CRIME/MITCH MCCONNELL/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week to press for action on a criminal justice measure that has long divided McConnell’s GOP, according to three sources familiar with the conversation. Trump’s Tuesday [11-20-18] call to McConnell comes as the criminal justice bill creates tension within the Senate Republican caucus, with Arkansas’ Tom Cotton repeatedly slamming legislation supported by multiple senior GOP colleagues. The intra-party schism underscores McConnell’s long-running reluctance to spend a week or more of floor time on a criminal justice proposal that splits his party — despite winning the president’s vocal endorsement. McConnell had warned Trump last week during a meeting at the White House that the Senate likely would not have time left on the lame-duck session’s already crowded docket to take up the criminal justice bill, which would lower mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenders while creating new prison training programs aimed at reducing recidivism.”
–Elana Schor, Burgess Everett and Andrew Restuccia, “Trump lobbies McConnell on criminal justice overhaul,” Politico, November 21, 2018 3:36 pm