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Hillary Clinton may spend her days hiking the woods of Westchester, but she has clearly set up camp in President Donald Trumps head.

On Sunday morning, five months after his inauguration and 229 days since Election Day, Trump tweeted yet another broadside against his long vanquished campaign opponent, his 29th such tweet since winning the presidential election more than seven months ago.

Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders, the president tweeted. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie!

Collude is a charged word in the Trump White Housethe president is still dogged by investigations into whether he or members of his inner circle colluded with the Russian government to release damaging information about Clinton during the campaignand the president has long relied on the Im-rubber-youre-glue strategy of deflecting accusations made against him back on his opponents.

But why does Trump still see Clinton as his opponent?

Why does Trump hand out maps of his Electoral College victory to Oval Office visitors as souvenirs? Why does he tell newspapers to run that same map on their front pages to commemorate his 100th day in office? Why do all roads lead back to Chappaqua?

Some close to the president see the fixation on the election as a counterpoint to what Trump views as unfair attacks on his legitimacy.

In my view, this is all about the presidents view of the media coverage, Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and longtime Trump confidant, told The Daily Beast. He is essentially saying to the press, Hey, you are making a big issue of my campaigns collusion with Russians when there is no evidence of it, but when you do have evidence that Hillary colluded with the DNC against Sanders, its basically a non-story.

Those insecurities are compounded by the ever-circling special counsel investigations into his campaigns potential Russia connections, and now the investigation into whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice.

Others see in Trumps continued insistence on holding campaign-style ralliesincluding one in Iowa on Wednesday, in which the president repeatedly lashed out at Clinton, to chants of lock her up!a preference for attention over administration.

Trump clearly prefers campaigning to governing, Brian Fallon, Clintons former campaign press secretary, told Politico. He is desperately in search of an enemy to be a political foil and help take the media focus off his own scandals.

Clinton, for her part, has clearly taken a Pete Souza-style joy in subtle (and not-so-subtle) jabs at the president from outside the bars of his cage. Most presidential hopefuls retreat from the public eye after the humiliation of a failed bid for the White HouseAl Gore disappeared for nearly a year, returning with a spare tire and a Failure Beard. But Clinton, operating under the fair assumption that Trumps itchy Twitter fingers will make her relevant again with the slightest provocation, has pulled out all the stops in inciting the presidents mockery, from cringeworthy lampoons of his Twitter typos to implicitly comparing him to President Richard Dick Nixon.

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We were furious about the past presidential election of a man whose presidency would eventually end in disgrace with his impeachment for obstruction of justice, Clinton said in May while delivering the commencement address at her alma mater, Wellesley College, after firing the person running the investigation into him at the Department of Justice.

After the speech, Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, launched an attack on the candidate who had lost seven months before, calling the address a stark reminder of why Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.

But with Trumps health care plan facing a Himalayan climb in the U.S. Senate, a much-lauded tax code overhaul currently in the doodling-on-bar-napkins stage, and the aforementioned obstruction of justice investigation, those close to the president told The Daily Beast that they wish he would keep his mind on absolutely anything other than Clinton.

He should avoid looking back, ignore most of the media attacks, and focus on the positive things that will create prosperity, Ruddy told The Daily Beast. The real Donald Trump is a man who can bring people together and get things done!

Continue reading here:
Why President Trump Can't Get Hillary Clinton Out of His Head - Daily Beast

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Monday she might have retired if Hillary Clinton had beaten Donald Trump in November.

"If Hillary Clinton had won, I might have gone home, but with Donald Trump in the White House and Republican majority in both Houses, no way," Pelosi told CBS "This Morning."

The 77-year-old California Democrat has been playing defense since last Tuesday, when Republicans clinched a fourth and fifth special election win in Georgia and South Carolina.

Democrats, including House rank-and-file members, have called for new leadership as Republicans, including President Trump, have celebrated the GOP's gains with Pelosi as the head of the opposition.

Pelosi insisted she is still a vital part of the Democratic Party, calling herself a "master legislator" after the election results.

"I'm experienced in terms of knowing institutional memory of the Congress," Pelosi said. "The fact is this, I've led in '05 and '06 to take us to the majority became speaker of the House. President Obama became president, he was our spokesperson for eight years, we just lost the election ... We could write a message, but the fact is that we need our members to write the message and they know full fell we're working with the Senate to go forward."

Continued here:
Nancy Pelosi: 'If Hillary Clinton had won, I might have gone home' - Washington Examiner

A secretive Washington firm that supports Hillary Clinton is behind the creation and promotion of the unverified intelligence report on President Donald Trump, colloquially known as the Trump dossier, according to New York Post report.

That firm, Fusion GPS, is now at the center of an investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to the Post, the Senate committee has threatened to subpoena the firm to answer questions about the dossier that theyve allegedly so far refused to answer.

Fusions Wikipedia page says the organization is a commercial research and strategic intelligence but sources told the Post Fusion operates like an opposition-research firm that is staunchly liberal and anti-Trump.

These guys had a vested personal and ideological interest in smearing Trump and boosting Hillarys chances of winning the White House, an unnamed source told the Post.

More from the Post:

Fusion GPS was on the payroll of an unidentified Democratic ally of Clinton when it hired a long-retired British spy to dig up dirt on Trump. In 2012, Democrats hired Fusion GPS to uncover dirt on GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. And in 2015, Democrat ally Planned Parenthood retained Fusion GPS to investigate pro-life activists protesting the abortion group.

More, federal records show a key co-founder and partner in the firm was a Hillary Clinton donor and supporter of her presidential campaign.

