GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Republicans this week to head off problematic nominees before President Donald Trump officially picked them, the Kentucky Republican singled out Ken Cuccinelli. Floated for the job of Homeland Security secretary, the former Virginia attorney general runs the anti-establishment Senate Conservatives Fund, which he joined in 2014. McConnell remarked Tuesday [4-9-19] that the group had cost the GOP seats in 2010 and 2012 by guiding the party away from more electable candidates, according to attendees at the closed-door Republican policy lunch. Now with McConnell up for reelection and eager to protect his narrow majority, it’s Senate Republicans who are trying to take control. In addition to confronting Trump on his purge at the Department of Homeland Security and his threat to deploy auto tariffs and keep existing levies, GOP senators hope they can persuade the president to avoid nominating Cuccinelli or Kris Kobach, another immigration hard-liner, to lead DHS. They also want Trump to drop plans to nominate Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve and are considering whether to challenge Stephen Moore’s nomination to the Fed.”
–Burgess Everett and Eliana Johnson, “Republicans confront Trump amid cascading controversies,” Politico, April 11, 2019 7:32 am