Jennifer Jacobs
@JenniferJJacobs
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CBS News senior White House reporter. Reporting what I know, not what I think. @Bloomberg and @DMRegister alum. Email me: [email protected] đź’•Iowa
Joined July 2008
BREAKING:  Russian govt official Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country, citing his opposition to Putin’s war in Ukraine, sources tell Bloomberg News. He is highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the invasion.
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NEWS: Hope Hicks, who traveled with Trump aboard Air Force One to and from the presidential debate on Tuesday, and to his Minnesota rally yesterday, has coronavirus, sources tell me.
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NEWS: Along with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, at least FOUR other White House aides currently have coronavirus, per sources. Pains were taken to keep Meadows’ illness a secret, I’m told. And people around him who knew were told to keep quiet.
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NEWS: One of Trump’s personal assistants has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell me. Nick Luna, as bodyman, works in very close proximity to the president so it’s not surprising.
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On 1st day, Biden will rescind travel ban on several Muslim countries, rejoin Paris climate accord, extend pandemic limits on evictions and student loan payments, and order agencies to figure out how to reunite children separated from families at border.
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Dr. Fauci would prefer a 14-day national shutdown of some sort to slow down coronavirus, and has made this point of view known in admin, he says on "Meet the Press." . "I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for over-reacting," Fauci told @chucktodd.
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Hours before the debate, a Trump camp email goes out: "I just finished debating Joe Biden."
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BREAKING: Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has the coronavirus. Meadows informed a close circle of advisers after the election. Story by me, @tylerpager and @MarioDParker out soon.
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DirecTV plans to drop OANN, dealing a major blow to the conservative channel, @gerryfsmith reports.
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NEWS: One of the president's military aides, Coast Guard aide Jayna McCarron, has coronavirus, sources tell me. And so does one of the president's valets, who is also active duty military, and traveled with the president last week.
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NEWS: The head of White House security office, Crede Bailey, is gravely ill with coronavirus and has been hospitalized since late September, I'm told. Security office handles credentialing for access to WH; works closely with Secret Service on security measures on the compound.
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News: Don Jr, the president’s son, has tested positive for coronavirus. He escaped the virus when people around him got infected, including his girlfriend Kimberly, but now has it, per multiple sources.
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Biden’s Inaugural Committee is asking people around the country to illuminate buildings and ring church bells at 5:30p ET on Jan. 19 “in a national moment of unity and remembrance” for those who have died of coronavirus.
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SCOOP: Trump has repeatedly spoken by phone with Steve Bannon in recent weeks to seek advice on his campaign to overturn his re-election defeat, reconciling with his once-estranged ex White House strategist, sources tell me. Story out soon.
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BREAKING: EU is set to propose new round of sanctions that would target wealthy Russians and their family, and 100+ members of the upper house of the Russian Parliament who have voted in favor of measures backing the war in Ukraine. @AlbertoNardelli @JohnFollain @nchrysoloras.
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“This is not a political statement. This is a statement of unity,” @garthbrooks says of accepting Biden’s invitation to perform at the inauguration.
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Trump gave remarks at the Daytona 500 pre-race ceremony, stood on the track for the national anthem and prayer, and gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
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NEWS: Biden spoke with injured @BuffaloBills football player Damar Hamlin’s mother and father.
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NEW: Ukraine's @ZelenskyyUa on call with US senators asked for no fly zone, lethal aid, ban on Russian oil, I'm told. Also wants Visa and Mastercard use suspended in Russia, and more US businesses to leave.
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AP: “The chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates says it is not reconsidering shifting the second debate from virtual back to in-person, despite a request from President Donald Trump’s team.”.
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Scoop: When JD Vance moves into the Naval Observatory residence on Jan. 20 with his wife Usha and their three young children, it will be his 1st time there. No invitation for a formal sit-down or tour has been extended by VP Kamala Harris, multiple D and R sources told CBS News.
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BREAKING: Trump, who revealed early this morning he has coronavirus, is leaving the White House for Walter Reed Military Medical Center.
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Scoop: Biden admin has a plan to rob Putin of some of his best innovators by waiving a certain visa requirement for highly educated Russians who want to come to the U.S. Story out soon, with @AlbertoNardelli.
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Who’s 1st leader POTUS chose to sit with for bilat here at #G7 in Biarritz? UK’s new prime minister Boris Johnson. “He needs no advice” on Brexit, Trump told us. “He’s the right man for the job. I've been saying that for a long time. It didn't make your predecessor very happy."
