|
Post by Webster on Jun 18, 2024 16:02:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House ethics committee says rightwing lawmaker Gaetz remains under investigation for alleged drug use, sexual misconductThe House ethics committee has given an update into its investigation of Matt Gaetz, a rightwing Republican lawmaker from Florida who has been the subject of a long-running inquiry into his behavior. The committee said they were continuing their investigation of Gaetz over whether he “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct”. However, they were no longer looking into allegations that Gaetz “may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity”. The justice department had looked into sex-trafficking allegations against Gaetz, but later closed the investigation without filing charges, clearing the way for the ethics committee’s inquiry to restart. Gaetz was a leader of the eight Republicans who banded together to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House last year, which McCarthy later claimed was done to stymie the ethics committee’s investigation.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jun 18, 2024 17:00:59 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Schumer says Senate Democrats will make likely quixotic attempt to pass 'bump stock' ban todaySenate majority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will attempt to pass a ban on “bump stock” firearm modifications today, but acknowledged the GOP is likely to block the measure. The supreme court’s conservative majority last week overturned a ban on the devices implemented by the Trump administration following a mass shooting in Las Vegas that was the deadliest in American history. In remarks on the Senate floor, Schumer characterized the new attempt to keep the modifications off the market as a matter of saving lives. “What today’s bill does is return things to the status quo set by Donald Trump, saying bump stocks are dangerous and should be prohibited. Senate Republicans by and large supported Donald Trump’s ban on bump stocks back then, so they should support this bill today,” Schumer said. He continued: But sadly, some of our colleagues on the other side are making it clear they will ignore the immense worry most Americans have about gun violence and they will block today’s bill. Some on the other side say this bill is political theatre, that is does nothing, that it’s a stunt. Go tell families who lost loved ones that this is a stunt. Go tell the many who have recovered from injuries that this is a stunt.
Are my Republican colleagues serious? Do they really think banning bump stocks is some kind of stunt? Again, they should tell that to the people of Nevada who have dead relatives because of bump stocks.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jun 18, 2024 17:02:00 GMT -5
(The Guardian) A sharp and personal disagreement has broken out between two senators over “bump stocks” and whether they should be banned, the Guardian’s Edward Helmore reports: Political ripples from the supreme court’s decision to overturn a Trump White House-era ban on sales of “bump stocks” – a spring-loaded stock that uses recoil to in effect turn a semi-automatic firearm into a machine gun – continued to radiate on Monday when Jacky Rosen took exception to comments on the issue made by his Republican colleague JD Vance.
Vance, the Ohio senator and potential vice-presidential pick as Trump seeks a second presidency in November had dismissed efforts by senior Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, to pass legislation banning the devices as “a huge distraction”.
Vance went further. “What is the real gun violence problem in this country, and are we legislating in a way that solves fake problems? Or solves real problems?” Vance said, before adding: “My very strong suspicion is that the Schumer legislation is aimed at a PR problem, not something that’s going to meaningfully reduce gun violence in this country.”
Rosen, the Democratic senator, hit back, facing re-election this year in politically purple Nevada, the site of the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting that killed 58 and prompted Trump to ban the rapid-fire device. “This is not a fake problem,” she told reporters. “Let him come to Las Vegas. Let him see the memorial for those people who died. Let him talk to those families. It’s not a fake problem. Those families are dead.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jun 27, 2024 17:18:18 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pressure grows on Congress to rescind invitation to NetanyahuCongress is facing increasing pressure to withdraw its invitation to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is set to speak on Capitol Hill next month. Robert Tait reports for the Guardian: A group of prominent Israelis – including a former prime minister and an ex-head of Mossad, the foreign intelligence service – have added their voices to the growing domestic calls in the US for Congress to withdraw its invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address it next month, calling the move “a terrible mistake”.
The plea, in an op-ed article in the New York Times, argues that the invitation rewards Netanyahu, Israel’s current prime minister, for “scandalous and destructive conduct”, including intelligence failures that led to last October’s deadly Hamas attack and the ensuing bloody war in Gaza which shows no sign of ending.
