People are calling this week one of the worst for any president’s inaugural year in modern history… with some obvious exceptions, I’m guessing. The Boy Scouts had to apologize for Trump, New York police departments had to disclaim his remarks, the Pentagon got caught off-guard by his tweeted transgender ban, Congress failed to repeal the ACA (but they did manage to restrict Trump on Russia sanctions), the new comms director gave an immensely foul interview, Trump undermined his attorney general, he changed his chief of staff, and North Korea can reach us with a missile.

Here’s what happened this week:

Russia:

1. Jared Kushner releases a written statement before testifying for Congress behind closed doors.
2. Kushner discloses yet another previously undisclosed meeting with Russian officials that happened last April at the Mayflower Hotel. Actually, he confirms that the meeting he was already suspected of having actually did happen.
3. Kushner also says he met with a Russian banker, Sergei Gorkov, to set up a private line of communication with Putin.
4. Brian Benczkowsi, the nominee to head the criminal division at the Justice Department, says he worked for Russia’s Alfa Bank last year. He helped them determine whether its computers contacted the Trump Organization.
5. The House finds agreement on the sanctions bill and forwards it to the Senate where it also passes.
6. Trump announces he’ll sign the sanctions bill after congress threatens an override.
7. In retaliation for the new Russian sanctions, Putin shuts down U.S. facilities in Russia and kicks out 755 U.S. foreign agents.
8. The EU says they support sanctions but also voice concerns over how this will affect their workers in the energy sector.
9. This part of the story is convoluted and I’m a bit confused about where things stand. I think we’ll have to wait for answers on this one. I am honestly not trying to ″Rachel Maddow″ the dots together here.
   • William Browder, an associate of Sergei Magnitsky, testifies to Congress.
   • He claims that Fusion GPS, the group that commissioned the Steel dossier, worked for Russian interests last year, including the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. (Veselnitskaya).
   • Browder also says Congress should investigate Fusion GPS for not registering as foreign agents under FARA and that they were hired to smear him and Magnitksy.
   • Fusion GPS says that they did work for an American law firm and not Russian interests, and therefore didn’t need to register.
   • Sarah Huckabee Sanders asserts that the author of the Steele dossier was also being paid by Russia. I think that’s what she took away from Browder’s testimony.
   • Magnitsky had uncovered $230 million in tax fraud by Russian interests. His treatment and subsequent death in a Russian prison led to the Magnitsky Act (sanctions) and subsequent hold on adoptions of Russian children.
   • The meeting with Donald Jr. and Veselnitskaya last year was likely about the Magnitsky act, though she baited him with dirt on Clinton.
   • A few years ago, the U.S. began a lawsuit against Russian-owned Prevezon Holdings, which was using real estate holdings in New York to launder money (related to the fraud Magnitsky found).
   • Jared Kushner bought New York real estate from Africa Israel Investments (AFI), which is a partner to Prevezon Holdings.
   • The Prevezon case was abruptly settled in May for $6 million and no admission of guilt. Full circle, right?
10. Senator Lindsey Graham says he’s writing a bill that will protect the investigation and make it harder for Trump to fire special counsel Mueller.
11. It seems that Russia’s meddling in our election has so far backfired. Relations between our countries have sunk even lower, and Trump’s hands are tied with the latest sanctions bill.
12. Scaramucci, citing an anonymous source, says that if the Russians actually did hack our computer systems we’d never know it because they’re that good. They wouldn’t leave a trace. He later outs his own source—Trump.
13. Security software company Kaspersky Labs continues to take a hit over rumors that it leaves a backdoor open for Russian hacking.

Courts/Justice:

1. Trump continues to berate AG Jeff sessions, saying he’s going too easy on Hillary and that she never got the level of scrutiny that Trump is. Really? Where was he in 2015 and 2016? Or for the past 30 years for that matter? This widens speculation that Trump will fire Sessions.
2. In one of his many tweet storms this week, Trump tweets unsubstantiated info about Hillary and wonders why Sessions didn’t investigate her harder… before he was even AG.
3. Trump reportedly asks whether he should replace Sessions with a major conservative. If Sessions isn’t a major conservative, I don’t know who is.
4. As Trump continues his public denigration of Sessions, some speculate he’s trying to make Sessions quit so he doesn’t have to fire him. Sessions has no intention of quitting.
5. The two men are reportedly no longer talking to each other. Instead they send messages through intermediaries.
6. Senators are quick to come to Sessions’ defense and to warn Trump away from firing him.

