USA TODAY Washington Bureau chief. Author THE RULEBREAKER: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters, April 2024 from Simon & Schuster. (Available for pre-order!)
NEW: Former president Jimmy Carter says a full investigation “would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016….He was put into office because the Russians interfered.” Does that mean he’s an illegitimate president? “Based on what I said, which I can’t retract.”
At an important moment in our nation's history, it was the honor of my professional life to moderate last night's vice presidential debate. My thanks to the Commission for Presidential Debates
@debates
for the opportunity.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale on President Trump: “He’s got something deep in him that is detestable.” Cites “his rhetoric, his harshness, his divisiveness,” then adds: “Doctors tell me they think they recognize symptoms of psychological problems.” At
@CarterCenter
panel
At
@CarterCenter
conference on human rights moderated by historian Jon Meacham, former president Jimmy Carter says “every day we send a terrible signal” with border policy, “a disgrace to the United States, and I hope it will soon be ended. Maybe not until the 2020 election.”
38 years ago today, I woke up with cold feet but went ahead and got married because, you know, my relatives had flown to DC all the way from Kansas. Happy anniversary, sweetie. : )
Former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly tells Sarasota crowd 'I believe John Bolton.' From my
@USATODAY
Network colleagues at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
When the USA TODAY Editorial Page published an op-ed by President Trump yesterday, we heard from readers who wanted it to be fact-checked. We've now posted that, courtesy of our friends at
@factcheckdotorg
. Thanks.
Bob Dole, 97, announces he is beginning treatment Monday for stage-four lung cancer. He acknowledges "some hurdles ahead," but of course he's been facing those since he was a 2nd lieutenant in World War II. Sending good thoughts.
In our
@AspenInstitute
conversation this afternoon,
@GeorgeWill
(never a fan of President Trump) told me he'll vote for
@JoeBiden
in November--the first time he's voted for a Democrat for any office. (His first presidential vote: Barry Goldwater.)
This afternoon,
@GeorgeWill
and
@SusanPage
will discuss the current state of conservatism in the United States as part of the McCloskey Speaker Series. Register:
If the Justice Department decides to proceed, Mark Meadows could be the first former White House chief of staff to face prosecution since H.R. Haldeman in the Watergate scandal nearly a half-century ago.
The House has voted to hold Mark Meadows in contempt for defying a subpoena in its Jan. 6 probe, urging the DOJ to prosecute Trump's former chief of staff.
Just FYI: the first Vice President to be a person of color was Charles Curtis — Veep to Hoover, a Native American and member of the Kaw Nation, and a son of Kansas, born when my home state was still a territory.
#SunflowerStatePride
Exclusive: In the space of a week, the positive perceptions of the police by white Americans have dropped by double digits. From my
@USATODAY
colleague
@RebeccaMorin_
Just posted: President Trump's job-approval rating drops to a new low, 38%, in the USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, and the intensity of feeling is hardening against him. via
@usatoday
The disciplined
@SpeakerPelosi
almost never loses her composure in public. But she is choking up as she honors the remarkable
@repjohnlewis
at his service in Atlanta.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi tears up in emotional remembrance of John Lewis: "We come with a flag flown over the Capitol the night that John passed. When this flag flew there...it waved goodbye to John. Our friend, our mentor, our colleague. This beautiful man."
After covering the White House for four decades and through six presidencies, and now for my 11th campaign, I've never seen anything like this sort of display on the South Lawn.
From our new USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: Two-thirds of those surveyed, 67%, say Joe Biden has "the right experience to be president." Just 37% say that of Donald Trump, who has been president for 3½ years.
Perils of a biographer: I have a life lesson from Barbara Bush for everything. When she was seriously depressed in 1976, volunteering at a DC hospice helped her recover. In a bad patch, she helped someone in a worse one, and that helped her, too.
#TheMatriarch
Trump in new Reuters interview says that Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama left him the problem of North Korea: “I guess they all realized they were going to have to leave it to a president that scored the highest on tests.”
Context: During the run-up to the Iraq War, Pelosi was the highest-ranking Democrat to oppose the 2002 AUMF -- breaking with other top Democrats, including the House leader. She argued that the intelligence findings didn't adequately support the Bush administration's case.
President Trump’s classified War Powers Act notification raises more questions than it answers about the timing, manner and justification of the decision to engage in hostilities against Iran.
NEW: A solid majority of Americans call Trump's tweets targeting four congresswomen 'un-American.' But 57% of Republicans say they agree with him.
@USATODAY
@Ipsos
Poll via
@usatoday
Congrats to
@AprilDRyan
, elected today as the 513th member of the Gridiron Club, the oldest association of journalists in Washington, founded in 1885. Welcomed here by president
@LightmanDavid
.
Tonight is Brian Williams' last show on
@MSNBC
@11thHour
. It's been my privilege to be his guest, even when it was hard for me to stay awake that late. Thank you, Brian. via
@usatoday
Barbara Walters turns 93 today (though she usually shaved two years off her age). She broke barriers for every female broadcaster who followed, and at considerable personal cost. In researching my bio of her--out next year by
@simonschuster
-- I've been astounded by her impact.
A long marriage and two beautiful children and a fascinating newspaper career and writing books have all been great. But can anything really match winning the Room Rater Top Lego Room award? Thank you,
@ratemyskyperoom
, and a hat tip to Master Lego Builder
@CarlPLeubsdorf
.
Former FBI lawyer Susan Page’s attorney says her client will testify before House committees if given time to prepare: “Bullying tactics here are unnecessary.”