“Congress has made a terrible mistake. Mr Netanyahu’s appearance in Washington will not represent the State of Israel and its citizens, and it will reward his scandalous and destructive conduct toward our country,” the article’s six authors argue in a blistering critique that also accuses the Israeli prime minister of failing to secure the release of scores of hostages taken in last year’s attack and still held captive.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 1, 2024 17:54:48 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House Republicans sue Merrick Garland over Biden interviewHouse Republicans on Monday filed a lawsuit against the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, for the audio recording of Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel in his classified documents case, asking the courts to enforce their subpoena and reject the White House’s effort to withhold the materials from Congress, the Associated Press reports. The lawsuit filed by the House judiciary committee marks Republicans’ latest broadside against the justice department as partisan conflict over the rule of law animates the 2024 presidential campaign. The legal action comes weeks after the White House blocked Garland from releasing the audio recording to Congress by asserting executive privilege. Republicans in the House responded by voting to make Garland the third attorney general in US history to be held in contempt of Congress. But the justice department refused to take up the contempt referral, citing the agency’s “longstanding position and uniform practice” to not prosecute officials who don’t comply with subpoenas because of a president’s claim of executive privilege. The lawsuit states that House speaker Mike Johnson made a “last-ditch effort” last week to Garland to resolve the issue without taking legal action but the attorney general referred the Republicans to the White House, which rebuffed the “effort to find a solution to this impasse”. Garland has defended the justice department, saying officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the committees about special counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation, including a transcript of Biden’s interview with him.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 6, 2024 15:24:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Congressional Democrats are to hold an emergency weekend meeting to discuss Joe Biden’s tottering presidential candidacy after a prime time television interview failed to dispel doubts triggered by last week’s debate fiasco. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives, scheduled the meeting for Sunday even as Biden struck a defiant posture in Friday’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. In a 22-minute interview from a school library in Wisconsin aired in full, the president brushed off his miserable debate display as “a bad night” and insisted he would only withdraw his candidacy if the “Lord almighty” ordered it. But his posture only reinforced the views of those Democrats who had already publicly urged him to quit the race, while others were privately infuriated by his seemingly insouciant attitude to the prospect of defeat at the hands of Donald Trump in November’s election. Asked by Stephanopoulos how he would feel if he had to turn the presidency back to an opponent he and his party loathe, the president said: “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.” The response seemed to minimise the consequences of handing over power to a rival who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, incited a mob to attack the US Capitol and vowed to seek “retribution” on his opponents if he won again, a threat that has unnerved many Democrats. The convening of Democratic House members by Jeffries followed a similar move even before Friday’s interview by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, who called on fellow senators from his party to meet to discuss Biden’s candidacy. Warner has been reported to be leading an effort by senate Democrats urging the president to stand aside.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 9, 2024 17:17:33 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Schumer says 'I'm with Joe' after Democrats meetSenate Democrats were tightlipped leaving their weekly lunch, after an hours-long discussion about the viability of Biden’s candidacy. Few wanted to speak to reporters, save for Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who stressed Democrats were firmly united behind the goal of defeating Donald Trump. Of course, the question is whether Biden is the candidate that can do that. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, one of the president’s most vocal supporters following his debate, believes he is, though he appeared to acknowledge his view was not universally held among his colleagues. “He’s our guy,” Fetterman told reporters. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer deflected questions about Biden’s ability to win the White House in November, repeating three times: “I’m with Joe.” Just like this morning, several senators dodged reporters, darting to the Senate floor to vote or ducking onto the elevator. Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Michigan Democrat who is retiring at the end of the year, declined repeatedly to say whether some Democrats had called on Biden to exit the race. So far no Democrats have said so publicly. Calling the meeting a “private family discussion” she said Biden had been “the best president Michigan has ever had” but would not say what the best path forward was for the party. “It’s in his hands,” she said, apparently in reference to the president. A reporter, trying a different tack, asked her about speculation that Michigan’s governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, could be Kamala Harris’s running mate on a very hypothetical Democratic ticket. “Wouldn’t that be exciting,” she said whimsically. Through the senators’ reticent, clipped commentary, it was clear they were still searching for a consensus. Surrounded by a scrum of reporters, Vermont senator Peter Welch said: “We’ve got a ways to go.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 10, 2024 14:56:27 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pelosi says 'it's up to' Biden whether to stay in raceFormer Democratic speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who is thought to be among the lawmakers whose opinion Joe Biden cares about most, gave an interview to MSNBC this morning in which she signaled that the president’s future has not yet been decided. Though Biden insists he has no intention of suspending his re-election campaign despite concerns over his performance in the first debate against Donald Trump, Pelosi said: “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run.” When the interviewer pointed out that Biden has already made that decision, Pelosi said: “I want him to do whatever he decides to do”.
