Marco Rubio Intros Gun Bills, Michelle Obama Heads to US of Women, and Kamala Harris Gets HBCUs Funding

Just moments before we hit send, Donald Trump threatened to veto the omnibus spending bill. His reasoning, stated via Twitter, is “based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in the Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.” Lawmakers were due to be out for a two-week recess after both chambers passed the massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package to fund the government through September, but with POTUS45 throwing a wrench in the plans, who knows. We’ll be tracking! Last night, former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal detailed her alleged affair with the president in a nearly two-hour interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and that was not the biggest news of the day. Trump replaced Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster with John Bolton, a hard-line former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as his third National Security Advisor. We don’t have time to recount all the things Bolton has said over the years, but this shake-up creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history. Still, there was more news on Thursday. Try and keep up. John Dowd, the lead attorney on Trump’s personal legal team, resigned yesterday -- a possible signal that the president wants to pursue a harder line in confronting Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Sigh. Remember slow news days? Those were good times. Speaking of good times, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) battled Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in a duel on Capitol Hill Wednesday. A snowball duel. Who won? Tough call. You decide. And while the nation’s capital braced for the snowstorm on Tuesday night, Michelle Obama opted for warmer times and hit Seaspice in Miami for a ladies night out with Valerie Jarrett, Debra Lee, and Tracy Mourning. Back in the Beltway, more than 500,000 participants are expected in DC tomorrow to participate in the March for Our Lives. Join me! I’ll be live on MSNBC with Joy Reid discussing the activism. In Sacramento yesterday, protesters descended on City Hall, shut down Interstate 5 during rush hour and surrounded Golden 1 Center, blocking most ticket holders from entering the arena for a Sacramento Kings game following the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man, Stephon Clark. Lastly, the QOTD comes from Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, caught on tape issuing a warning about people of color voting: “Registering all these minority voters that are out there and others just sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that they win these elections in November.” We’re chock full of info today! Don’t want to miss anything? Find your inner Drake, and start from the bottom. Huh? I used that one before? Big deal. You guys try being informative and witty every day. It’s hard! We’re kicking off the weekend with this...

  • Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) intros two gun violence bills.
  • Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) secure more funding for HBCUs.
  • Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) team up to stop citizenship question from being included in 2020 Census.
  • Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) wants more answers from HUD Secretary Ben Carson on that $31k dining table.
  • House Ethics Committee finds Illinois Democratic Congressmen Luis Gutiérrez and Bobby Rush violated rules.
  • Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) wants Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to testify.
  • Judge scraps restraining order against Congresswoman Michelle Luján Grisham’s (D-NM) former intern.  
  • Former First Lady Michelle Obama to join the United State of Women.
  • Former AG Eric Holder wins one against WI Governor Scott Walker.
  • DCCC adds more candidates of color to initiative seeking to flip the House.
  • UnidosUS launches new voter registration campaign targeting Latino youth.
  • SiriusXM unveils the voter registration campaign Urban View Vote focusing on the African American community.
  • Meet the new Reporter at PBS NewsHour.
  • Women Impacting Public Policy has a new president.
  • RUN-D.M.C. joins National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. See who else made the cut! Read to the bottom!
  • Some in the Native American community are questioning the bona fides of a Trump appointee.
  • SCOTUS Justice Sonia Sotomayor shaded by fellow Justice for visiting a website.
  • Obama alumna heads to Pandora.
  • Comedian-turned-entrepreneur Byron Allen buys The Weather Channel.
  • WaPo’s Robin Givhan booted from a conference for writing about a Michelle Obama chat.
  • Don’t miss The Beat DC’s Tiffany D. Cross on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber today at 6P and on AM Joy with Joy Reid on Saturday at 10A and again at 5P as she joins the table to discuss the March for Our Lives!
Brenda Arredondo