May 15, 2018

Yep, That $500 M from China to Trump Project Looks Like a Pretty Big Deal - By Josh Marshall

May 15, 2018 9:38 am

You probably saw the news yesterday that just days before President Trump tweeted that he was intent on saving that sanctions-busting Chinese telecommunications company, China had agreed to loan $500 million to a major Trump-backed development in Indonesia. These kinds of situations are now basically commonplace in the Trump Era. But it is important to look at them from a macro- and a micro-perspective. The details are quite complex in the latter case. We are still digging into them. But I wanted to give you a first sense of what we’re finding. Because they make Trump’s connection to the operation and potential profits look considerably tighter than what I’d been led to expect yesterday from early reports.

First some basic details. The mega project is something called the Lido City development about an hour outside of Jakarta. It’s like a mini-luxury city set on 3,000 hectares, which is just over 7,400 acres. Trump has a hotel there and a golf course and various other facilities. There’s also an amusement park planned on the grounds. That’s going to be built by a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned company called Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC). They appear to be essentially bringing with them $500 million in Chinese-government backed loans for the development of the amusement park. Makes sense: they’re both parts of the Chinese government. That’s the commitment that came just before Trump’s tweet and which has gotten all the attention.

Now, the question I had was ‘is this just one more component of a huge development that Trump also just has one part of?’ The answer seems pretty clearly to be no. The overall project has two backers: MNC corporation of Indonesia (huge diversified mega corp) and the Trump Organization (family company of American strongman). A corporate financial/promotional document for MNC says the company “is currently developing the MNC Lido City project; both theme park and smart city – in partnership with The Trump Hotel Collection. (emphasis added)”

So MNC actually says that it and Trump Org. are developing the theme park jointly. That sounds pretty tight. They actually refer to the whole project as a “Trump Community.” In other documents, they refer to the Trump Organization having licensing and management contracts for facilities in Lido City beyond the Trump buildings and residences.

To be clear, these are phrases. We don’t know what the underlying contractual connections are or value of these various relationships and management contracts are. If experience is any guide, Trump tends to keep his investments limited and rely on the Trump brand to leverage upsides and revenues from management and licensing. But the press references to this project being “connected to” Trump seem to significantly understate the relationship.

More to come.

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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/yep-that-500-m-from-china-to-trump-project-looks-like-a-pretty-big-deal

May 15, 2018

Are Avenatti's Cohen Revelations Helping Or Hurting Stormy's Case?

By Allegra Kirkland | May 15, 2018 8:05 am

Michael Avenatti has spent the past few months making Michael Cohen’s life hell.

The omnipresent attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels has been a constant in the churning news cycle, using an arsenal of tweets and cable news hits to keep pundits focused on the $130,000 that Cohen paid Daniels to keep her silent about her alleged affair with President Trump.

But lately, Avenatti has ranged farther afield. Last week, he set off another media frenzy by releasing a document detailing the hundreds of thousands of dollars Cohen received from major corporations and others in 2017 after pitching them on his access to the new president. It said Cohen’s company, Essential Consultants, took in $1.2 million from Novartis, $600,000 from AT&T, and $500,000 from the U.S. subsidiary of a company owned by a Russian oligarch. Much of the information in the document, which appeared to be based on information in Cohen’s bank records, was soon confirmed by major news outlets.

Then on Sunday, Avenatti tweeted out a series of screenshots from Dec. 12, 2016 showing Cohen and a group of unidentified men in the lobby of Trump Tower. According to Avenatti, one of the men is Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, the head of a division of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund who has been accused in a lawsuit of trying to bribe Trump administration officials.

The disclosures appear to be part of Avenatti’s ongoing effort to discredit Cohen’s character and business record in the court of public opinion.

more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/legal-experts-question-michael-avenatti-cohen-relevations-relevance-stormy-daniels

May 15, 2018

Trump's decision to rescue Chinese company stuns U.S. officials ahead of key trade talks

Trump’s ZTE tweet sows confusion before trade talks with China

By Damian Paletta, David J. Lynch and Josh Dawsey May 14 at 8:23 PM

Senior U.S. officials struggled Monday to explain and act on President Trump’s abrupt decision to rescue Chinese telecom giant ZTE — a move that caught many of them by surprise.

