Earlier today President Trump held a roundtable discussion on issues surrounding immigration and border security.  At the beginning of the meeting the media remained present as President Trump made some remarks and took some questions:

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The Precursor – Yesterday there was a meeting at the White House between FL Senator Rick Scott, FL Governor Ron DeSantis, FL Senator Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump.  Florida is home to most of the Venezuela political exiles and opposition groups who oppose Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Today, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president while surrounded by thousands of supporters. At a rally that brought hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans into the east of Caracas, Guaido said Maduro had usurped power and promised to create a transitional government that would help the country escape its hyperinflationary economic collapse.

“I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation,” 35-year old Guaido, the head of the opposition-run congress, told an exuberant crowd.

Minutes later, U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Guaido as the legitimate interim president.
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President Donald Trump sends a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding concerns over the State of the Union and the temporary government shutdown.   UPDATE: Speaker Pelosi responds; revokes initial invitation; refuses to call for joint session.

Dear Madam Speaker:

Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain that there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event. They have since confirmed this publicly.

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers remarks to the awaiting press pool on current events.

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Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a video-conference message to the assembly of international economic leadership in Davos. [Full remarks and transcript below]

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[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, and thank you, Borge, for your kind introduction. And thank you to the World Economic Forum for the invitation to speak today. It’s 18 degrees Fahrenheit here in Washington, D.C. You see the Lincoln Memorial to my back. So while I’m not here in person, I at least feel like I’m in Davos with the weather.
It’s interesting times that we live in. Over the past few years, all around the world, voters have tuned out politicians and political alliances that they thought weren’t representing their interests. A few examples of new directions that people have taken: Brexit; the election of President Macron in France; the rise of the Five Star Movement in Italy; Mahathir’s comeback in Malaysia; and of course, Borge, as you referenced, the election of President Donald Trump.
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The House Judiciary Committee is the lead committee on the constitutional process to evoke articles of impeachment.  Jerry Nadler is the committee Chairman.  Speaker Pelosi previously created specific rules for the House in a well planned construct to empower three committee heads (Cummings, Schiff and Nadler) toward a narrow path.
Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings is leading off on Thursday February 7th, 2019, with testimony from Trump’s former legal counsel Michael Cohen.  It should be noted Mr. Cohen is being represented at the committee hearing by DNC operative Lanny Davis. However, Mr. Lanny Davis is not being paid by Mr. Cohen; he is being paid by democrat groups supporting the ‘resistance’ strategy.

The very next day, Friday February 8th, Nadler has scheduled the DOJ to appear for his first round approach in the legislative trident.   This is all being done by a well-crafted design.  Toward that end, today Chairman Jerry Nadler sends an anticipatory demand letter (full pdf below) to Acting AG Matthew Whitaker telling him the committee will not respect any claims of executive privilege between the DOJ and the White House.

Washington, D.C. –Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker outlining a list of prepared questions concerning communications between the Mr. Whitaker and President Trump in advance of the February 8th House Judiciary Committee hearing.

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Earlier today President Trump noted the evil smears, and aspersions by Fake News, cast against Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington High School.

A few hours later Fox News host Laura Ingraham was the first media person to claim that Covington High School students were going to attend a White House event {See Here}.   Minutes later Zero Hedge joined in {See Here}.  Then, a few hours later, Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire, citing their independent sources, confirmed the students were going to visit the White House {See Here}.  It was off to the races from there.
However, despite President Trump’s personal sympathy toward the terrible injustice done to young Mr. Sandmann; including the school students and the larger Kentucky high school reputation; it is unlikely the claims of a pending White House visit are credible.
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The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to bypass normal procedures and decide quickly about the status of a 2020 citizenship question on the Census.

Citing an emergency rule, Solicitor General Noel Francisco stated “the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court.”

(WaPo) Last week, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman of New York ordered the administration to stop its plans to add the question to the survey. Furman said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross broke a “veritable smorgasbord” of federal rules by overriding the advice of career officials who said including the citizenship question was likely to cut down the response rate and make the census less accurate. (more)

The administration is informing the court the decision is needed by the end of June in order to meet the deadlines for printing the census reports.  The solicitor general is proposing arguments for April if the court accepts the urgency request.

Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow responded to a fake news story the U.S. has canceled a trade meeting with China; never happened – there was no meeting scheduled.  Mr. Kudlow discusses some of the granular issues within the ongoing trade discussion with the Chinese.
Additionally, Chairman Kudlow discusses his outlook for the economy in light of the government shutdown.

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There are some political observers who believe an extended government shutdown, that can impact the overall U.S. economy, is actually the goal behind the Pelosi strategy.  There is a plausible basis for this perspective.  Tom Donohue (et al) and Wall Street (writ large) would be the primary beneficiaries if Pelosi can break the “America First” economic focus.  It would not surprise me to find out the Big Club people behind the Pelosi/Schumer strategy hold this K-Street intent.  We’ll have to keep watching.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have come to a UniParty agreement to advance two simultaneous bills to end the government shutdown.
The first bill contains the Trump priority agenda; the second bill contains the Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell priority agenda.  The senate will get to vote on both bills individually.  It is possible, perhaps likely, both will fail. However, watch the defectors. If history is a guide, any defectors will come from the GOPe side of the equation.

(Washington DC) […]  The first vote will be on President Trump‘s proposal to to reopen the government, provide $5.7 billion in funding for the border wall and extend legal protections to some immigrants for three years. If that fails, the Senate would then vote on a three-week continuing resolution (CR).

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