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Daily Briefing

Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 339th day of the year. There are 26 days remaining in 2017.

The clock:

28 days until candidates can declare their intent to gather signatures for the 2018 election (1/2/2018)48 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)93 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)94 days until the filing period for candidates in the 2018 election opens (3/9/2018)100 days until the filing deadline for the 2018 elections (3/15/2018)105 days until the statewide GOP caucus meetings (3/20/2018)137 days until the GOP State Convention (4/21/2018)203 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)336 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)1,064 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)

Today's political TL; DR -

POLL: 53% of Utahns say they approve of the job performance of Sen. Mike Lee. The approval ratings for Sen. Orrin Hatch inch up a bit after being in negative territory [Utah Policy].
President Donald Trump visited Utah on Monday and slashed the size of both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments [Utah Policy].
Sen. Orrin Hatch defends President Trump's endorsement of controversial Alabama Republican Roy Moore saying the president had no choice but to support the Republican in the special election [Utah Policy].
Rep. Rob Bishop will be on the House team negotiating the tax reform package with the Senate [Utah Policy].
Rep. Chris Stewart gets into a heated exchange with two MSNBC hosts when they ask him specifics about the GOP tax bill [Utah Policy].
A coalition of Native American tribes plans to sue the Trump Administration over his executive action to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument [Deseret News, Tribune].
Thousands of protesters flooded downtown Salt Lake City during president Trump's time in Utah [Tribune].
President Trump's executive order on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante splits the two massive monuments into five smaller ones [Tribune].
President Donald Trump met with LDS Church officials during his brief visit to Utah on Monday [Daily Herald].
Rep. John Curtis names former Utah Rep. Lorie Fowlke as his district director [Deseret News].
A study says Utah County needs to offer more competitive pay to attract and retain employees [Daily Herald].

National headlines:

President Donald Trump's legal team is floating a possible legal defense that the president cannot obstruct justice because he is the nation's top law enforcement officer [Washington Post].
President Donald Trump offered a full-throated endorsement of Alabama Republican Roy Moore on Monday. After that happened, the Republican National Committee reversed course and said they were going to offer financial support for Moore's campaign after previously cutting ties [Politico].
A woman who claims Roy Moore pursued a relationship with her when she was 17, and he was 34 says a high school graduation card signed by Moore is evidence of her claims [Washington Post].
Republicans in Congress tried to undermine a budgetary rule they put in place in 2015 in order to discredit an analysis that showed their tax cut package would explode the deficit [New York Times].
Conservatives in Congress nearly derail the GOP tax plan to gain more leverage over a must-pass spending bill to fund the government [Politico].
Federal prosecutors say former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has continued to work with a longtime associate that has ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort and the unnamed associate have allegedly been ghostwriting an editorial defending Manaforts work with a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine [Washington Post].
WOW! Vice President Mike Pence made it clear to the Republican National Committee that he was ready to take over as the GOP nominee in 2016 after the bombshell Access Hollywood tape threatened to derail Donald Trump's presidential campaign [Atlantic].
The Supreme Court rules that the third version of the Trump administration's travel ban can go into effect while there are legal challenges to the action in lower courts [New York Times].
Former deputy national security advisor K.T. McFarland may have lied to a Senate committee about her knowledge of discussions between former national security advisor Michael Flynn and a Russian official [New York Times].
Border Patrol arrests have dropped to a 45-year low while deportation arrests have soared during the Trump administration [Associated Press].
Special counsel Robert Muller has subpoenaed President Donald Trump's business dealings with Deutsche Bank [Bloomberg].

On this day in history:

1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
1831 - Former President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1848 - In a message to Congress, President James K. Polk confirmed large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
1933 - The Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which repealed prohibition, was ratified. Utah was the 36th state to ratify the amendment.
1955 - The boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama went into effect following the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white man.

Today At Utah Policy

53% of Utahns approve of Sen. Mike Lee's performance, Hatch's approval rating ticks upward slightly By Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor As Utah politicos wait with bated breath for Sen. Orrin Hatch to announce now perhaps as late as mid-January whether he will run for an unprecedented 8th term next year, a new UtahPolicy.com poll finds that Hatch's approval numbers are up just ever so slight...

Hatch defends Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore saying the president had no choice By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Sen. Orrin Hatch defended President Donald Trump's endorsement of Alabama Republican Senate candidate on Monday, saying Trump had little choice but to back Moore....

