The House approved its annual defense policy bill in a 295-125 vote on Tuesday, taking a step toward confrontation with President Trump over stripping Confederate names from military bases.
The fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved with a veto-proof majority, though it is possible that some of the 108 Republicans who voted for the legislation could change their votes to back up a presidential veto.
The 125 “no” votes included 43 Democrats. Continue reading.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by House Democrats to accelerate the timeline of remaining court battles over congressional subpoenas for President Trump’s tax returns.
The bid by lawmakers came in response to the court’s landmark 7-2 ruling earlier this month to shield a trove of Trump’s financial records from several Democratic-led House committees and return the dispute to lower courts for further litigation.
Under regular Supreme Court procedure, the ruling would reach the lower courts no earlier than Aug. 3, a delay Democrats sought to avoid by asking the justices to expedite the process. Continue reading.
Hi Neighbors,
The right to vote is fundamental, and no American should be forced to choose between their health and their right to vote. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, I want to ensure you know how to safely vote on August 11th and November 3rd.
In our nation’s history, we have never failed to hold regularly scheduled elections – even in times of war, natural disaster, and economic crisis. This year will be no different. Minnesota is doing everything possible to ensure our elections are safe, secure, accessible, and fair. This includes offering multiple accommodations to ensure that every Minnesotan can participate in our democracy: Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) Update: How to Vote During the Coronavirus”
President Trump intends to fight a subpoena for his tax returns and financial records from the Manhattan district attorney after the Supreme Court rejected his claim that he’s immune to criminal investigation, the president’s lawyers told a judge on Wednesday.
In a status report filed with a federal district court in New York, Trump’s legal team said it has other objections to the district attorney’s subpoena aside from the one struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
The move will surely draw out the proceedings in the lower court, and the president’s attorneys made clear that they intend to raise issues about whether District Attorney Cyrus Vance‘s subpoenas are overly broad or relevant to a legitimate investigation. They argued that the case requires the two parties to develop a more thorough factual record. Continue reading.
Republicans entered the 2020 cycle as longshots to win control of the House back after the party was unceremoniously swept out of power in the midterm elections.
But the GOP hoped to at least chip away at the Democrats’ majority in November, when Democrats will be defending 31 seats Donald Trump carried in 2016.
Yet a trio of recent House polls shows Trump’s unpopularity is hampering that effort, dragging down Republicans in districts they’ve held for years — and raising the possibility that the party will slip further into the minority once the election is through. Continue reading.
Geoffrey Berman, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was expected to say in closed-door testimony today that Attorney General Bill Barr repeatedly urged him to take another job, warned him that getting fired would not be good for his resume or job prospects and steered him toward a high-level Justice Department post in DC.
Driving the news: Axios has obtained a copy of Berman’s opening statement for his closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court temporarily blocked congressional investigators Thursday from gaining access to President Donald Trump’s personal financial records.
The 7-2 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Trump’s two nominees, Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. It sends the separation of powers dispute back to lower courts for further determination.
“Courts must perform a careful analysis that takes adequate account of the separation of powers principles at stake, including both the significant legislative interests of Congress and the ‘unique position’ of the president,” Roberts wrote. Continue reading.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to take up the dispute over House Democrats’ access to redacted grand jury materials from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
The court is expected to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October, meaning any newly redacted material would likely not be made public until after the November elections.
The decision to grant the appeal means at least four of the court’s nine justices agreed to hear the dispute, with a decision due by the end of the court’s term in June 2021. Continue reading.
The House Armed Services Committee has approved an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would require the Pentagon to strip Confederate names from bases and other property within one year.
The amendment, offered by Reps. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), was approved 33-23 as the committee considers its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The vote fell largely along party lines, with just Bacon and Rep. Paul Mitchell(R-Mich.) crossing party lines to support it. Continue reading.
Congress on Monday began to investigate tactics used by federal law enforcement officers to clear protesters near Lafayette Square ahead of President Trump’s photo op in front of the pale yellow facade of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Protesters, journalists and witnesses who were caught in clouds of chemical irritants, hit with police batons, pelted by projectiles and shoved with riot shields described their experiences and injuries to lawmakers, whose confidence in police officers’ tactics seemed to splinter along party lines.
The hearings before the House Natural Resources Committee were the first of several, with lawmakers signaling they have more questions about the types of weapons used and whether federal police officers issued verbal warnings before launching stun grenades and chemical irritants into the crowd. Continue reading.