In her interview with MSNBC, Pelosi offered what could be a timeline for how the question of Biden’s continued candidacy will be resolved. She noted that the president was currently busy hosting Nato leaders at a summit in Washington DC, and that it might be best for Democrats if they held off on talk of replacing him while that high-profile event is ongoing. “Over 30 heads of state are here. He is the host of it,” Pelosi said. “I’ve said, ‘Everyone, let’s just hold off, whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table, until we see how we go this week.’”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 10, 2024 15:29:16 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal calls for party to 'reach a conclusion' over support for BidenDemocratic lawmakers are clearly in a bind over what to do about Joe Biden in the wake of his stumbling debate performance against Donald Trump, and you can tell by the way that they are talking. The below comments from Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal, as captured by MSNBC at the Capitol, are emblematic of the rhetorical knots many Biden allies have been twisting themselves into all week, as they signal that they are worried about the president’s re-election prospects, without going so far as to call for him to drop out. “I am deeply concerned about Joe Biden winning this November,” said Blumenthal, who adds that Trump winning would be an “existential threat to the country”. “We have to reach a conclusion as soon as possible. And I think, Joe Biden, as the Democratic nominee, has my support.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 10, 2024 17:43:32 GMT -5
(The Guardian) AOC introduces articles of impeachment against supreme court justices Thomas and AlitoAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two conservative supreme court justices who have been embroiled in controversy over their acceptance of luxury gifts and travel. On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez wrote: The unchecked corruption crisis on the supreme court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements constitute a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed.
Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez’s introduction of articles of impeachment against justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito marks a significant move from Democrats but will unlikely move forward in the GOP-controlled House. The impeachment articles, which were co-sponsored by handful of other Democratic representatives including Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Jamaal Bowman, follow calls from Democratic senators to the justice department to investigate Thomas. Thomas and Alito have been embroiled in controversy after revelations emerged of their acceptance of luxury gifts and travel amid accusations of lack of political neutrality in their work in the nation’s highest court. The only supreme court justice to ever be impeached was Samuel Chase in 1805; however, Chase was acquitted by the Senate. According to a broadly phrased line in the constitution that is largely up for interpretation, officials can be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors”. In the unlikely event that the GOP-controlled House votes to impeach the conservative justices, the Senate will proceed with a trial. The Senate will then require a two-thirds majority to convict the justices and remove them from office.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 11, 2024 16:23:16 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Late yesterday, another House Democrat said Joe Biden should step aside. “While this is a decision for the president and the first lady, I hope they will come to the conclusion that I and others have: President Biden should not be the Democratic presidential nominee,” said Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who has held office since 1996, and is not running for re-election. Here’s more: It is a painful and difficult conclusion but there is no question in my mind that we will all be better served if the president steps aside as the Democratic nominee and manages a transition under his terms. He has earned that right. The next six months will be critical in the implementation of President Biden’s landmark accomplishments that will define his legacy for generations to come. He should devote his energy and undivided attention to issues of war and peace, the climate crisis, and rebuilding and renewing America. I stand willing to assist in any way possible on these critical efforts.
The Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told Punchbowl News that he is aiming to speak with all 213 of his lawmakers about Joe Biden’s candidacy before “the next step” on supporting his re-election campaign: While only a small number of Democrats in Congress have called for Biden to end his re-election campaign after he struggled to parry Donald Trump in their first debate, most of the objectors serve in the House. Jeffries has generally kept mum about the possibility of Biden stepping aside in the days since, while convening meetings with Democrats to hear their thoughts.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 11, 2024 16:24:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Hillary Scholten, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, a swing state crucial to winning the White House, has joined the ranks of those calling for Joe Biden to call off his re-election bid. “With the challenges facing our country in 2025 and beyond, it is essential that we have the strongest possible candidate leading the top of the ticket – not just to win, but to govern,” said Scholten, who represents a narrowly Democratic western Michigan district, and is also the first freshman lawmaker to break with the president. “Joe Biden has been that leader for so long; but this is not about the past, it’s about the future. It’s time to pass the torch.”
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 11, 2024 16:47:42 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Senate Democrats are arriving at the Capitol after a briefing by Joe Biden’s campaign officials billed as an opportunity for campaign officials to quell democrats’ panic about the president’s chances of winning the White House in November. Whether it worked, they would not say. As they did earlier this weeks, senators brushed by reporters, ignoring questions about whether the Biden team’s presentation convinced them that he still had a path forward and helped forestall further defections. On Wednesday night Vermont senator Peter Welch became the first senator to ask for Biden to drop out. Concern is mounting and, as the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the day before, Democrats believe time is running short for the president to step aside. So far there is no indication Biden will heed the growing calls to abandon his reelection bid, even as calls grow. The president’s supporters - and his doubters - will be watching his performance tonight at a press conference following at the conclusion of the Nato summit.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he would have to decline to comment because he did not attend the briefing due to another commitment he couldn’t postpone. Meanwhile, senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut says he remains concerned but refused to share any details from the briefing, which he described as “serious”.
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 11, 2024 16:48:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Webster on Jul 11, 2024 16:49:09 GMT -5
|
|