Bishop named to conference committee to negotiate tax bill By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Rob Bishop is one of nine Republicans from the House that will negotiate with the Senate to resolve differences between the two tax plans....

Trump rolls back federal protections on massive blocks of public lands in Utah By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor President Donald Trump said he listened to the desires Utahns before deciding to drastically slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments on Monday....

Stewart gets into heated exchange over tax reform on MSNBC (with video) By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor Rep. Chris Stewart got into a testy conversation with MSNBC's Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle Monday over the GOP's tax reform....

Policy News

Fox Files: 'Rural job tour completion' We recently completed the last stop of the 25K Rural Job Tour....

EDCUtah celebrates 30th anniversary with 30 highlights in 30 weeks From Forbes Magazine naming Utah "Best State for Business" to Adobe bringing thousands of jobs to Utah, EDCUtah has been a guiding force in Utah's economic highlights over the past 30 years....

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: City vote on extra units on houses creates unnecessary boundaries

Op-ed: Time to put limits on the Antiquities Act

Editorial: We should know when Congress pays a sexual harassment claim

What's in, what's out of Utah's new monuments

Trump turned two vast Utah national monuments into five smaller ones. Here's a look at the new sites - and key lands that got left out.

Meet the 5 new Utah monuments replacing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante - which Trump shaved down by 2 million acres

Women made gains in Utah's recent elections, but men still hold nearly 3 of every 4 city offices along the Wasatch Front

Utah reacts to President Trump's visit and his monument announcements

Trump tours Welfare Square looking for 'tuna fish,' praises 'good stuff' the Mormon church does and vows to protect religious freedom

Trump wants Utah's Orrin Hatch to serve in the Senate 'for a very long time to come'

While Utahns grovel before Trump, remember he stiffed them repeatedly for jobs in his administration

Five American Indian tribes, furious over Trump shrinking Bears Ears on his trip to Utah, sue the president

Trump greeted by thousands of Utah protesters, some who blocked downtown Salt Lake City streets and faced off with cops in riot gear

More police, affordable housing on tap as Salt Lake City Council winds down for year

Deseret News

Boyd Matheson: There is no 'I' in Utah

Op-ed: Bears Ears - missing facts and misconceptions

Gary Herbert: 5 myths about Bears Ears

Editorial: President Trump should bring Utah back to Washington

Mitt Romney, Christmas and tuna: Twitter reacts to Trump's visit to Utah

Native American tribe coalition to sue Trump for shrinking Bears Ears

Hundreds of protesters greet Trump at state Capitol

Trump pushing Hatch to run again, calls Romney 'good man' at Welfare Square

Trump: 'Public lands will once again be for public use'

Questions linger about decade-old Real Salt Lake stadium deal

U. study: Just 6% of Americans with high-deductible health plans negotiate prices

Other

President Trump meets with LDS Church leadership at Welfare Square (Daily Herald)

Utah County needs to adjust employee compensation to be competitive, study finds (Daily Herald)

Weber County spends $456K on public relations, economic development contracts (Standard-Examiner)

Local lawmakers join in Trump Administration's monument showdown (Logan Herald Journal)

National Headlines

FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey's description of Clinton to 'extremely careless' (CNN)

Anti-Trump Text Messages Show Pattern Of Bias On Mueller's Team (Daily Caller)

ABC News president excoriates staff over Brian Ross' Michael Flynn error (CNN)

If Michael Flynn's 'crime' is all Robert Mueller has, it is time to move on (USA Today)

Trump, Democrats restart talks to avert shutdown (Politico)

Dow rises to record but rest of market rolls over on tech woes (CNBC)

Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban (Associated Press)

Supreme Court to decide Colorado gay wedding cake case (FOX News)

House looks to expand right to carry concealed weapons as gun-control advocates hold vigils (USA Today)

Five questions for the CVS-Aetna deal (The Hill)

Mulvaney already is putting his stamp on CFPB - and still sparring over its leadership (Los Angeles Times)

Wise Words

Leadership

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." John F. Kennedy

Lighter Side

More Specific

"Trump lashed out at British Prime Minister Theresa May on Twitter, but he actually tagged the wrong Theresa May. When he heard that he sent an embarrassing tweet, he said, "You're going to have to be way more specific." Jimmy Fallon

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