Wake Up To Politics - September 1, 2017

I'm Gabe Fleisher, reporting live from WUTP World HQ in my bedroom. It's Friday, September 1, 2017. 431 days until Election Day 2018. 1,159 days until Election Day 2020. Have comments, questions, suggestions, or tips? Email me at gabe@wakeuptopolitics.com. Tell your friends to sign up to receive the newsletter in their inbox at wakeuptopolitics.com/subscribe!

Friday News Roundup

• Goodbye to August, hello September! The unusually news-filled month of August came a to a close yesterday, as another busy month for Washington begins. Via Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur, here's a list of what happened in the last month:
• "Trump vs McConnell
• [North Korea] fire/fury
• [Charlottesville]
• 'Fine ppl'
• CEOs bolt
• Bannon+Gorka out
• NAFTA/wall
• [Afgahnistan]
• Eclipse
• Arpaio pardon
• [Trump]-Russia
• Harvey
• DACA threats
• Military trans ban
• Infrastructure sketch
• AL-SEN primary
• FBI raids Manafort
• [Trump] hits Graham/Corker/Flake
• #Pivot to tax cuts"
• So much for a sleepy summer of slow news days. Now, what does September have to offer? Congress returns from recess on Tuesday with a long to-do list, and scheduled to meet just 12 days in the month. Here's a look at the legislative fights ahead:
• Debt ceiling Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday that Congress may need to act on the debt ceiling "a couple of days" earlier than September 29, the deadline he previously provided. Congress must raise the debt limit in the weeks ahead to ensure that the U.S. does not default on its debt. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders from both parties all support a clean bill to simply raise the ceiling; the House Freedom Caucus are calling for the legislation to be tied to spending cuts.
• Government funding The most recent government funding legislation is set to expire on September 30. If Congress does not pass a spending resolution by this time, the government will shut down. President Trump has threatened to force a government shutdown if the spending bill does not include funding for his proposed border wall.
• Hurricane Harvey aid Another complication has been added to these debates: the sudden need to pass emergency disaster relief for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Trump is considering requesting a $5.95 billion aid package, and may urge that it is tied to the debt ceiling increase.
• Trump Nears DACA Decision Fox News reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump is expected to announce plans to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program "as early as Friday."
• Trump promised to terminate the program – which grants two-year deferments from deportation to immigrants who arrived in the U.S illegally as minors, protecting nearly 8,000 so-called "Dreamers" – as a candidate but has dragged his feet since entering office.
• White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at her Thursday press briefing that the program remains "under review, denying the Fox News report. "A final decision on that front has not been made," she said.
• According to Fox News, Trump will allow "Dreamers" currently in the country to stay until their permits expire. Sanders said Thursday that Trump "absolutely" stands by his previous promise to "treat Dreamers with heart."
• In response, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) announced on Thursday that he will file a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the "BRIDGE Act," bipartisan legislation that would allow "Dreamers" to apply for a status granting them permission to remain in the U.S. for up to three years. The "BRIDGE Act" was sponsored by Coffman in the House, and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the Senate. With support from a majority of the House (218 members), a discharge petition forces a floor vote on legislation without the Speaker's approval. "DACA participants grew up here, went to school here, and should be allowed to stay here," Coffman tweeted. "The time has come to take action."
• Take out the trash day? The Trump White House, like previous Administrations, has often taken advantage of Fridays to announce highly-awaited decisions or personnel moves. Last Friday, as Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, Trump announced his pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the exit of controversial aide Sebastian Gorka. The Friday before, then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon left his post. Successive Fridays in July also brought the exits of White House press secretary Sean Spicer and chief of staff Reince Priebus.
• Now, will Trump use the Friday before Labor Day weekend to announce a change to his immigration policy?
• Sheriff Clarke Resigns Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke, a top supporter of President Donald Trump, suddenly resigned on Thursday. He provided no reason for his resignation in a one-paragraph letter; later releasing a statement saying, "I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities."
• Since the outset of the Trump Administration, Clarke has been rumored to be headed for a post at the Department of Homeland Security. In May, the controversial sheriff announced that was stepping down after being named Assistant Secretary at DHS's Office of Partnership and Engagement; the agency said his appointment was not yet official.
• Politico reported that Clarke is now "expected" to join the Trump Administration, although the Washington Post said he is "more likely to join an outside group that supports the president's agenda." A DHS official told CNN, "He is NOT coming here."
• Clarke was an early endorser of Trump's presidential campaign and featured speaker at the Republican National Convention last year; just last week, Trump sparked controversy for plugging Clarke's book on Twitter as Hurricane Harvey was striking.
• Drip, Drip, Drip The latest stories in the Russia investigation...
• "Manafort Notes From Russian Meet Refer to Political Contributions" NBC reported on Thursday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's notes from the controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign "included a mention of political contributions near a reference to the Republican National Committee."
• The Trump Tower meeting, which also involved the President's son Donald Trump, Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner, has already emerged as a leading focus for congressional investigators and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. These notes, reportedly taken on a smart phone, call into question if the meeting included any discussions of illegal donations from Russia to the Republican Party.
• Blowback from the report was immediate: a spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) denied that the word "donation" appears in the notes, as NBC initially reported. The outlet toned down the report to say the word was "donor" or another word that "referenced political contributions."
• A spokesman for Manafort also denied the implication in a statement to NBC, saying "it is 100 percent false to suggest this meeting included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party."
• "Trump Attorneys Lay Out Arguments Against Obstruction-of-Justice Probe to Mueller" President Trump's legal team has repeatedly met with special counsel Robert Mueller and and submitted memos to his office, making the case that Trump "didn’t obstruct justice by firing former FBI chief James Comey and calling into question Mr. Comey’s reliability as a potential witness," the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
• The report said that Trump's lawyers wrote a memo in June arguing that Trump didn't obstruct justice in firing Comey since the President has the constitutional right to hire and fire any Executive Branch official at will; another that month described Comey as an "unstable witness" since he is "prone to exaggeration, unreliable in congressional testimony and the source of leaks to the news media."
• Mueller did not respond to the lawyers' communications and has not indicated any plans to drop his inquiry into obstruction of justice, the report added.
• "Mueller Enlists the IRS for His Trump-Russia Investigation" Special counsel Mueller's probe is now including help from the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit, an entity with "focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering," the Daily Beast reported on Thursday.
• Trump Tweets on Clinton Email Investigation President Donald Trump waded into a new controversy in the now-closed investigation of his former opponent Hillary Clinton's email server in a tweet this morning. "Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more," he posted. "A rigged system!"
• The President's tweet was a reference to a letter sent by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and senior committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to FBI director Christopher Wray on Thursday, which alleged that former FBI director James Comey "had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton" in April or early May of 2016," months before his public announcement in June that he would not be pursuing criminal charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server as Secretary of State.
• Grassley and Graham made the allegation based on reviewing newly-released interviews from the Office of Special Counsel with Comey's former chief of staff and the FBI's principal deputy general counsel of national security and cyberlaw. According to the interviews, they said, Comey's decision came before "up to 17 key witnesses including former Secretary Clinton and several of her closest aides" had been interviewed for the investigation. "The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts," they wrote, adding later: "Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation."
• The President's Schedule Another quiet day for President Trump: he is scheduled to receive his daily intelligence briefing at 10:30am, speak with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan by telephone at 11am, and receive an update on Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts at 1pm. No public events for the day.
• President and First Lady Trump are expected to travel to Texas and Louisiana on Saturday to survey Harvey's damages; Trump pledged on Thursday to personally donate $1 million to a charity assisting with recovery.