Morning Report

The Hill’s Morning Report — Sponsored by FICO — Paul Ryan’s rough ride

by Jonathan Easley and Alexis Simendinger 05/11/18 07:08 AM ET

Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report, and TGIF! This daily email, a successor to The Hill’s Tipsheet, is reported by Jonathan Easley and Alexis Simendinger to get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. (CLICK HERE to subscribe!)

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Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is serving out the final months of his congressional career, but nobody said it was going to be easy.

Ryan’s conference is in revolt over immigration and trying to jam an immigration bill to the floor for a vote against the Speaker’s wishes.
Ryan backed down after a bitter feud with the House chaplain he tried to force out.
The GOP’s spending bill was a disaster with the base, and lawmakers are now working with the White House to claw some of it back.
Ryan has been forced to take sides in a bitter feud between House conservatives and the Justice Department over classified documents pertaining to the special counsel. Ryan is backing embattled House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in the fight.
Republicans are unnerved about the possibility of losing the House in the November midterms. Ryan remains a fundraising juggernaut for the party, but he’d rather train his focus elsewhere.

Of these things, by far the most consequential policy issue facing the Speaker right now is a discharge petition backed by centrist Republicans trying to force a vote on an immigration bill.

The Hill’s Scott Wong reports that Ryan is warning his caucus that the discharge petition would effectively turn the floor over to Democrats, who are in the minority, and that President Trump would likely veto the bill if it ever got to his desk.

The Speaker says he’s committed to bringing an immigration bill to the floor before the midterm elections, but that might not be enough to keep vulnerable Republicans from districts with heavy Hispanic populations, such as Reps. Will Hurd (Texas), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) and Jeff Denham (Calif.), at bay.

The Wall Street Journal: The discharge petition might help save the House majority.

LEADING THE DAY

CONGRESS: Farm bill: The Hill — The House expects to vote next week on a farm bill that includes a food stamps revamp.

Foreign aid: The Hill — Lawmakers and the White House want to change the way the government assists and invests in struggling countries through foreign aid. Changes would consolidate several federal international development agencies. The effort is one of the few areas where Trump has sought to bolster, not slash, the federal government’s foreign aid system.

Prison reform: The Hill — A House committee this week approved a White House-backed prison reform plan that faces a cooler reception in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

>The Houston Chronicle: Jared Kushner tackles prison reform with Texas visit.

CIA nomination: The Hill — Senate nose counting is underway to assess whether Gina Haspel will be confirmed to lead the CIA following her Wednesday hearing. Haspel needs support from 50 senators and Republicans have only a slim 51-49 majority in the upper chamber. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have already announced their opposition, but Haspel has picked up support from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

*** The Hill EXCLUSIVE ***

The fight over Haspel’s nomination took a nasty turn Thursday as the White House communications department met to strategize over McCain’s opposition. The Hill’s Jonathan Easley and Jordan Fabian were the first to report that special assistant Kelly Sadler told her colleagues, “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway.”

Cindy McCain, the senator’s wife, tweeted her response:

Sadler called McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, to apologize.

>Politico: Former Vice President Dick Cheney says enhanced interrogation programs repudiated during the George W. Bush administration should continue, in contrast with Haspel’s testimony.

Term limits: The Hill — House freshmen introduced legislation to impose congressional term limits, which requires a high hurdle of a constitutional amendment. Senators would be limited to serving two terms and representatives to serving six terms.

August recess: The Washington Post — A growing group of GOP senators want to cancel the chamber’s August recess in order to use the time to bring more nominations to the floor and tackle other must-pass priorities before the November elections.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➔ CAMPAIGNS: Campaign season is underway. Trump visited South Bend, Ind., last night to stump for GOP Senate candidate Mike Braun, who vanquished two sitting Republican lawmakers — Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer — for the right to take on Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) in November.

Donnelly is one of 10 Senate Democrats up for reelection in states Trump carried in 2016.

Where else will Trump campaign this cycle? He’s almost certain to make the trip to West Virginia, which he carried by 42 points in 2016. That’s bad news for Manchin, who is among the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection.

Here are Manchin’s thoughts on the matter, courtesy WLJS.

“I told the president, you don’t need to come back to West Virginia, it’s nice to have you but not during an election cycle.”

In his primary victory speech, Republican West Virginia candidate Patrick Morissey pleaded with Trump to come as much as possible.

“You’ve been to this state now four times. I’d like you to come back as many times as you can between now and November.”

And the president might not be the only Trump to visit. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. will hit the campaign trail soon and West Virginia is likely to be his first stop. Trump Jr. is staffing up ahead of the push, adding veteran GOP operative Andy Surabian to his team (The Hill).

