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It may be Monday morning. But it’s recess. No biggie if you hit that snooze button three times. It’s going to be a high of 80 degrees in the nation’s capital today. The city will be in jeans for the next two weeks. And you won’t have a two-hour wait at your favorite restaurant. So let the long lunches and early cocktails commence! Judge Neil Gorsuch becomes Justice Neil Gorsuch as he gets sworn in today in the Rose Garden. Welcome to SCOTUS. Also happening today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to Russia on the heels of criticizing the country for supporting Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Echoing that sentiment was the new national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. No such similar comments or tweets so far from Donald Trump. Here's what's kicking off the week:- The DOJ brings in help to undo Obama/Holder policies
- CHCI Council welcomes a new member
- Omarosa got hitched — we've got the photos
- What about the millions of undocumented AAPI?
- Dr. Ben Carson gives first TV interview to ... Steve Harvey?
- Lady Liberty is Black, Latino, AAPI, and Native American
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Youth from George Washington University's Native American Political Leadership Program visited the Department of Interior on Friday. | |  |
Collective PAC's Quentin James with activist Brittany Packnett on Saturday. | |
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|  | "I was on the street dealing with these thugs," says Steven Cook on a WaPo criminal justice panel in September 2016. Click image to play. |
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DOJ Taps Cook to Help Undo Obama/Holder Policies
AG Jeff Sessions has brought Steven Cook into his inner circle at the DOJ, appointing him to be one of his top lieutenants to help undo the criminal justice policies of President Barack Obama and former AG Eric H. Holder. Cook, a former police officer who became a federal prosecutor based in Knoxville, TN, championed life sentences for drug charges and saw nothing wrong with the huge growth of the prison population. He has appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show, at congressional hearings, and on public panels. Sessions has yet to announce specific policy changes, but Cook’s new perch speaks volumes about where the DOJ is headed. Law enforcement officials say that the duo is preparing a plan to prosecute more drug and gun cases and pursue mandatory minimum sentences. The two men are eager to bring back the national crime strategy of the 80s and 90s from the peak of the drug war, an approach that had fallen out of favor in recent years as communities of color grappled with the effects of mass incarceration. During a WaPo criminal justice panel last year Cook said, “The federal criminal justice system simply is not broken. In fact, it’s working exactly as designed.” Precisely. More here.
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Trump Fills Key Administration Posts with Indian Americans
Donald Trump has named Vishal J. Amin Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President. Mr. Amin is currently Senior Counsel on the House Judiciary Committee and previously worked for President George W. Bush at the White House, as Associate Director for Domestic Policy. Trump also named Neomi Rao as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, at the Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Rao is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. She has previously served in all three branches of the federal government, and as Associate Counsel to President Bush, as Counsel for Nominations and Constitutional Law in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a law clerk to SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas. More here.
CBC Presents: What Did Trump Do This Week?
The Congressional Black Caucus released the second in their installment of What Did Trump Do This Week? The documents are short one-pagers to inform audiences about Trump administration policies and programs and how they impact the African American community. The first installment focused on the American Health Care Act. The latest installment, released on Friday, focuses on the budget, healthcare, and Russia. More here.
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Omarosa enjoying a wedding shower with WH colleagues. We spot her mom, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee, and faces The Beat can't make out. | |  |
Commentator Jeff Johnson speaking at Omarosa's wedding on Saturday. | |  |
Omarosa celebrated a Nigerian reception at DC's The Park at 14th. | |
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Video of Omarosa dancing at her wedding on Saturday. Click the image to play. |
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Omarosa Gets Hitched
Eight months after getting engaged while on the presidential campaign trail, the reality TV star turned White House staffer got married at the Trump Hotel in downtown DC on Saturday without a heckler in sight. Omarosa, 43, and John Allen Newman, 61, were originally slated to marry at Newman’s church in Jacksonville, FL. However, they say “security concerns” forced them to scrap those plans and relocate to the boss’ hotel. Spotted: another reality TV star Real Housewife Phaedra Parks, and Paul Wharton, Trump supporters Diamond and Silk (see video), commentator Jeff Johnson — who also spoke at the wedding, and others. The couple headed to Italy for their honeymoon. Meanwhile, Trump spent the weekend hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. More from WaPo’s Helena Andrews here.
