INTERVIEW – RONNA ROMNEY MCDANIEL – RNC CHAIRWOMAN

• OVERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT’S FIRST YEAR:
  • President Trump assumed office on January 20, 2017 — THIS SATURDAY will be anniversary of president’s first year in office
  • STATE OF THE UNION IS TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY: The 2018 State of the Union Address will be given by the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump on Tuesday, January 30, 2018
• MIDTERMS: There is a wave of Republicans leaving Congress. (CNN) House Republicans are announcing they’re leaving office at a significantly faster rate than any other recent Congresses, suggesting Democrats could pick up seats in the 2018 midterm elections. On Tuesday it was Pennsylvania Republican Bill Shuster, the influential chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Already, at least 29 House Republicans have announced they are retiring, running for another office or resigning outright. They’re leaving from all over the map, from southern New Jersey to southern New Mexico. Democrats need to pick up 24 House seats to retake the majority from Republicans, who’ve had control of the House since 2011.
• ROMNEY FOR SENATE? Ronna is the niece of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. NYT: Friend says Romney will run for Senate. Washington (CNN) Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney texted a friend that he will seek the open Senate seat from Utah this year, according to a New York Times report published Sunday. The Times’ report adds to the growing expectation that Romney will declare his intention to seek the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who earlier this year made it official that he will not seek re-election. Romney is scheduled for two public events in Utah during the coming week — one before the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce and the other at a technology conference. The deadline for Romney to get into the race officially is not until March, and it is unclear when he might declare. The report said Utah GOP Gov. Gary Herbert told Kem Gardner, a friend of Romney, that the former Republican presidential candidate should not be “coy” about seeking the Senate seat. Gardner later called Herbert and read a text from Romney saying, “I’m running.”
• GOP DIVISION: FLAKE’S ATTACKS ON TRUMP: Republican Sen. Jeff Flake: The GOP should stand up to President Trump’s Stalin-like attacks on media Washington (CNN) GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona plans to deliver a speech comparing President Donald Trump’s attacks on the press as reminiscent of Joseph Stalin, and said Monday that his colleagues should join him in speaking out. “I hope that more of my colleagues will stand up when the President uses ‘fake news,’ for example, in ways that I think put journalists across the world in danger,” Flake told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Flake has been among the most outspoken critics of Trump’s statements and policies regarding trade and immigration, and the senator said he plans this week to deliver a speech on the Senate floor attacking Trump for calling mainstream outlets “the enemy of the American People!”