Senate Republicans ready to revolt against 'Tariff Man' Trump

GOP making a stand?

A growing number of Senate Republicans say they too want a strong border, but Donald Trump's threat to impose economically disruptive tariffs on Mexico crosses the line. They warned Trump administration officials Tuesday they were assembling a veto-proof majority to stop him.

The president, in London, said his fellow Republicans would be “foolish” to oppose his latest move to pressure Mexico over the northbound flow of Central American migrants through that country. But if it comes to that, and the GOP vote-counters are right, Trump would face the first successful veto-override vote of his presidency.

“There is not much support in my conference for tariffs — that’s for sure,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after his members met behind closed doors. 

“I will yield to nobody in passion and seriousness and commitment to securing the border," said Sen. Ted Cruz, "but there’s no reason for Texas farmers and ranchers and manufacturers and small businesses to pay the price of massive new taxes.”

Senators worry the tariffs would raise consumer prices, harm the economy and imperil a major pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal. 

Mexican negotiators in Washington voiced hope that they could reach an agreement on the migrants, though it was unclear what Mexico could do beyond what it has already done to satisfy Trump. 

Some on Capitol Hill questioned whether Trump, who set a June 10 deadline, would go through with the tariffs. “Trump has a habit of talking tough and then retreating,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York. But Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said Trump was "dug in" when he spoke with him Sunday. “He’s as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke,” Kennedy said.

Trump minds his manners

Trump toned himself down on Day 2 of his state visit to London, basking in his royal reception and running low on fights to pick.

In a joint news conference, he complimented outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, saying, “I have greatly enjoyed working with you." He softened past remarks that she botched Brexit — the ongoing debacle of Britain's three-year effort to quit the European Union — even saying she deserves "a lot of credit." Trump said he would have “sued [the EU] and settled, maybe, but you never know. She’s probably a better negotiator than I am.” 

He praised two would-be May successors, Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. But he snubbed opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, refusing the left-wing Labour Party leader's request for a meeting and saying of him: “I think that people should look to do things correctly as opposed to criticize.”

As for the reception on the streets, Trump said "there were thousands of people cheering" (there weren't) and just a “very, very small” group of protesters (there were thousands, but fewer than during his 2018 visit). One supporter stabbed and deflated one of the giant inflatable blimps depicting Trump as a sneering baby. She was arrested.

No beef with 'nasty' Markle

Trump still thinks Meghan Markle — now the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry's wife — was "nasty" about him during the 2016 campaign, but he now says he doesn't have a problem with it.

In an interview airing Wednesday on "Good Morning Britain," Trump said, "She was nasty to me. And that’s OK for her to be nasty. It’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t." 

Markle, an American and a former actress, had threatened to move to Canada if Trump won the election in 2016. Told about that remark before he left Washington, Trump said "she was nasty." Then he denied saying what a recording showed he had said.

Trump also said in the latest interview that he spoke to Harry on Monday, and "he couldn't have been nicer … he's a great guy." Did they discuss the "nasty" comment? "We didn’t talk about it," Trump said, adding, "I was going to because it was so falsely put out there.”

Janison: Trump's Jailfellas

Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman now in federal prison, may be headed for an unpleasant stay at New York City's Rikers Island jail complex while he awaits trial on state fraud charges.

The developments symbolize the gap between elected law-enforcement officials in the state and the president, who may yet pardon Manafort, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. If successful, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's prosecution of Manafort on mortgage fraud and other state felonies could ensure Manafort serves a sentence from which a federal pardon can't rescue him.

Meanwhile, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen is said to be making the best of his incarceration situation at the minimum-security federal lockup in Otisville, New York, and helping fellow inmates with legal advice. They apparently are undeterred by Trump's rueful tweet last August that "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!"

"He is one of the most popular guys in the prison," a person close to Cohen told the Daily Beast. “… He’s told friends that people have been super nice to him and he’s finding the whole experience not that bad. He's been treated like a celebrity in there. People are coming up to him and asking about Trump and Stormy Daniels.”

Stonewall keeps getting higher

In its latest effort to thwart congressional investigations, the White House on Tuesday directed former Trump aide Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson, who worked in the White House counsel's office, to defy subpoenas and refuse to provide documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler responded that "the president has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request." Nadler is also battling the Justice Department for redacted materials from special counsel Robert Mueller's report. A showdown is looming next week, with a vote scheduled on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress.

Cuba cruise business set adrift

The Trump administration on Tuesday ended the most popular forms of U.S. travel to Cuba, banning cruise ships and a category of educational tours, to punish the communist government for its support of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Cruise travel from the U.S. to Cuba, inaugurated in May 2016 during President Barack Obama’s opening of the island, brought 142,721 people in the first four months of the year.

The sanctions take effect Wednesday. The government said it will allow anyone who has already paid for the trip to go ahead with it, but it wasn't clear whether cruise lines will be allowed to carry to Cuba passengers who booked trips before the ban. Cuban-Americans will still be permitted to make family visits. Commercial airline flights appear to be unaffected.

What else is happening:

• Only Trump and the first lady were originally invited to Monday night's state banquet with Queen Elizabeth. But Trump got all of his adult children through the Buckingham Palace doors. Bringing them, in his view, is akin to showcasing his version of royalty, CNN reported.
• Vanity Fair says it got hold of Trump's prenuptial agreement with second wife, Marla Maples. Among the odder provisions: The $100,000-a-year in child support for their daughter Tiffany (born two months before the wedding) would end before age 21 if she got a full-time job, enlisted in the military or joined the Peace Corps.
• Joe Biden unveiled a $1.7 trillion climate change plan that aims to reduce carbon emissions to a net zero by 2050. His campaign later admitted it "inadvertently" failed to attribute passages in the plan to previously published sources. In 1988, that kind of omission sparked plagiarism charges that sank Biden's first presidential campaign.
• Biden's support with Democratic primary voters has settled back to 32% after spiking at 39% when he entered the race, according to a new CNN poll. He's followed by Bernie Sanders, 18%; Kamala Harris, 8%; Elizabeth Warren, 7%; and Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke, both at 5%.
• The Kremlin on Tuesday denied having told the United States that it was pulling personnel out of Venezuela, contradicting a Trump tweet a day earlier, The Washington Post reported.
• Buttigieg said during an MSNBC town hall that he wouldn’t have "applied that pressure" to Al Franken to resign from the Senate in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct. Nearly all the Democratic senators running in 2020 pushed for his resignation, led by New York's Kirsten Gillibrand.
• Senate Republicans are likely to turn thumbs-down on Ken Cuccinelli, Trump's pick to head U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, if the president sends them the nomination, Politico reports. There are hard feelings over Cuccinelli's history of leading groups that target GOP incumbents in favor of more conservative challengers.