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BREAKING scoop: Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has tested positive for the coronavirus, sources tell me.
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BREAKING: Trump outside adviser David Bossie tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, sources tell me.
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BREAKING: Trump has left White House for final time of his presidency.
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"There's just no evidence" of widespread fraud or corruption, @MittRomney says on @CNN. "I think it's important for us to recognize that the world is watching," he says. "I would prefer the world to be watching a more graceful departure."
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Seems like @flotus was making a statement. White House valets, or aides, could’ve picked up her shopping for her. The Bidens are doing a lot of tasks that could be done for them, aides tell me.
The owner of the newsstand/bodega in my neighborhood wanted to show me a picture this morning. Said FLOTUS Jill Biden stopped by unannounced last week to buy $95 in magazines and newspapers. Most excitement store had seen. Took a selfie with the staff.
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Scoop: US allies in Europe are discussing the possibility of using the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs/elites to help fund Ukraine’s war recovery efforts, @StephanieBodoni @AlbertoNardelli report. Billions in assets frozen; superyachts, jets and properties seized.
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Trump and First Lady leaving Mar-a-Lago a day early — heading back to the White House tomorrow at 11a, missing the New Year’s Eve party that hundreds bought tickets for.
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Biden is handing out ice cream bars to ballplayers from both congressional teams. Dove bars with a presidential seal.
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So many WH and admin aides incensed at Trump. “He made a mockery of our hard work. Furious.”. Some seeing job leads/offers evaporate because they waited a week too long. “We believed in the work. He only believes in himself.”. “I have to wear a scarlet T now.” . @GettyImages
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Asked why Biden goes home to Delaware so often, "because it's his home," @PressSec says. "You like going home, right? . He's human, too."
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Today is Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s last day physically at the White House, although she continues in her role as @presssec next week, aides tell me, confirming @maggieNYT. She’s in her office right now, packing up to go.
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NEW: Jared Kushner and a small crew of White House advisers are heading this week to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, I'm told.
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News: There's a petition circulating inside the US Secret Service that flags concerns about "a number of recent Secret Service incidents indicative of inadequate training," a double standard in disciplinary actions, and a vulnerability "to potential insider threats" that could.
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"You know who’s not golfing? Bob Mueller, that’s who," a GOP operative texts me.
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“I just didn’t want to stay in the White House,” Trump says in video from Walter Reed. “I was given that alternative.”. (Actually he *did* want to stay at the White House — he resisted going to the hospital. Had to be talked into it, per multiple sources.).
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Less than 99 hours now until Biden is sworn in.
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Turning point in attitudes among allies of @realDonaldTrump. A current paid Trump adviser this a.m: “Trump f----ed the party. He f----ed the party with his conspiracy theories and pushing females and independents away from the party. The bleeding needs to stop. He needs to go.”.
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BREAKING: Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, has coronavirus, sources tell me.
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Another factor that is unsettling White House aides tonight is Nick Luna is married Cassidy Dumbauld, who is an aide to Jared Kushner. More people in the circle around Trump’s senior adviser diagnosed with coronavirus.
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BREAKING: Trump plans to order meat processing plants to STAY OPEN, declaring them critical infrastructure under Defense Production Act. Order meant to stave off shortage of beef, chicken, eggs, pork. Plant closures could have shut down as much as 80% of capacity, source says.
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Trump didn't answer a question about whether it is inevitable he’ll be impeached. He left the Oval. Which is unusual. Usually *we* leave the Oval.
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NEW: The top Russia expert on Trump’s National Security Council, Andrew Peek, has left his post, just a couple months in, sources tell me, @nwadhams and @justinsink. That’s the Fiona Hill, Tim Morrison, Russia/Ukraine job. Peek was escorted from WH on Friday. Story out soon.
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BREAKING: Deputy nat sec adviser Matt Pottinger resigned Wednesday afternoon. Pottinger among WH officials dismayed by protesters' attack and Trump's role in inciting violence. Pottinger had intended to resign election day, regardless of outcome, but stayed at O'Brien's request.
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NEWS: A rapid test just ahead of Trump meeting with military leaders Saturday is what caught Gen. Lengyel's positive reading, I'm told. Coronavirus scare is getting VERY close to Trump when one of his generals tests positive *at White House,* as well as a valet and a VP aide.
