Republican Steve King stripped of assignments amid racism backlash – as it happened

Powering down for the night, thanks for tuning in! Here’s what happened today:

• As the shutdown stretched into its forth week, Trump rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham’s recommendation to reopen it while negotiations continue, and doubled down on his stance, while a bipartisan group of senators sought solutions. Meanwhile, the FDA announced that unpaid inspectors would come back to work, ensuring high-risk food facilities get checked out.
• A top White House spokesperson is leaving the administration to work for a lobbying firm, and a pair of Obama-appointed judges have pumped the breaks on Trump’s new policy that could squash no-charge contraception nationwide.
• Republican leaders on the steering committee removed Republican Rep. Steve King from all assignments, while Democrats moved to officially condemn the Iowa Republican’s latest racist comments. Mitt Romney called for his resignation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he “find another line of work”.

See you all tomorrow!

According to The Daily Beast, the special counsel and NY federal prosecutors are looking into a meeting Trump had in the days before he was inaugurated, for possible evidence that foreigners and donors sought to purchase influence in the administration.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes — the longtime-ally of the President who was behind a controversial memo, which sought to discredit the special counsel investigation — was also in attendance, along with dozens of foreign diplomats.

Soon after the inauguration breakfast, Nunes began a House intelligence committee investigation, ostensibly aimed at the connections between Trump and Russia, that devolved into a mechanism to defend Trump against those investigating the president. Revelations about Nunes’ cooperation with the White House prompted him to leave the investigation in the hands of his GOP colleagues, but Nunes retained subpoena power. The investigation ended last year after Republicans on the committee said they ‘found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s associates and the Kremlin’.”

Trump’s former National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian connections and who is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation also attended the breakfast meeting.

Amidst heavy backlash over the latest racist comments from Rep. Steve King, Republican party leaders will remove him from the high-powered Judiciary Committee and other panel assignments, the New York Times reports.

House Democrats have also made moves to officially condemn his remarks, expecting to vote Tuesday on a resolution from Majority Whip James Clyburn, a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. According to The Hill, the vote is unlikely to result in a formal censure but serves to call the congressman out for what he said:

‘I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in breaking the deafening silence and letting our resounding condemnation be heard’, Clyburn said on the House floor”.

President Trump has declined to comment, telling reporters today that he “hasn’t been following it”. King is a close ally of the President, supporting him on immigration and other key issues.

In one of his first oversight moves as House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler has issued a letter calling for more information on the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that resulted in the separation of migrant families at the southern border. The Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Justice have until February 8 to turn over related documents.

CNN has reported that the letter released today requests specifically calls for an unredacted copy of the DHS policy memo and specifics on the numbers of children separated or unaccompanied since the policy was reversed in June:

‘The latest tragic deaths in custody of young children underscore the need for oversight of the Administration’s policies,’ the letter says”.

In the four weeks since the government shutdown began, the FDA was forced to stop inspections at most food facilities. But on Monday, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced that 10% of agency workers would come back to work, unpaid.

According to The Washington Post, 80% of the food supply is checked by the agency and out of the 160 routine inspections done weekly in the US, about a third are considered “high-risk”. Inspectors are charged with checking for insect infestations, food contamination, and unclean conditions that can lead to dangerous foodborne illness outbreaks.

At the White House, Trump is showing off a spread of fast food he ordered for a visit of the Clemson Tigers, who recently won the College Football Playoff national championship game.

The president apparently ordered McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King, pizza and other “great American food”:

With no end to the government shutdown in sight, a group of Democrat and Republican senators have started a group to search for solutions, as party leaders continue the fight over funding. According to The Washington Post, it’s unclear how successful the group will be, but signals how ready representatives are to end the impasse, that has caused roughly 800,000 federal employees to go without pay.

The New York Times has reported that White House spokesman Raj Shah, who has been with President Trump since the beginning, has left to lead a lobbying firm based in Florida:

Mr. Shah, a former researcher at the Republican National Committee, had been in the administration since Mr. Trump took office. His portfolio recently included helping prepare Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh for his Senate confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court.

His departure comes as the White House press and communications teams have been depleted. Several aides have moved on to roles at government agencies or have left the Trump administration entirely”.

Mitt Romney has called on Iowa congressman Steve King to resign, CNN’s Manu Raju is reporting:

King has faced growing backlash over his recent comments to the New York Times defending the “white supremacist” label, saying, “White nationalist, white supremacist, western civilization – how did that language become offensive? ... Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

Earlier, the Congressional Black Caucus called for King to lose his committee assignments, and the Anti-Defamation League has urged House leaders to censure him.

President Trump took to Twitter this afternoon to emphasize his unrelenting position on the border wall, amidst an ongoing impasse with Democrats that has caused the government shutdown to stretch into its forth week. The tweets came shortly after Trump announced to reporters that he rejected a recommendation from Lindsey Graham to reopen the government while negotiations continue.

The shutdown, now on its 24th day, is the longest in US history.

This is Gabrielle Canon taking over from the west coast for Jamiles Lartey and Erin Durkin.

With little time to spare, a Pennsylvania district court judge stepped in this afternoon to stop a soon-to-be-rolled-out Trump administration policy that would enable employers to deny women birth control coverage on moral grounds. The injunction came less than 24 hours after a California judge issued a stay limiting the new rules in 13 states and DC where challenges are still being argued.

The new rules were drafted by the Department of Justice to “protect a narrow class of sincere religious and moral objectors from being forced to facilitate practices that conflict with their beliefs”, but they were rejected by the Obama-appointed judges on the grounds that many would lose contraceptive coverage.

In a statement to the Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms.”

Rep. King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position. If he doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive, he should find another line of work.”

King has come under fire by members of both parties after he asked in a New York Times interview published last week, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

In an email to supporters this afternoon, Trump is asking totally reasonable and not at all loaded survey questions like this one:

Which group should our government put first?

• American Citizens
• Illegal Aliens

Nancy and Chuck have made it clear that they don’t want to know your opinions on how to keep America safe. They don’t want to know why you want the wall. But I do, Friend.

As one of our top supporters, I need your IMMEDIATE input on our Official Secure The Border Survey.

I plan to review the responses of every American Patriot before my next meeting with Nancy and Chuck.

Politico is reporting that White House officials, “increasingly desperate to find a path out of a shutdown they’re seen as losing, are considering a last-ditch effort to woo moderate Democrats with a border security deal reopening the government, according to people familiar with the plans.”

Democrats have little reason at this point to consider breaking from the party leadership.

Updating reports that a bipartisan group of senators is holding their own talks on how to resolve the government shutdown.

Texas Senator John Cornyn says he’s involved but not “an official gang member.”

This is Jamiles Lartey taking over for Erin briefly before we hand our coverage over to the west coast for the rest of the evening.

James Clyburn, the number 3 ranking member of the House told reporters a short time ago that he supports a reprimand or formal disapproval of Congressman Steve King’s racist remarks last week, but does not support censure.

“I don’t know that we in the House should be censuring somebody or something they said to a reporter. ... If it was something said on the House floor, maybe,” Clyburn said according to Washington Post reporter Mike DeBonis.

He said Clyburn added that a formal response to King’s remarks would be “A topic of discussion at House Dem leadership meeting this evening.”

Two Democrats have introduced censure language today regarding King.