White House seeks revisions to Dems' FISA rebuttal memo, halting release

The White House on Friday told Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee to redraft their rebuttal to a controversial GOP memo alleging government surveillance abuse during the 2016 campaign, saying sensitive details need to be stripped out before the document can be made public.
The message was sent to the committee Friday in a letter from White House Counsel Don McGahn.
"Although the president is inclined to declassify the February 5^th Memorandum, because the Memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time," McGahn wrote.
"However, given the public interest in transparency in these unprecedented circumstances, the President has directed that Justice Department personnel be available to give technical assistance to the Committee, should the Committee wish to revise the February 5^th Memorandum to mitigate the risks identified by the Department," McGahn continued. "The President encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts. The Executive Branch stands ready to review any subsequent draft of the February 5^th Memorandum for declassification at the earliest opportunity."
A letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray accompanied McGahn's response. In that accompanying letter, the two men noted "a version of the document that identifies, in highlighted text, information the release of which would present such concerns in light of longstanding principles regarding the protection of intelligence sources and methods, ongoing investigations, and other similarly sensitive information.
"We have further identified, in red boxes, the subset of such information for which national security or law enforcement concerns are especially significant. Our determinations have taken into account the information previously declassified by the President as communicated in a letter to HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes dated February 2, 2018."
Earlier this week, the House Intelligence Committee approved the release of the Democrats' memo, giving Trump five days to consider whether he should block publication for national security reasons.
For the moment, the White House letter halts the release.
Here's how U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Inteligence Committee, responded to the president's decision:
“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement after the release of McGahn's letter. "The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: What is he hiding?”
Added House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.: "America’s intelligence and national security are being politicized. Why won’t the President put our country before his personal and political interests?”
Democrats have been expected to use their memo to try to undermine Republican claims that the FBI and DOJ relied heavily on the anti-Trump dossier to get a warrant to spy on a Trump associate -- and omitted key information about the document's political funding. Democrats claim the GOP memo was misleading.
"We think this will help inform the public of the many distortions and inaccuracies in the majority memo," California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, said Monday.
But it had been expected that the Democrats' memo might raise red flags during the review period.
A source who read the FISA rebuttal memo told Fox News earlier this week that it is filled with sources and methods taken from the original documents. The source argued that this was done to strategically force the White House to either deny release of the memo or substantially redact it, so that Democrats could accuse the White House of making redactions for political reasons.
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE APPROVES RELEASE OF DEMS’ REBUTTAL TO FISA MEMO
U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a member of the committee, said during an interview this week on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” that Democrats “are politically smart enough to put things in the memo” that have to be redacted.
“Therefore, it creates this belief that there's something being hidden from the American people,” Gowdy said.
Last Friday, Republicans on the intelligence committee released their much-anticipated memo from Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
It also said the FBI and DOJ “ignored or concealed” dossier author Christopher Steele’s “anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations" when asking the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to eavesdrop on former Trump adviser Carter Page.
Democrats have been pushing back against those claims and accusing Republicans of exaggerations.
CRIMINAL REFERRAL BACKS UP NUNES ON DOSSIER CLAIMS, AS DEMS PUSH REBUTTAL MEMO
Earlier this week, a newly released version of a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., appeared to support key claims from the GOP memo.
The surveillance applications, they said in a criminal referral for Steele sent in early January to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, “relied heavily on Mr. Steele’s dossier claims.”
Further, they said the application “failed to disclose” funding from  the Clinton campaign and DNC.
The referral also helped explain a point of contention in recent days, after Nunes seemed to admit on “Fox & Friends” that the FBI application did include a “footnote” acknowledging some political origins of the dossier. This admission helped fuel Democratic claims that the dossier’s political connection was not concealed from the surveillance court as alleged.
According to Grassley and Graham’s referral, the FBI “noted to a vaguely limited extent the political origins of the dossier” in a footnote that said the information was compiled at the direction of a law firm “who had hired an ‘identified U.S. person’ – now known as Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS.” A subsequent passage in the letter is redacted. But they said the DNC and Clinton campaign were not mentioned.
Republicans have seized on the Nunes document to make the accusation of widespread anti-Trump bias at the top of the FBI and DOJ that sparked inquiries into Trump campaign relations with Russia during the election.
The president has repeatedly said there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia. The White House responded to the Republican memo last week by saying it “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.”