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LATEST: Trump, confident VP and cabinet won’t attempt to remove him under 25th Amendment, is planning defiant final days in office—more pardons, trip to Alamo, possible action on Big Tech companies. Story by @MarioDParker @josh_wingrove and me.
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BREAKING: White House is weighing plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from National Security Council after he testified in impeachment inquiry, a move that will be part of a broader effort to shrink Trump admin foreign policy bureaucracy, sources tell me & @nwadhams. Story out soon.
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West Wing walls are bare, except for some paintings and pictures that belong to the White House. Most desks are emptied out. Trump staff are moving on.
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The only living GOP ex president, George W. Bush, will attend Biden inauguration, his 8th inauguration. He wants to witness “the peaceful transfer of power” that is “a hallmark of our democracy that never gets old,” aide says. @laurawbush coming, too.
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President retweeted the words "Covid has cure. America wake up.”. And his amplification of that message was removed by Twitter within minutes as a falsehood.
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Scoop: Biden’s team denies acting Defense Sec Christopher Miller’s request for transition space at the Pentagon after he leaves office tomorrow, a courtesy normally extended at the Defense Dept, @nwadhams reports .
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Goodyear tires on the Beast.
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Scoop: John Kelly and John Bolton engaged in a profanity-laced argument outside the Oval Office today, I'm told. The shouting match was so intense others worried one of the two men might immediately resign. Neither is resigning, I'm told.
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BREAKING: Ryan Tully has resigned from the NSC. He was senior director for European and Russian Affairs. Quit after yesterday's events at US Capitol, I'm told.
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Some of Trump’s closest aides sensed on WEDNESDAY that the president was feeling poorly. The president seemed exhausted, I'm told. Some chalked it up to fatigue from an intense campaign schedule, others began to worry he had the coronavirus.
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I yelled to Putin why do you fear navalny so much. Putin heard me and didn’t answer. Biden flashed me a big toothy grin.
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A student whose classmates met with and touched VP Pence is now quarantined. On Friday, cadets at Sarasota Military Academy shook hands with Pence, who was visiting Sarasota for fundraiser. One cadet’s mom had been in contact with a coronavirus patient.
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Scoop: Biden admin officials are discussing whether US should subject some of @elonmusk’s ventures to national security reviews, including his deal for Twitter Inc., and the Starlink satellite network, sources tell @SalehaMohsin and me. @BloombergTV
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Twitter locks more White House posts.
BREAKING: Twitter has locked the personal account of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing news Democrats don’t like.
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Scoop: Ryan Zinke has notified the White House he intends to step down as interior secretary. Concern about legal costs and scrutiny of his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest were factors in Zinke’s decision, I’m told. Plan is to announce Wednesday.
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NEWS: A group of US House GOPers who voted to accept Biden’s Electoral College victory are asking Biden to persuade Pelosi to back off impeaching Trump for Capitol riot. @RepKenBuck and others warn in letter it would inflame Trump supporters, damage efforts to unify country.
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BREAKING: Trump is likely to grant Steve Bannon a pardon, sources tell me, ending federal prosecution of the president’s former strategist for allegedly defrauding donors to a group that sought to build a wall on the Mexico border. Story out soon.
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Ben Carson, who has coronavirus, was at the White House for the election night watch party on Tuesday, along with other members of the Trump cabinet, including Bill Barr, Steve Mnuchin, Alex Azar, David Bernhardt, etc.
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BREAKING: One of Vice President Mike Pence’s closest political advisers, Marty Obst, tested positive for coronavirus infection this week, sources tell me. Story from @tylerpager and me out shortly.
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"Today I'm also pleased to announce that I will soon sign an executive order establishing a national commission to promote patriotic education. It will be called the 1776 Commission,” Trump says in political speech at National Archives Museum.
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Biden campaign has asked their scheduled radio pooler not to travel with the Democratic candidate tomorrow. The radio pooler was on the Minnesota AF1 flights on Weds. White House Medical Unit thinks the Trump pool was at low risk of exposure Weds, but team Biden being cautious.
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NEWS: White House will tomorrow announce further troop reductions from Iraq, per a Trump administration official. And further Afghanistan troop reductions coming in a few days.
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🚨🚨 High-level Trump sources tell me the White House is now uncertain if they can get the Russians and Ukrainians to stop fighting because this episode with @ZelenskyyUa raised questions about whether he can move forward toward a peace deal. It also raises questions about.
