The debate is roiling House Democrats, with progressives forcing a debate over the issue even as vulnerable incumbents, particularly members in districts that favored Trump, worry it could jeopardize their future in Congress.
Earlier this month, 58 House Democrats led by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)--nearly a third of their caucus--voted to begin debate on articles of impeachment against Trump, despite calls by Democratic leadership to spike the measure. And now those on the other side of the debate are already fretting about how far their colleagues and the Democratic base will try to take the issue ahead of the midterms.
The minority leader used his speech to nationalize the race and paint Grimes as a tool of national Democrats. McConnell said, "There's only one way to change America in 2014. That's to change the Senate and make me the leader of a new majority--to take America in a different direction." McConnell repeatedly compared Grimes to President Obama.
"In terms of antisemitism, all I did in an ad was pointed out that Josh is going around saying he's got the Bible in one hand and the constitution in the other. But he's Jewish," Pukita said. Pukita's response was quickly condemned by Bernie Moreno.
"Josh, nobody should question your faith. That's not right," Moreno said. "The Jewish religion, the Bible is the Bible. That was hard to hear. I'm sorry about that. That's not right. We're better than that, guys."
Pukita last month was cut out of a forum hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue after the organization deemed his radio ad to be antisemitic.
No, no. He's up to something bigger, he says. Obviously. "There's a lot of people in the political media and the political class who can only think through the prism of elections and only the very next elections, rather than understanding that social change is made in a variety of fashions. It's the electoral process. It's what happens at the local level as well as the national level. It is through issue-organizing," de Blasio argued, describing his trip as the natural outgrowth of being "a progressive who wants to change things" - and therefore "needs to work with people who are trying to create that change all over the country."
"Part of why we're in the mess we're in is because we fell into a trap of triangulation and moderation, lost a lot of our identity and became unappealing to the very people who had been our support base," he said in the interview.
The problem for de Blasio is that many progressives, Democrats and other mayors say they also don't want HIM in this role--which adds up to a sort of national version of the public advocate job he held for four years in New York before becoming mayor. They're already fed up with his pledge to make Iowa the first of many stops traveling the country to talk about progressive politics and progressive candidates.
The president wrote on Twitter: "Tennessee loving Bill Hagerty, who was my Tennessee Victory Chair -- will be running for the U.S. Senate. He is strong on crime, borders & our 2nd A. Loves our Military & our Vets. Has my Complete & Total Endorsement!"
Democrats like Bustos say they are waiting for the outcome of a special counsel investigation into Trump associates' ties to Russia, which has raised the specter of indictments in Trump's inner circle and even an obstruction of justice charge against the president himself. Other Democrats say the president's handling of race issues and business conflicts of interest already present grounds for impeachment.
For his part, Collins said he plans to devote more time to constituent services, and attend more district events. "I'm disappointed, but I'm making the best of it," Collins said. "You can't control what you can't control. But in my case, you offset it."
Collins was arrested on insider trading charges and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. Collins infuriated their Republican colleagues by staying on the ballot in the midterms--and won reelection. But shortly after the elections, the House GOP adopted a new conference rule forcing anyone under indictment for a felony to relinquish his or her committee assignments or leadership posts until the legal matter gets resolved.
The endorsing groups stressed that McDaniel has proven his right-wing bona fides. "Chris McDaniel is not part of the Washington establishment and he has the courage to stand up to the big spenders in both parties," the Senate Conservatives Fund executive director said.
Cochran , mingled with about 70 donors at a reception this week at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters. He suggested this summer that it might take months before he shares his plans. Asked about the attacks, Cochran's spokesman emailed: "Senator Cochran has indicated that he will determine his plans regarding the 2014 election cycle later this year."
In a media call on Wednesday with Cochran aides, an anonymous caller repeatedly asked questions about the senator's interaction with African-American voters. "If black people were harvesting cotton, why is it OK to harvest their votes?" the caller asked. Some McDaniel supporters have accused the Cochran campaign of paying African-Americans to vote for the senator in the runoff.