Bill Maher tries to rain on Trump's parade

Comedian and TV host Bill Maher blasted Trump over his plan for an extravagant military parade on his show Friday night. 

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s recent call for a military parade in Washington, comedian Bill Maher had some material for Friday's edition of his HBO show.
The host of “Real Time With Bill Maher” said there was one item Trump still hadn't checked off on the “Dictator’s Checklist” that Maher introduced last season, Deadline reported.
“Military costume,” Maher said.
Mocking things military is nothing new for Maher. In 2005, he referred to those who enlist in the armed forces as "low-lying fruit," a remark that an Alabama congressman responded, "borders on treason."
This time, Maher’s comic bit followed a recent story in the Washington Post that the Pentagon was preparing plans to meet Trump's request for the military parade. The president reportedly said he got the idea after attending France’s Bastille Day parade last July.
Meanwhile, Maher also made a “list” for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the Wrap reported.
Titled “25 Things You Didn’t Know About Me,” the list mocked Nunes, who released a memo earlier this month that detailed alleged surveillance abuses by FBI and Justice Department officials.
“When they told me they were putting me on the Intelligence Committee my first reaction was, ‘Ha-ha, guys, good one,’” one read.
Ha-ha, Bill. Good one.

Russian Hillary Cartoons

Pelosi Tells Story of Grandson Wishing He Had 'Brown Skin and Brown Eyes'

Idiot

During an extended speech on the House floor Wednesday morning, where she read a long list of profiles of DACA recipients, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was reminded of her own grandson.

Pelosi, who noted her Italian heritage, said her grandson comes from Irish, English, "whatever, whatever" descent. She added that he is a "mix." Pelosi shared that when her grandson blew out the candles at his sixth birthday party he made a wish that he would have "brown skin and brown eyes" like his Hispanic friend Antonio.

NANCY PELOSI: I'm reminded of my own grandson. He is Irish, English, whatever, whatever, and Italian-American, he is a mix. But he looks more the other [Italian] side of the family, shall we say.

And when he had his sixth birthday... he had a very close friend whose name is Antonio, he's from Guatemala. And he has beautiful tan skinned, beautiful brown eyes, and this was a proud day for me, because when my grandson blew out the candles on his cake, they said did you make a wish?

He said yes, he made a wish. What is your wish? I wish I had brown skin and brown eyes like Antonio.

So beautiful. So beautiful. The beauty is in the mix. The face of the future for our country is all-American. And that has many versions.

Calif. Democrat and #MeToo leader accused of groping male staffer

California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a leader of the #MeToo movement, allegedly stroked a then-25-year-old staffer’s back, tried to squeeze his buttocks and attempted to grab his crotch as he walked away from her.   (Associated Press)

A California Democrat who was featured in Time magazine’s Person of the Year issue for her role in the anti-sexual harassment “#MeToo” movement has been accused of drunkenly groping a male legislative staffer at a softball game in 2014.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia allegedly stroked the then-25-year-old staffer’s back, tried to squeeze his buttocks and attempted to grab his crotch as he walked away from her. 

The staffer, Daniel Fierro, worked for Assemblyman Ian Calderon at the time. He did not immediately report the incident but in January told Calderon, also a Democrat, who reported it to Assembly leaders.
Garcia was “clearly inebriated” during the 30- to 35-second episode, Fierro said.
“Her hand was there and it slipped down to my butt and she tried to squeeze," Fierro added.

"Her hand was there and it slipped down to my butt and she tried to squeeze."

