January 1, Trump: ‘I’m Not Happy’ With Deal, but New Shutdown Unlikely

AP – “I have to study it. I’m not happy about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House about the tentative funding deal, which would need to be passed by the Democratic-led House and Republican-controlled Senate and signed by him.

President Donald Trump expressed displeasure on Tuesday with a deal by congressional negotiators on border security spending that offered no funds for his promised U.S.-Mexican border wall, but did not reject it outright and indicated he did not expect another government shutdown.

Trump, who triggered a 35-day closure of about a quarter of the federal government with a December demand for $5.7 billion from Congress to help build the wall, said he has yet to decide whether to support the agreement reached on Monday night by key Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and a host of other agencies is due to expire on Friday under the stopgap spending measure passed last month by Congress to end the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history.

Poll: Pro-Choice Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Late-Term Abortion

The Federalist – “A new poll by the non-partisan firm YouGov found that two out of three Americans who self-identify as “pro-choice” oppose abortion in the third trimester, abortion the day before an infant is born, and removing medical care for a viable infant.

This national survey was conducted the first week of February, just two weeks after New York state passed its controversial bill allowing abortions until birth, and Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam endorsed infanticide.

See the Poll here.  

Fmr. Trump Lawyer Says Mueller Probe Will Clear Trump

John Dowd, who once headed Donald Trump’s legal team, is predicting the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller will clear the president.

Dowd made his comments to ABC News in an interview for an episode of “The Investigation,” a new podcast centered on Mueller’s probe.

“I know exactly what (Mueller) has,” Dowd said. “I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. I know exactly what he asked. And I know what the conclusion or the result is.” He added: “There’s no basis. There’s no exposure. It’s been a terrible waste of time.”

Dowd resigned in March 2018 saying he “loves the president.”

Listen to the Podcast here.

McConnell Calls for a Vote on Green New Deal

AP – The Senate will vote on the Green New Deal, a moonshot plan by Democrats to combat climate change, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, announcing a move designed to force Senate Democrats — including a cast of presidential candidates — into a political bind.

The plan, initially championed by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for a New Deal-style mobilization to shift the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable sources such as wind and solar power. Republicans have mocked it a progressive pipedream that would drive the economy off a cliff and lead to a huge tax increase, calling it evidence of the creep of “socialism” in the party.

The upcoming vote — which has not yet been scheduled — will “give everybody an opportunity to go on record,” McConnell said.

Prosecutor: El Chapo Conviction Is ‘Victory for the American People’

The Daily Beast – Richard Donoghue, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, praised the Tuesday conviction of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as a “victory for the American people.”

“It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return,” Donoghue said, according to CBS News. “His conviction is a victory for the American people who have suffered so long and so much while Guzman made billions pouring poison over our southern border.”

Guzman was found guilty Tuesday on all ten of the charges against him, drawing his months-long New York trial to a close after six days of jury deliberation. The charges include conspiracy to commit murder, manufacturing and distributing cocaine and heroin, and engaging in a criminal enterprise. He now faces life in prison.