1/ The partial shutdown – the longest in U.S. history – ended Friday with Trump agreeing to temporarily reopen the government without money for his wall. Trump, however, is threatening to shut down the government again in less than three weeks if Congress can’t reach a deal to fund the wall, because he doesn’t believe negotiators will strike a deal he could accept. According to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump will secure border “with or without Congress.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

2/ The shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with an estimated $3 billion in economic activity permanently lost. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3%, compared with the 3.1% rate last year, as the benefits of the new tax law begin to fade. Separately, the National Association of Business Economics found that the $1.5 trillion cut tax package has had no major impact on businesses’ capital investment or hiring plans. (CNBC / Reuters / Washington Post)

3/ Nancy Pelosi invited Trump to give the State of the Union on February 5. Pelosi previously rescinded Trump’s invitation to give the address until after the shutdown ended. (Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)

4/ Trump’s golf course in New York relied on a dozen undocumented workers while Trump was demanding border wall funding during the shutdown. They were fired midway through the government shutdown. The firings at the New York golf club follow a report from last year about an undocumented worker at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. After that story, the company fired the undocumented workers. Trump still owns his businesses, but has given day-to-day control to Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. (Washington Post / NBC News)

  • 📌 Day 686: An undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., since 2013 using fake documents to secure employment. After Trump became president, one of her managers told her to get both a new green card and new Social Security card because there were problems with her current ones. When she told the manager that she did not know how to obtain new forgeries, her manager suggested she speak with a maintenance employee to acquire new documents. Her manager lent her the money to replace the one that had “expired.” (New York Times)

  • 📌 Day 714: Trump’s Bedminster golf club shielded at least one undocumented immigrant from a list of workers vetted by the Secret Service during the 2016 campaign. Emma Torres told a human resources employee that she did not have legal status. The woman replied: “‘It’s O.K. No problem.’ She scratched me off the list.” Torres later made sandwiches for Secret Service agents when they began visiting the property. (New York Times)

poll/ 48% of Americans say they have no confidence “at all” in Trump. 64% also have no confidence in Trump to make the right decisions for the future of the country. (ABC News)

poll/ 63% of Americans believe the country is “off on the wrong track” while to 28% believe it’s “headed in the right direction.” 50% blame Trump for the shutdown. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

poll/ 60% of Americans say House Democrats should use their authority to obtain and publicly release Trump’s tax returns. 46% say Democrats will go too far in investigating Trump, while 34% think they’ll handle it about right, with 17% thinking Democrats will not go far enough. (ABC News)

poll/ 57% of Americans support congressional Democrats investigating whether or not Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, 61% support investigating financial ties between Trump and foreign governments, and 59% support investigating Trump’s relationship and communications with Putin. (Washington Post)

poll/ 35% approve of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, while 63% disapprove. 76% of Republicans approve of his foreign policy, while just 8% of Democrats do. (Associated Press)


✏️ Notables.

  1. The Trump administration lifted sanctions against three companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury Department originally sanctioned Deripaska, six other oligarchs, and their companies in April in response to Russia’s “malign activity” around the world. The sanctions against Deripaska himself will remain in effect, but his companies launched a lobbying campaign to argue that the sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal would disrupt the aluminum market and damage U.S. companies. (Reuters / New York Times / Fox News / Bloomberg)

  2. Roger Stone didn’t rule out cooperating with Robert Mueller, despite repeatedly pledging his loyalty to Trump. Stone said he’d “have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion” about cooperating with Mueller. He added: “If there’s wrongdoing by other people in the campaign that I know about, which I know of none, but if there is I would certainly testify honestly.” (ABC News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)

  3. Jerome Corsi, a longtime friend and associate of Stone, said the indictment against Stone is “accurate” and that he will be “happy” to “affirm that if asked to in court.” Corsi was identified as “Person 1” in the 24-page federal indictment filed by Mueller against Stone. (CNN / Politico)

  4. Trump and Jared Kushner thought firing Michael Flynn would end the “Russia thing,” according to Chris Christie’s forthcoming book, “Let Me Finish.” Christie recalled that Trump told him “this Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn.” Trump went on to explain that “Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over.” Kushner added: “That’s right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing.” (New York Times)

  5. Trump endorsed states pushing legislation to allow Bible literacy classes in public schools, calling it a “great” idea. (Politico / Washington Post)

  6. American and Taliban officials have agreed in principle on a framework for a peace deal in Afghanistan. The framework includes a guarantee that the Taliban will prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists in exchange for a ceasefire and Taliban talks with the Afghan government. (New York Times)

  7. The Justice Department accused Huawei of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile. Federal prosecutors also filed paperwork to formerly requesting the extradition of Huawei’s CFO from Canada. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)

  8. The Trump administration sanctioned Venezuela’s state-owned energy company PDVSA. John Bolton said the actions will block $7 billion in assets and cost the country $11 billion in lost exports during the next year. The sanctions come after Trump last week declared the U.S. would no longer recognize President Nicolás Maduro government, proclaiming opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the rightful “interim president” of Venezuela. (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washignton Post)


🧐 So Presidential.

  1. Hillary Clinton isn’t “closing the doors to the idea of running in 2020.” In October, Clinton said she wasn’t planning on running, but has reportedly told people “as recently as this week” that she would “like to be president.” (The Hill)

  2. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tweeted that he is “seriously thinking of running for president” as an independent. The billionaire’s announcement was mocked by people pointing out that there were better ways of helping the country with his money than by jumping in the race and helping Trump win re-election. Trump tweeted that Schultz “doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to be president.” (CBS News / Daily Beast / Politico)

  3. Michael Bloomberg warned that there “is no way an independent” presidential candidate “can win” and would only ensure Trump’s reelection. The former New York City mayor is weighing a bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020. (Politico)

  4. Kamala Harris formally launched her Democratic bid for president, promising to be a fighter “for the people” and to unify a country divided along social, cultural and political lines, saying we’re at “an inflection point” in history. She called on Americans to “speak truth about what’s happening” in the Trump era. (Los Angeles Times / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)