Tag: Senate GOP

Senate braces for fight over impeachment whistleblower testimony

The Hill logoSenators are reviving the fight over the whistleblower complaint at the center of the months-long impeachment effort against President Trump.

With Trump’s trial in the rearview mirror, the Senate Intelligence Committee is quietly shifting its attention back to its investigation into the complaint process after hitting pause on the inquiry as the impeachment effort consumed Washington.

The probe will force senators to decide if, and how, they speak with the whistleblower — a controversial call that could test the bipartisan reputation the Intelligence panel has maintained even amid deeply partisan fights in Congress.  Continue reading.

Republicans expect Trump to withdraw controversial Fed nominee

The Hill logoSenate Republican sources expect President Trump to withdraw his nomination of Judy Shelton to serve on the Federal Reserve Board following bipartisan resistance on Capitol Hill.

The White House has not made a final decision, since Trump would first need to sign off on the reversal, but Republican sources say it would be “desirable” for her to withdraw from consideration and that her nomination is “trending” in that direction.

“She’s being pulled,” said a Republican senator. Continue reading.

How the GOP-controlled Senate is putting the pensions of 1.3 million Americans at risk

AlterNet logoGlen Heck spent 28 years sweating in a Campti, Louisiana, paper mill that he likes to say was “hotter than nine kinds of hell.”

But now, Heck’s sacrifice may have been for nothing because his multiemployer pension plan is one of about 150 nationwide set to go broke. If that happens, the 78-year-old Heck will have to find a cheaper, lower-quality health plan and keep the beef herd he’s itching to sell.

The Democratic-controlled House passed—with bipartisan support—a commonsense plan to save Heck’s pension and those of another 1.3 million workers, retirees, and widows. But Republican leaders in the Senate refuse to consider it. Continue reading.

Democrats seek to drive wedge between Trump, GOP on whistleblowers

The Hill logoDemocrats are seeking to drive a wedge between President Trump and Senate Republicans on whether government whistleblowers should be protected from retaliation.

After the Senate voted last week largely along party lines to acquit Trump on impeachment charges, Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is drawing on one of the tactics he used during the trial: He is trying to put GOP senators in the awkward position of defending what Democrats argue is corrupt behavior.

Democrats are now working behind the scenes on bipartisan legislation that would protect future whistleblowers, according to a senator and Senate aide familiar with the effort. Continue reading.

Nancy Pelosi Rips Republicans For ‘Normalizing Lawlessness’ In Scathing Op-Ed

The GOP-controlled Senate has ensured Trump remains “an ongoing threat to American democracy,” Pelosi wrote in a column for The Washington Post.

Nancy Pelosi on Friday launched a fresh attack on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the GOP senators who earlier this week voted to acquit President Donald Trump on impeachment charges.

The Democratic House speaker, in a searing editorial for The Washington Post titled “McConnell and the GOP Senate are accomplices to Trump’s wrongdoing,” accused them of “normalizing lawlessness and rejecting the checks and balances of our Constitution.”

Pelosi noted how Trump’s defense team “all but” conceded the president’s misconduct in the Ukraine scandal, in which she said he “abused the power of his office to pressure a foreign power to help him cheat in an American election” before stonewalling the congressional investigation into said allegation and preventing key witnesses from testifying in the Senate trial. Continue reading.

Republican Senators Tried to Stop Trump From Firing Impeachment Witness

New York Times logoA handful of senators reached out to the White House to warn the president not to dismiss Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House hearings. But Mr. Trump went ahead anyway.

WASHINGTON — A handful of Republican senators tried to stop President Trump from firing Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House impeachment hearings, but the president relieved the diplomat of his post anyway, according to people briefed on the discussions.

The senators were concerned that it would look bad for Mr. Trump to dismiss Mr. Sondland and argued that it was unnecessary, since the ambassador was already talking with senior officials about leaving after the Senate trial, the people said. The senators told White House officials that Mr. Sondland should be allowed to depart on his own terms, which would have reduced any political backlash.

But Mr. Trump evidently was not interested in a quiet departure, choosing instead to make a point by forcing Mr. Sondland out before the ambassador was ready to go. When State Department officials called Mr. Sondland on Friday to tell him that he had to resign that day, he resisted, saying that he did not want to be included in what seemed like a larger purge of impeachment witnesses, according to the people informed about the matter. Continue reading.

Nancy Pelosi: McConnell and the GOP Senate are accomplices to Trump’s wrongdoing

Washington Post logoNancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, is speaker of the House of Representatives.

For more than 200 years, our republic has endured, not only because of the wisdom of our Founders and the brilliance of our Constitution, but because of the generations of patriotic Americans who have had the courage to risk their lives to defend it.

But, tragically, the American people have watched President Trump and Republicans in Congress dismantle the Constitution that we cherish.

The House impeachment managers, led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), presented to the Senate and the public an incontrovertible truth that the president himself has admitted: President Trump abused the power of his office to pressure a foreign power to help him cheat in an American election. And when he was caught, the president launched an unprecedented coverup to block Congress from holding him accountable. The president’s actions undermined our national security, jeopardized the integrity of our elections and violated the Constitution. Continue reading.

Now Senate Republicans Resume Probe Of…Clinton Emails

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) turned his attention back to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s years-old emails this week, the same day he voted to acquit Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment.

On Wednesday, Johnson sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding more information about a 2019 State Department investigation that exonerated Clinton of wrongdoing.

In his letter, Johnson, who was first elected in 2010, said he had been investigating Clinton’s emails for almost five years and was determined to continue that work. Continue reading.

How Mitch McConnell Delivered Acquittal for Trump

New York Times logoThe majority leader — who has proved adept at the hand-to-hand procedural combat of the Senate, frustrating Democrats at every turn — had been preparing for a trial for nearly a year.

An explosive report detailing how John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, had confirmed a central allegationagainst Mr. Trump had roiled the Capitol and upended his push to block new witnesses, and if Mr. McConnell did not corral restive Republicans into submission, the trial could be blown wide open.

“We can be smart or we can be stupid,” Mr. McConnell warned his rank and file during a closed-door lunch of halibut, fried chicken and pecan pie in the Capitol, steps from the Senate floor where the trial was to convene shortly. “The choice will be up to us.” Continue  reading.

Treasury Department Hands Over Hunter Biden Info After Withholding Trump’s Tax Records

The impeachment trial is over, but Senate Republicans are pressing forward with an investigation into the Bidens

WASHINGTON ― The Treasury Department has given congressional Republicans sensitive financial information related to Hunter Biden after having refused to give Democrats President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Yahoo News first reported Thursday that the Treasury Department handed over highly confidential information in response to a November request from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for suspicious activity reports filed with the department by financial institutions.

Last year, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin blocked a Democratic request for the president’s tax filings, saying Democrats had no legitimate legislative purpose for seeking the documents.