Tipsheet: Five things to know about the Trump Tower Moscow proposal

View in your browser     Five things to know about the Trump Tower Moscow proposal BY MORGAN CHALFANT Discussions within the Trump Organization during the 2016 presidential campaign about a proposal to build a real estate development in Moscow are a key component of the events being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The Washington Post first reported on the business proposal, which ultimately fell through, back in August 2017, but more has since come to light as a result of the special counsel’s investigation. Read the full story here     Pence huddles with congressional staffers amid effort to end shutdown BY JOHN BOWDEN Vice President Pence and top members of the Trump administration met with Democratic congressional staffers on Saturday to discuss a potential end to the weeks-long partial government shutdown. Read the full story here     Mulvaney: Trump offering to take concrete wall 'off the table' BY JOHN BOWDEN Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said President Trump has moved away from his desire for a concrete wall along the U.S.-Mexico border toward a plan for metal fencing instead, which he said indicates how the president is working to compromise with Democrats. Read the full story here     Trump: 'I don’t care' that most federal employees working without pay 'are Democrats' BY TAL AXELROD President Trump said Saturday that he wants to end the partial government shutdown that is stretching into its third week while reiterating his claim that most of the federal workers being furloughed or forced to work without pay are Democrats. Read the full story here       Trump, in profanity-laced meeting with lawmakers, said he preferred 'strike' to refer to government shutdown: reports BY MORGAN GSTALTER  President Trump reportedly opened a meeting Friday with congressional leaders with an incendiary rant before saying he preferred the word “strike” to refer to the ongoing government shutdown, according to multiple reports. Read the full story here     Here are the lawmakers who will forfeit their salaries during the shutdown BY TAL AXELROD Several lawmakers have said they will forfeit or donate their paychecks as a partial government shutdown enters its third week.  Read the full story here     Pentagon chief of staff resigns BY JOHN BOWDEN The Department of Defense's chief of staff Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney has resigned, the Pentagon said. Read the full story here     Warren addresses DNA test during first trip to Iowa BY TAL AXELROD Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Saturday faced questions related to the results of a DNA test she took last year while stumping in Iowa for her first trip since running for president. Read the full story here     Where Warren stands on top defense issues BY ELLEN MITCHELL   Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has called for a smaller defense budget and no new nuclear weapons, this week became the most prominent Democrat to wade into the 2020 White House race by launching an exploratory committee for president. Read the full story here     Pompeo seen as top recruit for Kansas Senate seat BY ALEXANDER BOLTON Senate Republican strategists are pushing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a failsafe candidate to keep retiring Sen. Pat Roberts’s (Kan.) seat in Republican hands in 2020, fearing the state could give Democrats an upset victory.  Read the full story here     Democrats lay impeachment trap, but will the president step into it? BY JONATHAN TURLEY Opinion | Certain common aphorisms were never meant to be taken literally. What does not kill you only makes you stronger is a particularly risky principle by which to live. A watched pot will indeed boil. Time does not heal all wounds. Slow and steady does not always win the race. President Trump added a new and, for him, potentially dangerous aphorism this week, when asked about impeachment. He said he was not at all concerned because “you cannot impeach someone who is doing a great job.” Read the full story here     What if Mueller is fired? BY JOEL COHEN Opinion | The anti-Trump crowd — those who are fearful that the president sooner or later will “fire” Mueller by getting some lackey at the Justice Department to pull the trigger, or that Trump will pardon every potential witness against him — has always believed that the New York attorney general is fully warmed up in the bullpen, with a grand jury empaneled ready to indict wrongdoers, including possibly the president. The president has no control over a state attorney general and cannot grant clemency to those convicted of state crimes. Read the full story here     Reuters: No breakthrough in US shutdown talks, Pelosi plans new legislation BY JAN WOLFE AND JOEL SCHECTMAN Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would pass new legislation to try to reopen parts of the government next week after talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators on Saturday failed to end a two-week partial government shutdown.  Read the full story here     The Associated Press: Talks on government shutdown continue on Sunday BY CATHERINE LUCEY AND LISA MASCARO White House officials and congressional aides are returning to discussions Sunday to find a way to reopen the government after emerging from the first round of weekend talks without a breakthrough. Read the full story here     The New York Times: The border wall: How a potent symbol is now boxing Trump in BY JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS AND PETER BAKER What started out as a memory trick for an undisciplined candidate has become the president’s central priority and one that conservatives fear is outsized, according to a news analysis. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: As border ‘crisis’ hits, Trump administration struggles to generate urgency BY NICK MIROFF AND DAVID NAKAMURA As a candidate, President Trump insisted on the need for a border wall even as illegal crossings fell. Now officials face a bona fide emergency on the border — a record crush of migrant families is overwhelming holding facilities — and they’re struggling to make the case there’s truly a problem. Read the full story here     CNN: Ocasio-Cortez defends Rep. Tlaib's profane impeachment comments BY VERONICA STRACQUALURSI New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is defending her fellow new Democratic congresswoman, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, for using profanity in referring to President Donald Trump. Read the full story here   Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for The Hill Tipsheet       Forward this Tipsheet     You might like         Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.