Politics Daily

The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Tease-Pacific Partnership

President Trump told lawmakers that he has ordered his advisers to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal he pulled out of days after taking office.

By Lena Felton and Taylor Hosking
Carlos Barria / Reuters

Today in 5 Lines

  • President Trump told lawmakers that he has ordered his advisers to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal he pulled out of days after taking office.

  • In his confirmation hearing for secretary of state, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said that he has been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but did not provide additional details.

  • Trump appeared to walk back his threats of military action against Syria, tweeting that an attack could happen “very soon” or “not so soon at all.”

  • Democratic lawmakers released a six-page letter detailing new allegations of “wasteful spending of taxpayer funds” by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

  • A fallen tree in Puerto Rico knocked out power service to almost 870,000 people.

Today on The Atlantic

  • Going Full Nixon: Watergate lawyer Richard Ben-Veniste writes that Richard Nixon’s firing of Archibald Cox was the “beginning of the end.” Similar consequences could be in store if Trump chooses to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

  • Firing Rosenstein Would Be a Mistake: The move, writes Paul Rosenzweig, would come at a high political cost and have little effect on the investigation.

  • What’s at Stake: Benjamin Wittes argues that removing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would further erode the independence of law enforcement.

  • ‘We’re Back’: John Bolton and Mike Pompeo embody a worldview reminiscent of earlier Republican administrations. Their arrival could open the door to the Republican foreign-policy establishment. (Rosie Gray)

Snapshot

CIA Director Mike Pompeo takes his seat to testify before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be secretary of state. Leah Millis / Reuters

What We’re Reading

Tweeter in Chief: Despite his pronouncements that he would never publicly telegraph military plans, President Trump’s threats of military action against Syria may have already triggered a response from adversaries. (Gordon Lubold and Nancy A. Youssef, The Wall Street Journal)

Legacy Trumped: The tragedy of Paul Ryan is that he was one of Trump’s loudest critics during the 2016 campaign, but grew silent once he won. For that, Tim Alberta writes, the House speaker “will be remembered as both victim and accomplice.” (Politico)

A Storm Brewing: Teachers’ strikes in a number of red states could prove to be a curveball in the midterms. While Democrats are looking to take advantage of a renewed interest in education funding, some Republican candidates are betting that the movement will die down. (Dana Goldstein and Alexander Burns, The New York Times)

Buying Silence: The story of a $30,000 payoff to a former Trump Tower doorman illustrates a larger pattern: American Media, Inc., National Inquirer’s publisher, repeatedly bought and quashed stories potentially damaging to Trump during his presidential campaign. (Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker)

Inside the West Wing: John Kelly was “emotional” and “intended to quit” after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, according to Comey’s account. Those details and more are reportedly included in his book, A Higher Loyalty, which is due out Tuesday. (Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast)

Visualized

Blue-Collar America Is Not Equal: Has Trump improved the lives of working-class Americans? It depends on who those Americans are, and where they live. (Evan Horowitz, FiveThirtyEight)

-Written by Lena Felton (@lenakfelton) and Taylor Hosking (@Taylor__Hosking)