April 13, 2018 10:41 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (the 13th)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Do you know how many movies have been released as part of the “Friday the 13th” franchise? If you guessed “12,” then you’re already pretty smart. Still, it’s time to Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY… 

► Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tells friends that he is prepared to be fired by President Trump. From NBC News:

One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity…

…If Rosenstein is fired, the next in line to oversee Mueller’s probe is Solicitor General Noel Francisco, though Trump could choose to replace Rosenstein with anyone who has been confirmed by the Senate.

► The State Assemblies for both Democrats and Republicans will be held on Saturday. The big contests are obviously those for Governor, but both parties also need to vote among candidates for State Treasurer. Among Democrats, there is also an important contest for Attorney General.

Last night, two Republican candidates for Governor (and Greg Lopez) participated in a debate on 9News that was notable largely for the roundhouse punches thrown at Walker Stapleton by Mitt Romney’s Nephew.

► President Trump reportedly plans to pardon Scooter Libby, former Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, largely to send a message to potential witnesses in an investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller. From the Washington Post:

President Trump’s plan to pardon Lewis “Scooter” Libby is the latest signal to his associates that he has the power and inclination to reward those who stay loyal during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Libby was convicted of four felonies, including obstruction of justice and perjury before a grand jury, related to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame during his time as Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000.

Richard Painter, who was the chief ethics lawyer in George W. Bush’s White House from 2005 to 2007, tweeted: “So what’s the message here? Lie to a grand jury to protect political superiors and you will get a full pardon?”

Um, yeah, pretty much.

► Former FBI Director James Comey is promoting his new book set to be released last week, and early reports indicate a bombshell of a tome. CNN’s Chris Cillizza runs down 11 of the most incredible parts of Comey’s memo that have already been released. Nothing in Comey’s book, however, may be bigger than the revelation that the “pee pee tape” could be real. From the Daily Beast:

We regret to inform you that James Comey, the former director of the FBI, says it’s “possible” that a pee tape involving Donald Trump and Russian prostitutes actually exists.

The most infamous section of the Steele dossier, which was full of salacious claims involving Trump and Russia, included a totally unverified claim that the now-president paid prostitutes in 2013 to pee on a Moscow hotel bed where Barack and Michelle Obama once slept.

In his new book, Comey revealed Trump asked him to investigate the claim that any such video existed in order to prove that it wasn’t true. In an interview Friday on Good Morning America, Comey said for the first time that the near-mythical tape could really exist.

Of course the “pee pee tape” might be real. Seriously — would anyone in America actually be surprised to learn that this is a real thing?

Meanwhile, the White House is prepping an all-out messaging war against Comey. Trump is attacking Comey as a “slime ball,” but Politico writes that the President may be on the verge of a complete explosion (or implosion — some kind of ‘splosion, anyway).

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► As if Scooter and Comey weren’t enough, the White House is on edge amid reports that Trump attorney Michael Cohen may have secretly recorded a number of conversations that could now be in the hands of the FBI. From the Washington Post:

Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump’s, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?”

As Rex Huppke writes for the Chicago Tribune, we are witnessing the collapse of a Presidency.

► Democrats in Congressional District 6 decided to place the names of both Jason Crow (64%) and Levi Tillemann (36%) on the June 26 Primary ballot. Ernest Luning has the details for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) doesn’t have to worry about a Primary challenge, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sweating heavily.

► Democrats will participate in the CD-1 assembly today, where Rep. Diana DeGette (Denver) is facing what could be a difficult Primary against Saira Rao. On Friday, Rao announced the endorsements of Denver City Council Members Rafael Espinoza and Debbie Ortega. DeGette, meanwhile, picked up the endorsement of…this guy.

► The Denver Post reports on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s response to President Trump’s proposal for sending National Guard troops to the Mexico border:

Gov. John Hickenlooper says he hasn’t been asked by the Trump administration to send Colorado’s National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, but that he would “certainly look at it” if the call were to come.

“In the past, Colorado has sent troops to the border for specific purposes, and generally those troops have stayed under the authority of the governor,” the Democrat told reporters Thursday. “I think we’d certainly look at that. We are Americans.”

President Donald Trump has said he wants to send as many as 4,000 National Guard troops to secure the border, specifically to halt drug-trafficking and illegal immigration. The governors of Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico have all agreed to deploy troops under the president’s request.

If you’re wondering how Hickenlooper could have handled these comments better, look no further than California:

California Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to send more National Guard troops to the border with Mexico, but said Wednesday they will focus on fighting crime and not enforce policies of Washington.

“This will not be a mission to build a new wall. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life,” Brown said. “And the California National Guard will not be enforcing federal immigration laws.”

► President Trump might decide to re-enter the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

► Chantel Taylor announced Thursday that she is withdrawing from the Democratic race for CU Regent at-large.

► The Denver Post breaks down the rampant fraud and abuse in the petition process for candidates — largely Republicans — who are trying to make the Primary ballot. The Colorado Springs Gazette, meanwhile, is so far in the tank for Republican gubernatorial Walker Stapleton that it’s downright silly.

Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) also loves him some Stapleton.

► Democratic candidate for Treasurer Dave Young can now tout the support of Colorado’s two largest teacher’s unions.

► Former Gov. Roy Romer is backing Phil Weiser for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.

► The Colorado Civil Rights Commission will, in fact, receive funding in the new state budget. Republican lawmakers who have been poking at the CCRC are apparently out of ammunition.

► “Raise the Bar” gets a court decision that doesn’t really clarify much of anything in the long term. From Blair Miller at Denver7:

A panel of federal appeals court judges stayed a lower court judge’s order that blocked a portion of Colorado’s Amendment 71, which made changing the state’s constitution more difficult.

The ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that the March ruling by a U.S. District Court of Colorado judge that struck down the portion of the “raise the bar” amendment has been set aside pending the outcome of an appeal by the Colorado Secretary of State.

In late March, District Court Judge William J. Martinez struck down the portion of the amendment that required people hoping to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to get signatures from at least 2 percent of the total number of registered voters in each of the state’s 35 Senate districts.

Martinez wrote in his ruling that that section of the amendment violated the “one person, one vote” principle. But his ruling upheld the portion of the amendment that upped the threshold that constitutional ballot initiatives would need to get in order to pass from 50 percent of the popular vote to 55 percent.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Does President Trump have a secret love-child out there somewhere? Again, would anyone be surprised if this were true?

► California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy wants to be House Speaker — even if it means selling his soul to Donald Trump.

ICYMI

► Nathan Coats is the new Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.

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