- Daniel Fierro, former California legislative staffer

The Assembly is now investigating Garcia. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat, said in a statement he is directing human resources to reach out to Garcia's staff to make sure they feel safe.
Separately, Politico reported that a lobbyist who declined to be named claimed Garcia made crude sexual comments and tried to grab his crotch at a 2017 fundraiser.
"Every complaint about sexual harassment should be taken seriously and I will participate fully in any investigation that takes place," Garcia, a Los Angeles-area lawmaker, said Thursday. "I have zero recollection of engaging in inappropriate behavior and such behavior is inconsistent with my values."
Fierro said he decided to tell Calderon about the incident because of Garcia's outspokenness in the #MeToo movement. He was reportedly interviewed last Friday by an outside law firm hired by the Assembly Rules Committee.
Garcia was elected in 2012 and has carved out a name as a champion of women's issues and environmental health for poor communities and chairs the Women's Caucus.
"I refuse to work with (Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra) and anyone who takes part in harassment or assault," she tweeted in October after it was reported Bocanegra had been disciplined in 2009 for groping a colleague. Bocanegra later resigned after more women made public accusations.
In a November interview with the Associated Press about alcohol-fueled fundraisers and other after-work events that are a part of regular business in Sacramento, Garcia said blaming alcohol isn't an acceptable excuse for sexually inappropriate behavior. It's men who choose to misbehave, not the social events themselves, that create the problems, she said.
"I would say that most of the public realizes that our job is based on relationships, and so we are expected to go out there and socialize," she said. "I think our public also expects us to hold ourselves to a higher standard."

"I would say that most of the public realizes that our job is based on relationships, and so we are expected to go out there and socialize. I think our public also expects us to hold ourselves to a higher standard."

- California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia

The Assembly committee said last week that eight allegations of sexual harassment are pending in the Assembly but did not divulge any names.
Fierro, of Cerritos, left the Assembly in 2016 and now runs a communications firm. Calderon, his former boss, is now the majority leader. Lerna Shirinian, Calderon's communications director, said Fierro told her about the incident right after it happened.
"He was in shock, I was in shock — but the culture was very different back then," Shirinian told Politico.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner texted with Russian oligarch lobbyist in effort to contact dossier author Christopher Steele

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump's alleged ties to Russia, had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.

"We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country," Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017.

"I'm in," Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner.
Steele famously put together the anti-Trump dossier of unverified information that was used by FBI and Justice Department officials in October 2016 to get a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page. Despite the efforts, Steele has not agreed to an interview with the committee.

Sen. Mark Warner, left, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump's alleged ties to Russia, had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.  (AP)

Secrecy seemed very important to Warner as the conversation with Waldman heated up March 29, when the lobbyist revealed that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee’s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, inviting him to talk to the Senate intelligence panel.
Throughout the text exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop -- at least initially. In one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would "rather not have a paper trail" of his messages.
An aide to Warner confirmed to Fox News that the text messages are authentic. The messages, which were obtained from a Republican source, are all marked "CONFIDENTIAL" and are not classified. They were turned over to the Senate panel by Waldman last September.
Waldman, who did not return calls seeking comments, runs the Endeavor Group in Washington.
Waldman is best known for signing a $40,000 monthly retainer in 2009 and 2010 to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of controversial Russian billionaire Oleg V. Deripaska. Deripraska had his visa revoked by the State Department in 2006 because of charges, which he has denied, that he has organized crime ties.
An aide to Burr, the Republican chairman, told Fox News that Burr was aware of the "contact" Warner made with Steele's representative but added, "I don't believe he was aware of the content of the text messages" initially.

North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, left, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, with Warner.

The senators released a joint statement to Fox News stressing they are working together, while blasting the “leaks of incomplete information.”
They said the committee has been in possession of this material for several months and committee investigators have pursued all relevant investigative leads related to the material.
"From the beginning of our investigation we have taken each step in a bipartisan way, and we intend to continue to do so," Warner and Burr said in the statement. "Leaks of incomplete information out of context by anyone, inside or outside our committee, are unacceptable."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., another member of the committee, tweeted Thursday night that Warner "fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago." He added that the disclosure "has had zero impact on our work."
The conversation about Steele started on March 16, 2017, when Waldman texted, "Chris Steele asked me to call you."
Warner responded, "Will call tomorrow be careful."
The records show Warner and Waldman had trouble connecting by phone. On March 20, Warner pressed Waldman by text to get him access to Steele.
"Can you talk tomorrow want to get with ur English friend," Warner texted.

