Tag: Nancy Pelosi

Politically Wounded Trump Complicates Border Talks With Pelosi, Schumer

President Donald Trump arrives back at the White House on Friday evening without taking reporters’ questions. Credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images file photo

‘When he feels challenged … he pulls back to his base’

Another wild weekend — with federal prosecutors appearing to implicate Donald Trump in a pair of federal crimes and his second chief of staff leaving soon — has only complicated the president’s coming talks with Democratic leaders to avert a partial government shutdown over the holidays.

Trump is scheduled to meet in the Oval Office on Tuesday morning with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer less than two weeks before a deadline to pass legislation to keep the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies funded and open beyond 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 21.

White House officials on Monday said Trump wants to have a back-and-forth with the Democratic leaders rather than just expressing his demands in a mostly one-way conversation.

Mike Huckabee tweets photo comparing Nancy Pelosi’s campaign staff to MS-13 gang members

The following article by David Weigel and Amy B. Wang was psoted on the Washington Post website June 24, 2018:

Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters

Hours before Mike Huckabee lamented the treatment of his daughter at a Virginia restaurant, the former Arkansas governor tweeted a photo Saturday morning of a group of tattooed gang members and suggested they made up  Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s campaign committee to “take back” the House of Representatives.

The false implication was clear: Huckabee was another of many Republicans once again trying to stick the House minority leader with the image of an MS-13 gang sympathizer. Continue reading “Mike Huckabee tweets photo comparing Nancy Pelosi’s campaign staff to MS-13 gang members”

Partisan Fight Over $15 Billion Rescissions Package Developing

The following article by Jennifer Shutt was posted on the Roll Call website May 7, 2018:

Democrats not ready to play ball, Pelosi suggests

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Trump administration on Monday outlined a roughly $15 billion “rescissions” request it plans to send to Congress on Tuesday, targeting unspent health care and green energy funds for the largest share of the cuts.

The bulk of that request proposes eliminating $7 billion in budget authority from the Children’s Health Insurance Program — $5 billion from fiscal 2017, for which there is no authority to spend the money, and $2 billion from a contingency fund for states that the White House doesn’t expect any states to draw from, a senior administration official said.

Congress regularly rescinds CHIP funds, including almost $7 billion in the fiscal 2018 omnibus spending law, but typically uses the money to pay for other health-related priorities. Continue reading “Partisan Fight Over $15 Billion Rescissions Package Developing”

Five key takeaways from the Russian indictments

The following article by Niall Stanage was posted on the Hill website February 17, 2018:

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein Credit: Mary Turner/Reuters

New indictments of 13 Russians who allegedly meddled in the 2016 election set the political world abuzz on Friday.

The charges were first posted on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) website but were fleshed out by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinat a hastily convened news conference.

What are the key political ramifications from the new charges?

Fire and fury from Trump?

President Trump is hypersensitive to any suggestion that his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was illegitimate. These new indictments are sure to get under his skin for precisely that reason. Continue reading “Five key takeaways from the Russian indictments”

Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 10, 2018:]

President: Intel Dems wanted to ‘blame the White House for lack of transparency’

President Trump speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last month, blasting House Intelligence Democrats over a rebuttal memo of which he is blocking the release. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump is accusing House Intelligence Committee Democrats with purposely crafting their rebuttal memo about FBI and Justice Department officials’ actions early in the Russia election meddling probe in a way that would back his White House into a corner.

The president used a Saturday tweet to explain his Friday night decision to block the release of the Democratic document that counters one released last week by the panel’s Republicans. Trump claims the Democrats crafted “a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted.”

The GOP president accused the committee’s Democrats with crafting their document so they could “blame the White House for lack of transparency.” Continue reading “Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says”

Trump Blocks Release of Democrats’ Intelligence Memo

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 9, 2018:

Pelosi sees a ‘desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the president’

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Updated 6:47 a.m., Feb. 10 | Despite his commitment earlier Friday, President Donald Trump is blocking release of a Democratic House Intelligence Committee memo rebutting one from the Republican side, and senior Democrats are now accusing him of a “cover up.”

