Category: US House

Republicans who backed Trump impeachment see fundraising boost

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The majority of House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in January saw fundraising gains in the first three months of the year despite intense backlash from members of their own party, according to new financial disclosures.

Most of the Republicans who publicly went against Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol saw their 2021 first quarter hauls increase from their 2019 hauls during the same period. Two of Trump’s most high-profile critics in the House received a major financial boost in particular: House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) raised $1.5 million at the start of 2021 compared to $321,000 during the same period in 2019, while Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) brought in $1.2 million during the first three months of the year compared to $326,000 in 2019. 

The fundraising hauls come amid a growing divide within the party, as Trump and his allies threaten to support primary challengers against those who voted to impeach him — some of whom are also raking in money. Continue reading.

Everything Republicans Oppose, They Now Call ’Socialist’

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Republicans have devised a new definition for the term socialism: anything we don’t support.

According to Merriam-Webster, socialism is defined principally as “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

But congressional Republicans accused their Democratic colleagues and President Joe Biden this week of being socialists for considering reforms to the Supreme Court.

“Biden is dead set on packing the Supreme Court with activist justices who will rubber stamp the Socialists’ anti-America agenda,” tweeted Rep Mo. Brooks of Alabama on Wednesday. Biden has not endorsed any changes to the court, but signed an executive order on April 9 to create a commission to study various proposals for reforming it. Continue reading.

Gaetz ex-girlfriend feared alleged sex-trafficking victim taped call for feds

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Gaetz ex-girlfriend feared alleged sex-trafficking victim taped call for feds

MIAMI — Matt Gaetz’s former girlfriend has told friends she’s worried that the woman who is key to the federal government’s sex-crimes investigation tried to get her to incriminate the Florida lawmaker on a recorded call.

The revelation raises the possibility that federal prosecutors have two top cooperating witnesses: the woman who was an alleged sex-trafficking victim when she was a minor and the Gaetz associate already indicted for that crime, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg.

Until now, there were signs the alleged sex-trafficking victim was notcooperating with federal authorities. In August, prior to Greenberg’s sex-trafficking indictment, Greenberg said in a WhatsApp chat with another friendthat he was paying for her attorney at the time and that she was resistant to cooperating with investigators. Continue reading.

Rep. Phillips on the Derek Chauvin Verdict

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dean Phillips issued the following statement:

“Justice was served for George Floyd today, but America’s work, our work, to ensure justice, safety and opportunity FOR ALL will continue with even more intention, more fortitude, and more purpose. Onwards in unity.”

Kevin McCarthy argued GOP is the party of Abraham Lincoln, not racism. It did not go well

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After four years of a Republican President who worked almost daily to spread or lend support to racism, white nationalism, or white supremacism – including having top advisors inside the White House who embraced those ideologies – House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is having a hard time tamping down the Pandora’s Box of hate Donald Trump unleashed.

McCarthy has refused to take a strong stand against the most dangerous members of his caucus, trying to allow the extremist Congressmen and Congresswomen to actively lie, disrupt House business, and spread hate on a daily basis. Because they are raising millions.

In response to Republican white supremacist members of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona announcing they are forming the “America First Caucus,” McCarthy tried to stand up to those radicals, as Forbes notes, via tweet. Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3): Difficult Truths

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Hi Neighbors,

This week our community experienced more heartbreak, said more prayers, and saw more carnage. As we continue to grapple with the killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center and await a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, I believe I speak for most Americans when I say injustice must be protested, journalists, and the First Amendment must be protected, and encouraging violent confrontation must be rejected.

Let me be clear – Racial injustice is real. Protesting injustice is lawful and warranted. Criminal looting and burning destroys our communities and small businesses is wrong. We can believe all of these things at once, and I’m on a mission help our community confront difficult truths and do better together. Will you join me?

Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3): Difficult Truths”

How the Jan. 6 riot is affecting campaign fundraising

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Small donors buoy Republicans who saw PAC funding drop

Industry PAC contributions to House Republicans who voted against certifying Electoral College results in January fell during the first quarter of the year, but many made up for it with an influx of contributions from small donors.

Meanwhile, Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting insurrection also saw their fundraising grow, including from PACs, as they prepared for primary challenges.

Political action committees of many companies and lobbying groups said they would pause some or all contributions after rioters broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. Continue reading.

‘The most nakedly nativist rhetoric’: House Republicans launch caucus for ‘Anglo-Saxon political traditions’

Although former President Donald Trump has been gone from the White House for almost three months, many far-right Republicans in Congress continue to push an equally nativist “America first” agenda — and Punchbowl News is reporting that some of Trump’s Republican allies in the U.S. House of Representatives are putting together an “America First Caucus” based on “Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”

According to Punchbowl, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona are “distributing materials” calling for a caucus that would express a “common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” Punchbowl reports that according to an e-mail invitation it has obtained a copy of, House Republicans who have been invited to join the America First Caucus include Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama.

Continue reading.

Federal Agents Seized Smartphones Owned By Gaetz And Girlfriend

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Federal agents investigating Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz for possibly underaged sex trafficking and for a possible sexual relationship with an underaged girl were able to get a federal judge to sign off on a search warrant and execute that warrant, seizing his iPhone late last year.

“Gaetz’s predicament as the subject of a serious investigation became clearer this winter when federal agents executed a search warrant and seized his iPhone, Politicoreports, “according to interviews with three people who were told of the matter by Gaetz, who changed his phone number in late December.”

“Around that time, the sources said, federal agents also seized his former girlfriend’s phone before she went into work at a state agency in the morning. She declined comment.” Continue reading.

How the G.O.P. Lost Its Clear Voice on Foreign Policy

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After four years of Donald J. Trump’s America-first mantra, Republican views on foreign intervention, long a signature part of the party’s brand, have splintered.

For decades, Senator Lindsey Graham traveled the world with his friend John McCain, visiting war zones and meeting with foreign allies and adversaries, before returning home to promote the Republican gospel of an internationalist, hawkish foreign policy.

But this week, after President Biden announced that troops would leave Afghanistan no later than Sept. 11, Mr. Graham took the podium in the Senate press gallery and hinted that spreading the party’s message had become a bit lonely.

“I miss John McCain a lot but probably no more than today,” Mr. Graham said. “If John were with us, I’d be speaking second.”

Mr. McCain, the onetime prisoner of war in Vietnam, in many ways embodied a distinctive Republican worldview: a commitment to internationalism — and confrontation when necessary — that stemmed from the Cold War and endured through the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush before evolving after the Sept. 11 attacks to account for the threat of global terrorism. Continue reading.