Month: February 2021

With one word, Mitch McConnell again shows his allegiance to party before country

Posted on by Laura Clawson

Party before country, always. That’s how Mitch McConnell operates, and a little thing like an attack on the U.S Capitol is not going to change it. McConnell has said that “Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of” Jan. 6, but when asked if he’d support Trump for president in 2024 if Trump were the Republican nominee, the Senate minority leader said he “absolutely” would.

McConnell was answering a question from Bret Baier, having gone on Fox News for an exclusive interview probably intended to rehabilitate his standing with the Republican base a little bit after daring to criticize Trump. Never mind that McConnell’s criticism of Trump was clearly intended for media consumption and came after he first refused to hold an impeachment trial while Trump was still in office, then voted against even holding an impeachment trial because Trump was no longer in office, then voted to acquit Trump in the trial that happened over his objections. He criticized the golden idol of the Republican base, which meant he needed to do some sucking up to reconsolidate his power.

So when Baier first asked McConnell about 2024, he said “I’ve got at least four members that I think are planning on running for president, plus some governors and others. There’s no incumbent. It should be a wide-open race and fun for you all to cover.” But pressed directly on his position if Trump became the nominee, McConnell was crystal clear: “The nominee of the party? Absolutely.”

And that’s not just sucking up for McConnell. The Republican Party and its power is his first and foremost concern, always.

“Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said after voting to acquit him.

If Trump is nominated in 2024, “absolutely” McConnell will support getting him into a position where he’ll again have a duty to derelict.

“The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things,” McConnell said.

But the Republican leader in the Senate can and will back a nominee who he knows for a fact will do exactly that, apparently. McConnell has told us that Trump incited an insurrection, but he is willing to subject the nation to that again out of loyalty to his party. McConnell may think he’s swearing loyalty now because he has a handle on things and won’t ever have to follow through on supporting Trump. He may not. But he’s also showing that, as Kerry Eleveld recently wrote, he doesn't realize the Republican Party as he knew it is dead. McConnell thinks he can reconsolidate his leadership, but all he’s done recently is follow the extremists of his party.

Liz Cheney Faces New Calls To Step Down After Latest Bizarre Anti-Trump Attack

Posted on by Becky Noble

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is facing a new round of calls for her to step down as the Chair of the House Republican Caucus after her public claim that former President Trump should have no role in the future of the country.

Cheney is the third highest ranking House GOP member.

Cheney, who has been frequently outspoken about her opposition to Donald Trump, was part of a House Republican leadership briefing on Wednesday with reporters. During the briefing, Cheney and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) were both asked about Trump’s upcoming speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC.

Reporters asked if Trump should “have a prominent speaking role” at the conference. McCarthy replied matter-of-factly, “Yes he should.”

Cheney disagreed.

“That’s up to CPAC. I’ve been clear about my views of President Trump and the extent to which, following Jan. 6., I don’t believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.”

There was an awkward few seconds as reporters laughed and McCarthy replied, “On that high note, thank you very much.”

RELATED: NIH Director Collins: Masks ‘Still Important’ Even After Being Vaccinated, ‘Even If We’re Overdoing It’

Not Cheney’s First Run-In With The Party She Leads

Liz Cheney’s first dust up with her fellow Republicans came back in January, after she was one of ten Republicans to vote for impeachment in the House.

At the time, Rep. Matt Rosedale (R-MT) stated that, “Rep. Cheney did not consult with the rest of our conference before supporting impeachment. She failed to abide by the spirit of the Conference rules and is ignoring the preferences of Republican voters. I’m calling on her to step down as Conference Chair.”

At the time, even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had some concerns about Cheney’s impeachment vote.

The first effort to unseat Cheney failed. Ultimately, only 61 Republicans voted to oust her, 145 members voted against removal in a secret ballot. But that was not the end of her run-ins with other House Republicans. 

Cheney and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have also had words.

Gaetz has accused Cheney of having an “America Last” vision for the country, and has even gone to Cheney’s home state of Wyoming to support those who want a change in who represents them in Wyoming’s only congressional seat.

At a rally in Cheyenne, Gaetz stated that, “There are basically two things that Liz Cheney has done in the United States Congress: frustrate the agenda of President Trump and sell out to the forever war machine.” 

In response to Gaetz’s campaign swing through Wyoming, Cheney fired back on Twitter.

As would be expected, Cheney has enjoyed the full support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

RELATED: Donald Trump Jr. Deposed By DC Attorney General Probing Former President’s Inaugural Committee

Cheney’s Latest Comments

Liz Cheney’s latest comments regarding former President Trump once again have Freedom Caucus members calling for her resignation in House leadership.

Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who is a Trump supporter, said that “she should step down.”

He went on to call her comments “outrageous” and “consistent with at least four other statements she’s made in the last few weeks,” and that he does not believe “she is able to carry out” her duties as Caucus Chair “any further.”

Biggs also commented that, “I also think she is absolutely devoid of any kind of political reading of what’s going on in the party,” he added. “If she any sense of shame, she would step down.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated that Cheney has “forfeited her right to be the Chair of the Republican Caucus.”

