Morning
Morning tweets
- Retweet of @foxandfriends exerpt of interview with Kyle Coddington. Coddington is fighting brain cancer and was the target of joke on former comedian Samantha Bee’s TBS show “Full Frontal” (@foxandfriends)
- President Trump retweets @DRUDGE_REPORT link to Bloomberg article showing U.S. jobs and pay showing solid gains during Trump’s first full month (Bloomberg) PDF of Bureau of Labor Statistics report for February 2017 (PDF)
New York Times caught editing headline from January 20, 2017. The original headline read “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides.” The headline now reads “Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates.” These changes occured after the NYT refuted Trump’s claims of being wiretapped (Gateway Pundit) (NewsDiffs)
Avalere Health reports that Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) healthcare plan could result in larger health mandate penalties than Obamacare (Avalere Health)
House Oversight Committee review’s ATF’s failures in death of ICE agent Jaime Zapata (House Oversight)
- “Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) failed to appear at the hearing. Invitations to testify before Congress are not optional. Chairman Chaffetz signed subpoenas to compel the attendance of ATF officials Ronald Turk and William Temple later this month.”
- “ATF took full responsibility for not investigating straw purchasers who trafficked a firearm that was later used in the attack that killed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata and wounded his colleague, Special Agent Victor Avila.”
VP Pence and HHS Secretary Price met with conservative leaders today at the White House to discuss the Obamacare repeal and replace healthcare bill (White House)
Background Press Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the Upcoming Visit of Chancellor Merkel of Germany (White House)
- Chancellor Angela Merkel will be visiting the White House on Tuesday
- “[The President] does believe that Germany, as one of the largest economies within NATO, should be setting an example and should be leading by example, as we do from the United States. And so I’m sure that, again, this is going to be a topic of discussion about how concretely we get there, to the 2 percent benchmark.”
- “[The U.S.] will be attending the G7 and the G20 summits. We’ll also be having bilateral meetings at those events.”
Weekly Address (The White House Facebook) (White House YouTube)
- President Trump joins Americans in celebrating Women’s History Month
- Trump discusses the negative effects of Obamacare on healthcare
- “action on Obamacare is an urgent necessity”
- Trump once again endorses the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare
- The plan is three-pronged: the House plan, HHS Secretary Price will reduce regulations driving up costs of care, and regulation reforms to lower the cost of care
- Trump encourages Democrats to join Republicans in reforming healthcare
- “So we did the right thing then, and we expect every employee to follow the law… when he found out that General Flynn had betrayed the trust of the Vice President back in the day, he let him go. The President has high standards for everyone that works in this administration.“
- “the President has made clear to every person in this administration you are expected to live up to the high standards that he has set for them, and that if you don’t you will be dismissed.”
- “The United States continues to be a steadfast ally, friend and partner to the Republic of Korea.”
- “Don’t make me make the podium move”
- Spicer confirms Trump has invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House
Remarks by President Trump in a Healthcare Discussion with Key House Committee Chairmen (White House)
China responds it is reconsidering its policy to NOT use nuclear weapons on South Korea in response to U.S. deployment of THAAD missile systems and B-52 bombs to South Korea. The deployment of defense weapons follows increase in North Korean military activities (Global Times)
Swedish publication Nya Dagbladet publishes an open letter addressed to President Trump thanking him for speaking the truth on immigration and the refugee crisis. Translation of letter and link to original found here (Gates of Vienna)
Afternoon
Press Briefing with Press Secretary Sean Spicer (White House YouTube) (White House)
- additional 400 “enabling forces” will be deployed to Syria to help Syrian partners defeat ISIS, especially in Raqqa
- “So I don’t think it should come as any surprise that there are people that burrowed into government during eight years of the last administration, and may have believed in that agenda and what to continue to seek it. I don’t think that should come as a surprise to anyone.”
Remarks by the Vice President to the Latino Coalition Policy Summit (White House)
Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) tells fellow Republicans that Obama stayed in D.C. to help run the “shadow government” that is undermining President Trump (AP)
Attorney General Sessions seeks resignation of 46 Obama-era U.S. attorneys. Asking prior administration attorneys to resign is a normal tradition stretching back to President Regan (ABC News)
PDF to President Trump’s three-pronged approach to repeal and replace Obamacare (White House)
Senator Paul (R-KY) tells Breitbart that he has been in constant contact with the President regarding the Obamacare replacement bill. The President is”very open to negotiation” (Breitbart)
Evening
White House releases report for Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (PDF of report) Summary of Report (PDF).
Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) tells FOX News that he was wiretapped while in Congress and people should not be surprised that the President was wiretapped (Real Clear Politics)
Tomorrow, March 11, VP Pence will join Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin in Louisville, Kentucky for a small business listening session focused on the American Health Care Act (White House)
President Trump's First 100 Days 