"We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country"

- Warner, in text to lobbyist Adam Waldman, March 22, 2017

"I spoke to him yesterday," Waldman texted.
The two men appear to have finally connected about Steele by phone on March 22, according to the records.
"Hey just tried u again gotta give a speech but really want to finish our talk," Warner texted.
Waldman, at one point, texted back that Steele really wanted a bi-partisan letter requesting his testimony first. He added that Steele was concerned about word leaking to the media that they were talking.
In one text, Warner suggested he did not want Burr or any other senator included in the discussions: "Ok but I wud (sic) like to do prelim call u me and him no one else before letter just so we have to trail to start want to discuss scope first before letter no leaks."
Waldman noted repeatedly that Steele was concerned about leaks and was "spooked" by all of the attention he had received around the world. Steele, he said, was skittish about talking to Warner.
Warner texted back on March 30: "We want to do this right private in London don't want to send letter yet cuz if we can't get agreement wud rather not have paper trail."
On April 5, Warner texted, "Any word on Steele.”
"Yes seems to have cold feet from the leaks. Said he wanted a bipartisan letter followed by written questions," texted Waldman, adding that the Wall Street Journal had contacted him asking if he was an intermediary between the panel and Steele.
In the text messages, Warner also discussed the possibility of a trip to see Steele.
On March 23, Warner texted, "Need to coordinate date for trip can u talk with my scheduler also want to discuss Paul," an apparent reference to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whose initials are used in the next text by Waldman.
On March 26, Warner texted, "Really need to set date things r going to really pick up."
"Standying by to do it," texted Waldman. "Awaiting call from your scheduler and also the letter he (Steele) would like they(sic) we discussed. And have second interesting thing to raise. Pls call."
But after calls back and forth, Warner made clear that he wanted to talk to Steele directly without Burr or anyone else being involved, even though Steele was insisting through Waldman that the contact start with a bipartisan letter inviting him to cooperate with the Senate panel.
"Hey can't we do brief (off the record) call today before letter so I can frame letter," Warner texted Waldman on March 29.
"Steele wants to have letter first. Or did you mean call w me?" Waldman texted back.
Trump reacted to the findings in a tweet late Thursday, writing, "All tied into Crooked Hillary."
Warner’s text messages were quietly given to the intelligence committee after he and Burr signed a joint request for the messages last June. Warner and Burr privately informed the rest of the Democratic and Republican senators on the panel of Warner's text messages in a meeting last October.
A Warner aide acknowledged that Warner and Burr revealed the texts to their colleagues on the panel because "they realized out of context it doesn't look great." But aides to Warner and Burr both stressed that the chairman was kept apprised of Warner's efforts.
An aide to Burr knew there was a "back channel" Warner was using to try and get to Steele and was not concerned that Warner was freelancing on the matter.
Warner began texting with Waldman in February 2017 about the possibility of helping to broker a deal with the Justice Department to get the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to potentially face criminal charges. That went nowhere, though a Warner aide told Fox News that the senator shared his previously undisclosed private conversations about WikiLeaks with the FBI.
Over the course of four months between February and May 2017, Warner and Waldman also exchanged dozens of texts about possible testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee from Deripaska, Waldman's primary Russian billionaire client.
In January 2009, Harper's Magazine reported that Deripaska had hired an advisory firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton to help him get a visa to enter the United States." The magazine quoted Waldman as saying his firm does not lobby, though he filed paperwork with the Justice Department to represent Deripaska before the U.S. government.
In the dozens of text messages between February 2017 and May 2017, Waldman also talked to Warner about getting Deripraska to cooperate with the intelligence committee. There have been reports that Deripraksa, who has sued Manafort over a failed business deal, has information to share about the former Trump aide.
In May 2017, the Senate and House intelligence committees decided not to give Deripraska legal immunity in exchange for testimony to the panels. The text messages between Warner and Waldman appeared to stop that month.

Senate sends budget deal to the House after standoff

The U.S. Senate early Friday approved the bipartisan two-year budget deal, sending the plan to the House in the next few hours for approval.

The plan was approved easily by the Senate after a 71 to 28 vote.