ZTE said last week that it would shutter major operations after the United States announced punitive measures in response to the company’s failure to comply with a settlement of charges for violating sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

But Sunday, in a stunning reversal that officials said came without a formal policy process at the White House, Trump tweeted that he had ordered Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to save ZTE from collapse, saying the company’s failure would cost too many jobs in China.

The rapidly changing U.S. position highlights the stakes — and the confusion — ahead of crucial negotiations Tuesday between Trump’s senior economic team and a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trumps-zte-tweet-sows-confusion-before-trade-talks-with-china/2018/05/14/d2cd049c-57b4-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html

May 15, 2018

AP, Fox News launch new exit polling project

By STEVEN SHEPARD 05/15/2018 10:00 AM EDT

The Associated Press unveiled a new project Tuesday to supplant traditional exit polling — beginning with the 2018 midterm elections.

AP VoteCast will combine traditional, probability-based polling with an online, opt-in survey of voters in targeted states. It will measure the preferences and opinions of those who have or will cast ballots in this year’s midterms, and also non-voters about why they chose not to turn out.

The project is being launched in conjunction with Fox News — with both news organizations abandoning the embattled model of in-person exit polling that has dominated election nights for decades.

“It’s sort of been a constant search to get the right approach and the right methodology to get the best results on Election Day,” said David Scott, AP’s deputy managing editor.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/15/associated-press-fox-polling-project-588600

May 15, 2018

Conway: Expect staff changes in wake of McCain leak

By LOUIS NELSON 05/15/2018 07:16 AM EDT

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Monday that she expects personnel changes in the White House in the wake of President Donald Trump’s latest outburst against leaks that have proved damaging to his administration.

The White House has dealt in recent days with fallout from a leaked remark from communications staffer Kelly Sadler, who responded to Sen. John McCain’s opposition to the confirmation of Gina Haspel to be CIA director by saying it “doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway.” McCain (R-Ariz.) has been away from the Senate for weeks as he receives treatment for brain cancer.

Sadler reportedly called McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, after the news of the comment surfaced but has yet to make a public apology. White House spokespeople have not denied that Sadler made the remark but have declined to comment on it other than to say it is being dealt with internally.

On Monday, Trump wrote online that “the so-called leaks coming out of the White House are a massive over exaggeration put out by the Fake News Media in order to make us look as bad as possible” but added that “leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!”

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/15/white-house-leaks-kellyanne-conway-588597

May 15, 2018

Turkey expels Israel ambassador amid international outrage over Gaza killings

Source: The Washington Post



By Kareem Fahim May 15 at 9:37 AM

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s government on Tuesday expelled the Israeli ambassador in response to Israel’s killing of dozens of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.

The Turkish decision marked one of the strongest international responses after Monday’s deadly confrontations along the border fence separating Israel and Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade for more than a decade. At least 60 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, Gaza officials said.

Turkey maintains diplomatic ties with Israel, but relations have been severely strained in recent years over issues including the treatment of Palestinians.

In 2010, Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish-operated passenger vessel, the Mavi Marmara, that was on a course to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The raid killed nine activists.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-expels-israel-ambassador-amid-international-outrage-over-gaza-killings/2018/05/15/29f58996-5842-11e8-b656-a5f8c2a9295d_story.html

May 15, 2018

Democrats ready to run on health care in 2018

Candidates have a unified message blaming Republicans for ‘sabotaging’ the health law.

By JENNIFER HABERKORN 05/15/2018 05:01 AM EDT

Democrats are confidently running on Obamacare for the first time in a decade.

They’ve got a unified message blaming Republicans for “sabotaging” the health law, leading to a cascade of sky-high insurance premiums that will come just before the November midterm elections. They’re rolling out ads featuring people helped by the law. And Tuesday, they’re starting a campaign to amplify each state’s premium increases — and tie those to GOP decisions.

