Category: US Senate

‘Throw the bums out’ of Congress to protect Russia probe, top Democrat says

The following article by Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website May 27 2018:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on May 27 defended the FBI from accusations it placed a “spy” in the Trump campaign. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday called on voters to “throw the bums out” of Congress whom he has accused of trying to help President Trump undermine the special counsel’s Russia probe.

“The only thing that makes this possible is a Congress that is complicit,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC News’s “This Week,” naming several conservative leaders in the Republican Party and accusing “a weak” Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) of refusing to “stand up for the independence of the Justice Department.” Continue reading “‘Throw the bums out’ of Congress to protect Russia probe, top Democrat says”

Trump loses it after ‘spy’ briefing flops with both parties

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the ShareBlue website May 25, 2018:

Trump’s latest attempt to sink the Russia investigation completely collapsed, even with his own party — and he’s very unhappy about it.

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Somebody forgot to tell Trump than the GOP’s bigger-than-Watergate “spy” scandal flopped spectacularly on Thursday. Because on Friday he was still flailing around on Twitter, pushing the dopey narrative.

He’s ranting and raving while his own Republican Party has gone quiet regarding its latest failed attempt to cover up for Trump.

Even the GOP’s bumbling Inspector Clouseau, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who’s running interference for the White House on the Russia scandal, has gone strangely quiet in the last 24 hours. (Nunes has a long history of Russia-related flops.) Continue reading “Trump loses it after ‘spy’ briefing flops with both parties”

Trump says he’ll spare Chinese telecom firm ZTE from collapse, defying lawmakers

The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website May 25, 2018:

President Trump, right, chats with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Credit: Andy Wong, AP

President Trump said late Friday he had allowed embattled Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to remain open despite fierce bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill, defying lawmakers who have warned that the huge technology company should be severely punished for breaking U.S. law.

Trump said on Twitter he was allowing it to “reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board,” a requirement that it must purchase U.S. parts, and a $1.3 billion fine.

Sensing such a move, top Democrats and at least one Republican on Friday said the White House’s decision was tantamount to a bailout of a large Chinese company with little benefit for the United States. Continue reading “Trump says he’ll spare Chinese telecom firm ZTE from collapse, defying lawmakers”

Partisan Split Over Election Security Widens as 2018 Midterms Inch Closer

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Hill website May 22, 2018:

House given classified briefing on what DHS, FBI, DNI are doing to secure elections at state, local levels

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, left, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee address the media after a briefing on election security with House members in the Capitol Visitor Center on May 22, 2018. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats also attended. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Democrats and Republicans struck drastically different tones about their confidence in federal agencies’ efforts to secure voting systems and stamp out foreign state-sponsored influence campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterms after a classified meeting on the subject for House members Tuesday.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray were among the officials who briefed lawmakers and answered their questions about what their agencies are doing to combat potential Russian, Iranian, Chinese, and other nations’ attempts to undermine the midterms.

Roughly 40 to 50 lawmakers showed up to the meeting, which House Speaker Paul D. Ryan organized for all House members.

Democrats who attended left largely unsatisfied.

“Coming out of that briefing I just feel kind of a pit in my stomach,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said. The Illinois Democrat serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology. Continue reading “Partisan Split Over Election Security Widens as 2018 Midterms Inch Closer”

Hill Frets Over Trump Pattern of Promising Big, Then Backtracking

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website May 24, 2018:

‘In the end, it can mean absolutely nothing,’ says a Republican strategist

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Peter T. King — in true New Yorker fashion — used his hands to hammer home his point as he walked through the Cannon Tunnel. As he talked about President Donald Trump’s style, he raised one hand, pushing higher an imaginary bar.

“He’s not afraid to take on challenges. He’s not afraid to go big,” the Republican congressman said of the president. “With him, there’s the ‘art of the deal.’ It’s give. It’s take. It’s forward. It’s backward. It’s sideways. But in the end, he typically goes forward.” Continue reading “Hill Frets Over Trump Pattern of Promising Big, Then Backtracking”

Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback

The following article by Alan Rappeport and Emily Flitter was posted on the New York Times website May 22, 2018:

WASHINGTON — A decade after the global financial crisis tipped the United States into a recession, Congress agreed on Tuesday to free thousands of small and medium-sized banks from strict rules that had been enacted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to prevent another meltdown.