In September 2016, while Fusion GPS was quietly shopping the dirty dossier on Trump around Washington, its co-founder and partner Peter R. Fritsch contributed at least $1,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund and the Hillary For America campaign, Federal Election Commission data show. His wife also donated money to Hillarys campaign.

Fusion has a long history of working toward progressive interests.

During the 2012 presidential election, Fusion was hired by Democrats to do opposition-research against then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney. In addition, the firm was retained by Planned Parenthood in 2015 to attack pro-life activists after a series of undercover investigative videos were released showing Planned Parenthood leaders discussing the illegal sale of aborted fetal tissues.

The Senate committee is also investigating whether or not the FBI relied on the faulty dossier in their intelligence investigation into Trumps presidential campaign, according to the Post.

In addition, Senate investigators also want to see any communication between Fusion and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who is now being investigated for possibly interfering in the FBIs investigation into Clintons private email server.

This is significant because the dossier was shopped around for months last year but all major news organizations passed up the opportunity to report on it. BuzzFeed, however, controversially chose to report on the unverified intelligence report in early January, just days before Trump was to be sworn in as president.

The Trump-Russia collusion narrative has relied heavily on the dossier, so if it can be proved that it is simply a politically charged document designed to hurt Trump, the president may finally have his name cleared.

Excerpt from:
Explosive report reveals org behind Trump dossier has strong ties to Hillary Clinton & Democrats - TheBlaze.com

The Democratic presidential nominee's Twitter account shared a study Friday afternoon from a progressive think tank, the Center for American Progress, predicting that the Senate bill could lead to between 18,000 and 27,000 additional deaths in 2026 if those people have no coverage.

"Forget death panels. If Republicans pass this bill, they're the death party," she tweeted.

"Death panels" is a reference to a line of attack that that was used by some Republicans amid debate on the Affordable Care Act in 2009, suggesting that Obamacare would have the government determine whether elderly people or people with special needs "deserve" care.

The discussion surrounded a provision that would have used Medicare funds to pay for doctors to discuss end-of-life options with patients -- but that proposal did not end up becoming part of the ACA.

This is Clinton's fourth tweet about health care since the Senate bill was released Thursday morning. She encouraged people to call their senators about "Trumpcare," and she retweeted a former adviser to her campaign who shared a graphic showing possible effects of proposed Medicaid cuts on children.

But several have pointed out that the Republican bill improves on Obamacare, which they say was a large-government approach to health care that does not deliver the benefits it promised for patients.

Sen. David Perdue of Georgia said: "After reviewing the initial working draft, I believe it includes many substantial fixes to our broken health care system...Obviously, this will not be the final bill, but I'm hopeful that we can resolve the remaining disagreements and deliver a consensus bill that is a vast improvement over Obamacare."

Former Vice President Joe Biden also tweeted criticism of the Senate measure.

"The Senate health bill isn't about health care at all -- it's a wealth transfer: slashes care to fund tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations."

His tweet echoed Obama's message the day before: "The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill," Obama's Facebook post read. "It's a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America."

View original post here:
Hillary Clinton: GOP is 'death party' if health care bill passes - CNN

Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Subscribe here.

Topspin

A busy week is on tap in Illinois politics from Chicago to Springfield.

The big thing to watch is the final scheduled week of the Illinois General Assembly's special session. Things resume today after a weekend where not much happened outside of a meeting with the legislative leaders that did not feature Gov. Bruce Rauner.

If they don't agree on either a full budget or stopgap by Friday (June 30), the state's credit rating likely will dip to junk status, giving Illinois anignominious distinction among the 50 states. Illinois residents also might not be able to play Powerball or MegaMillions lottery games anymore if the association that runs those multistate games gives us the boot. And the Illinois Department of Transportation could halt road projects, throwing thousands out of work at least temporarily.

On Tuesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in town for a sponsored speech to the American Library Association. And an Astroturf group will rally at the Thompson Center plaza against the new Cook County soda pop tax, which takes effect Saturday.

And on Wednesday, the Chicago City Council meets.

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel will appear with Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson at a "cultural awareness training initiative" at the DuSable Museum of African American History, with Sen. Dick Durbin to tout a new gun law that allows judges to crack down on repeat offenders, and welcome a new class of police recruits.

*Gov. Rauner will be just over the border joining Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to break ground on a bridge project.

*Diana Rauner, president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund and Illinois first lady, speaks to the City Club of Chicago.

*The IllinoisHouse and Senate continue in special session.

*State Sen. Daniel Biss, a Democratic governor hopeful, will hold a rally with unions to pressure Gov. Rauner to sign the $15-an-hour minimum wage bill. What's the occasion? It'sabout to be sent to the governor, which is a new one on us.

From the notebook

*On the Sunday Spin: Chicago Tribune political reporter Rick Pearsons guests were state Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington; state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie; and state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington. The Sunday Spin airs from 7-9 a.m. on WGN AM-720. Listen to the full show here.

What we're writing

*Monday Springfield story: Madiganoffers his wish list in exchange for Rauners property tax freeze.

*Sunday Springfield story:With a week to go, Rauner and Madigan cant even agree on meeting.

*Saturday Springfield story: Rauner signsEmanuel-backed gun bill.

*Rauner names new DCFS director.

*Scrutinybuilds over Berrios property tax assessments; inspector general investigating.

*FAQ on Preckwinkle's Cook County soda pop tax.

*Pence stops in Chicago to meet with top Republicans.

*White House suggests one finalist for U.S. attorney postin Chicago.

*Chicago City Council poised to approve$1.3 million settlement in fatal police chase.

*Petition pushes for "Hipster Highway" bike lanein Wicker Park.

See the original post:
Morning Spin: Clinton speech, special session, City Council meeting mark busy week - Chicago Tribune