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Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall
Despite Trump’s request for more than $1 billion to fund the Mexican border wall this year, GOP leaders are expected to exclude the money in the spending bill being prepared to keep the government open beyond April 28th. The issue has become a political thorn in the side of GOP leaders, like Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), who are facing pushback from Republicans voicing concerns over the diplomatic fallout, the disruption to local communities and the enormous cost of the project, estimated to be anywhere from $22 billion to $40 billion. With Dems united against new wall funding, it’s unlikely the Republicans have the votes to get it through and prevent a government shutdown. More here.
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Dr. Ben Carson Gives First TV Interview to Armstrong Williams and Steve Harvey
HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson chose Armstrong Williams’ syndicated television show The Bright Side, as his first televised interview. Joining the duo to contribute to this discourse was comedian Steve Harvey. In this friendly interview, Carson spoke about gentrification, saying that wealthy homeowners in gentrified urban areas owe it to their poorer neighbors to help turn around blighted parts of the country's cities. Given the friendly interviewers, Carson was able to avoid any discussion of how he might deal with Trump’s proposal to cut his agency’s budget by 13 percent. Instead, in a 30-minute chat with Williams, a former Carson advisor and conservative media personality, and Harvey, the housing secretary stuck to broad platitudes about his commitment to alleviating poverty. The interview was scheduled to air last week. But no one we know has seen it. More from NYT’s Yamiche Alcindor here.
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Diversity of Thought and People on HBO Friday
On HBO's Real Time on Friday night, Bill Maher hosted a panel that was as diverse in thought as the people of color on the panel itself. Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) said Trump needed to check with Congress before striking Syria. "Congress never authorized it." While GOP strategist Ana Navarro disagreed, saying she supports Trump's actions against Syria even while calling him a "racist, misogynist pig." New Yorker magazine writer Jelani Cobb also appeared and talked about the DOJ and police reform. Other panelists included Chelsea Handler and Evan McMullin. Click here to watch the Overtime portion of the panel.
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Sanctuary City Battle Escalates
Immigration hardliners are threatening to hold hostage potentially billions of dollars in state grants as they seek to compel so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with federal law enforcement officials. Legislators in 33 states have introduced measures to limit or prevent cities from acting as sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants. Only one state this year, Mississippi, has enacted a ban on sanctuary jurisdictions, but several others, including Texas, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, and Georgia, are advancing their own bills. More here.
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The Millions of Undocumented AAPIs
The number of undocumented people from Mexico has dropped by more than a million since 2007, while the number of undocumented Asians has risen to around 14 percent of the nation’s overall total. "While a number of undocumented Latino immigrants have embraced the idea of undocumented immigrants (and been more vocal), there's still a large stigma and fear and shame in our community," says Kham Moua, senior policy and communications manager for the national advocacy group OCA -- in an interview with Al Jazeera. NBC Asian America explores the data here.
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U.S. Mayors Call for Bipartisan Immigration Reform
More than 100 mayors from 33 states sent a letter on Friday to House and Senate members calling on legislators to work on enacting comprehensive immigration reform. “Mayors have a ground level understanding of the pressing economic and moral imperatives that necessitate working in a bipartisan manner to begin fixing our immigration laws. The nation’s Mayors stand together and committed to working with Congress and the new Administration in a bipartisan manner to fix our immigration system to ensure that our communities are safe while allowing all of our residents to thrive," the letter reads. More here from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
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The DCCC Heads West
The DCCC is sending staffers in charge of overseeing House races in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington to work out of an Irvine, CA office in an effort to make inroads in Republican strongholds that have traditionally been sure bets for the GOP. “Democrats are on offense across the map — including in districts that have not seen a serious challenge in a long time, if ever — and many of those targeted seats are in California,” DCCC Chair Congressman Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) said in a statement. “Moving out West is one of the improvements that we’re making at the DCCC in order to maximize gains in the midterms.” More here.
