| | | | | President Trump and first lady Melania Trump pay their respects Monday in the US Capitol Rotunda, where former President George H.W. Bush lies in state. Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/Getty Images | | | Mueller Could Show His Hand: New filing due to the court before midnight tonight
Sully Pays His Respects: 41's service dog in the Capitol Rotunda
How One Former Congressman Would Fix Democracy: Abolish the Senate, for one | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump has no public events on his schedule today, but later this afternoon he and first lady Melania Trump are expected to visit privately with the Bush family at Blair House.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Whether Robert Mueller's court filing for Michael Flynn -- anticipated to happen today -- will reveal anything about Flynn's level of cooperation with Mueller's investigation.
Mueller Could Show HIs Hand:
The filing from Mueller and his team is due to the court before midnight tonight and should give some insight on what specifics the special counsel is looking for in the Russia investigation. Last December, Flynn became the first high-ranking Trump adviser to agree to formally cooperate with the special counsel's probe. What is revealed today will possibly show just how much Flynn has been helpful to Mueller.
"I am a Tariff Man":
This morning in a series of tweets, Trump outlined what he expects to have happen with China since his "wonderful and very warm dinner" with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Argentina this weekend. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Eric Trump Weighs in on Conway Marriage:
Last night Eric Trump tweeted about the "horrible" actions of George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway and a frequent critic of President Trump. Eric must have wanted to make sure people didn't miss his tweet, because he tweeted it again this morning. The responses to his tweet were swift, especially the part about "the utter disrespect" Conway shows toward his wife.
"Of all the ugliness in politics, the utter disrespect George Conway shows toward his wife, her career, place of work, and everything she has fought SO hard to achieve, might top them all," tweeted Eric on Monday night. "@KellyannePolls is great person and frankly his actions are horrible."
Naturally, there was swift blowback about the disrespect-towards-his-wife part, considering the timeline of Trump's alleged affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, both of whom claim they were with Trump right after Melania Trump had given birth to the couple's son.
Our Daily Melania:
Melania Trump hosted Laura Bush at the White House this morning for a special tour of the Christmas decorations. The two first ladies have had a friendly relationship and I think it was a nice thing to do on Laura Bush's part because as we all know, Melania was slammed for those red trees. I also think it's interesting that Melania and Laura are as warm as they are in light of the recent reveal that Melania hasn't talked to Michelle Obama in the same way -- as we learned last month when Obama's memoir came out.
Blair House, An Explainer:
The Bush family is staying at Blair House this week as the services for President Bush take place. Blair House is one of those Washington "things" that we know exists, but we also don't know all that much about. It's where visiting dignitaries stay, but beyond that, I found this Jura Koncius feature from the summer super-interesting and helpful. For instance, I didn't know that there were four connected townhouses and 120 rooms. Worth the read!
Sully Pays His Respects:
Lots of awws again for this very good boy. Sully, President Bush's service dog, paid his respects to the former President today in the Capitol Rotunda. After Bush is interred, Sully will go to work at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he will help wounded veterans. | | Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Also, But Like Why, Slate?:
Slate wrote a weirdly nasty piece about Sully not being worthy of all the emotional praise because he was only with Bush for a short amount of time. Literally, this was the headline: Don't Spend Your Emotional Energy on Sully H.W. Bush First of all, huh? And second of all, I don't think anyone was trying to pass it off like Sully had been with him forever and ever. It was weird, and unnecessary. In response, Twitter did a lot of the right thing: | | Credit: @ianbremmer/Twitter
Ok, Guy: | | Credit: @MichaelAvenatti/Twitter
The Queen of England is Great:
If only because she asked Michelle Obama to "get in" her vehicle during a 2016 visit to London by the Obamas. The former first lady, on the London leg of her book tour, told an audience last night that she was consumed with getting protocol just right when she went to meet with the Queen at Windsor Castle in 2016. But the Queen, who picked up the Obamas in her Land Rover, said it wasn't important.
"I had all this protocol buzzing in my head, and I was like 'don't trip down the stairs and don't touch anybody, whatever you do,'" Obama said. "And so the Queen says, 'just get in, sit wherever' and she's telling you one thing and you're remembering protocol and she says, 'Oh it's all rubbish, just get in.'" | | What Washington is Talking About:
Former President George H.W. Bush lies in state today in the Capitol Rotunda; House Republicans filed a continuing resolution to fund the government two weeks past the deadline; and the National Republican Campaign Committee was hacked during the 2018 campaign, with some senior aides being surveilled for months.
