Here's what's making headlines in the political world on Tuesday, November 27, 2018:
Trump says Mueller’s “Phony Witch Hunt” probe is “ruining lives”
-- President Trump was on the attack Tuesday, accusing Special Counsel Robert Mueller of “ruining lives” with through his Russia investigation.
The president’s comments come a day after his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, reportedly violated his plea agreement made with the Special Counsel.
Manafort has denied the accusations that he lied to investigators two months after the plea deal.
In a series of tweets, Trump referred to Mueller as “a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue” and believed the media has built up the prosecutor “as a Saint.”
"The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue...."
The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
"....The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his..."
....The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
"....terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!"
....terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2018
Special Counsel accuses Manafort of lying after guilty plea
-- (CNN) Paul Manafort has "breached" his plea agreement with the Justice Department by lying to the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's office two months after he started cooperating in the Russia probe, prosecutors said in a new court filing Monday.
The filing was an astonishing break from the bare-bones updates given by the special counsel's office in other cases where cooperators continue to help Mueller pursue Russian interference in the 2016 US election and alleged coordination with the Trump campaign.
The brief but remarkable development indicates that not only has the former Trump campaign chairman shared extensive information with Justice Department prosecutors since he began cooperating, but that prosecutors also believe they are able to verify or refute that information. And it signals that Mueller's team may be prepared to reveal the depths of what they have learned.
Manafort lied "on a variety of subject matters," violating his plea agreement, prosecutors allege in the three-page filing signed by both the defense team and the prosecution. The special counsel's office says it will provide more details at a later date.
Trump proposes “Worldwide Network” to counter CNN overseas
-- (AP) President Donald Trump is raising the possibility of starting "our own Worldwide Network" to counter news spread internationally by CNN.
Trump said via Twitter on Monday that CNN "has a powerful voice portraying the United States in an unfair and false way. Something has to be done."
It wasn't immediately clear what he meant. The U.S. government already operates Voice of America, which last year reached some 275 million people worldwide with news reports from the United States available on television, radio, online and social media.
CNN had no immediate comment about the new criticism by the president.
The president has frequently criticized CNN and its reporters. His administration recently backed down from its effort to ban reporter Jim Acosta from the White House.
It wasn't known why he was focusing on CNN's worldwide reach. CNN International is the most widely distributed television news network overseas, with BBC World News second.
Trump said he wanted a worldwide network "to show the World the way we really are. GREAT!"
The president's favorite news network, Fox News Channel, is available in nearly 100 countries, although not distributed as widely as CNN. The president has complained about being in hotel rooms abroad and having no alternative to CNN.
Voice of America, which began operating during World War II, is also determined to show the United States as it really is, but not through the prism of any particular political leader.
The agency's charter, signed into law in 1976, says VOA "will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions."
Voice of America had no comment on the president's tweet.
Report by AP Media Writer David Bauder
Mississippi's US Senate race comes to a close amid racial controversies
-- (CNN) Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was expected to coast to victory in a Mississippi runoff that would conclude the last Senate race of 2018's midterm elections.
Instead, Hyde-Smith has spent the days leading up to Tuesday's election mired in controversy that evoked the state's dark history of racism and slavery.
It began when video emerged online of her telling supporters earlier this month that she'd be "on the front row" if one of her supporters there "invited me to a public hanging." She later called the comments an "exaggerated expression of regard," but her use of the phrase "public hanging" brought memories of Mississippi's history of lynchings to the forefront and put the contest under the national microscope.
On Tuesday, Mississippi voters will decide between Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, who, if elected, would be the state's first black senator since Reconstruction.
The result will finalize the balance of power in the US Senate. As it stands, Republicans will hold 52 seats next year, and Democrats will have 47. A win for the GOP in Mississippi would further pad the party's majority in the Senate, even as Democrats have taken a solid majority in the House.
CNN and The Associated Press contributed to this report