Healthcare:

1. Texas Representative Blake Farenthold calls out and insults Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski for their continued opposition to what they call bad bills. Blake says their actions are repugnant. Collins is later caught on a hot mike criticizing Blake’s appearance and wondering if Trump is crazy, also saying she’s worried. Collins and Blake end up making nice.
2. Pence comes in to break a tie in the Senate to bring the healthcare bill to the floor for debate. Collins and Murkowski continue to vote country over party.
3. At Trump’s request, Ryan Zinke, department head of the interior, calls Murkowski to say that her vote would affect programs in her state of Alaska. Murkowski then cancels hearings on nominee confirmations, including three to the Department of the Interior.
4. After a dramatic week, the Senate fails to pass any healthcare bills. They voted on multiple versions: the Ted Cruz amendment, full repeal with no replacement, Medicare for all, and skinny repeal (the final nail in the coffin).
5. Throughout the week, Trump continues pressure on and threats against Republican Senators who aren’t supporting these bills or this process, but based on his words, he doesn’t seem to have a grasp of what is in any of those bills.
6. At one point, Democrats threaten to stall the bill and stop proposing amendments until they can see the actual text of the bill they are supposed to be debating.
7. By the night before the final vote, Republicans still have not released the text of what they’re supposed to vote on after debate.
8. While Senate Republicans want to pass SOME bill, they don’t want the bill they pass to become law.
9. Some Senators say they won’t vote for their own bill unless House Republicans assure them that they will not pass it as is. There are rumors, though, that the House is ready to pass whatever the Senate sends them.
10. Skinny repeal would likely have sent existing markets into turmoil, raised rates, and kicked people off insurance. This bill would’ve essentially defunded the ACA but kept some of the popular requirements.
11. The bill fails because Republican holdouts Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski continue to oppose on the grounds that their constituents will be hurt by it, and because John McCain has nothing left to lose so he did the right thing and opposed it.
12. Trump threatens to let the ACA implode, even to force its failure. He could stop the payments to insurance companies that keep prices down. For a select group, prices aren’t low now, so they will be priced out of the market completely.
13. The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House has quietly been working on a plan to fix the ACA. More to come on this next week.
14. Because Republicans have campaigned on repealing the ACA and maligned the bill for so long, they will likely keep working on ways to repeal it. This could suck up valuable time when they could be getting stuff done instead.

International:

1. Hundreds of thousands of protestors in Poland turn out to demonstrate against the politicization of the judicial branch. In a surprise move, the Polish president vetoes the bill.
2. Venezuela also continues its move toward authoritarianism, holding a vote that sparked violent protests across the county. The vote creates a new panel to rewrite their constitution.
3. Trump tweets that the Washington Post got it wrong when they reported that the U.S. was ending a program to arm Syrian rebels, but then later confirmed the story.
4. Trump announces he’ll nominate Sam Brownback (governor of Kansas) to serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Brownback has recently faced blowback from his own Republican legislature because he went too far on tax cuts.
5. While the administration works on ways to more strictly enforce the Iran deal, they’re also working to fix perceived flaws in the plan. If they don’t get the fixes in, Trump wants to pull out of the deal (even though top military officials say this is the best deal they can get).
6. Tillerson wants to eliminate dozens of special envoy positions that deal with specific issues, like food shortages, civil rights, and labor rights. The more we can stabilize regions that need this help, the more secure we are as a country.
7. North Korea executes another missile launch that puts the U.S. definitely within range of a strike. Trump again tweets his displeasure at China’s lack of help here.
8. The U.S. flies two B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula and conducts a successful test of the missile defense system.
9. After previously announcing a ramp up in troops in Afghanistan, Trump and his generals can’t agree on a plan. He’s now considering plans to scale back our troops there. But he’s also looking into making mining deals with the Afghan government, which would give him a reason to keep troops there.
10. The extremist group Al-Shabab releases a video saying that U.S. voters elected “arguably the most stupid president a country could ever have” and that Trump is “making the United States the greatest joke on earth and is now propelling it further to its eventual defeat and destruction.”