Dan Balz: Midwestern voters gave Trump a chance. Now they’re the key to his political future.

The Hill: Progressive groups endorse Dems in two key races.

The Hill: Americans are upbeat about the economy but that isn’t translating into support for the tax bill.

The Hill: Republicans are having a hard time attracting interest from cities that might want to host their 2020 convention.

➔ INVESTIGATIONS:

“What I think is that it’s been about a year since this investigation began. Our administration has provided over a million documents, we’ve fully cooperated in it and in the interest of the country, I think it’s time to wrap it up.” – Vice President Pence on NBC’s “Today” show.

The special counsel investigation turns one-year-old on Thursday.

Separate from the special counsel’s Russia probe, there have been a cascade of stories in recent days about Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, whose business dealings are under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Cohen appears to have amassed a broad portfolio of corporate clients who paid him handsomely under the expectation that he could provide access to the president. Essentially, he was acting as an independent lobbyist.

Cohen denies any wrongdoing. And in an exclusive interview with The Hill’s Niall Stanage, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the media needs to “calm down” and that the story does not involve the president or the White House.

The Hill: Watchdog group asks DOJ to probe Cohen dealings.

The Los Angeles Times: Michael Cohen turned his access to Trump into big money — and now big trouble.

That story overshadowed an escalating drama on Capitol Hill, where conservative lawmakers are locked in a fight with the Justice Department over classified documents pertaining to the special counsel.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes and committee member Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said they had a “productive conversation” with senior law enforcement officials about the documents divide on Thursday.

The Hill: Ryan backs Nunes in latest pursuit of DOJ documents.

The Wall Street Journal: The FBI was spying on the Trump campaign.

The Hill (op-ed): Demand for Mueller’s “scope” memo threatens principles of proper oversight.

➔ INTERNATIONAL: North Korea: The president announced via Twitter that his historic summit meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will take place in Singapore on June 12.

The Hill (op-ed): Why Singapore is the right spot for Trump-Kim summit.

The Hill: More than three-quarters of Americans approve of the meeting.

The Hill: Democrats want to hold Trump to the goal he set of verifiable denuclearization of North Korea.

The Hill: The president rebukes Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) over his criticism of Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear agreement.

Iran: The Wall Street Journal: U.S. took a step toward cutting Iran off from the global economy, levying sanctions on a financing network.

Reuters: Oil prices near multiyear highs as Iran sanctions tighten supply outlook.

Europe: The Hill — German Chancellor Angela Merkel told an audience Thursday that Europe can no longer count on the United States to protect it, urging the continent to “take destiny into its own hands.”

>Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Europe’s opposition and “posturing” following Trump’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran was a reflection of European nations’ business ties to Tehran (The Hill).

Israel: The Hill — White House condemns the “Iranian regime’s provocation against Israel.”

The New York Times: Israel and Iran engage in a shadow war in Syria.

The New York Times: Why Israel and Iran are clashing in Syria.

The Associated Press: United Nations chief calls for halt to “all hostile acts” in Middle East.

Islamic State: The New York Times — Five senior Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) officials were captured, including a top aide to the group’s leader, in a complex cross-border sting carried out by Iraqi and American intelligence, two Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

The president tweeted about the sting on Thursday.

New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi says the ISIS arrests occurred in February:

CABINET & WHITE HOUSE: Homeland Security Department: The New York Times — Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen considered quitting after Trump suggested during a Wednesday Cabinet meeting that she failed to make U.S. borders secure. In a statement Thursday about the blowup, Nielsen said the president was “rightly frustrated” with existing immigration laws.

Treasury Department: The Hill — The nomination of Adam Lerrick, tapped for deputy undersecretary of the Treasury Department for international finance, was withdrawn. Lerrick is expected to become a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to NBC News.

Veterans Administration: The Associated Press — Trump considers GOP Army veteran Rep. Brian Mast, 37, of Florida among potential nominees to lead the troubled department.

White House:

*** New today … White House chief of staff John Kelly speaks with NPR’s “Morning Edition” and says Trump is “embarrassed” by the Russia probe. He also said he has never considered leaving the White House despite “times of great frustration.”

Drug pricing: The Hill — The president today will speak about lowering the costs of pharmaceuticals, but he won’t call for negotiating drug prices in Medicare.

National Security Council: National security adviser John Bolton continues to remake the NSC staff to his liking.

HuffPost: Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, the head of global health security, departed on Tuesday. As it happened, cases of Ebola emerged in the Congo this week, with one casualty reported.

Politico: Bolton is pushing to eliminate White House cybersecurity position.