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Trump was sitting talking when the salute to troops started at Nats ballpark. When he noticed the row of Marines he jumped to his feet, pumped his fist in air and clapped. Deep loud boo from throughout the park when jumbotron showed Trump. Some chanted: “Lock. Him. Up!”
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“I’m not supposed to take any questions, but go ahead,” @POTUS told me at FEMA HQ. I asked if there's still an acute risk at the Kabul airport. “I’m not going to answer on Afghanistan,” he said.
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“The president is slowly, agonizingly going through the 5 stages of narcissist grief: Denial, denial, denial, denial, denial and denial. I know that’s 6, but Rudy is demanding a recount,” @StephenAtHome.
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Trump’s new coronavirus travel prohibitions will not apply to the trade and cargo that flow between Europe and the United States, White House says.
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White House cleaning crews are scrubbing the press secretary’s office to prep for the arrival of @jrpsaki. The cleaners are all over the West Wing and residence this morning, Inauguration Day. Some Trump aides left notes behind for the new staffers.
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Language Macron used with UK's May in front of reporters: English. Yesterday in power play w Trump: French, which Trump doesn't understand.
We stand with the UK. We know this kind of attacks. We will do everything we can to increase cooperation against terrorism. @theresa_may
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NEWS: The White House ethics lawyer, Stefan Passantino, leaves the post *tomorrow*, sources tell me.
Scooplet: The latest in the WH departure lounge? Stefan Passantino, the White House ethics czar in the counsel's office, who's leaving by the end of the summer:
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BREAKING: Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell as his frustration has intensified after this week’s interest-rate increase and months of stock-market losses. Advisers close to Trump aren’t convinced he will try to do it, but say he wants to.
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BREAKING: Sarah Bloom Raskin has withdrawn her nomination for Federal Reserve, sources tell me.
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“He’s scared shitless,” said John Kelly, Trump’s ex chief of staff. “This is the way he compensates for that. He gives people the appearance he doesn’t care by doing this. For the first time in his life, it looks like he’s being held accountable.”
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“I don't want to scare anybody here but understand the facts: we're likely to lose another 250,000 people, dead, between now and January, because people aren't paying attention,” Biden said during an economic round table on coronavirus pandemic.
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NEWS: White House feels blindsided by @Sen_JoeManchin’s decision that he’s a “no” on Build Back Better. Just days ago, Manchin personally handed @POTUS a $1.8 trillion plan he would support, I’m told. In interview with @BretBaier today, Manchin said “I can't get there.”.
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One idea Trump considered while still at Walter Reed was wearing a Superman T-shirt under his dress shirt as he left the hospital. @maggieNYT .
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TRUMP visited the press cabin on Air Force One, and spoke for about 10 minutes from the doorway, without a mask, on trip home from Iowa.
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DAVID BOSSIE has been leading Trump's post-election political and legal battle. The president tapped him for the role last week when his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, fell ill with the coronavirus. Bossie now has the virus also.
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NEW: On WWI commemoration trip, Trump fancied several pieces art at US ambassador’s historic residence in Paris, where he was staying—and on a whim had a portrait, bust and figurines loaded onto AF1, sources tell @nwadhams and me. Figurines now on mantel in Oval. Story out soon.
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"Can you imagine if I lost in Iowa?" Trump says in North Carolina.
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Scoop: Trump told Republican senators in private lunch that he wants a payroll tax holiday *through the November election,* sources tell me. He doesn’t want taxes to go back up before voters decide whether to return him to office. Story out soon.
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Breaking: Buses full of Trump's day one staff are on way to West Wing. They're rolling onto White House campus now
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NEWS: Along with Mark Meadows, at least two other White House aides currently have coronavirus, sources tell me.
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It’s not the speechwriter’s fault. I’m standing next to the teleprompter Trump is reading from in the East Room and it says CPB. But Trump has said “CBC” over and over.
This is odd. At a ceremony honoring Customs and Border Protection (CBP) @realDonaldTrump is repeatedly referring to the organization as "CBC".
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Some Trump aides who contracted coronavirus weren't in the Rose Garden for Amy Coney Barrett's event, including Stephen Miller. So eyes are still on both Rose Garden event (Sept. 26) and debate prep (Sept. 26, 27, 28), which included a session in the Oval Office.
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“Yes, I have” read the intel report on Jamal Khashoggi that the ODNI will soon release, @potus tells me.
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