Tag: U.S. Senate

Rand Paul’s claim that Trump has a constitutional right to confront whistleblowers

Washington Post logo“The Sixth Amendment is pretty clear. It’s part of the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, and it says that you get to confront your accusers. And so, I think it’s very clear that the only constitutional mandate here is, is that if someone’s going to accuse you of something that might remove the president from office, for goodness’ sake, shouldn’t they come forward and present their accusations in person?”

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), in a Fox Business Network interview, Nov. 5, 2019

“The Sixth Amendment guarantees an individual the right to face their accuser. Yet the House of Representatives has been conducting a secret impeachment inquiry based on secret claims made by a secret whistleblower. My bill would make clear that the Sixth Amendment is not superseded by statutes and that the president should be afforded the same rights that we all should: to understand the nature of the allegations brought against them and to face their accuser. This is in the Sixth Amendment. So for all the caterwauling about whistleblower statutes, there is a high law of the land. It is the Constitution, it is the Bill of Rights, and the Sixth Amendment says if you’re accused of a crime, you get to face your accuser.”

— Paul, in a Senate floor speech, Nov. 6, 2019 Continue reading “Rand Paul’s claim that Trump has a constitutional right to confront whistleblowers”

Rand Paul blocks Senate resolution backing protection for whistleblowers

The Hill logoSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) blocked a resolution Wednesday reaffirming the Senate’s support for whistleblower protections and accused Democrats of “fake outrage.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) had asked for unanimous consent to pass the resolution, which “acknowledges the contributions of whistleblowers” and throws the chamber’s support behind protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.

“The threats we have seen over the last few days are so egregious they demand bipartisan outrage from one end of this chamber to the other, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, independent, liberal, moderate or conservative,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “What’s happening here is another erosion of the values of this republic for political expediency.”

View the complete November 6 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

Trump is Committing ‘Felony Bribery’ by Giving Fundraising Cash to GOP Senators Ahead of His Impeachment Trial: Ex-Bush Ethics Lawyer

Attorney Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, warned on Thursday that President Donald Trump appeared to be committing “felony bribery” by giving Republican senators fundraising cash ahead of an increasingly likely impeachment trial in the Senate.

The lawyer shared an article published by Politico on Thursday morning. Titled “Trump lures GOP senators on impeachment with cold cash,” the article outlined how the president is turning to his large network of donors to raise funds for a few senators facing difficult re-election campaigns in 2020. All of those senators have also signed a resolution condemning the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.

“This is a bribe. Any other American who offered cash to the jury before a trial would go to prison for felony bribery. But he can get away with it?” Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, wrote on Twitter. “Criminal.

View the complete October 31 article by Jason Lemon on the Newsweek website here.

Republican Senators Struggling To Defend Trump From Impeachment

The House’s impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s alleged plot to withhold critical security aid to Ukraine in order to force them into investigating his political adversaries is now entering its second month — yet Senate Republicans are still struggling with how to handle it.

And, according to the Washington Post, Republicans are reluctant to defend Trump’s behavior both because there is no good defense, and because there’s worry they’ll have egg on their face if and when more troubling Trump conduct surfaces.

“It feels like a horror movie,” an unnamed “veteran” Republican senator told the Washington Post.

View the complete October 28 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Democrats see hopes rise in Senate with impeachment

The Hill logoImpeachment is raising the likelihood that the Senate will be a real battleground next year, and that Democrats could regain the majority.

Much will need to go right for Democrats to take back control. They would need to net three seats and the White House, and that’s with many in the party expecting to lose Sen. Doug Jones’s (D) seat in Alabama.

Yet Democratic hopes are rising given the steady series of negative headlines surrounding President Trump, which have put Republicans on the back foot.

View the complete October 29 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

‘It feels like a horror movie’: Republicans feel anxious and adrift defending Trump

Washington Post logoRepublican senators are lost and adrift as the impeachment inquiry enters its second month, navigating the grave threat to President Trump largely in the dark, frustrated by the absence of a credible case to defend his conduct and anxious about the historic reckoning that probably awaits them.

Recent days have delivered the most damaging testimony yet about Trump and his advisers commandeering Ukraine policy for the president’s personal political goals, which his allies on Capitol Hill sought to undermine by storming the deposition room and condemning the inquiry as secretive and corrupt.

Those theatrics belie the deepening unease many Republicans now say they feel — particularly those in the Senate who are dreading having to weigh their conscience against their political calculations in deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump should the Democratic-controlled House impeach the president.

View the complete October 28 article by Robert Costa and Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

Schumer seeks focus on health care amid impeachment fever

The Hill logoSenate Democrats plan to force vulnerable Republicans to vote on legislation that would overturn a controversial Trump administration directive on ObamaCare.

The strategy shows Democrats will continue playing offense on ObamaCare, which for years was a political liability for the party. The 2010 law was by and large unpopular until the GOP nearly eradicated it during the last Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) this month will make targeted GOP incumbents such as Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Martha McSally (Ariz.) take a tough vote.

View the complete October 16 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

African Americans top targets of 2016 Russian info warfare, Senate panel finds

Panel says campaigns, media outlets need to verify source of viral social media posts before sharing

The Senate Intelligence Committee has confirmed the extent of the Russian government’s expertise at exploiting racial divisions in America.

Among the key takeaways of the second volume of the committee’s study of Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election is the extent to which minorities were targeted.

“No single group of Americans was targeted by [Internet Research Agency] information operatives more than African-Americans. By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016,” the unclassified version of the report from the intelligence panel said.

View the complete October 8 article by Niels Lesniewski on The Roll Call website here.

Senators demand briefing on Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria

The Hill logoSens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) are demanding an all-senators briefing immediately on President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from key positions in northern Syria.

“We are concerned that this was an abrupt decision taken in the face of reported opposition from military and diplomatic advisers, and that thousands of hardened ISIS fighters and thousands more ISIS supporters currently in detention may become free to fight again as their Kurdish captors turn to defending themselves against a Turkish incursion,” Graham and Coons wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.).

Trump’s decision, announced Monday morning in a series of tweets, caught lawmakers by surprise and appears to give Turkey the go-ahead to move against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces.

View the complete October 8 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

Senate Intel releases 2nd volume of report on 2016 Russian interference

Axios logoThe Senate Intelligence Committee released Tuesday the second volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which focuses on the social media disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency.

Why it matters: The report, which provides further bipartisan evidence of Russia’s election meddling in 2016, finds “the IRA sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election by harming Hillary Clinton’s chances of success and supporting Donald Trump at the direction of the Kremlin.”

    • It also says that the IRA’s activities were “part of a broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign designed to sow discord in American politics and society” and that IRA activity increased, rather than decreased, after Election Day 2016.

View the complete October 8 article by Zachary Basu on the Axios website here.