Some Republicans on the House panel agreed that the evidence failed to support the intel agencies' conclusions.
Democrats issued a 22-page report charging that Republicans abdicated their responsibility to conduct a thorough Russia probe, instead cutting off avenues of investigation and refusing to call dozens of potential witnesses.
"The decision to shut down the investigation before key witnesses could be interviewed and vital documentary evidence obtained will prevent us from fully discharging our duty to the House and to the American people," the Democrats said in their report, which identifies 30 witnesses Democrats wanted to call.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, requested all documents related to the donation, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. In a separate letter, Cummings also pressed the Trump Organization for details on how the amount was calculated, including an accounting of which governments did business with the Trump Organization. Cummings also asked whether the company plans to claim the Treasury donation as a gift for tax-deduction purposes.
Cummings is one of 196 members of the House & Senate, all Democrats, who have sued Trump claiming violations of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which was designed to prevent corruption by foreign influence. Blumenthal v. Trump is pending in US district court.
In two instances when he spoke on the record, Trump veered from a general discussion of "success" to an evaluation of the president. In the first case he said Obama lacked the qualities of a winner and "has had so many losses and people don't even want to watch him on television." In the second he said the president was not psychologically tough. "It's all psychology. If Obama had that psychology, Russia's Vladimir Putin wouldn't be eating his lunch. He doesn't have that psychology and he never will because it's not in his DNA."
Considering his lifelong dance of mutual manipulation with the press, Trump's complaints are more than a little ironic. Few have profited more from the tide of celebrity news that has swamped the public discourse. His analysis is also entirely self-referential. When the writer Timothy O`Brien said Trump wasn't as wealthy as he claimed, Trump sued. He lost, but considering the costs incurred, O`Brien's publisher lost too.
Q: "So eighth grade on?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "Whose idea was this?"
A: "Well, I was very rebellious and my parents thought it would be a good idea. I was very rebellious."
Q: "How did it evidence itself?"
A: "I was a very rebellious kind of person. I don't like to talk about it, actually. But I was a very rebellious person and very set in my ways."
Q: "In eighth grade?"
A: "I loved to fight. I always loved to fight."
Q: "Physical fights?"
A: "All types of fights. Any kind of fight, I loved it, including physical, and I was always the best athlete. Something that nobody knew about me."
"I DID NOTHING WRONG," Trump said. "If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court."
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1993 that authority for impeachment trials resides in Congress and "nowhere else." The power of impeachment belongs to Congress and proceedings must be launched in the House, according to the U.S. Constitution. If representatives vote to impeach, the case is tried in the Senate.
Collins was arrested on insider trading charges, while Hunter and his wife were charged with misusing campaign funds for personal expenses. Both have pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. Hunter and Collins infuriated their Republican colleagues by staying on the ballot in the midterms--and both won reelection. But shortly after the elections, the House GOP adopted a new conference rule forcing anyone under indictment for a felony to relinquish his or her committee assignments or leadership posts until the legal matter gets resolved.
One Congressman cited: "You know the old saying: Congress on the floor is Congress in theater. Congress in committee is Congress at work."
The Republican argued that it was important for his party to "be there" in communities that have trended away from the GOP, noting that candidates don't need to speak Spanish to go on the Univision or Telemundo television networks. He also mentioned his own efforts to offer campaign videos in other languages. "We certainly should not cede those audiences to the left," Gillespie said of groups that don't typically vote for Republicans, including many minorities. The left will "fill that vacuum, and we cannot allow that vacuum to occur."
Impeachment must be launched in the House. If representatives vote to impeach, the case is tried in the Senate. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution lays out the grounds for removal from office as: "Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
The open-ended constitutional provision raises questions about whether Trump's claim that he has done nothing to merit impeachment holds. Legal experts have long debated how to define "high crimes and misdemeanors," which some say don't necessarily correspond to written law. In 1970, then-Rep. Gerald Ford declared: "An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
In those races and many others, Shaheen had to find ways to appeal to the state's huge swath of independents. N.H. has open primaries, meaning voters can choose whether they want a Democratic or Republican ballot; playing strictly to the base isn't really an option.
