Congress' Inaction On Gun Violence, Hicks Tells 'White Lies,' And Commerce Officials Fired Over Background Checks

February 28th, 2018 Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [Congress Struggles To Break Familiar Pattern Of Inaction On Gun Violence]( The Gist: Once again, following yet another mass shooting, members of Congress are meeting with survivors and introducing a flurry of bills aimed at combating gun violence. But while some lawmakers insist that it’s a “new day” on Capitol Hill, citing the activism of the Stoneman Douglass High School students that has galvanized the country, others predict that this push will end like those after gun massacres in Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, and the Pulse nightclub—with inaction. [Reports: Hope Hicks Told House Intel Panel She Tells ‘White Lies’ For Trump]( The Gist: White House Communications Director Hope Hicks would not say much in her interview with the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, but she did admit that she sometimes tells “white lies” for President Donald Trump, the New York Times and CNN reported Tuesday night. [Four Commerce Dept. Political Appointees Ousted Over Background Checks]( The Gist: Four political appointees in the Department of Commerce lost their jobs on Tuesday over issues with their background checks, as Chief of Staff John Kelly cracks down on staffers operating under an interim security clearance. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- [TPM's Tierney Sneed reported]( this week on the anxiety some state election officials are feeling about Speaker Paul Ryan's move to replace a well-regarded commissioner on the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission. The commissioner, Matt Masterson, was particularly helpful when the Department of Homeland Security [botched its notifications for the 21 states]( that the DHS claimed to have been targeted by Russian hackers, according to then-Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Michael Haas. "Last year in September we had some communication issue with DHS in what they thought they had communicated to us," Haas told TPM. "I remember having a phone call with Matt and he was obviously working on it on the federal level, and he listened to what our experience was, he talked to the people at the Department Homeland Security....Matt really helped open those lines of communications up." Since speaking to TPM for the story, Haas announced he was stepping down as Wisconsin Elections Administrator. Agree Or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "Seeing Kushner lose his interim security clearance throws into high relief how wild it is that he ever had it to begin with. In a way, [this is simply the story of the Trump presidency itself](. It’s almost unimaginable that President Trump himself would get a high-level clearance had he not been elected President, both because of his background prior to his political career and things that have happened subsequently. But the President, as it should be, gets everything by right of being President. This is a bridge we crossed on election day 2016. In fact, legally speaking, the entire classification process is one of the President authorizing people to know different levels of what he or she knows." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "Well I don’t think that’s true." - Senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump's [response]( to NBC News reporter Peter Alexander asking about President Donald Trump siding with men accused of abuse, such as Roy Moore and Rob Porter. BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "Stone is another legacy of the NIxon White House, like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Roger Ailes. The Nixon White House should have been declared a criminal organization and those associated with it barred from ever holding a position of public trust." Related: [The Atlantic Publishes Campaign-Era Messages Between Wikileaks, Roger Stone]( Have something to add? Become a [Prime]( member and join the discussion [here](. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- The Teacher Who Taught His Students To Challenge The NRA On The Day They Lost 17 Of Their Own ([Splinter]( Palantir Has Secretly Been Using New Orleans To Test Its Predictive Policing Technology ([The Verge]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences]( | [view email in browser](