| | | | | The "Kavanaugh Singers" on Wednesday promote the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by singing the lyrics of "Confirm Brett Kavanaugh" to the tune of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from the movie "Mary Poppins." Credit: Bill Clark/CQ ROLL CALL | | | Giuliani to Mueller: Wrap It Up: Trump's attorney wants the special counsel's investigation finished by September 1
Omarosa Returns: She is kicking off her book tour on "Meet the Press," and she likely has some things to say about Trump
Emin's Coming to America: The Russian pop singer has tour stops in four US cities early next year | | | What Washington Is Talking About:
Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York, said the criminal charges against him are "meritless" and he will remain on the ballot in November. Nevertheless, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Collins has been removed from the Energy and Commerce Committee "until the matter is settled." And Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the Pentagon this morning about President Donald Trump's proposed Space Force.
What America Is Talking About:
Virginia and the city of Charlottesville have declared a state of emergency ahead of the anniversary of the "Unite the Right" rally; Puerto Rico quietly acknowledges the death toll from Hurricane Maria is more than 1,400; and New York became the first US city to cap the number of Uber and Lyft drivers.
Hmmm ... That's Interesting:
The charges against Collins have brought attention to footage of the congressman at a White House picnic talking and looking at his phone around the same time the indictment claims he called his son. Collins is accused of passing on insider information about a drug trial by pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics to his son Cameron that saved the latter and others hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Below you can see Collins at the picnic looking down while the crowd is filming the President and first lady (CNN's Kristin Wilson Keppler dug up footage you can watch here). Another now-interesting tidbit being seen in a new light is from Washington Post congressional reporter Mike DeBonis, who overheard Collins in January 2017 say on the phone, "Do you know how many millionaires I've made in Buffalo the past few months?" | | Credit: @TheOtherKeppler/Twitter
Giuliani to Mueller: Wrap It Up:
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said during a radio interview with fellow Trump attorney Jay Sekulow that they'd like Robert Mueller's investigation to finish by September 1. "We do not want to run into the November elections," Giuliani said.
US Hits Russia With New Sanctions:
The State Department announced additional sanctions against Russia on Wednesday in response to the March nerve-agent attack in the UK against a former Russian agent and his daughter. The sanctions are scheduled to go into effect later this month. Per the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, Russia would have 90 days to cease all use of chemical weapons and allow inspectors to confirm that, or face another round of sanctions.
Senator Says Russia Has Infiltrated Some Florida Voter Registration Systems:
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, told the Tampa Bay Times that Russian operatives have "penetrated" some of the election systems in some Florida counties, "and they now have free rein to move about." Nelson said he was asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to let Florida officials know "that the Russians are in their records." Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer told the newspaper he heard something similar from the other US senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, at a meeting this year but the Republican asked him not to share details with the media.
Omarosa Returns:
The former reality star/communications director for the White House Office of Public Liaison has a book coming out Tuesday. Omarosa will kick off the book tour for "Unhinged" on Sunday on "Meet the Press." It'll be interesting to watch this play out; Omarosa has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House except when she's had something to promote -- either her stint on "Big Brother" or her upcoming book -- and when she has something to promote, she doesn't have nice things to say about Trump.
On "Big Brother," she said she was "haunted" by Trump's tweets and compared leaving the White House to being "freed off the plantation." In "Unhinged," Omarosa writes that while watching Trump's interview with Lester Holt she felt "something real and serious was going on in Donald's brain. His mental decline could not be denied," according to an excerpt published by the Daily Mail. And she also allegedly recorded conversations with him, per the Daily Beast. | | Credit: NBC
I'm especially curious if/how Trump will respond. For as long as Omaroa's known Trump and as critical as she's been about him, you might expect a @realDonaldTrump Twitter insult or nickname, but we'll see. He gave her a nickname back in 2013, "Honest Omarosa." | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
@Jack Says Twitter Doesn't 'Shadow Ban' Based on Politics:
In an interview on Sean Hannity's radio show, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said the company doesn't "shadow ban according to political ideology, or viewpoint, or content. Period."
Apple Pulled InfoWars' Podcasts, so Why Is the App Still Up?:
Apple said it pulled InfoWars' podcasts because they violated its rules on hate speech, but the site's app is still up. InfoWars continues to promote the app on the site, and this morning, there's a photo of founder Alex Jones with his mouth taped up (which I'm sorry, I can't see that and not think of those "No H8" photo shoots that were big a few years ago) and a call to action for readers to download the app "before the thought police censor InfoWars for good." The app is currently the No. 3 free news app in the Apple store. BuzzFeed News asked Apple why it hasn't taken the app down and was told, "We continue to monitor apps for violations of our guidelines and if we find content that violates our guidelines and is harmful to users we will remove those apps from the store as we have done previously." | | Credit: InfoWars, Apple
Emin's Coming to America:
The Russian singer Emin Agalarov has four US stops listed on his tour schedule. He'll hit up New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Denver as well as Toronto in January and February. On Instagram, he posted screenshots of articles about special counsel Robert Mueller wanting to interview him and his connection with the Russian investigation and wrote, "I suppose any publicity is good publicity, but guys there's a limit." | | Credit: emin-music.com
Street Art Sighting:
Street artist Gumshoe painted a mural in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn showing Trump, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey naked in bed à la Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and Kanye West's "Famous" video. | | Credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
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.
P.S.:
Cher just put out a cover of Abba's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)."
Kate Bennett is off. | | | | | | |
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