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Now This: Auntie Maxine
In a recent interview with NowThis Politics, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) spoke about being called “Auntie Maxine” and everything she’s learned from her new fans, including the definition of “throwing shade” and how important it is to “stay woke.”The congresswoman also delivered the keynote address at the Chicago Black Women’s Expo Phenomenal Woman Awards Gala on Thursday evening. Fun fact — her grandson and former CoS, Mikael Moore, is now managing singer Janelle Monáe. More from Auntie Maxine here.
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But What About the Refugees?
Dems who were quick to express support for the U.S. air strikes in Syria followed up Friday with a warning that the Trump administration cannot hope to fully address the humanitarian disaster without reassessing its intolerance toward refugees. “The President said that images of slaughtered Syrian children contributed to his decision to take military action,” said Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). “That should also compel the Administration to rethink its misguided refugee policy and open our doors to the children and families fleeing ongoing violence and oppression in Syria and elsewhere.” Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (D-AL) said, “As we continue to debate federal policy on providing relief for refugees, it is important to remember the millions of Syrians who have faced years of terror, this week so horrible that our country responded with military action.” More here.
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Twitter Not Budging on ID'ing Account
Twitter is suing the federal government to block identifying an anonymous account that has posted messages critical of the Trump administration and has claimed to have ties to a government agency. @ALT_USCIS, which has 77,000 followers and growing, was created in January and has criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, including the president’s travel ban executive order. Twitter saying complying with a summons to identify the person or persons behind the account would have “a chilling effect” on free speech and on those who voice resistance to government policies. More here from the NYT.
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Pollster and strategist Cornell Belcher with ranking Dem on the House Intelligence Committee Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) before appearing on ABC's This Week with George Stephanapolous on Sunday. | |  |
Paula Madison, a former NBC executive and current CEO of Williams Holdings, spoke to about 300 attendees in her ancestral village Lowe Swee Hap in China. There she signed copies of her book, the Chinese translation of Finding Samuel Lowe. | |
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New Member on CHCI Council
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) announced that Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), is joining the organization’s Advisory Council. I am honored to join CHCI’s Advisory Council,” said Curbelo, who is the only GOP legislator on the council. “Young Hispanics have an incredible opportunity to make a positive impact on their communities and our nation, and I look forward to working with my colleagues and the CHCI staff to help these young men and women reach their fullest potential.” More here.
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Obama Alumna in New Post
Gloria Montaño Greene, a former Obama appointee and Hill staffer, has been named Arizona State Director of the NALEO Educational Fund in a newly created position of establishing and overseeing a public policy academy that will provide in-depth professional training for Latino education policymakers in the state. Montaño Greene was most recently with the USDA and was a CoS for Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) — one of just a few Hispanic COS on the Hill -- and is a former Director of NALEO’s DC office. Congrats Gloria! More about her here.
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De Blasio Taps DC Talent for Office of International Affairs
Tyrik "Ty" McKeiver has been named CoS in the Office of International Affairs for NY Mayor Bill de Blasio. Most recently, Ty was a Senior Advisor at the Department of State. He has also previously done stints at the Department of Homeland Security and on the Hill as a Legislative Specialist on the Committee for Homeland Security, and as a Legislative Correspondent for Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL). Mayor de Blasio champions the fact that for the first time in New York City history, women and people of color hold the majority of managerial positions in the NYC government. Congrats, Ty for being among the ranks. More about Ty here.
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Black Lives Matter Among the Words Added to the Dictionary
Dictionary.com has been updated with 300 new words and definitions, including “Black Lives Matter,” “dabbing,” “throwing shade,” and “alt-right.” They also added “slay.” We heard for this one they were just going to post a picture as the definition but they couldn’t decide who most embodied the word: Beyoncé? Or Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) aka Auntie Maxine? In any case, the site’s new additions are a reflection of their most-searched terms. See how they define the words here.
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Been Here, Born Here
There’s a new interview blog which highlights Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) in the DC, MD, VA area and beyond. The mission of the project is to discuss experiences, ideas, and opinions of the vibrantly diverse individuals of the AAPI community, and develop an understanding about issues that don’t often get highlighted. The first interviews feature leaders Monica Thammarath of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and Jason Tengco of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). Check it out here.
