In the midst of the dueling memos, we did manage to pass a budget. But I’m starting with my favorite recap of the Nunes memo. It came from Jon Zal.

“Yes, we did some treason, but one of the guys who caught us doing the treason was biased against us because he doesn’t like people who commit treason, and the people who paid the people who paid him to investigate us didn’t like us either, so the evidence of our treason must be ignored.”

Russia:

1. Now Trump’s lawyers want him to refuse any requests to be questioned by Mueller. Trump’s lawyers don’t even want him talking to Mueller, but Trump wants to do it anyway… but then he doesn’t. He’s keeping us guessing.
2. The House Intelligence Committee votes to release the Democratic memo regarding the issues in the Nunes memo, which Trump released earlier. Trump refuses to release the Democratic memo.
3. The New York Times makes a FISA request to publicize documents about Carter Page’s surveillance. The Times argues that since Trump decided to declassify the Nunes memo, public interest outweighs confidentiality.
4. Devin Nunes acknowledges that, contrary to what his memo says, the FBI did disclose the political backing of the Steele dossier when requesting the FISA warrant on Carter Page.
5. Nunes wants to build a physical wall to separate Republican and Democratic staffers working for the House Intelligence Committee members. Typically, these staffers work together.
6. Republican Representative Thomas Rooney says that the Office of Congressional Ethics has ethics investigations into every single Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, including their staff. The investigations are further eroding trust in the committee.
7. Rex Tillerson says that Russia has a lot of tools to influence our elections and that they’re already working on our midterms later this year. He says we’re no better prepared than we were in 2016, basically implying that there’s nothing we can do because the Russians will adapt.
8. At an economic summit, former President George W. Bush says that there is “pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in our 2016 elections. He also says that “it’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”
9. The DOJ’s number 3 attorney resigns, in part because she thought she’d have to take over the Russia investigation if Trump fires Rod Rosenstein. Also, 25% of the divisions she oversaw are still unfilled, making her job that much more difficult.

Healthcare:

1. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says they’ve found the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease we’ve ever seen. This disease was once nearly eradicated, but now it strikes and kills miners at a younger age than before, and it progresses more quickly than before. The cluster is located in Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. One possible explanation is new mining techniques.
2. Though the Trump administration says they won’t reverse Obama’s regulations to protect miners against black lung, the rule is marked for evaluation and as “deregulatory,” indicating it could be on the chopping block like so many other protections.
3. Kellyanne Conway leads Trump’s efforts to deal with the opioid epidemic, but she doesn’t rely on drug policy professionals and instead leans on political staff. There’s no permanent director for the drug policy office, and the acting director hasn’t been invited to any meetings.
4. Conway’s plans so far are to build the wall to stop the influx of drugs (it won’t—so many addictions begin with prescribed drugs) and to start a “just say no” campaign (because that obviously worked the last time, right?).
5. The most senior official in the drug policy office is a 24-year-old appointee with no relevant experience. He just stepped down.
6. Trump indicates he’ll focus on legal crackdowns on opioids instead of treatment options.
7. As a result of lawsuits, Perdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, says they’ll stop marketing the drug to physicians. There are at least 200 lawsuits by local governments, and now 14 states are suing Perdue as well.

International:

1. The UN investigates several reports of the Syrian military using chemical weapons against the rebels this week.
2. The Syrian military shoots down Israeli fighter plane. Syrian rebels shoot down a Russian fighter plane.
3. The U.S-led coalition in Syria ramps up air and artillery strikes against Syria’s forces. This is unusual in that we most often target ISIS forces, but the military says they were acting out of self defense.
4. The UN wants a month-long cease fire so they can get aid in to areas trapped by the fighting.
5. Olympics and politics don’t mix Part I: Mike Pence and his wife don’t stand for their host country’s athletes in the opening ceremonies.
6. South Korea and the U.S. agree to negotiating terms with North Korea.
7. Support grows in Great Britain for a second vote on Brexit after the government seems to not be making much progress on the exit agreement with the European Union. The most likely way this would happen is if the Brexit negotiations fall apart, causing Theresa May’s coalition to crumble and triggering a new general election.
8. We learn that the Trump administration secretly reached out to Iran to negotiate a prisoner release last December. Iran refused the request.