Our new USA TODAY/Suffolk poll finds there is a 'Kavanaugh effect,' but despite the conventional wisdom it is boosting Democratic candidates more than Republicans in the midterms via
@usatoday
"He wanted me to kind of reconcile with President Trump,"
@AVindman
told
@USATODAY
. "He had this image of me...marching into the Oval Office, saluting sharply and saying, 'OK, President Trump, how do we fix this?'" As history knows, that was not advice his son would take >>>
.
@SpeakerPelosi
says she does pray for President Trump, something he questioned at this morning’s prayer breakfast. “I pray hard for him because he’s so off the track for our Constitution” and more. “He really needs our prayers.”
At newser on Capitol Hill,
@SpeakerPelosi
said: "Don't pay any attention to what the President is saying, because it is all designed to suppress the vote."
Trump's decision to hold his signature rallies during a pandemic may have cost him. Two-thirds of likely voters, including 15% of Republicans, said they disapproved in our new
@USATODAY
@Suffolk_U
Poll.
2/ Pelosi asks
@JoyAnnReid
, “Let me ask you this, if she (Rep. Rashida Tlaib) was a man,” would there be such a flap over her words? She adds, “What she said is less offensive than what President Trump said about John McCain.”
#MSNBCTownHall
Proof this is The Coronavirus Campaign:
- Most memorable line at
#DNC
Day 1: "His only preexisting condition was believing Donald Trump."
- Most touching moment: Expression of shared public grief for the 170,000 Americans lost to COVID-19.
- Word never mentioned: Impeachment.
Congratulations to
@KattyKayBBC
, elected as the 514th member of the Gridiron Club, which was established in 1885 and is the oldest association of journalists in Washington. Groundbreaker: Katty is the first member ever from the BBC.
Today would have been my Mom’s 100th bday. She was born on a Kansas farm a year after women got the right to vote. During WWII, she started an all-girl Big Band, "Marge Henry and the KU Coeds," that played radio stations and dance halls. She loved music, golf, wine & my Dad. RIP.
Vice presidential humor: In a
@VanderbiltU
lecture with
@JMeacham
,
@algore
notes Trump's claim that
@VP
Mike Pence could overturn the Electoral College results. "If a vice president could do that, I would have been tempted to use that power 20 years ago," he jokes.
Just to remind:
@SpeakerPelosi
was born in Baltimore, where her father and her brother were once mayors. This plaque is on the side of the house in Little Italy where she grew up; the block is now named for her.
Four weeks before the midterms, President Trump takes aim at Democrats in a
@USATODAY
op-ed: “The truth is that the centrist Democratic Party is dead. The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela.”
WOW: After the verdict, Judge Walton goes on a tear about Jan. 6 and Trump:
"I think our democracy is in trouble because unfortunately we have charlatans like our former president who doen’st in my view really care about democracy but only about power."
Squaring a circle:
@SpeakerPelosi
has a strategy to both deliver a historic rebuke to Trump (by impeaching him this week) and to avoid complicating the opening of Biden's presidency (by delaying delivering them to the Senate).
Tragedy:
@USATODAY
foreign affairs reporter
@OrenDorell
killed by a hit-and-run driver in DC He leaves a wife, two young sons, and a bereft newsroom. RIP.
#NoWords
In our new
@Suffolk_U
@USATODAY
Poll of IOWA:
Biden 25%
Sanders 19%
Buttigieg 18%
Warren 13%
Klobuchar 6%.
Landline and cell phone survey of likely Democratic caucus-goers taken Thursday through Sunday.
Leap of faith: My bio of
@SpeakerPelosi
is now available for preorders, although to be honest the last chapter isn't written yet. In fact, it hasn't happened yet.
Let's not miss the history of this: The first female solo anchor at what I assume will now be called the PBS NewsHour With Judy Woodruff, or TPBSNHWJW for short.
Countdown: Two weeks from today is the pub date for my new book. At the first of five interviews (shown below), Barbara Bush suggested the title for her biography, a funny idea I didn't use. Instead, I called it THE MATRIARCH, a word she in fact didn't like at all!
"CIA officials have listened to an audio recording that Turkish officials say proves the journalist was killed and dismembered by a team of Saudi agents inside the consulate, according to people familiar with the matter."
Update on Americans in Afghanistan: A senior State Dept official says in the last 24 hours the U.S. has been in "direct contact" with about 600 citizens still trying to leave. They are being given "very targeted, tailored, specific instructions on how to get to the airport." 1/
We made a mistake.
As the National Archives of the United States, we are and have always been completely committed to preserving our archival holdings, without alteration.
.
@SpeakerPelosi
unexpectedly shows up at House impeachment managers' presser to deride GOP senators as "cowardly" and mock Mitch McConnell's impassioned speech against Trump in the wake of his actions to protect him from impeachment while in office.
At her weekly newser,
@SpeakerPelosi
says the 2020 election has been "a life or death fight," and says, "We did not win every battle, but we won the war."
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser-designate, says on
#WSJCEOCouncil
that Trump administration missed "the real sources of American strength" in competition with China: American innovation; US alliances; US participation in international institutions; and US values.
Pelosi addresses at greater length the comments by Rep. Rashida Tlaib on impeachment. She says it’s “generational,” that “I don’t like the language.” But she also says, “I’m not in the censorship business.” 1/
#MSNBCTownHall
@SpeakerPelosi
Pelosi leaves the podium, then twice returns to the microphone to denounce Mitch McConnell for "a very disingenuous speech." Censure isn't enough for Trump's actions, she says. "We censure people for using the wrong stationery."
Honored to be on the first
@NewsHour
with co-anchor
@IAmAmnaNawaz
, discussing Barbara Walters and the sometimes difficult progress for women in TV news >>>