The House of Representatives Rules Committee held a meeting at 2:30 a.m. ET and prepared the budget package for debate later in the morning.
A last-minute maneuver by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., delayed consideration of a bipartisan budget package to keep the government open past midnight. The result is at least a temporary shutdown.
While the government's authority to spend some money expired at midnight, there weren't likely to be many clear immediate effects. Essential personnel would remain on the job regardless, and it appeared possible -- if not likely -- that the measure could pass both the Senate and House before most federal employees were due to report for work.
If the measure passes in the wee hours of the morning, the government would open in the morning on schedule, said John Czwartacki, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, the agency responsible for coordinating any shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised the plan in a statement shortly after the vote, writing that, "Funding for education, infrastructure, fighting drug abuse, and medical research will all, for the first time in years, get very significant increases, and we have placed Washington on a path to deliver more help to the middle class in the future.”
The stalemate began when Paul repeatedly objected to a quick vote on the deal struck by his fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Paul said he was asking for a recorded vote on reversing the bill's spending increases.
"I ran for office because I was very critical of President Obama's trillion-dollar deficits," the Kentucky senator said. "Now we have Republicans hand in hand with Democrats offering us trillion-dollar deficits. I can't in all honesty look the other way."
At one point, an exasperated Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., took to the Senate floor to lambaste Paul for what Tillis described as "theater."
"We can right now provide certainty to people who expect government to be open or we can play this game until 1 a.m.," said Tillis, who reminded Paul that "you have to convince 51 or 60 senators that your idea is good enough to support."
"You can make a point all you want, but points are forgotten," Tillis added. "There aren't a whole of history books about great points in the U.S. Senate."
Shortly after 10 p.m., Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, made six separate unanimous consent requests to hold a vote on the budget. Each time, Paul objected.
"I don't know why we're burning time here," Cornyn said before accusing Paul of "effectively shutting down the government ... for no real reason."
"It makes no sense to me," Cornyn added. "It will not accomplish anything."
As Paul stood firm, the Trump administration announced it was preparing for a "lapse" in appropriations, suggesting that officials expected a short shutdown.
The massive budget deal, which includes a stopgap temporary measure to prevent a government shutdown, includes $300 billion for the military. The agreement also adds $89 billion in overdue disaster aid for hurricane-slammed Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, a politically charged increase in the government's borrowing cap and a grab bag of health and tax provisions.
The legislation is expected to pass the Senate, but still faces uncertainty in the House, where liberals, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are protesting a lack of protections for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children and the conservative House Freedom Caucus is lining up against provisions ending spending caps.
"This should pass the House," Fox News' Chad Pergram said. "They need a blend of about 150 Republicans and 70 Democrats, but sources tell Fox News it is always hard to depend on the other side."
Late Thursday, House GOP leaders advised members to prepare for votes "very roughly between" 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday.
President Trump has been urging Republicans and Democrats to support the Senate bill, tweeting that lawmakers must “must support our troops and support this bill.”
But the bill still faces opposition from members of both parties.
Democrats like Pelosi are pushing for the bill to include provisions for “Dreamers” -- immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. by their parents. Such protections are about to expire in early March, a result of President Trump ending the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he also won’t support the bill and predicted other Democrats would also vote no.
“So today, they are going to bring over from the Senate a proposal, they are going to lift the caps and they're going to say, let's vote on our budget. Well, I say to everybody -- don't collude with this administration,” Gutierrez said. “Vote against the budget.”
The House Freedom Caucus, the chamber’s fiscally conservative wing, also opposes the bill out of concerns that it would lead to more government spending.
“The … caucus opposes the deal to raise spending caps on discretionary spending by nearly $300 billion over two years,” the roughly 30-member group said Wednesday. “We support funding for our military, but growing the size of government by 13 percent adds to the swamp instead of draining it. This is not what the American people sent us here to do.”
On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan gave his full support to the bill to try to rally others in chamber to also vote yes -- saying the military is at risk without the money, while acknowledging the deal includes partisan compromises and isn’t perfect.
“This is a bipartisan bill,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “On the net, this is a very good solution.”

Nancy Pelosi Cartoons

Senate leaders announce budget agreement, hike in Pentagon spending

Senate leaders announce agreement on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports from Capitol Hill.

Republican and Democratic Senate leaders announced a budget agreement Wednesday that includes a big boost in spending for the Pentagon and would keep the government running past a looming deadline.