So it's no surprise she's not publicly embracing Obama. Shaheen's problem is that she's backed her party on every major issue. Republicans cite a statistic that Shaheen voted with Obama 99% of the time last year. During a 2008 debate, Shaheen struggled to identify a national issue where she opposed her party's leadership. Posed the same question during the interview last week, she cited her opposition to the TARP bailout and an Internet sales tax.
If Democrats retake the House in 2018, Nadler will become the party's gatekeeper on the issue. In fact, his expertise in constitutional law--as well as his outsized voice opposing the Clinton impeachment in 1998--was a factor in his selection to lead committee Democrats. While he says impeachment would surely be on the table in a Democrat-led House, it's far from certain it would be the right call--politically or constitutionally. And it'll be up to his committee to tell voters why.
"If we were in the majority & if we decide that the evidence isn't there for impeachment--or even if the evidence is there we decide it would tear the country apart too much--if we decide that, then it's our duty to educate the country why we decided it," Nadler said.
Walsh was elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party movement and served one term. Initially a strong backer of Trump, he became a steady critic of the president and has called him "a danger to this country."
When asked whether he could secure financial resources to go up against Trump's treasure chest, Walsh responded: "Abso-freaking-lutely. There's a drumbeat from a lot of people out there for somebody who wants to take this on." Walsh contends that based on conversations he's had, he could win financial support "all over the spectrum."
Under Montana law, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock can appoint whomever he wants to fill the Senate seat until the next election. National Democratic sources expect that appointment to be Walsh, who polls show has been trailing Republican candidate Steve Daines.
Democrats argue that appointing Walsh to the Senate seat nearly a year before the election would give him a leg up against Daines. Republicans, meanwhile, have begun painting Walsh as a D.C. insider, calling him Senate Majority Leader "Harry Reid and Barack Obama's handpicked US senator." They also have blasted the news of his potential appointment as Washington backroom dealing, dubbing it the "big sky buyoff"--an approach that could ultimately hurt Walsh, who's been running as a Beltway outsider.
Murkowski's assertion is a mixed blessing for national Republicans, who support the man who defeated her in the GOP primary, Joe Miller. On the one hand, her continued candidacy stands to hurt Miller by siphoning off votes from him, making way for Murkowski or Democrat Scott McAdams to win.
On the other hand, Murkowski signals she will continue to caucus with the Republicans in the lame-duck session and, if she wins reelection, throughout the next Congress.
Murkowski vowed that she would return not only as a Republican but with her seniority intact--including her plum committee leadership spot--next year. "In January, I will return with the most seniority on the Natural Resources Committee," she said. "I will not lose a minute of seniority and I will continue to build on that."
Back in Washington, Begich became president and CEO of the Foundation for Hospice and Homecare. And last month, he signed as a strategic policy adviser to the law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt, working mainly on energy and natural resource issues.
"In terms of antisemitism, all I did in an ad was pointed out that Josh is going around saying he's got the Bible in one hand and the constitution in the other. But he's Jewish," Pukita said. Pukita's response was quickly condemned by [his opponents].
Pukita last month was cut out of a forum hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue after the organization deemed his radio ad to be antisemitic. In a statement at the time, Pukita's campaign called the claim "ridiculous and defamatory."
"Mark Pukita is absolutely, unequivocally, undeniably a complete supporter of religious tolerance and of Israel," a spokesperson said. "He is not a supporter of phonies and panderers."
"I think that's something that's easy to be able to identify with the work that we've done, both for our people who believe in the ideology of limited government, but never getting past the place that we forgot about all of the communities that I represent."
O'Malley's O'Say Can You See PAC had nearly $298,000 in its coffers at the end of March, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. His camp says the total was low because O'Malley didn't fundraise during the Maryland legislative session.
