Trump Interviews Sanders-Supporting Dem, Press Gets Peak at Potential Immigration Plan and More You Missed in Politics Today

It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:

1. "Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard 'Under Serious Consideration' for Trump Cabinet"

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), an earlier and active supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), met with Donald Trump on Monday morning and is under "serious consideration" for a position in his cabinet, “according to a senior level official within the transition team.” Gabbard, who said she voted for Hillary Clinton, “is being looked as a potential candidate for secretary of state, secretary of defense and United Nations ambassador positions.”

Gabbard said she spoke with Trump on Monday about foreign policy, and specifically Syria. "In Congress, Gabbard has broken with House Democrats on the Syrian civil war (she supports keeping President Bashar Al-Assad in power) and Syrian refugees (she voted for a GOP bill last year to impose stricter background checks on refugees)."

Read more at ABC News.

Gabbard has also broken with the majority of Democrats in her position on gun control. McClatchy notes: "Gabbard did not join the majority of her Democratic colleagues in the House by co-sponsoring gun control legislation this summer."

2. "Trump Cabinet Hopeful Kris Kobach Forgets Cover Sheet, Exposes DHS Plan for All to See"

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach accidentally exposed his plans for Trump’s immigration policy to the press before meeting with the president-elect about a job as director of Homeland Security on Monday. Kobach, a Republican, is the "author of Arizona’s SB 1070, known as the ‘papers please’ law." Kobach’s plan includes required registration for adult male immigrants from certain Muslim nations (by reenacting a post-9/11 policy that was done away with by the Obama administration), ending Syrian immigration to the U.S., and questioning potential immigrants about their support for Sharia law. “The rest of the document, which is obscured by Kobach’s arm and hand, deals with ‘criminal aliens,’ the proposed wall on the Mexican border, and voting laws.”

Read more at New York Magazine.

3. "Water Cannons Deployed At Oil Pipeline Protests In North Dakota"

"Authorities deployed water cannons against people protesting the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline Sunday night, even as temperatures dipped below freezing. About 400 protesters stood facing law enforcement at Highway 1806, near the camps where they have worked to block the pipeline for months. … Monday afternoon, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said at a news conference that the water was deployed against the protesters ‘at a time when they were aggressive towards officers’ and used ‘as a measure to help keep everybody safe.’"

Read more at Buzzfeed.

4. "Pope extends power to forgive abortion to all Roman Catholic priests"

"Pope Francis on Monday extended indefinitely to all Roman Catholic priests the power to forgive abortion, a right previously reserved for bishops or special confessors in most parts of the world. … He said he wanted to ‘restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life’ but ‘there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with (God).’"

Read more at Reuters.

— Sarah Mimms
Photo by TSgt Michael R. Holzworth/Wikimedia Commons