“I am pleased to announce that our bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on defense spending and other priorities have yielded a significant agreement,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “We have reached a budget deal that neither side loves, but both sides can be proud of.”
Congress has until Feb. 8 to pass a spending bill, and the deal would fund the government through March 23. While Congress would still have to pass another spending measure before that deadline, the agreement announced Wednesday includes a longer-term pact to lift spending caps by roughly $400 billion for Pentagon and domestic programs over two years.
"The Budget Agreement today is so important for our great Military," President Trump tweeted Wednesday. "It ends the dangerous sequester and gives Secretary Mattis what he needs to keep America Great. Republicans and Democrats must support our troops and support this bill!"
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday he was encouraged by the deal.
“I'm heartened that Congress recognizes the sobering effect of budgetary uncertainty on America's military and on the men and women who provide for our nation's defense,” Mattis said during the White House briefing.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also expressed optimism about the deal, though wouldn’t explicitly say whether the president would sign the agreement if passed.
“Look, we applaud the steps forward that they have made, but we're going to need to see what is in the final bill. We are certainly happy with the direction that it's moving, particularly that we're moving away from the crisis budgeting that we have been on in the past,” she said.
McConnell said the measure would rewrite existing defense limits that have "hamstrung our armed forces and jeopardized our national security."
The bill removes automatic spending cuts – known as sequestration caps – for both defense and nondefense programs. The caps were put in place in 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act to lift the debt limit.
The deal would lift the debt limit and also includes disaster relief for hurricane-stricken areas as well as a four-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The agreement, though, does not tackle immigration -- at a time when Congress is debating how to address those affected by the looming expiration of former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program gave a deportation reprieve to young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
McConnell has committed to a freewheeling debate on immigration if the Senate is still open after Feb. 8.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved their version of a stopgap spending bill to run the government through March 23 and bolster defense funding.
The House's top Democrat swung out against the latest plan.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless her chamber's GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect "Dreamer" immigrants.

New Strzok-Page texts call into question Obama's 2016 statement on FBI probes

Newly released text messages between FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page saying Barack Obama wanted to “know everything” the FBI was “doing” could raise questions about the former president's 2016 statement that he was not involved in discussing pending probes. 

The texts were part of a batch released by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., along with majority staff from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Strzok and Page, who worked for a short period of time on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, have been in the spotlight ever since a slew of anti-Trump messages between them surfaced last year. 

In the new text message chain from Sept. 2, 2016, Page mentioned Obama in the context of a briefing for then-FBI director James Comey.
“Checkout my 9:30 mtg on the 7^th,” Strzok texted Page.
“I can tell you why you’re having that meeting. It’s not what you think,” Page responded.
“TPs [talking points] for D [Comey]?” Strzok asked.
“Yes, bc potus wants to know everything we are doing,” Page said.

The message suggested that Obama would meet Comey regarding an FBI matter.
Yet, on April 10, 2016, Obama told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he did not have any involvement in ongoing FBI investigations.
“I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations,” Obama said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case.”
FBI LOVERS' LATEST TEXT MESSAGES: OBAMA 'WANTS TO KNOW EVERYTHING' 
It's unclear from the texts what exactly Strzok and Page were referring to with the apparent talking points for Comey. According to the Senate report, the text raises questions about Obama's involvement in the Clinton email investigation.
The conversation took place during an apparent lull in the Clinton email investigation, though it wasn't necessarily closed, either. In July 2016, Comey announced that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information on her private server but would face no charges. In late October, Comey announced that he would revisit the Clinton investigation.
The Strzok-Page conversation also occurred just days before Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, where he confronted him about cyber concerns amid reports and intelligence surfacing that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential campaign.
A former deputy assistant to Obama, Colin Kahl, highlighted on Twitter a Daily Beast reporter who floated this meeting as relevant to that text exchange.
Also on Sept. 2, 2016, though, the FBI released a full transcript – with redactions – of its interview with Hillary Clinton as part of the  email probe, along with a memo summarizing the bureau’s investigation of her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
After the mention of “potus,” Strzok alerted Page to “NYTimes.com breaking,” which could have been the report, “FBI Papers Offer Closer Look at Hillary Clinton Email Inquiry.”