Legislation/Congress:

1. House Republicans send down two bills for a vote under suspension of rules. This expedites the process, limits debate to under an hour, allows no amendments, and requires 2/3 majority. In protest of the process, House Democrats and a few Republicans stop the passage of these completely non-controversial bills.
2. Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee block Democrat requests to obtain Treasury Department documents on Trump.
3. Using Congressional Review, the House rescinds a rule that would make it easier for Americans to bring lawsuits against financial institutions. It goes to the Senate for a vote.
4. Upon his return from surgery followed by a cancer diagnosis, John McCain delivers a stern warning to Congress, saying they are getting nothing done. Complaining about bipartisanship, he says “There’s greater satisfaction in respecting our differences but not letting them prevent agreements.” It’s a pretty good speech; you can listen to it here.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. ICE agents have mixed feelings about deportations under Trump. Some feel they are freer to do their jobs and some feel they’re targeting vulnerable populations.
2. Through a series of tweets, Trump announces he’ll ban transgender people from serving in the military in any capacity, reversing Obama’s direction. He cites disruption and higher medical costs.
3. The Pentagon is taken by surprise and directs all queries on this to the White House, suggesting that even though Trump says he consulted his Generals, he probably didn’t.
4. The Joint Chiefs of Staff say they were blindsided by this announcement. As of Thursday they hadn’t received any guidance on how to implement the ban.
5. We currently have thousands transgender troops serving. Studies find the costs to be minimal with little to no disruption.
6. It turns out Trump was just talking out of his ass (again). Joe Dunford, on behalf of the joint chiefs, says that there are no planned changes to the military’s policy on transgender troops despite Trump’s tweets.
7. On the same day Trump tweets the ban, the Department of Justice files a legal brief saying that the Civil Rights Act doesn’t cover discrimination based on sexual orientation. It isn’t typical for the DoJ to weigh in on court cases like this.
8. The House approves a spending bill that includes initial spending for the wall.

Climate/EPA:

1. The Department of the Interior proposes to rescind safety rules on fracking and underwater drilling equipment. They’ve already rolled back a rule banning coal mining on pubic lands, as well as delayed methane emission controls.
2. Changes are coming to the EPA museum. It’s being changed to reflect the administration’s disbelief in global warming. Displays that are already set up will be removed, and the EPA is thinking of adding a coal display.
3. In one 3-month period, Scott Pruitt spend nearly half his time in Oklahoma or traveling to and from there. It makes me wonder where he finds the time to destroy the agency he runs.

Budget/Economy:

1. Frustrated that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) won’t score their plans positively, Republicans plan to cut 89 jobs and $15 million in funding from the CBO. Piggybacking on their disbelief in science, they want the CBO to be a number aggregator rather than an independent number cruncher. Of note, the CBO has one of the most accurate track records of all similar estimators.
2. Foxconn Technology Group announces that it’s in talks to build a $10 billion plant in Wisconsin. It could employ 3,000 to 13,000 people, and would receive up to $3 billion in subsidies.
3. The Treasury Department shuts down an Obama program to help people whose companies don’t offer 401Ks to save for retirement anyway. The program was called MyRA.
4. As mentioned above, the House passes a spending bill that includes $1.6 billion to start the border wall. It also gives a huge increase ($68.1 billion more) to the Pentagon. This might come up against spending limits set by earlier budget laws.
5. Republicans in the House, Treasury, and administration are eager to dig in on tax reform, but are still light on details.

Elections:

1. A federal judge rules that the Elections Integrity Commission is free to request voter roll data from states, including names, addresses, partial SSNs, party registration, felony convictions, and voting record (whether you voted, not who you voted for because that actually is secret). The judge did not rule on whether the commission can compel states to turn the info over.

