Wake Up To Politics - September 14, 2018
I'm Gabe Fleisher, reporting live from WUTP World HQ in my bedroom. It’s Friday, September 14, 2018. 53 days until Election Day 2018. 781 days until Election Day 2020. Have comments, questions, suggestions, or tips? Email me at gabe@wakeuptopolitics.com.
New York results: Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily dispenses with primary challenger Cynthia Nixon
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) easily defeated progressive primary challenger Cynthia Nixon on Tuesday, winning 66% of the vote to her 34%, a 32-point margin of victory.
Nixon, an actress best known for her role on "Sex and the City," focused her campaign on an anti-establishment platform, calling Cuomo a "corporate Democrat" and criticizing his stances on marijuana legalization and other issues, as well as his oversight of the New York City subway system.
In response, Cuomo spent the campaign proving his progressive chops, making the case that his pedigree made him the best choice to take on President Donald Trump's agenda. He is the son of the late Mario Cuomo, who served three terms as New York's governor. Now well on his way to a third term himself, the younger Cuomo is seen as a potential 2020 presidential candidate.
Nixon's defeat came on the last primary day of the 2018 midterms, a cycle that brought mixed results for the sizable crop of progressive challengers. While no incumbent governor or senator was defeated in a primary, progressives had more success down-ballot, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts picking off Democratic House members.
In New York, Nixon was joined in defeat by her allies Jumaane Williams (who challenged Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul) and Zephyr Teachout (who lost to New York City Public Advocate Letitia James in the contested Democratic primary for the state's Attorney General race). However, progressive challengers found success in state legislative races: seven Democratic state senators lost their primaries, including six members of the former Independent Democratic Coalition (IDC), a group of moderate state senators who left the Democratic Party caucus, briefly handing the State Senate majority to Republicans. In addition, 27-year-old Julia Salazar, like Nixon a self-described democratic socialist, defeated a 16-year incumbent state senator despite controversies surrounding claims about her religious and ethnic background.
"Your victories tonight have shown the blue wave is real and that it is not only coming for Republicans, it is coming for Democrats who act like them," Nixon said in her concession speech, in which she also claimed victory for having "fundamentally changed the political landscape in this state."
Cuomo opted not to appear publicly after his blowout win.
Reports: Manafort to plea guilty
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has tentatively reached a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that will head off an upcoming trial, ABC News reported. According to the report, the deal is expected to be announced in court later today, although it remains unclear whether Manafort has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of his guilty plea.
Manafort is set to go on trial in federal court in Washington, D.C. later this month, facing seven counts of conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, failure to register as a lobbyist, making false statements, and witness tampering. He was already found guilty on eight counts of tax and bank fraud by a Virginia jury last month, which was likely to bring a seven-year sentence in prison.
CNN, Reuters, and other outlets confirmed ABC's report that a guilty plea is near. Manafort, who led the Trump campaign from June to August 2016, would be the sixth person to enter a guilty plea in the Mueller investigation, joining fellow Trump associates Rick Gates (his onetime deputy), Michael Flynn, and George Papadopoulos.
Trump denies Hurricane Maria death toll
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With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas, President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to relitigate last year's Hurricane Maria, falsely claiming that the Puerto Rico death toll was inflated by Democrats.
Praising the government's response to the hurricane (which was widely criticized), Trump denied a George Washington University study released last month which estimated that 2,975 Puerto Ricans died due to Hurricane Maria. "3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico," he tweeted, claiming that Democrats invented the number "in order to make me look as bad as possible." Puerto Rico's government has recognized the GWU estimate as the official death toll.
"With his Thursday statements, Trump sought to minimize the deaths of thousands of American citizens while appearing to shirk responsibility for the government’s performance in responding to natural disasters," the Washington Post said. "He also sought refuge as he habitually does in conspiracy theories, claiming that a hidden hand was at work to sabotage him."
Trump's tweet sparked immediate rebukes from many Democrats as well as some Republicans, especially in Florida. "I disagree with @POTUS– an independent study said thousands were lost and Gov. Rosselló agreed," Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL), who is currently running for Senate, tweeted. "I've been to Puerto Rico 7 times & sawdevastation firsthand. The loss of any life is tragic; the extent of lives lost as a result of Maria is heart wrenching."
Retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) also sounded off to reporters. “What kind of mind twists that statistic into, ‘Oh, fake news is trying to hurt my image’?” she asked. “How can you be so self-centered and try to distort the truth so much? It’s mind-boggling.” Ros-Lehtinen also said that the president's tweet "was heartless, it was cold, it was demeaning, dehumanizing, trivializing the deaths of hundreds and hundreds and thousands of Americans."
The White House released a statement later Thursday seeking to clarify Trump's tweet, saying that "every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror." However, the president seemed to double down on his claim Thursday night, retweeting Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who tweeted that the Maria death toll was "#FakeNews" inflated by "organizations who threw out science and statistics to try to discredit [Trump's] administration," despite the lack of evidence for that assertion.
Puerto Rico tweet: With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolinas, President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to relitigate last year's Hurricane Maria, falsely claiming that the Puerto Rico death toll was inflated by Democrats.
Praising the government's response to the hurricane (which was widely criticized), Trump denied a George Washington University study released last month which estimated that 2,975 Puerto Ricans died due to Hurricane Maria. "3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico," he tweeted, claiming that Democrats invented the number "in order to make me look as bad as possible." Puerto Rico's government has recognized the GWU estimate as the official death toll.
Kavanaugh: Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) referred information involving Supreme Cort nominee Brett Kavanaugh to federal investigators on Thursday, the New York Times reported. According to the Times, "the incident involved possible sexual misconduct between Judge Kavanaugh and a woman when they were both in high school."
Feinstein confirmed the referral, although she declined to offer more information; the FBI said in a statement that the information received from Feinstein had been included in Kavanaugh's background file, although a criminal investigation had not been opened into the matter.
Kavanaugh is set to receive a Judiciary Committee vote next week; Republicans hope to have him seated on the Supreme Court before the court returns for the fall on the first Monday in October.
2020 Central: Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) "is edging closer to a potential run for president," Politico reports... former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing a presidential run as a Democrat, according to the Times of London...
NAFTA: President Trump told Republican donors at a Wednesday fundraiser that he plans to rebrand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the "USMC" pact, for the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the report, Trump said he would drop the "C" if Canada doesn't agree to the changes to the trade deal that he is seeking.
White House schedule
The Rundown
At 11:30am, President Trump receives his intelligence briefing. At 2pm, he receives an emergency preparedness update in the Situation Room on the response to Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina early this morning.
Congress schedule
Neither house of Congress is in session today. The House, which does not return until September 25, is leaving town a day early due to Hurricane Florence.
*All times Eastern