O'Malley has shown some fundraising chops--he was a member of President Barack Obama's National Finance Committee for his 2012 campaign and bundled $500,000.
[Via Bloomberg Philanthropies], Bloomberg's giving covers five major areas--environment, public health, government innovation, the arts and education--and last year totaled $787 million, making him the nation's second-most generous philanthropist behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Through one of his biggest programs, the American Cities Initiative, Bloomberg has helped municipalities and activists grapple with everything from climate change to guns to obesity. The initiative is an outgrowth of Bloomberg's time as New York City mayor and has helped sow goodwill with mayors and former mayors throughout the country, giving him possible entr‚e to a layer of local political support that conventional candidates lack.
"The conclusion that Putin was trying to help Trump, we don't think that's supported by the underlying data," Conaway said in a phone interview, when asked to elaborate on the committee's finding.
He said Republicans on the committee agreed with "98 percent" of the intelligence agencies' findings but broke on that central issue. Conaway described a laborious effort to confirm the intelligence community's findings, enshrined in its January 2017 assessment that Russia and Putin "developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump."
In the end, Conaway said, the committee found that the agencies didn't meet the burden to prove that assessment.
Wolf offered a non-apology apology for the X-ray postings, saying in the interview he was sorry "if I offended anybody." Critics, he said, seized upon a "few" comments "they didn't particularly like."
Still, Wolf points to what he calls his growing network of volunteers--or "wolfpack," as he calls it--and the roughly 75,000 voters with whom he says it has made contact as evidence that he's still in the hunt.
[His primary opponent Milton] Wolf accuses Roberts of "posing" like a conservative to save his job. "He does whatever Ted Cruz does," Wolf said. Yet as ripe as the conditions here are for a tea party upset--an entrenched GOP incumbent in a reddening state--Wolf has failed to capitalize. The 43-year-old radiologist has been hobbled by a February report in the Topeka Capital-Journal that he had posted X-ray images of gunshot victims on his Facebook page along with macabre humor.
Moore alleged that Baron Cohen defamed him, and also alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. Moore sued Baron Cohen, along with Showtime and CBS, in 2018, seeking $95 million in damages.
The U.S. District Court dismissed the case after agreeing with the defendants that because Moore had signed a waiver before the interview, and because of First Amendment protection, Moore's claims were barred.
Pruitt weighed in on a 2005 Supreme Court case that involved a display of the Ten Commandments at the Texas State Capitol. He argued that prohibiting such displays elevated atheist beliefs above Jewish and Christian ones.
Federal courts have interpreted the Constitution to require the separation of church and state, including a 1947 decision prohibiting New Jersey from using public funds to bus students to Catholic schools.
Pruitt disagreed, saying: "I think the most grievous threat that we have today is this imperialistic judiciary, that has it wrong on what the First Amendment's about and has an objective to create religious sterility in the public square."
[However, on the same radio show in 2005], hHe frequently referred to atheism and humanism, which stresses the potential for humans to be good, as religions that enjoy more rights to expression than Christianity.
Pruitt isn't the first EPA administrator to openly express his or her religious faith, of course. His immediate predecessor, Gina McCarthy, was a Roman Catholic who visited top officials at the Vatican in 2015 as church officials worked to write Pope Francis' climate change encyclical.
"There's a difference between colluding with Russia to win an election and obstructing justice ... and having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky," Cohen said.
While Democrats like Cohen have no qualms about talking impeachment now, he acknowledged there would likely have to be a "smoking gun" to get Republicans and even wary Democrats on board. For Democrats reluctant to even broach the topic, that may mean explicit evidence linking Trump to Russian collusion or obstruction of justice in Mueller's report.
Their options are limited. They could sign up to deliver short speeches on the House floor, outside normal legislating hours, which typically fade into the C-SPAN abyss. King this year has spoken twice on the floor, spending his time defending his racist comments to The New York Times. Neither Hunter nor Collins has given a floor speech this year.