Miscellaneous:

1. In an apparent attempt to get science on board, Ivanka misattributes a tweet to Einstein: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts. – Albert Einstein ‪#quote ‪#sunday‪“‬
2. Trump again shows disrespect for Obama and Clinton both, by getting attendees at the Boy Scouts Jamboree to boo them during his speech. Boy Scouts. Way to cultivate their good souls.
3. I’m not going to regurgitate Trump’s speech to the Boy Scouts because it’s hard to listen to. While there were some good bits mixed in with the bad, the speech is so partisan—and offensive—that the BSA feels obligated to put out a statement defending their honor.
4. On complaints that their statement isn’t strong enough, the BSA issues an apology to the families of Boy Scouts for Trump inserting politics into the event.
5. And then… Police departments in and around New York City have to issue a statement denouncing Trump’s remarks to them about new tactics to fight the MS13 gang. Trump advocated for officers to rough up suspects.
6. And then… Trump holds another political rally in Ohio where he again puts out false and misleading information (see factcheck.org’s check).
7. By now this is old news because Scaramucci is no longer with us. But here’s what led up to that.
   • Scaramucci promises to hunt down and fire leakers. Michael Short is the first to leave after Scaramucci says he’ll fire him.
   • Scaramucci accuses Reince Priebus of leaking financial information on him, but it turns out the information is publicly available. Still, he says the leak is a felony.
   • Scaramucci creates a diagram on news organizations to which they think Priebus leaked information.
   • Scaramucci gives a completely cray-cray interview to the New Yorker. As comms director, he apparently doesn’t know he needs to say ″off the record″ if he doesn’t want the information released. It is unbelievably profane.
   • New Chief of Staff Kelly says get this guy outta here, and now Scaramucci is gone. Quick as that.
8. Democrats release their new agenda, A Better Deal, which includes an infrastructure plan and a plan to help workers by increasing wages and providing paid family and sick leave.
9. House Republicans call for a special counsel to investigate James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and Loretta Lynch.
10. Reince Priebus “resigns” as White House Chief of Staff. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly takes his place. We learn this via Twitter. This leaves Trump with no real close relationships with high-profile members of the GOP. It also leaves him with an opening at DHS.
11. Betsy DeVos sits on thousands of applications for debt relief from students defrauded by for-profit universities. She’s delayed Obama’s debt relief program, while thousands of people owe money for promises that were never delivered.
12. Kellyanne Conway says Trump really does believe that Obama wiretapped him and that there were millions of undocumented immigrants who voted for Hillary (giving her the popular vote though he doesn’t think she won the popular vote).
13. Six hours after pre-orders are announced for Hillary Clinton’s new book, it hit number 1 on Amazon.
14. Interesting note: Behind the scenes, Marco Rubio maintains a database of political prisoners and human rights victims, He advocates for them generally through the state department and sometimes directly through world leaders.
15. An aide to Debbie Wasserman Schultz is arrested for bank fraud. This is part of a bigger investigation, so I’m sure there’s more to come.
16. Tillerson takes a little time off.
17. Rick Perry is duped into taking a phone interview with some Russian comedians.
18. Career civil servants in the Department of Energy say they aren’t getting any direction or policy information, and no one is sharing information with them. Nothing is getting done.

Polls:

1. 49% of those who voted for Trump still believe he won the popular vote. Only 40% believe Clinton did.
2. 58% of Americans think transgender troops should be able to serve in the military.
3. Trump averages higher than 50% approval ratings in these states: West Virginia (60% approval), North Dakota (59%), South Dakota (57%), Montana (56%), Wyoming (56%), Alabama (55%), Oklahoma (54%), Kansas (53%), Kentucky (53%), Arkansas (53%), and Idaho (53%).
4. Americans are divided over whether Trump should be removed from office 42% to 42%.

Political Quotes:

1. Jeff Flake, Republican Senator from Arizona, talking about the baseball field shooting that left Scalise in the hospital:
   “The deterioration of political discourse in general aids this. When we ascribe motives to our opponents, that they are evil, then we’ve almost given license to extreme behavior.”