In a rare demonstration of bipartisanship, the House voted 258-159 to approve a regulatory rollback that passed the Senate this year, handing a significant victory to President Trump, who has promised to “do a big number on Dodd-Frank.”

The bill stops far short of unwinding the toughened regulatory regime put in place to prevent the nation’s biggest banks from engaging in risky behavior, but it represents a substantial watering down of Obama-era rules governing a large swath of the banking system. The legislation will leave fewer than 10 big banks in the United States subject to stricter federal oversight, freeing thousands of banks with less than $250 billion in assets from a post-crisis crackdown that they have long complained is too onerous. Continue reading “Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback”

Congress approves plan to roll back post-financial-crisis rules for banks

The following article by Erica Werner and Renae Merle was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2018:

The House voted on May 22 to exempt small and regional banks from some of the most stringent rules put in place after the financial crisis. (U.S. House)

The House on Tuesday passed a plan to roll back banking regulations passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis, sending the bill to President Trump to sign.

The measure leaves the central structure of the post-financial-crisis rules in place, but it would make the most significant changes to weaken the Dodd-Frank banking regulations since they were passed in 2010. It would exempt some small and regional banks from the most stringent regulations, and would also loosen rules aimed at protecting the biggest banks from sudden collapse. Continue reading “Congress approves plan to roll back post-financial-crisis rules for banks”

Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign

The following article by Robert Costa, Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website May 18, 2018:

Carter Page, a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, had numerous encounters with an FBI informant in 2016. Credit: Pavel Golovkin, AP

In mid-July 2016, a retired American professor approached an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign at a symposium about the White House race held at a British university.

The professor took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Carter Page, whom Trump had named a few months earlier as a foreign policy adviser.

But the professor was more than an academic interested in American politics — he was a longtime U.S. intelligence source. And, at some point in 2016, he began working as a secret informant for the FBI as it investigated Russia’s interference in the campaign, according to people familiar with his activities. Continue reading “Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign”

Minnesota Senate candidate writes laws impacting her real estate business

The following article by Danielle McLean was posted on the ThinkProgress website May 16, 2018:

“We don’t know if she is acting in the interest of the State of Minnesota or something else.”

Credit: HousleyforSenate.com

Karin Housley, a Minnesota State Senator who is seeking to be the Republican nominee in Minnesota’s upcoming U.S. Senate special election, is a prominent realtor who does brisk trade selling million dollar homes in the suburbs outside Minneapolis. And since 2014, she has worked nearly as hard at creating numerous bills affecting her real estate business.

As a member of the Minnesota State Senate, Housley authored bills that literally crafted the definition of her very profession and established “designated agency” during real estate transactions. She authored an act that established a first-time home buyer savings account, which was touted by the state’s real estate political action committee as a major legislative success. And she wrote bills benefiting the real estate appraisers that set the prices of the homes she sells, including new protections against civil action lawsuits and shielding minor disciplinary action against them from the public record. Continue reading “Minnesota Senate candidate writes laws impacting her real estate business”

Who are the 2018 Koch Candidates?

The following article by David Armiak was posted on the PR Watch website May 24, 2018:

At the 2018 Koch Donor Summit in January, the network of billionaires convened by Charles and David Koch announced that it plans to spend $400 million in the 2018 midterm election cycle, close to double the amount spent in the 2014 midterms and a 60 percent increase over the 2016 election cycle. The Kochs had planned to spend $900 million in the 2016 election cycle, but ended up spending less after Trump won the Republican nomination. “We will be spending more than any midterm in our network history,” Americans for Prosperity’s president Tim Phillips said.

“My challenge to all of us is to increase the scale and effectiveness of this network by an order of magnitude, by another tenfold on top of all the growth and progress we’ve already made,” Charles Koch said to more than 500 attendees, who each donated at least $100,000 in 2017. Continue reading “Who are the 2018 Koch Candidates?”