Legislation/Congress:

1. Nancy Pelosi takes up the House floor, speaking for eight hours in defense of Dreamers and telling their stories as a protest against not including a clean Dreamer bill as part of the budget negotiations. She wants Paul Ryan to make the same commitment that Mitch McConnell made to getting a clean bill.
2. The House passes a bill that would require lawmakers to use their own funds to pay for sexual harassment and abuse settlements instead of using taxpayer dollars. I can’t believe we even have to have a law like this. I just can’t.
3. Devin Nunes doesn’t like real news, so his PAC created its own alternative news site named “The California Republican.” It’s listed as a Media/News Company on Facebook, claiming to deliver “the best of US, California, and Central Valley news, sports, and analysis.” The site resembles a news site, but is designed to shine up Nunes’ image.
4. The California Republican site gets knocked down by a denial of service report.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. John Kelly says that Trump is not likely to extend DACA if Congress can’t agree on a solution by the March deadline. But then he says Dreamers won’t be a priority for deportation. We’ve heard that before. Ask the Iraqi Christians who got sent home, or the doctor who just got sent back to Jordan, or the science teacher who just got sent back to Mexico, or any activist who’s been making noise about DACA protections. Ask them what it means to not be a priority.
2. Trump says that we might need a shutdown—he would even love a shutdown—if Democrats won’t agree to his immigration policies.
3. Senators John McCain and Chris Coons are set to propose a bipartisan immigration bill, but Trump shoots it down before it even comes out.
4. The Austin, TX, city council votes 10-1 to boycott any contractors who work on building the wall. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao doesn’t think this should be tolerated.
5. You might remember a story last November (which Trump repeated) that two border agents were attacked and brutally beaten near the border by undocumented immigrants. One agent was killed and the other was in serious condition. Fox News reported that an agent was “brutally murdered.” The surviving agent doesn’t remember what happened. The FBI investigation found nothing consistent with an assault or scuffle, and thinks it looks more like there was an accident. They haven’t reached a conclusion yet.
6. A former leader of the American Nazi Party (and current anti-Semite and white nationalist) is likely to be the Republican candidate for an Illinois state congressional seat. Come on, Republicans. You have to do better than this.
7. The DHS drafts rules that could target undocumented immigrants who use certain benefits, making it harder for them to gain permanent residency even if those benefits are used for their children who are U.S. citizens.
8. Olympics and politics don’t mix Part II. Skater Adam Rippon says he wouldn’t visit the White House. An openly gay athlete, Rippon has come out strongly against Mike Pence’s support of gay conversion therapy.
9. Trump orders the creation of a National Vetting Center to focus on immigrants, refugees, and other visitors to the U.S. The purpose is to identify people who present a security threat. It will be part of the DHS.

Climate/EPA:

1. Employment is down in the US solar industry for the first time since 2010.
2. Nineteen governors of western states protest Ryan Zinke’s plans to reorganize the Interior Department, saying that he promised he would consult with them and he hasn’t done so. The governors represent Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. That’s a diverse and bipartisan group.
3. And under the heading of Read A Damn Book Already: Despite scientific evidence pointing to serious health, agricultural, and economic impacts of climate change, not to mention climate-related natural disasters and droughts, Scott Pruitt says that maybe climate change will be good for us. Because who knows what the ideal temperature will be in 2100? Scientists know, Scott. That’s who knows.
4. At least Pruitt also says climate change is real and that humans contribute to it “to an extent.”
5. The White House sends out a draft memo to federal agencies that would speed up permitting for infrastructure projects by shortcutting environment reviews.

Budget/Economy:

1. The Dow makes its largest one-day point drop (not its largest percentage drop), going down by 1,175. Overall, the Dow drops around 2,700 points in a long-expected market correction.
2. TV stations airing a Trump rally show side-by-side panels of Trump touting the economy and the market on one side and the Dow Jones dropping precipitously on the other side.
3. Trump gets mad at the stock market for taking a 2-day nosedive, saying it made a big mistake!
4. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) drops its investigation into the Equifax breach, where the person information of 143 million Americans was hacked. State attorney generals are picking up the slack, evaluating over 240 class action law suits.
5. On top of ending protections and lawsuits against payday lenders that have been charging up to 900% interest on loans, Mick Mulvaney requests a review of all current CFPB cases and policies to see which he wants to drop. This is what happens when the man in charge of a protection agency also thinks we should shut that agency down.
6. The deadline for funding the government is already up this week. It has to be passed by Friday to avoid a shutdown.
7. The Senate reaches a deal on Wednesday… but then when it comes time to vote, Rand Paul takes the floor for several hours pushing the vote past the deadline and briefly shutting down the government. And keeping lawmakers up all night.
8. The Senate passes a two-year spending bill that really is the result of compromise, but that increases spending for pretty much everyone. The House also passes the bill and Trump signs it. Here’s some of what it does:

• • Raises caps on spending that were imposed in 2011 and that were once seen as a key Republican victory.
  • Increases defense spending by $165 billion over two years.
  • Increases domestic spending by $131 billion over two years.
  • Increases disaster aid for hurricane and fire victims by $90 billion.
  • Extends CHIP for 10 years (when added to the previous six-year extension).
  • Refutes many of the cuts Trump requested in his budget.
  • Combined with the tax bill, ends any semblance of fiscal conservatism.