That’s a big change from four election cycles of reluctance to talk about Obamacare on the stump. During those campaigns, red-state Democrats were often on the defensive, dodging accusations they imposed government-run health care on unwilling Americans, made it impossible for people to keep their doctors and health plans, and caused double-digit premium increases every year.

Now, even those Democrats see Obamacare as a political advantage. The Affordable Care Act has grown significantly more popular. And as Republicans learned last year when they failed to repeal it, the public had scant interest in taking away coverage from millions of Americans, including low income and vulnerable people on Medicaid. Democrats are also seizing the issue of rising prescription drug prices — another health care cost problem the public holds the GOP responsible for, according to polls.

While the health insurance premiums are still going up — by double-digits, according to the first few preliminary state filings for 2019 — Democrats say the rising costs are now an albatross around Republican necks.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/15/democrats-embrace-obamacare-2018-539411

May 15, 2018

Murphy v. Saccone: Infamous Pa. Republicans feud before primary

By RACHAEL BADE 05/15/2018 05:04 AM EDT

A disgraced ex-congressman and a Republican candidate despised by party leaders have been fighting a weeks-long, behind-the-scenes battle ahead of Tuesday’s primary for an open House seat in Western Pennsylvania.

Former Rep. Tim Murphy, who resigned last October amid allegations that he asked his mistress to get an abortion, has been working quietly to sink Rick Saccone’s bid for Congress. Saccone, who became a national Republican scapegoat after losing to Democrat Conor Lamb in the March special election to replace Murphy, is now running for the GOP nomination in a newly drawn, heavily Republican district that includes much of Murphy’s old turf.

The fight has gotten personal: Murphy has directed hundreds of thousands of dollars from his old campaign account to an outside group supporting Saccone’s GOP primary opponent, state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler. Murphy also sent around a cropped video clip of Saccone that he believed would damage him.

At one point, Murphy accidentally forwarded that link to Saccone while trying to send it to someone else. The inadvertent exchange about opioids triggered a nasty back-and-forth that ended with Murphy calling Saccone “heartless,” while Saccone argued that his comments were taken out of context.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/15/pennsylvania-primary-murphy-saccone-588027

May 15, 2018

Trump Hopes to Add Two States In 2020

May 15, 2018 at 7:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Jonathan Swan: “As President Trump’s campaign aides quietly launch his reelection campaign, they’re eyeing two states as possible pickups for 2020: Minnesota, where Trump came close in 2016 without even trying; and Colorado, where his hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement is a possible selling point.”

“The addition of those states is part of a plan that’s coming together in a basement suite at the Republican National Committee, where the Trump campaign has moved from Trump Tower. The campaign, now fewer than 10 people, eventually will number hundreds.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/05/15/trump-hopes-to-add-two-states-in-2020/

May 15, 2018

McConnell says he met with McCain in Arizona: 'He misses his colleagues. He'd rather be here.'

By David Weigel May 14 at 6:59 PM

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that he had spent part of the past weekend with Sen. John McCain, telling senators that he “didn’t want to miss the opportunity to tell him what his friendship meant to me.”

“John and Cindy and I had a chance to sit on their back porch and reminisce,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor, referring to the Arizona Republican and his wife. “He still had plenty to say about work, I assure you. He misses his colleagues. He’d rather be here. And I told him we miss him, too. All of the jokes, the smart-alecky comments — he’s a joy to be around.”

McConnell did not comment directly on McCain’s prognosis, though he sometimes grew emotional as he described the time with his colleague. He also did not comment on the controversy over a White House aide, Kelly Sadler, who allegedly said last week that McCain was “dying anyway” and didn’t need to be considered in the confirmation fight over the new director of the CIA. (McCain had opposed the president’s nominee, Gina Haspel.)

Other Republicans have weighed in on the controversy. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters on Monday that “the person who said it should apologize” and that the comment was “totally inappropriate.”

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/05/14/mcconnell-says-he-met-with-mccain-in-arizona-he-misses-his-colleagues-hed-rather-be-here/