Here's what's making headlines in the political world on Friday, August 17, 2018:
Trump says he's canceling military parade over costs
-- A day after the Pentagon announced it was postponing a military parade, President Trump tweeted Friday morning that he canceled the event due to rising costs.
Trump said: “The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead...attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!”
The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
....attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
According to The Associated Press, the president’s proposed parade would cost $92 million. Officials had previously stated the military parade, which had been scheduled for Veterans Day weekend, would cost taxpayers between $10 million-$30 million.
Trump called for a parade to honor the U.S. military following a 2017 visit to Paris that included a viewing of the Bastille Day celebration.
Critics of the president dismissed the parade as wasteful and overly extravagant.
Report: Ex-Trump attorney reversed course on Daniels payment after tape release
-- Michael Cohen informed a representative for Stormy Daniels he was willing to strike a deal to buy her silence only after the release of the now-infamous "Access Hollywood" recording where President Trump can be heard talking about grabbing women without their consent, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The Journal cited a person familiar with the conversation that took place between Cohen, Trump's former attorney, and Daniels' representative just one day after the October 2016 release of the recording. The newspaper reported that Cohen indicated during that conversation that "he was open to a deal," despite having "initially balked at the idea."
The same source told the Journal that Cohen "resisted" making a payment to Daniels when the idea was proposed in September 2016.
Daniels is a former adult film star who claims she had a consensual sexual encounter with Trump, who denies any affair.
Citing individuals familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that federal prosecutors in New York state believe that the "Access Hollywood" recording may have caused Cohen to take action to keep negative stories about Trump out of the news. Federal prosecutors are investigating if that payment to Daniels was an illegal contribution to the campaign or should have been disclosed by the Trump campaign.
Omarosa releases recording of Lara Trump offering campaign gig
-- Omarosa Manigault Newman has released a new audio recording in which she and Lara Trump, the wife of President Trump's son Eric, are discussing a job offer with Trump's re-election campaign that the former White House aide alleged was a hush agreement.
Manigault Newman writes in her book, "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House," that she turned down an offer from President Trump's daughter-in-law to sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for a job on the President's re-election campaign paying $15,000 per month. Manigault Newman said she was offered the deal after she was ousted from the White House last December.
Promoting her book this past week, Manigault Newman has released secret recordings she made of her conversations with the President and his aides, including a recording made in the White House Situation Room, raising national security questions.
In the newest audio recording released Thursday to MSNBC, Lara Trump, a senior adviser for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, can be heard telling Manigault Newman "that there are some things you've got in the back pocket to pull out." Trump appears to reference a New York Times article published shortly after Manigault Newman left the White House that gave the impression that the former aide was open to discussing her time in the administration.
CNN contributed to this report