9. Republicans concede that with the recent tax cuts and spending bill, eliminating the federal deficit is not possible.
10. Trump proposes a $4.4 trillion budget that cuts social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP, while increasing military spending and the immigration enforcement budget. It also asks for $200 billion for infrastructure. It cuts the State Department by 27% and the EPA by 34%.

11. Since Congress just passed their own two-year spending bill, and Trump signed it, his proposed budget will likely be ignored.
12. The Defense Logistics Agency of the Pentagon can’t account for $800 million in construction spending. Apparently they don’t keep very good records.
13. Even after the bad publicity around cabinet members like Tom Price overspending taxpayer dollars on travel, Scott Pruitt still flies first class and stays in luxury hotels. His excuse is security concerns.

Elections:

1. The Supreme Court refuses a request from the Pennsylvania GOP leadership to delay a state Supreme Court ruling requiring them to redraw their gerrymandered district lines.
2. A Republican state representative wants to impeach those state Supreme Court judges for forcing them to redraw district lines, saying they usurped the state constitution.
3. Pennsylvania Republicans submit their redrawn district lines, which no longer have the obvious physical shape of gerrymandered districts, but which the plaintiffs in the original case say are still as demographically gerrymandered.
4. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf must approve the new district lines. If he rejects the plan, an independent redistricting expert will redraw the lines.
5. The Supreme Court is looking at gerrymandering cases in Maryland and Wisconsin as well.
6. Fun Fact: In 1812, Elbridge Gerry became the first person to draw partisan district lines, and his district looked like a salamander. Thus, the Gerry-mander.
7. Six teenagers are running for governor in Kansas. The state doesn’t have any age requirements for the governor, but now they’re trying to make the age 18 or over (still seems young!).
8. Since the 2016 elections, Democrats have flipped 35 Republican seats and Republicans have flipped four. Democrats are targeting 101 House districts in November.

Miscellaneous:

1. At what was supposed to be a rally to support his tax plan, Trump hypes the memo instead, and talks about how it clears him and proves how bad the DOJ and FBI are.
2. Trump accuses Democrats of treason for not clapping for him at the State of the Union. Photos abound of Paul Ryan not clapping for Obama. Get over it.
3. Trump wants a military parade. No, seriously. Members of both parties in Congress say this is a waste of money. Our last military parade was in 1991 to commemorate the Gulf War victory.
4. A 6.4 earthquake in Taiwan causes buildings to shift on their foundations. Seventeen are dead and 280 injured.
5. Chief of Staff Kelly defends Staff Secretary Rob Porter, who left his job this week due to allegations of abuse from two ex-wives. Kelly later clarifies his statement, saying he wasn’t aware of the photos. He was, however, aware of the allegations because Porter STILL doesn’t have security clearance because of them.
6. In a staff meeting, some staffers feel that Kelly is telling them to lie about the actions he took after the abuse allegations surfaced.
7. Trump tells the press that Porter will have a great career ahead of him and that it’s a tough time for Porter. I’m sure living with Porter was tough on his wives too. Trump wishes him well.
8. Kelly says he’s willing to resign over the handling of the Porter issue.
9. A second White House staffer, speechwriter David Sorensen, resigns over allegations of spousal abuse.
10. Trump defends both staffers on Twitter, saying “lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation.” Just an FYI, lives are also being shattered and destroyed by abuse.
11. While Trump defends those accused of domestic violence, two police officers are killed responding to a report of domestic violence. Officers are killed every year responding to domestic disputes, deaths that could be prevented if we would stop ignoring the problem of domestic violence.
12. Trump calls former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (who Trump pushed out) to complain about John Kelly (who replaced Priebus).
13. Sinclair Broadcast Group solicits its news directors for contributions to its political action committee, which could cross the boundaries of ethics in journalism.
14. A CNN employee finds DHS documents outlining a terrorism drill for the Super Bowl in the seat-back pocket of a passenger plane.
15. After finding that a mass shooter in Texas last year should’ve been on the gun ban list, the military adds more than 4,000 people who they had previously neglected to add to the list.
16. The Trump administration wants to stop funding the International Space Station by 2025 and turn it over to the private sector.

Stupid Things Politicians Say:

When Obama first extended the offer of DACA, many people who were eligible didn’t trust the government would have their backs or their families’ backs, so they didn’t sign up. And now, people who did sign up for DACA are now in danger of being deported, along with their families.

But here’s White House chief of staff John Kelly‘s take on that (emphasis mine):

“The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.”