First Draft on Politics: White House Knew Flynn Lied, Ex-Official Testifies

Sally Q. Yates says she raised alarm five days after Trump’s inauguration. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, May 9, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general, at a Senate hearing on Monday. President Trump fired her in January.]( Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general, at a Senate hearing on Monday. President Trump fired her in January. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Good Tuesday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - [After Sally Q. Yates warned President Trump]( that his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, was vulnerable to foreign blackmail, Mr. Flynn held his job for 18 more days. In their Oval Office meeting two days after the election, President Barack Obama warned Mr. Trump against hiring Mr. Flynn. - The lineup assembled by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to draft language for a new health care law [excludes women and moderates]( who could align to derail the legislation. Republicans, holding 52 seats in the Senate, can lose only two votes if they are to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. - Grass-roots groups are aiming at House Republicans who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and are [working to stop the bill in the Senate](. - After a hearing on Mr. Trump’s “Muslim ban,” judges with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., [seemed divided into two camps](. - A marketing campaign by Kushner Companies, tied to a visa program recently renewed by the president, [has raised more ethical quandaries]( in Washington. - [After Mr. Trump walked back]( a threat to defund black colleges, some African-American educators were left feeling used, many black politicians were enraged, and some demanded that the president show his support by offering more funding. - Over the weekend, Warren E. Buffett [urged fellow executives]( to start worrying about rising health care costs and how they put American businesses at a disadvantage. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [The Upshot Newsletter]( Get the best of The Upshot’s news, analysis and graphics about politics, policy and everyday life delivered to your inbox. [• Sign up »]( [A 2016 Review: There’s Reason to Be Skeptical of a Comey Effect]( By NATE COHN On Friday, Oct. 28, James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, [sent a letter]( to Congress about new evidence in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Politicians, analysts and journalists are still debating whether the letter cost Mrs. Clinton the presidency. It’s certainly possible. But I am not at all sure, in part because of the final [Upshot/Siena College poll]( in Florida. I had learned the results of our survey that morning. It showed Donald J. Trump ahead of Mrs. Clinton in the state by four percentage points, 46 percent to 42 percent. At the time, the poll looked like a bust. There wasn’t much reason to think the result was even in the ballpark. Mrs. Clinton was ahead by six points in national polls and ahead by a similar margin in states worth 270 electoral votes, suggesting Mrs. Clinton was probably up by a few points in Florida. I can’t say I was thrilled about having to write [an article]( about a poll that looked flat-out wrong. [Read more »](  [Tiffany Trump and her boyfriend, Ross Mechanic, leaving Air Force One last month.]( [Tiffany Trump Will Attend Georgetown Law]( By KATIE ROGERS The 23-year-old daughter of the president and Marla Maples, his second wife, will follow in the steps of two of her siblings. [Scott Garrett, nominated to lead the bank, fits the mold of the deconstructionists Mr. Trump found appealing in forming his cabinet.]( [He Wanted to Close the Export-Import Bank. Now He May Run It.]( By ALAN RAPPEPORT Scott Garrett, one of the bank’s most ardent conservative Republican critics, is seen as a curious choice whose Senate confirmation is not a lock. [6 Takeaways From Monday’s Senate Hearing on Russia]( By MATTHEW ROSENBERG Sally Q. Yates and James R. Clapper Jr. testified at a hearing that was focused on when the White House knew about conversations that Michael T. Flynn had with the Russian ambassador. [Supporters at the Louvre celebrated Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election on Sunday.]( [A Global Trump Movement? France Election Signals No]( By PETER BAKER French voters’ rejection of Marine Le Pen was the third time since Donald Trump’s election that Europeans have spurned his fiery brand of politics. [A satellite image released by the Pentagon of the military’s assessment of damage to Al Shayrat airfield in Syria after airstrikes last month.]( [Watchdog Group Sues Trump Administration Over Syria Strike]( By CHARLIE SAVAGE A government watchdog group is suing to force the Trump administration to disclose the legal theory it used to carry out the strike to punish Syria for a chemical weapons attack. [The tally board inside the House chamber (in 2007), left, and The Times’s 2017 Google sheet.]( [How We Beat the House — in Tallying the Health Care Vote]( By RACHEL SHOREY The project started with a simple question from a Times graphics editor, Tom Giratikanon: “What is the fastest we can get votes from Congress onto our website?” [Naweed Tahmas, an officer in the Berkeley College Republicans, with a binder he sometimes carries on campus.]( [Life and Combat for Republicans at Berkeley]( By THOMAS FULLER Five Berkeley Republicans describe what it’s like to be conservative in a bastion of American liberalism. [Residents of Howard County, Md., at the start of a county council meeting in March.]( [Sanctuary Bills in Maryland Faced a Surprise Foe: Legal Immigrants]( By SABRINA TAVERNISE Maryland seemed to be a natural sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. But some vocal critics said the proposals devalued their own struggles to gain citizenship. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies.  From the Right • [Noah Millman]( in [The American Conservative]( “You can’t crow about the decisive defeat of a symptom. You can only be pleased when the disease itself goes into remission.” Noah Millman warns his readers not to draw too many firm conclusions about Emmanuel Macron’s defeat of Marine Le Pen in France’s election this weekend. The roots of populist discontent that propelled Ms. Le Pen to the fore have not magically disappeared with Mr. Macron’s victory. And Mr. Milliman is skeptical that the solutions neoliberalism provides are an adequate cure for what ails the French people. [Read more »]( _____  From the Left • [Heather Hurlburt]( in [New York Magazine]( “The National Front is not going away, and neither are the issues that fueled its rise.” Heather Hurlburt shares Noah Millman’s view that Mr. Macron’s victory is less than decisive. Liberals, she writes, should not celebrate the election results for too long. Mr. Macron’s party does not have the candidates or nationwide infrastructure of the National Front, and his government is built on a shaky coalition that should make “Macron fans sober up fast Monday morning.” [Read more »]( _____  [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). 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