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New Leadership at Morehouse College
Morehouse College replaced its president and board chairman, effective immediately, a spokesman representing the board of trustees announced Friday. Obama alumnus John S. Wilson, a Morehouse graduate who had been president since January 2013, will leave his position. William Taggart, the college’s Chief Operating Officer since 2015, is now the Interim President. Robert Davidson, who graduated from Morehouse in 1967, will no longer be Board Chairman. The new chairman is Willie Woods, co-founder of a New York-based finance company. The moves come after several months of turmoil on the Atlanta campus. More here.
Columbia University Partners with HBCUs
Columbia University has announced a partnership with HBCU to help funnel a pipeline of African American candidates into the private sector. “We continually hear from top companies who are striving to diversify their workforces. The HBCU fellowship creates a direct pipeline of motivated students for our corporate partners, and fosters long lasting relationships between the two,” says Jason Wingard, Dean of the School of Professional Studies. See website here.
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Chair of Trump’s Native American Coalition Has Woman Removed from Town Hall
In an Oklahoma town hall meeting on March 31st, Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who is an enrolled Cherokee, is seen telling the woman in the front row to “remember the signs,” as police tried to remove the woman. He was speaking to a ban on placards at his town halls. Mullin, Chair of Donald Trump’s Native American coalition, told police to “hold on...we’re going to play right into their hands.” He chastised the woman by saying she was disrespecting the police and “everyone in this room...and I find it appalling,” he said. A video captured the entire exchange. More here.
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Lady Liberty is Black ... and Asian, and Latino, and Native American
ICYMI: The U.S. Mint celebrates their 225th anniversary by portraying a Black woman as Lady Liberty in their new $100 gold coin. Although this isn’t the first time African Africans have been featured on coin currency (Booker T Washington was the first African American exhibited on a coin in 1951), they’ve made a historic move placing a Black Lady Liberty in their recent gold coin design. Moreover, the U.S. Mint mentioned that in order to “reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of the United States,” they would issue future coins displaying Lady Liberty as Asian American, Latino American, and Native American. More here.
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Sen. Kamala Harris Emerges as a More Nuanced Political Figure
Amid all the self-reflection and infighting among Dems about how they find their way out of the wilderness, the LA Times says Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) is emerging as a more nuanced political character than many on either side of the political aisle expected. She says she won’t unconditionally slam the door on working with Trump and warned the party not to be purist when it comes to conservative Democrats. “We, as Democrats and progressives, cannot afford to be guilty of putting people in these narrow boxes based on what we have decided is their identity instead of seeing that they have lived full lives. They are full people, as multifaceted as the other people we know.” More here.
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The Met Places Native American Art in the American Wing
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the help of a promised gift from one of the most comprehensive collections of Native American art in private hands, will receive new pieces -- among them a masterpiece jar by the Hopi-Tewa potter Nampeyo; an 18th-century Tlingit dagger with a haunting face-shaped hilt; and a painted shield by the Hunkpapa Lakota master Joseph No Two Horns, from the Standing Rock reservation in the Dakotas. They will not go where historical Native American art is often found, in the galleries for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. They will go instead in the American Wing, where they belong. More here.
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| VIDEOS
(press images to play)
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Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-CA) is this week's Voice of the CHC. | |  |
Trump supporters Diamond and Silk offer their highly intellectual take on WH staff, domestic policy, and sanctuary cities. The two were in town this weekend as guests of Omarosa for her wedding on Saturday. | |
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| FOMO Tuesday, April 19th, 11:30A: The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda sponsors "The First 100 Days: Defending and Advancing the Latino Policy Priorities." 601 New Jersey Ave NW. Click here to RSVP.
Friday, April 21st, 6P: APAICS screens The Other Side: A liberal Democrat Explores Conservative America. MPAA 1600 I St NW. Click here to RSVP.
Friday, April 21st, 6:30P: 2017 SAALT Changemaker Awards. National Press Club, 14th & F St. NW. Click here for tickets.
Wednesday, April 26th – Fri, Apr 28th: African American Mayors Association 2017 Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Click here for more info.
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