making “disparaging� and “outright defamatory statements� about Trump and his family. The letter comes after excerpts from Michael Wolff’s book were made public, with Bannon calling the Trump Tower meeting with Russians “treasonous,� “unpatriotic,� and “bad shit.� During the campaign, Trump had staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement which required all staff to refrain from making any disparaging comments about Trump, his family, or the campaign. (ABC News)

2/ Trump’s lawyer also demanded that Michael Wolff and his publisher immediately “cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination� of the forthcoming book. Trump’s lawyers are pursuing possible charges, including libel, in connection with the book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,� which is scheduled to be released Friday – four days earlier than planned. (Washington Post / ABC News)

3/ Michael Wolff has tapes to back up the quotes in his book, including conversations with Steve Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. On Twitter, Wolff thanked Trump for making his book the current best seller on Amazon. (Axios)

Here we go. You can buy it (and read it) tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. President.

4/ Breitbart board members are debating whether to fire Steve Bannon. Earlier in the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that Breitbart News should consider removing its executive chairman. But that’s not all, Bannon’s billionaire benefactors, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer, formally cut financial ties with Bannon today. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)

1/ Steve Bannon called the Trump Tower meeting with Russians “treasonous,� “unpatriotic,� and “bad shit.� He added: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower … with no lawyers … You should have called the FBI immediately.� Bannon’s comments come from forthcoming book the Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff. (The Guardian)

2/ Trump responds: “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.� Trump’s statement added: “Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.� (Bloomberg / Politico)

JUST IN: President Trump statement on Steve Bannon: "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind." pic.twitter.com/LxZoBI5Ng4

3/ Paul Manafort sued Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, and the Justice Department. The lawsuit challenges the authority given to Mueller by Rosenstein, and argues that Mueller’s decision to charge Manafort with alleged money laundering crimes had nothing to do with the 2016 campaign and went too far. (CNN / New York Times)

4/ Trump taunts North Korea: My “Nuclear Button� is “much bigger and more powerful� than Kim Jong-un’s – and “my Button works!� Trump’s tweet came after Kim said he has a “nuclear button on the desk in my office� and “all of the mainland United States is within the range of our nuclear strike.� (New York Times / The Hill)

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.� Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

The “Nuclear Button� explained: There is no button. (New York Times)

A House Democrat called on lawmakers to pass a measure restricting Trump’s ability to launch a preemptive ...

1/ A drunk George Papadopoulos bragged about the political dirt Russia had on Hillary Clinton to Australia’s top diplomat at a London bar in May 2016. Australian officials passed the information about Papadopoulos to their American counterparts two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online. The FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election following the revelation that the Trump campaign had information about the DNC’s hacked emails Trump and his advisers have dismissed Papadopoulos’ campaign role as just a “coffee boy.� (New York Times)

2/ Trump suggested that former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin should face jail time after the State Department posted emails it found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Abedin had forwarded State Department passwords to her personal Yahoo account. In a tweet, Trump called on the “deep state� Justice Department to prosecute both Abedin and James Comey. (Washington Post)

Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others

3/ Orrin Hatch will retire at the end of the year, resisting pressure from Trump to seek an eighth term. The move opens the door for Mitt Romney to run for the seat. During the 2016 campaign, Romney called then-candidate Trump a “fraud� and “phony� who was unfit to serve. Hatch is 83-years-old and the longest-serving Senate Republican. (New York Times / Politico)

4/ 2017 was the safest year on record for commercial passenger air travel with airlines recording no commercial passenger jet deaths. Trump took credit for the record on Twitter, but didn’t provide details what he did to improve airline safety. (Reuters / The Hill)

Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!

5/ White House aides are worri...

1/ Trump: The Russia investigation makes the US “look very bad� and “puts the country in a very bad position.� The comment came during an impromptu 30-minute interview with The New York Times at his golf club in West Palm Beach. Trump insisted 16 times that there has been “no collusion� discovered by Robert Mueller’s investigation. Additional quotes below. (New York Times)

On collusion with Russia: “There is no collusion� and even if there was collusion, “it’s not a crime.�

On reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails: “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.�

On China: “China’s hurting us very badly on trade, but I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war.�

On North Korea: “…a nuclear menace…�

2/ Russia said the worsening relationship with the US is a major disappointment. A Putin spokesman told reporters that Russia still wants improved relations with the US, but they have to be based on a “mutual trust and mutual respect� and that “it takes two to tango.� (Associated Press)

3/ Trump tweets that the US could use some “good old Global Warming� right now while most of the Northeast is experiencing record-breaking cold weather. Weather and climate change are two different things: Weather is the short-term atmospheric conditions, while climate change is how the atmosphere acts over long periods of time. (The Hill)

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

4/ Trump fired the remaining 16 members of his HIV/AIDS advisory council. Members received a FedEx letter informing them that they were fired. There was no explanation or reason given. (Washington Blade / Newsweek)

Remaining #HIV/AIDS council members booted by @realDonaldTrump. No respect for their service. Dangerous that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed. #WeObject

1/ Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign and the RNC coordinated their voter outreach using Russian-acquired information. Russian hackers stole voter information from election databases in several states in 2016. Mueller’s prosecutors want to know if the Trump campaign used that information to target voters in key swing states and determine if the joint RNC-Trump campaign data operation effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the election. Jared Kushner was in charge of the campaign’s digital operation and has recently searched for a crisis public relations firm to handle press inquiries. (Yahoo News / Business Insider)

2/ A jailed Russian said he can prove he hacked the Democratic National Committee computers on behalf of Russian intelligence. Konstantin Kozlovsky claims he left behind a data signature in a hidden data file that corresponds to his Russian passport number and the number of his visa to visit the Caribbean island of St. Martin. (McClatchy DC)

3/ Robert Mueller may indict Paul Manafort and Rick Gates a second time. Washington legal experts believe Mueller is preparing to file a superseding indictment to formally charge both men with violating tax laws. (The Daily Beast)

4/ Trump’s legal team plans to call Michael Flynn a liar seeking to protect himself if he accuses the president or his senior aides of wrongdoing. Flynn is the most senior former Trump adviser known to have provided Mueller’s team with information, and the lenient terms of his plea agreement suggest he has promised significant information to investigators. (Washington Post)

5/ Trump golfed two days in a row after tweeting “it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again.� On the second day, a box truck was parked between cameras and the president in order to block the view of Trump golfing. (Associated Press / BuzzFeed News)

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, then tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!

Trump on the golf course today, captured by CNN cameras https://t.co/hctg9sO23e

"You Can't See Me" � 👀 A large...