The Russia matter took an incredible new turn Friday night when Trump’s top White House lawyer informed the House Intelligence Committee that the president could not allow the Democrats’ document to be made public “because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages.” Continue reading “Trump Blocks Release of Democrats’ Intelligence Memo”

Trump and Democrats trade insults to start tense month of negotiations on year-end priorities

The following article by Ed O’Keefe and Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website November 28, 2017:

The top two Congressional Democrats cancelled a planned meeting on Nov. 28 with President Trump after he said he didn’t think they could reach a budget deal. (Reuters)

President Trump and top lawmakers Tuesday failed to craft the outlines of a spending agreement as Democrats backed out of a planned meeting at the White House amid growing acrimony over a slate of year-end legislative priorities, with a potential government shutdown looming over the negotiations.

The impasse all but ensures another holiday-season standoff over legislation designed to keep the government open and that also is expected to settle complex issues regarding immigration and health care. Continue reading “Trump and Democrats trade insults to start tense month of negotiations on year-end priorities”

Trump’s Tweet Could Raise Odds of Government Shutdown

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Hill website November 28, 2017:

President aims to lessen Democrats’ leverage in year-end talks

President Donald Trump makes a brief statement to the media as Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., left, and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, right, look on, after a meeting with the House Republican Conference in the Capitol to discuss the GOP’s tax reform bill earlier this month. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Updated 1:02 p.m. | President Donald Trump raised the odds of a government shutdown next month, tweeting that his differences with Democratic leaders over immigration policy could prevent a deal on a year-end spending package.

The president noted that he was scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon with “‘Chuck and Nancy’ … about keeping government open and working.” He was referring to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer. Also set to attend the White House meeting were House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But Trump signaled any Democratic efforts to use a shutdown-averting spending measure to make some of their immigration demands law could be a deal-breaker. His signature would be required to make any fiscal 2018 funding bill law. Continue reading “Trump’s Tweet Could Raise Odds of Government Shutdown”

Pelosi Wants ‘Urgent’ Update on President’s Nuclear Weapons Authority

The following article by Lindsey McPherson was posted on the RollCall.com website October 12, 2017:

Minority leader says proposal is about presidential powers, not about Trump

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the current law guiding the use of nuclear weapons is “ancient.” (Tom Williams/Roll Call)

Status: Urgent.

That’s how House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is categorizing the need to update the law guiding when the president of the United States can use nuclear weapons.

“The law under which the president has authority to exercise ‘first use’ is one that is ancient,” the California Democrat told reporters Thursday. “It is from 1946. It was in a different world. And now I think it is necessary for us to address it.”

Pelosi’s “urgent” interest in updating the law on nuclear first use comes at a time when President Donald Trump is plotting the best strategy for responding to North Korea’s continuing buildup of its nuclear arsenal and tests of its intercontinental ballistic missiles. Continue reading “Pelosi Wants ‘Urgent’ Update on President’s Nuclear Weapons Authority”

Trump’s Relationship with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Might Just Have Hit Rock Bottom

The following article by Jefferson Morley was posted on the AlterNet website September 7, 2017:

The president dumps the GOP for a fling with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

Credit: Business Insider

With the election of Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan made a Faustian bargain. They embraced Trump—an impulsive and ignorant man, filled with racial animus—with the hope they could ride his popularity with conservative voters to enact their agenda of tax cuts and deregulation.

Their corruption caught up with them on Wednesday. Trump humiliated the Republican leaders by siding with their Democratic counterparts Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In a White House meeting, Trump blindsided his allies and endorsed the Democrats’ proposal for hurricane relief and raising the debt ceiling. Continue reading “Trump’s Relationship with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Might Just Have Hit Rock Bottom”