Category: Latest News

MN Senate stays in session to review Walz commissioners

The Minnesota Senate is back in action Tuesday to consider the job status of several agency leaders — potentially voting on removing commissioners from Gov. Tim Walz’s administration.

Rather than adjourn a special session as the House did last week, GOP Senate leaders extended their stay to conduct performance reviews.

Majority Senate Republicans said the reason they did not end the special session was that they wanted to be sure Walz would sign the budget and tax bills passed during the marathon days leading up to the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. Continue reading.

Bush speechwriter reveals the key detail that is missing from Trump’s statements on company indictments

Raw Story Logo

Writing for The Atlantic on Thursday, David Frum, the former speechwriter to President George W. Bush, noted that Donald Trump doesn’t even appear to be trying to defend himself publicly or claim he is innocent.

Looking at speeches and statements pushed out by the former president, Frum noticed that all they do is attack other people, they never proclaim innocence. 

“An early indication that things may end badly for Trump is the statement released today from the Trump Organization,” he explained. Continue reading.

Poll: Big Majority Supports Biden Spending Plans, Bipartisan Or Not

National Memo logo

More than three-fifths of likely voters want Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s spending plans, even if the Democratic majority has to do so without a single Republican vote, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Data for Progress for Invest in America, which campaigns for public investment in infrastructure, was released Tuesday. It found 62 percent support for passage of Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the Senate to pass taxation and spending bills by a simple majority vote.

Such a move is backed by 86 percent of Democratic voters, 59 percent of independents, and 36 percent of Republicans. Continue reading.

Released Capitol rioter who wants to ‘play for all the marbles’ stockpiled weapons while awaiting trial

Raw Story Logo

Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the pre-trial release of a former police officer charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, after he purchased 34 guns. Investigators also found a partially assembled pipe bomb at his home.

Thomas Robertson, a former police officer in Rocky Mount, Va., was ordered by a judge not to possess guns following his arrest on several charges stemming from the insurrection, including felony disruption of an official proceeding and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a restricted building. Robertson and another Rocky Mount officer, Jacob Fracker, were fired in the wake of their arrests after they posted photos of themselves inside the Capitol on social media.

Prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Robertson’s release on Wednesday, after FBI agents served a search warrant at his home, where they found the pipe bomb inside a box labeled “booby trap” in addition to numerous boxes of ammunition. Authorities also tracked online gun purchases made by Robertson, who was allegedly storing his arsenal at a local firearms dealership. Continue reading.

Trump went to the border to attack Biden — but he mainly talked about himself

Washington Post logo

PHARR, Tex. — Former president Donald Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border here Wednesday for a trip billed as an opportunity to assail President Biden on immigration — an issue core to Trump’s political identity and one Republicans view as a weakness for Democrats.

But Trump often got sidetracked from the day’s message, instead launching into grievance-filled rants.

He tried to re-litigate the results of the 2020 election. He questioned whether Biden would pass the mental acuity test that he has often used to boast about his own mental fitness. Continue reading.

ExxonMobil lobbyist ‘deeply embarrassed’ after he accidentally reveals 11 senators he says he relies on to push Big Oil’s agenda

Raw Story Logo

Channel 4 in the United Kingdom published a startling exposé on an ExxonMobil lobbyist who revealed the U.S. senators who he say are key to opposing legislation that might harm the oil industry.

While many oil companies are diversifying with natural gas, it appears ExxonMobil is going all-in battling to keep “big oil” alive and well. 

“Keith McCoy is a senior ExxonMobil lobbyist on Capitol Hill and has represented the company in its liaison with the U.S. Congress for the last eight years,” explained the report. Continue reading.

U.S. arrests more than a dozen in Capitol riot, among the most made public in a single day

Washington Post logo

More than a dozen arrests in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were announced or unsealed Wednesday, revealing charges against alleged supporters of extremist right-wing groups including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and “boogaloo boys” movement, and individuals accused of attacking the property of news media.

The arrests ranked among the most made public in a single day and came as an alleged Oath Keepers member reached an unexpected plea deal with prosecutors in the largest conspiracy case brought against those accused of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the 2020 election results.

Mark Grods, 54, of Mobile, Ala., became the second from the anti-government group publicly to flip in the 16-defendant conspiracy case and cooperate with prosecutors in the latest sign of movement in the investigation. Continue reading.

Supreme Court decision amps up voting rights battle in Congress

The Hill logo

A controversial 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court on Thursday upholding Republican-backed voting restrictions in Arizona has upped the ante for this year’s voting rights debate in Congress.

It also means that calls to reform the Senate’s rules will only continue to grow, despite recent declarations from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) that they will not support eliminating or curtailing the filibuster.

Democratic strategists warn the high court’s decision in Brnovich v. DNC, which liberals believe has seriously undermined Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, opens the door for Republican-controlled state legislatures to get more aggressive in passing restrictions that they believe will have a disproportionate impact on minority voter turnout. Continue reading.

How Trump paying Cohen and Weisselberg’s legal fees could lead to extortion problems: reporter

Raw Story Logo

Legendary reporter and Trump foe Kurt Eichenwald noted that one of the biggest mistakes Donald Trump made with Michael Cohen could come back to bite him.

When Cohen was first indicted, he recalls the Trump family wrapping their arms around him. He was promised that all of his legal fees would be taken care of. “You are family,” he was told. But after a while, Cohen realized it would come down to him or Trump and he abandoned the president. That’s when Trump stopped paying his legal fees. 

As Eichenwald explained, if Trump does the same thing with Weisselberg, it could add an extortion charge to Trump. Continue reading.

Republicans Oppose More IRS Audits Of Super-Rich Tax Evaders

National Memo logo

A provision in the bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill announced on June 24 would provide for investing more money in enforcement of laws targeting top earners who evade payment of taxes. Republican senators are furious.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking member of the minority party leadership, told Axios on Wednesday that “spending $40 billion to super-size the IRS is very concerning.” “Law-abiding Americans deserve better from their government than an army of bureaucrats snooping through their bank statements,” he said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn warned of “a huge potential for abuse”: “Bigger government results in more waste, fraud, and abuse.” Continue reading.