What America is Talking About:
Officials in North Carolina are investigating allegations of absentee ballot fraud; Tumblr announced it's banning adult content from its site beginning December 17; and the cremated remains of about 100 people were launched into space on a SpaceX rocket.
Poll of the Day:
What does it mean to be a "real American"? A poll from Grinnell College found 90% believe that means treating people equally, followed by 88% who believe it means to take personal responsibility for one's actions. Accepting people of different racial and religious backgrounds were supported by about 8 in 10 Americans. | | Credit: Grinnell College
The topic that divided Americans most is speaking English, which 62% of Republicans, 44% of independents, and 29% of Democrats believe is important.
Biden Says He'd Be the Most Qualified 2020 Candidate:
Former Vice President Joe Biden said last night at an event in Missoula, Montana, that he believes he is "the most qualified person in the country to be president" and that he and his family would make a decision about a 2020 run within the next two months.
Biden also called himself a "gaffe machine," but characterized it as a positive. "What a wonderful thing compared to a guy who can't tell the truth," he said.
Salesforce CEO Wants Facebook to be Regulated:
Watch out, Zuck. Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff told CNN's Laurie Segall he doesn't trust the tech industry to self-regulate and said it could be up to millennial lawmakers and other digital natives to fix things. He called out Facebook in particular.
"Facebook is the new cigarettes," he said. "It's not good for you, you don't know who's trying to convince you to use it or misuse it. The government has to come in and regulate it." | | Credit: CNN
Apple's Cook Calls on Tech to Take a Stand Against Hate Speech:
Apple CEO Tim Cook was the recipient of first-ever Anti-Defamation League "Courage Against Hate" award and said last night at ADL's event in New York City that hate has no place on his companies' platforms, from banning white supremacist musicians on iTunes to deplatforming conspiracy theorists. "If we can't be clear on moral questions like these then we've got big problems," he said. | | Credit: @adl_national/Instagram
How One Former Congressman Would Fix Democracy:
Former Rep. John Dingell was the longest-serving member of Congress, representing his Michigan district from 1955 to 2014, and he's out with a new book today called "The Dean: The Best Seat in the House." In a section excerpted in the Atlantic, the Democrat laid out how he would restructure our government ("I now have the luxury of saying what I believe should happen, not what I think can get voted out of committee," he wrote). Some of his proposals: - Automatically registering 18-year-old citizens to vote: "No photo ID, no residency tests, no impediments of any kind. Advances in technology can make this happen effortlessly."
- Publicly funding campaigns: "Public service should not be a commodity, and elected officials should not have to rent themselves out to the highest bidder in order to get in to (or stay in) office. If you want to restore trust in government, remove the price tag."
- Abolish the Senate: "California has almost 40 million people, while the 20 smallest states have a combined population totaling less than that. Yet because of an 18th-century political deal, those 20 states have 40 senators, while California has just two. These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people. That's just plain crazy."
Outgoing GQ Editor on Their Kaepernick Cover:
Jim Nelson, who's leaving the magazine at the end of the year, called GQ's Colin Kaepernick "Citizen of the Year" cover "one of those covers that I'll be proud of for all time." They got "a lot of cancellations of subscriptions," he told Columbia Journalism Review, but, "I don't think people appreciate how hard it is to break through" with a magazine cover in a digital media environment.
Nelson said one cover he regrets publishing was a 2012 issue featuring actress Michelle Williams because he felt "that I had to show sexy women on the cover," though neither him nor her felt comfortable with it. He also said that during a meeting about a 2003 story about Rick Santorum, an executive told him, "There are two things that this magazine can never be seen as: too black or too gay." Nelson said the magazine now reflects a "different versions of maleness and masculinity."
Street Art Sighting:
Outdoor advertising company Lamar has put digital billboards honoring former President George H.W. Bush in 304 locations nationwide. The billboards, which will remain up through Sunday, were designed by Lamar Graphics Creative Director Mark Rankin with Bush's group Points of Light. | | Credit: Lamar Advertising
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE. | | | | | | |
