| | | | | President Trump speaks during an interview with the Washington Post in the Oval Office Tuesday. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images | | | Ivanka Trump Says Some Things: She talks email and her "compass and signal"
Dems to Look Into Blocked DJTJ Number: The likely House Intel chair on their priorities investigating
J-Kush is Getting Mexico's Highest Honor for Foreigners: Kushner will receive the Order of the Aztec | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump has lunch today with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at the White House. Trump and Cuomo have not exactly been allies. This evening, the President and first lady Melania Trump attend the lighting of the Christmas Tree at the Ellipse.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Trump was busy on Twitter this morning and told the Washington Post in an interview, "my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."
Pompeo Defends US-Saudi Relationship:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Trump's backing of Saudi Arabia in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Our Phil Mattingly reports the op-ed "landed like a lead balloon" for some on Capitol Hill, a Republican aide said.
Ivanka Trump Says Some Things:
Ivanka was on "Good Morning America" talking about all sorts of things, including her separate email account scandal, which she says was, "mainly scheduling and logistics and managing the fact that I have a home life and a work life." She added those emails have all "been preserved."
She also talked about her father, the situation with immigrants at the border, and her "seeing more brightly my own compass and signal." (I'm sorry, but do people talk like that, really?)
Here's some other stuff: | | Credit: @betsy_klein/Twitter
Our Daily Melania:
This morning I am in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University, to cover Melania's speech and appearance at a town hall with students to talk about the opioid crisis. She talked for about six minutes about why the drug epidemic is something she has focused on, and then she took some questions from Eric Bolling, who was hosting. Bolling's only son overdosed and died last year -- he took fentanyl, Bolling said today. I think Melania should do more of these sorts of events -- she is impactful with young people. I'm sitting here in this arena of 15,000 students and they are riveted by her.
Bolling had a chance to ask Melania a few other things too, like whether she and the President get together in the evenings (she says they "try" to have dinner every night but they're both "very busy"), if she wants to have time to "make a casserole" (??, "not really," she answered), and if she thinks it's fair that the media focuses on things like the Christmas decorations ("I wish they would focus on important stuff.") About those trees, Melania defended them (and she should, I dig the red!), saying, ""We are in the 21st century and everybody has different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everybody will come over and visit it. In real life they look even more beautiful and you are all very welcome to visit the White House, the people's house." | | Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Stormy Makes Vanity Fair Hall of Fame List:
Well, add Vanity Fair to the list of glossy magazines that have featured Stormy Daniels. The porn star was photographed by Annie Liebovitz, as she was for Vogue magazine. Daniels made VF's annual Hall of Fame list for the year. | | Credit: Vanity Fair
How Trump's Secretary of Labor Reportedly Let Off Epstein:
The Miami Herald looked into how Labor Secretary Alex Acosta gave the "deal of a lifetime" to Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly abused dozens of underage girls. They got all the details. Important story. | | What Washington is Talking About:
Senators were briefed today on the war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia's involvement there, and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi; House Democrats are holding leadership elections for roles including majority leader and whip; and tonight is the 96th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting.
What America is Talking About:
Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of "SpongeBob SquarePants," has died at 57; there's a really big cow in Australia named Knickers who's an absolute unit at more than six feet tall; and officials in Arizona released video of a gender-reveal-gone-bad that started a 47,000-acre wildfire. Judging by the blue smoke, I think it was a boy.
Poll of the Day:
The biggest activists on social media are liberal Democrats, according to Pew. Their poll found 44% of liberal Democrats said they used social media in the past year to encourage others to take action on issues that are important to them, compared with 27% of conservative Republicans. Liberal Dems led in every category Pew asked about. | | Credit: Pew
Hyde-Smith Wins in Mississippi:
Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith last night became the first woman ever elected to the Senate from Mississippi. Her election will bring the number of women in the Senate to 24 (11 Democrats and three Republicans), a new record.
Dems to Look Into Blocked Number DJTJ Called:
Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff is expected to take the lead of the House Intelligence Committee in the 116th Congress, and he told USA Today that near the top of the list of witnesses and records he'd like the committee to investigate is a blocked phone number Donald Trump, Jr., called to see whether it was his father.
DJTJ told Senate investigators he couldn't remember who he talked to on the 11-minute call made after he met with Russians in Trump Tower.
J-Kush is Getting Mexico's Highest Honor for Foreigners:
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will award Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Friday in Buenos Aires at G20. For what did he earn the distinction? For his role in maintaining US-Mexico relations, of course. Some Mexicans aren't happy about it.
Clintons Kick Off (Delayed) Tour:
The Clinton's "An Evening With" Tour was originally supposed to start last week in Las Vegas, but that date was pushed back to May 2019. Promoter Live Nation told the Las Vegas Sun it was due to a scheduling issue.
You can read our Dan Merica's full report from the tour's new opening night, at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena, here. When asked if she'd run in 2020, Hillary Clinton joked, "I am thinking about standing for Parliament here in Canada." | | Credit: CTV
Cruz Hasn't Shaved Yet:
After the internet made fun of Ted Cruz's facial hair, I was waiting to see what his comeback would be, since he usually has fun with that kind of stuff. But no comeback came, and he did the scruff equivalent of ~doubling down~, posting scruffy photos on Instagram meeting with Texans on Capitol Hill. Guys, what if he just keeps growing it out? | | Credit: @sentedcruz/Instagram
Beard watch side note: You know who else hasn't shaved since getting back from Thanksgiving? Speaker Ryan.
"The Handmaid's Tale" is Getting a Sequel:
Author Margaret Atwood announced this morning she's writing a follow-up to her 1985 dystopian novel, to be called "The Testaments" and scheduled to be released September 2019. It's set 15 years after the original novel and Atwood said in a tweet it's inspired by what readers have asked about Gilead -- the fictional theocratic government in the book -- as well as "the world we've been living in."
Springsteen Goes Off on Trump:
In an interview with Esquire, Bruce Springsteen said Trump "has no interest in uniting the country" and called it "a scary moment for any conscientious American." But the Boss thinks we'll survive.
"It's the old cliché where geniuses built the system so an idiot could run it," he said. "We are completely testing that theory at this very moment. I do believe we'll survive Trump."
Street Art Sighting:
A building near New York City's High Line park is tricked out with Trump-Russia collusion window art. #HighLineResist, it's called. | | Credit: Christian Sierra
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. | | | | | | |
