The Morning Briefing: Secret Society Update, Schumer Rescinds Wall 'Offer' and Much, Much More

Good Tuesday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

In the morning, the president hosts a credentialing ceremony for newly appointed Ambassadors to Washington, D.C.
The president will have lunch with Mike Pence
Later in the afternoon the president will participate in a working group with mayors
In the early evening, the president will depart for Switzerland

Mueller wants to interview Trump on Comey, Flynn firings: is he looking for obstruction charges?

Special counsel Robert Mueller wants to question President Trump about the firings of FBI Director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn, it was reported Tuesday.

The president’s lawyers have been putting together terms for Trump’s appearance and are expected to present them to Mueller’s team as early as next week, The Washington Post reported.

Don’t do it.

FBI Director Wray replaces 2 top aides

Mueller’s team interviewed Comey about his Trump memos

Tensions swell between Sessions and FBI over senior personnel from Comey era

FISA memo smearing kicks into high gear

The Democrats do not want the public to see the House Intelligence memo outlining FISA abuse by federal law enforcement. Since they have no control over that, they are trying to smear, discredit and undermine it before it sees the light of day. DiFi and leaker Rep. Adam Schiff are doing their part in the smear:

NEW: Sen. Feinstein, Rep. Schiff urge Facebook and Twitter to investigate involvement of Russian bots in pushing "Release the Memo" campaign: "If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors." pic.twitter.com/SkAci5NefK

— ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018

Rep. Jerrold Nadler also chimed in for the chorus.

The text messages

Rep. Mark Meadows breaks down the Strzok/Page timeline for you. Read the whole thread. Meadows explains that within 48 hours of texting his mistress Lisa Page about pressure to end the Clinton investigation because Trump would be the GOP nominee for president, Strzok changed the wording on Comey’s Clinton letter from one of a criminal nature to one that is not. A very suspicious whitewash.

THREAD–explaining the context around the Peter Strzok/Lisa Page text messages, and why they're connected to both the Hillary investigation and this so-called "Russian-collusion" investigation

— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) January 24, 2018

The latest batch of Strzok/Page emails shows Strzok dubious of a “there there” in the Mueller “investigation.”

The latest disgrace from the FBI: secret society edition

Yesterday we learned that there is an informant singing to the Senate about off-site secret meetings with federal agency employees. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Bret Baier on FNC about this informant.

.@SenRonJohnson on alleged 'secret society' mentioned in @FBI agents' texts: "That 'secret society' – we have an informant that's talking about a group, they were holding secret meetings offsite." #SpecialReport https://t.co/0NPVFhqWiY pic.twitter.com/NaXelnfaJP

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 23, 2018

What were they talking about at the meeting? Very shifty.

Fall-out from Democrats’ shutdown fold continues

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is desperate to get back in the good graces of the extremist wing of the party after the Democrats voted to fund (temporarily) the government so it could re-open. Politico writes about the continuing Democrat “backbiting.” On Tuesday, Schumer announced he was rescinding his alleged offer to fund part of President Trump’s wall.

During a meeting at the White House on Friday, hours before the government shut down, Schumer offered Trump partial funding for his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border in exchange for protections for the nearly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants shielded from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, set to expire on March 5.

“We’re going to have to start on a new basis, and the wall offer is off the table,” Schumer said at a press conference.

It’s not in the Democrats’ interest to fix the DACA issue. They will have nothing to campaign on in the 2018 elections if Trump signs a law that resolves the DACA situation. They will have nothing to gin up the base with and talk about how Trump’s a racist. Expect to see the goalposts changing on what the Democrats want for immigration, which will not just be “protection.” The polling numbers on immigration do not bode well for running on an extremist platform in 2018. It remains to be seen if the Dems will get the message. ,

Trump weighs in:

Cryin’ Chuck Schumer fully understands, especially after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no Wall, there is no DACA. We must have safety and security, together with a strong Military, for our great people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2018

Historical picture of the day:

Steven Jobs, chairman of the board of Apple Computer, leans on the new “Macintosh” personal computer following a shareholder’s meeting Jan. 24, 1984 in Cupertino, Ca. The Macintosh, priced at $2,495, is challenging IBM in the personal computer market. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Other morsels:

Kentucky school shooting kills 2, wounds 13, teen arrested

Advocates Push Government For Pet Food Stamps

Ex-Clinton Foundation head Donna Shalala may be eyeing House seat: report

Hollywood Tells Al Gore To Take A Hike As ‘Inconvenient Sequel’ Misses Oscar Nod

Undocumented immigrant takes sanctuary in church to stop deportation, care for wife

Ugandan President: ‘I Love Trump’ For Speaking ‘Frankly’ About Africa

Toys R Us plans to close up to 182 stores

Roger Goodell says social justice campaign between NFL and players is ‘just the beginning’

Bret Weinstein: Yes, the left is eating itself

Conservatives call for end to taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlements

NYT reporter denies making alleged anti-Trump comments