Melania Trump calls for help White House helps to be fired in surprise intervention – live | US news

The reason that First Lady Melania Trump wants top national security help Mira Ricardel does not have anything to do with policy. Instead, it is about a dispute over plane seating when the First Lady visited Africa last month.

Reuters has gone out of the way

One of the sources said that their dealings over the trip "Did not go well." The other source said that Melania Trump felt that Ricardel was trying to change her mind.

Needless to say, While First Ladies have clashed with White House staffers — most famously Nancy Reagan had a poisonous relationship with White House chief of staff Donald Regan — there is no precedent for the wife of the President to call on her husband to fire a staffer.

In the evergreen world of Florida politics, Senator Bill Nelson has called for the Governor Rick Scott to remove himself entirely from the recount process. Scott currently has a narrow lead over Nelson in the state's contested Senate race.

Melania Trump has called for Mira Ricardel, a top aide to John Bolton to be fired. This is a rare intervention by the first lady in the operation of the administration.

In a statement to ABC News, Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for Trump, said: "It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House."

Ricardel has long been at odds with the defense secretary, James Mattis. The veteran of the George W. Bush administration had previously served in the national security adviser by Bolton when he succeeded HR McMaster.

Donald Trump announced at White House Diwali ceremony today that he has nominated Neomi Rao to replace Brett Kavanaugh on the DC short circuit of appeals.

Rao, a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, currently runs the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which helps to draft federal regulations.

Mark Sanford, who's lost the primary to his seat in South Carolina for being fairly loyal to Donald Trump, has written an op-ed in the New York Times about the experience and what the GOP should learn from the midterms.

Her primary opponent, Katie Arrington, went to the Democratic Party Joe Cunningham in what was considered a relatively safe Republican district.

Sanford argues:

Republicans got a wake-up call last week. But will we wake up?

My party would be wise to take a step back from President Trump's approach to politics. We should renew our commitment to the environment. We should run from the president's zero-sum approach to politics.

One freshman member of Congress does not seem to be showing up in Washington.

Brenda Jones, who won the special election to succeed John Conyers in Michigan's 13th congressional district, has yet to appear in Washington and will not be sworn in today.

The problem is that while Jones won the special election, she did not win the regular one. Instead, Rashida Tlaib won. The Muslim-American woman took advantage of the field of African American candidates in the general election, there were six in the general in the majority of the blacklisted parties to the split decision. If she gets sworn in a six-week-term in Congress, Jones would have to resign her position on Detroit's city council. The special election had been long delayed. The result is that the congressional district can be seen in Congress.

Sixteen-year-olds may vote in the 2020 presidential election.

Under the Washington DC city council, the franchise would be extended to 16- and 17-year-olds. These elections would be allowed to vote some municipal elections, this bill would be the first to allow the vote in federal elections. Under the 26th Amendment, there is no lower limit.

If pbaded, the legislation is unlikely to change the results of DC's three electoral votes. Hillary Clinton won the District in 2016 by a margin of 91% -4%.

The federal investigation of Bernie Sanders' wife Jane and her stewardship of a failed Vermont college has apparently ended. This clears one potential hurdle for Sanders mounting a presidential bid in 2020.

Prosecutors for Robert Mueller have asked about Nigel Farage in the Russia investigation.

Jon Swaine and Stephanie Kirchgaessner report for the Guardian that Jerome Corsi, a Roger Stone badociate who expects to be indicted, says he has been asked about Farage in the race of the investigation.

The announcement yesterday that West Virginia state senator Richard Ojeda would like to go to the polls.

Hanna Trudo at the National Journal notes the interesting path forward for the candidates who won national attention at the ballot box.

Democrats are vowing to voteize Trump's appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general they formally take over the majority in January. However, Republicans are far less concerned about Whitaker's comments than he made about the Mueller investigation prior to joining the Justice Department last year.

Trump administration has been indicted in Alabama for violating state ethics laws.

Trey Glenn, the South-East Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been working on EPA efforts to clean up a Birmingham neighborhood.

As rumors surrounding the future of John Kelly as chief of staff, one possible contender for the job is ruling himself out. OMB head Mick Mulvaney is now telling people that he is not interested in the position.

The lame duck session of Congress will begin today with three new members of the House of Representatives. All three won last special elections last week.

Representative-elect Kevin Hern, Oklahoma's first congressional district

Representative-elect Joe Morelle (D-NY), New York's 25th Congressional District

Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district

Gwinnett County, Georgia will begin counting provisional ballots this afternoon. There are 2,400 to 2,500 outstanding bales in the Atlanta suburban county including 1,500 in Georgia's seventh congressional district which has yet to be called.

Incumbent Rob Woodall currently leads Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux by 900 votes in the race.

One of the biggest upsets in the election of Democrat Max Rose in New York 's 11th Congressional District including Staten Island and part of Brooklyn.

Ginia Bellafante for the New York Times captures some of the political and cultural reasons behind his win.

Mira Ricardel, top aide to John Bolton, is reported on the way to the Wall Street Journal.

Ricardel joins the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, John Kelly on the chopping block.

The president has now weighed in on the recount process in Florida.