King, who has a long history of controversial commentary, came under fire last month for defending white nationalism and white supremacy in an interview with The New York Times. Republicans punished King by stripping him of his committee assignments, while the entire House agreed to condemn his remarks on the House floor.
The core of this capitulation comes from Republican leadership's promise that "There will be no government shutdown." On its face, the promise sounds reasonable. Except in practice it means that Republicans never stand for anything. If Republican majorities in Congress will acquiesce to the identical Big Government priorities that Obama supports, then what difference does it make who is in charge of Congress?
When Reagan was president, there were eight partial shutdowns. The world didn't end. But that's what happens sometimes when a leader fights for his principles. The alternative is to surrender on everything. We can do better.
[On Jan. 6, 2022] Ted Cruz walked back his use of the word "terrorist" when describing Jan. 6. "What I was referring to are the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers. I think you and I both agree that if you assault a police officer, you should go to jail," Cruz said. "I wasn't saying the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists. I wasn't saying the millions of patriots across the country supporting Trump are terrorists."
Cochran, 75, has not said whether he will run for a seventh term next year. He has picked up his fundraising some. Cochran, who won his seat in 1978, mingled with about 70 donors at a reception this week at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters, and a source in the room said he "seemed like he was running." He suggested this summer that it might take months before he shares his plans. Asked about the attacks, Cochran's spokesman emailed: "Senator Cochran has indicated that he will determine his plans regarding the 2014 election cycle later this year."
The intelligence community's findings, enshrined in its January 2017 assessment that Russia and Putin "developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump."
Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) emphasized that point on CNN, suggesting that the evidence of Russia's disdain for Clinton was evident but that it did not necessarily support a conclusion that the Russians backed Trump's candidacy. Conaway, too, argues that the discrepancy is an issue of the "analytic tradecraft" that the intelligence agencies used to reach their conclusion.
Rep. Trey Gowdy said that the evidence gathered by the committee clearly showed Russia's disdain for Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, and was "motivated in whole or in part by a desire to harm her candidacy or undermine her Presidency had she prevailed."
Gowdy believes there's no difference between opposing Clinton and backing Trump in what had become, effectively, a two-person race, said a source, adding that Gowdy "disagrees with the conclusion" that the intelligence agencies got it wrong.
"He believes the debate over whether desiring a negative outcome for Clinton necessarily meant Russia had a preference for candidate Trump is a distinction that doesn't make a difference," the source said.
Even after the [January 6th] riot, Steinhardt wouldn't pin any of the blame on the president: "The actions of violent criminals do not speak for Republicans and supporters of President Trump," he told POLITICO. "The conservative grassroots movement that I'm proud to represent here in New Jersey supports democracy and the rule of law."
Still, Steinhardt talked with some New Jersey Republican leaders in the aftermath of the insurrection to gauge its effect on his candidacy, according to one GOP source who asked not to be identified.
"But beware of the leader who won't admit any of those shortcomings, because you know what the problem is with a leader like that? A leader like that thinks America's greatness resides in the mirror he's looking at," Christie said. "We can't dismiss the question of character anymore. If we do, we get what we deserve."
Meijer lost his West Michigan seat last year to a Trump-backed challenger in 2022. He was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. Meijer has said he has no regrets over his vote.
The former congressman's impeachment vote could help him attract support from moderate or independent voters in the state. And as the grandson of the man who started the Midwestern Meijer grocery dynasty, he has ample ability to self-fund and allies who could create a super PAC to aid him.
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| 2016 Presidential contenders on Principles & Values: | |||
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Republicans:
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX) Carly Fiorina(CA) Gov.John Kasich(OH) Sen.Marco Rubio(FL) Donald Trump(NY) |
Democrats:
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY) Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT) 2016 Third Party Candidates: Roseanne Barr(PF-HI) Robert Steele(L-NY) Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA) | ||
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