On Politics: The Biggest Stories of the Week
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/22/us/politics/biggest-stories-of-the-week.html Version 0 of 1. From the government shutdown to the defense secretary’s resignation, it’s been a busy week in American politics. Here are some of the biggest stories you might have missed (and some links if you’d like to read further). A note to readers: On Politics will take a break next week and return in the new year. We hope you have a happy holiday. ___________________ How did we get here? On Tuesday, the White House signaled that President Trump might back down on his demand for $5 billion for a wall at the southern border as part of a spending deal that would head off a partial government shutdown. On Wednesday night, after a contentious day of negotiating, the Senate passed a stopgap bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8. The bill did not include money for the border wall. But on Thursday, Mr. Trump torpedoed the deal. Under fire from conservatives who accused him of breaking a core campaign promise, the president once again said he would not sign the bill if it did not include funding for the wall. On Friday night, after a flurry of negotiations, the House adjourned with no deal reached. The government shut down after midnight, except for the military, the Postal Service and other core functions. Talks were expected to begin again on Saturday. For more details on the shutdown, check out our live briefing. Additional Reading • The Wall and the Shutdown, Explained • Trump’s Allies in Conservative Media Put the President ‘on the Griddle’ • GoFundMe Campaign to Build Border Wall Raises More Than $12 Million Declaring victory in the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State, Mr. Trump ordered a rapid withdrawal of all 2,000 United States ground troops from Syria. But the abrupt, chaotic nature of the move — and the opposition it provoked on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon — raised questions about how Mr. Trump would follow through. Mr. Trump defended the plan on Wednesday, saying that the United States should not be “the Policeman of the Middle East.” And on Thursday, his administration announced that it planned to withdraw roughly 7,000 troops from Afghanistan. That’s about half of the American military force there now. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, after failing to persuade Mr. Trump to reverse the Syria decision, resigned in a letter that amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the president. Here are more details, and here’s Mr. Mattis’s full letter of resignation. Additional Reading • With the Generals Gone, Trump’s ‘America First’ Could Fully Emerge • Mattis’s Resignation Creates New Cracks Between G.O.P. Lawmakers and Trump • Pentagon Considers Using Special Operations Forces to Continue Mission in Syria • In a Flash, U.S. Military Policy Turns Inward and Echoes Across the Globe As the Federal Reserve met this week, it confronted a tale of two economies: Data show continuing, healthy growth, but Wall Street investors are behaving as if the expansion is in grave danger. On Monday, the president attacked the Fed in a series of tweets expressing incredulity that it continued to raise interest rates. A number of experts think the president has a point, arguing that the rate increases could lead to a recession. Defying Mr. Trump’s call for a pause, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday. On Friday, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said future rate increases would depend on continued economic growth, emphasizing that the Fed would adjust its plans as necessary. Additional Reading • A Shutdown Might Not Have Much Immediate Impact on the Economy • As Markets Tumble, Tech Stocks Hit a Rare and Ominous Milestone • Homelessness Rises Slightly Despite Strong Economy, Federal Report Finds The sentencing of Michael T. Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser, was postponed after a judge expressed “disgust” for his lies to F.B.I. investigators. Two former business associates of Mr. Flynn have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey’s secret 2016 lobbying campaign. Two reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee found an effort by Russia to target African-Americans and suppress turnout among Democratic voters by using fake Instagram accounts. The director of national intelligence said a study requested by the White House found that Russian attempts to polarize American voters continued during the midterms, but that voting systems were not compromised. The Donald J. Trump Foundation, once billed as the charitable arm of the president’s financial empire, agreed to dissolve and give away its assets under court supervision. New York’s attorney general accused it of “a shocking pattern of illegality,” including coordination with Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign. Seeking to block dozens of subpoenas for documents from the Trump Organization and other entities, the Justice Department asked an appeals court to halt a lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of violating the Constitution’s anticorruption clauses. The court agreed Thursday to suspend the lawsuit temporarily. Additional Reading • Five Takeaways From New Reports on Russia’s Social Media Operations • U.S. Is ‘Working On’ Extraditing Gulen, Top Turkish Official Says • Trump Administration to Lift Sanctions on Russian Oligarch’s Companies Mexico hoped to get Mr. Trump to join an investment plan to create jobs in Central America by reminding him that there’s a new player in the region: China. The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would support that plan, pledging $5.8 billion toward the development of Central America. But all deals have a price. The Trump administration announced on Thursday that the United States will begin returning individuals seeking asylum to Mexico — regardless of where they are from — while they await rulings on their cases. Mexico reluctantly agreed. Additional Reading • Supreme Court Won’t Revive Trump Policy Limiting Asylum • Honduran Migrant Seen Fleeing Tear Gas With Her Toddlers Is Now in U.S. • Mexico Once Saw Migration as a U.S. Problem. Now It Needs Answers of Its Own As Russia’s online election machinations came to light last year, a group of tech experts decided to try out similar deceptive tactics favoring the Democrat in the fiercely contested Alabama Senate race. Senator Doug Jones called for an investigation after the report emerged, saying he was “outraged.” Women will hold 23 of 42 seats in the Nevada State Assembly when it comes into session in February, making Nevada the first state with a majority-female assembly in the nation’s history. Michigan’s Republican-run Legislature drew a target on its Democratic rivals in the lame-duck session that just ended. But the lawmakers’ aim was worse than expected, as they failed to pass many of the bills intended to reduce the power of the incoming Democratic governor. Representative Martha McSally lost her run for the Senate in November. But the Arizona Republican will join its ranks anyway — she has been appointed to the seat that John McCain held. Following the lead of 10 other states, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who in the past has called marijuana a “gateway drug,” announced that he would push to legalize the recreational use of pot in New York by early 2019. Additional Reading • Health Law Could Be Hard to Knock Down Despite Judge’s Ruling • North Carolina Election Contractor Was Investigated for Possible Fraud in 2016 Race _____________________ Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York. Is there anything you think we’re missing? Anything you want to see more of? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com. |