Tag: Mike Pence

Manchin Gets Saltier at Pence: No One Is More Bipartisan Than Me

The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website February 1, 2018:

Vulnerable West Virginia senator ‘shocked’ at VP’s speech to Republican retreat in home state

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has tried to position himself as a Democratic ally of President Donald Trump. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo

Updated 2:05 p.m. | Sen. Joe Manchin apparently did not vent enough on Wednesday when he responded to Mike Pence’s speech in West Virginia in which the vice president criticized the Mountain State Democrat for voting against the Republican tax code overhaul in December.

So he did what most politicians do now when they’re frustrated: let loose on Twitter.

Manchin defended his voting record’s pro-Trump tilt and accused the administration — not himself — of playing partisan politics. Continue reading “Manchin Gets Saltier at Pence: No One Is More Bipartisan Than Me”

Pence: Republicans Will Maintain Majorities in House, Senate After 2018

The following article by Joe Williams was posed on the Roll Call website January 31, 2018:

VP notes that ‘conventional wisdom’ didn’t play out in 2016

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Paul D. Ryan to members during the GOP retreat in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday predicted Republicans would maintain their majorities in the House and Senate after the midterm elections, but urged GOP lawmakers to tout last year’s conservative victories to constituents.

Pence, who was speaking here at the annual Republican retreat said the White House would be with the members “every step of the way in 2018.”

“We’ve got an incredible story to tell,” the vice president said, citing specifically the record amount of appellate judges the Senate confirmed last year. Continue reading “Pence: Republicans Will Maintain Majorities in House, Senate After 2018”

Pence to hit campaign trail for 2018 Republicans

The following article by Alex Isenstadt was posted on the Politico website January 19, 2018:

Vice President Mike Pence will stump for several endangered House GOP incumbents In February and March. | Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

Vice President Mike Pence is launching a cross-country campaign tour aimed at boosting Republicans who are confronting an increasingly perilous 2018 midterm election.

Pence is slated to take over a dozen political trips through April, most of them to assist House Republicans who are fighting to keep control of the chamber.

The schedule has taken shape following a meeting earlier this month between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders at Camp David. During the sit-down, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy gave a sobering presentation on the House landscape and made a broad ask for help from the administration. Continue reading “Pence to hit campaign trail for 2018 Republicans”

Trump greeted by cheers, some boos and protests at college football’s biggest game

The following article by Sonam Vashi and Marwa Eltagouri was posted on the Washington Post website January 8, 2018:

Demonstrators protested in Atlanta as president Trump arrived to the city to attend a college football championship game. (AP)

ATLANTA — President Trump was greeted by a roar of cheers and a smattering of boos as he stepped onto the field Monday night for the biggest game in college football, while activist groups demonstrated a president who has used sports to incite political battles.

Hours before, Trump, speaking to a group of farmers and ranchers in Nashville, again criticized athletes who do not stand for the national anthem. Continue reading “Trump greeted by cheers, some boos and protests at college football’s biggest game”

HHS Political Appointees’ Résumés Show Ties to Price, Pence

The following article by Lauren Clason and Mary Ellen McIntire was posted on the Roll Call website January 8, 2018:

President Donald Trump and Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price arrive in the Capitol to meet with House Republicans on March 21.

Political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services include at least 16 staffers with ties to former Secretary Tom Price and at least 12 with connections to Vice President Mike Penceor Indiana, a review of 129 résumés of appointed staffers in the department shows.

Pence’s influence over the agency can be seen in the appointment of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, who worked closely with the former Indiana governor to expand Medicaid in that state, and the appointment of Verma’s deputy Brian Neale, who currently oversees Medicaid and served as Pence’s health care policy director in Indiana. A number of staffers also have ties to conservative groups close to Pence, such as the Heritage Foundation and anti-abortion organizations. Continue reading “HHS Political Appointees’ Résumés Show Ties to Price, Pence”

President Trump’s claim that ‘mostly Democrat States’ refused to provide voter data

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website January 5, 2018:

President Trump announced on Jan. 3 that he is disbanding a controversial panel studying alleged voter fraud. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

“Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally.”
— President Trump, in a tweet, Jan. 4, 2018

Regular readers know that President Trump has often earned Pinocchios for his unproven claims about rampant voter fraud. In disbanding his controversial panel studying alleged voter fraud, the president once again asserted “many people are voting illegally” even though there is no evidence of that.

Rather than rehash that bogus claim — readers can find our previous fact checks here, here, here, here, here, here and here — we decided to examine the first part of Trump’s tweet. He claimed that “many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data” requested from the voting commission. Continue reading “President Trump’s claim that ‘mostly Democrat States’ refused to provide voter data”

Trump Closes Voter Fraud Panel That Bickered More Than It Revealed

The following article by Michael Wines and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website January 4, 2018:

Voters in the 2016 presidential election in the Bronx, New York. A voter fraud commission, formed shortly after the president’s inauguration, was disbanded on Wednesday. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was disbanded this week by the White House, grew out of a presidential tweet.

“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD,” President Trump wrote on Jan. 25, just days after his inauguration, repeating a claim he had made that millions of illegal immigrants had voted improperly in the last presidential election and swung the popular vote in Hillary Clinton’s favor.

On Wednesday the president closed the inquiry, which after eight months of efforts had found no evidence of electoral fraud and had been widely discredited and enmeshed in controversy after controversy. Its epitaph too was marked by a follow-up missive typed out on Thursday morning by @realDonaldTrump. Continue reading “Trump Closes Voter Fraud Panel That Bickered More Than It Revealed”

Trump abolishes controversial commission studying alleged voter fraud

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website January 4, 2018:

President Trump announced on Jan. 3 that he is disbanding a controversial panel studying alleged voter fraud. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

President Trump announced Wednesday that he is disbanding a controversial panel studying alleged voter fraud that became mired in multiple federal lawsuits and faced resistance from states that accused it of overreach.

The decision is a major setback for Trump, who created the commission last year in response to his claim, for which he provided no proof, that he lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 because of millions of illegally cast ballots. Continue reading “Trump abolishes controversial commission studying alleged voter fraud”

Trump abruptly disbands commission he said would expose massive voter fraud

The following article by Kira Lerner was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 3, 2018:

The panel has been mired in controversy since its inception.

President Donald Trump signed on executive order late Wednesday dissolving the commission he created to substantiate his lie that millions of illegal votes cost him the popular vote in November 2016.

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has been mired in controversy since Trump signed an executive order in May 2017 tasking it with investigating voter fraud. A majority of states refused to provide commission vice chair, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), with the personal voter information he requested, and the commission is the subject of at least eight ongoing federal lawsuits. Continue reading “Trump abruptly disbands commission he said would expose massive voter fraud”

Mike Pence’s Aspen Vacation Cost A Small Business $10,000 In Lost Earnings

The following article by Ryan Grenoble was posted on the Huffington Post website January 2, 2018:

DENVER ― Vice President Mike Pence once said the Trump administration is “the best friend that small business in America will ever have.”

Last week, Pence cost one such small business in Aspen upward of $10,000 in lost earnings, after his presence triggered flight restrictions and prevented a hot air balloon company from making any flights while he was in town.

Continue reading “Mike Pence’s Aspen Vacation Cost A Small Business $10,000 In Lost Earnings”