Roy had been in agreement with Cheney that Trump “deserved universal condemnation for what was clearly impeachable conduct,” but that Cheney’s latest comments at the press briefing were “in complete opposition to where the majority of house Republicans stand” and “completely out of step with the Republican Conference.”

RELATED: Obama Backs Reparations: Says Country Was ‘Built On The Backs Of Slaves’, Didn’t Do It Himself Due To ‘White Resentment’

Cheney Also Facing Backlash At Home

While Liz Cheney is hearing criticism in Washington from other Republicans, it is Wyoming Republicans she may want to pay attention to.

Since the first call for her resignation as Chair of the Republican Caucus, ten counties in Wyoming have voted to censure Cheney.

A partial statement from Sweetwater County states that Cheney had “betrayed the trust and failed to honor the will of the very large majority of motivated Wyoming voters who elected her.”

Cheney has already garnered a primary challenger for 2022 as well. Wyoming State Senator Anthony Bouchard announced his candidacy on January 20.

Of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, seven, including Cheney have primary challengers for 2022.

Cheney defended her impeachment vote by saying, “this is a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference.”

The post Liz Cheney Faces New Calls To Step Down After Latest Bizarre Anti-Trump Attack appeared first on The Political Insider.

It’s amazing to see, but Republicans are really digging their own graves

Posted on by kos

Much has been written lately about the GQP’s unfathomable opposition to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package (see here, here, here and here). In short, the Democrat’s proposal is incredibly popular, even among Republicans. A Morning Consult poll pegged support at 76% of voters, including 60% of Republicans. That’s bipartisanship. But Republicans in Congress want to play off the old destroy-Obama-at-all-costs playbook, and have put up a wall of opposition to the legislation. 

And not only are they rhetorically opposing it, but they’re actively whipping against it, forcing congressional Republicans to vote against it or else. Let’s hope they’re successful, because nothing will make the 2022 midterm messaging clearer than “those checks came from us, they didn’t want to help you at all.” 

Indeed, their current stances are so at odds with basic political common sense, it almost makes you suspicious, right? What do they know that we don’t? But no, they think the COVID-19 relief package is like the Affordable Care Act, where they could fearmonger about losing your doctor. Pandemic relief isn’t about taking anything away from you, it’s about giving you cold, hard cash. 

The current Republican response is hilariously stupid. It’s stuff like this: 

We’ve run the numbers and here’s your receipt, @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer. pic.twitter.com/e2cAG8st8W

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 24, 2021

That “$$$”, of course, is checks for people. But even libraries and mass transit aren’t particularly unpopular items, so not sure what they think they’re getting from this kind of messaging. Here’s another one: 

Only 9% of the Biden Bailout Bill goes to #COVID relief. A few examples of where the money is actually going: ➡️$135 million for the National Endowment of the Arts ➡️$350 billion in blue state bailouts ➡️$1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge ➡️$1.5 billion for Amtrak

— Ways and Means GOP (@WaysandMeansGOP) February 24, 2021

For a party that is losing ground with swing voters, not sure why they think that “blue state bailouts” kind of divisive rhetoric gets them anything beyond their old, white, rural, and literally dying off base. “$1.5 million” for something? In a $1.9 TRILLION dollar bill? Does anyone care? And Amtrak is a lifeline for many rural communities. And people like trains. 

Part of the GOP’s problem is that they no longer know how to message against an old white male. President Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren? Oh boy, they’d have a field day. But the old guy who doesn’t grandstand or showboat much, keeps his head down, stays professional? They’re at a loss. 

So much so that he is a far more popular politician than pretty much anyone else in this country. Some polling has shown positively gaudy numbers for Biden. 

New numbers from @MorningConsult show that @JoeBiden is the most popular national political leader in America https://t.co/EgQ7jtrlob pic.twitter.com/marUPs14FJ

— John Anzalone (@JohnAnzo) February 24, 2021

Civiqs, which does a great job of filtering out partisan non-response bias (in essence, demoralized partisans refusing to answer polls), has more measured numbers: 

Civiqs Results

For comparison’s sake, Donald Trump is at 42% favorable, 56% unfavorable. And just as important as the toppling, the trend is a good one. Republicans can’t touch him, which is maybe why they’re resorting to this kind of buffoonery: 

Newsmax guest attacks Biden's dogs for being dirty and "unlike a presidential dog" pic.twitter.com/6yitOlM765

— aliciasadowski (@aliciasadowski6) February 20, 2021

They’ve got nothing of real substance. 

Now, as we look ahead to 2022, take a look at this question, which asks which party better represents you:

Civiqs Results

That 16-point gap (46% Democratic vs. 30% Republican) is quite dramatic, and is driven by crashing numbers among independents: only 22% think the GOP is concerned about people like them, down from 33% on Election Day. Meanwhile, 36% of independents say Democrats are concerned about them. Let’s keep an eye on this chart in the coming months, because it’s going to become extra clear which party cares about people, and which one is hell-bent on committing political suicide. The damage Republicans are doing to themselves is already extensive. Let’s compare the two parties: 

Republican Party favorability: 23% favorable, 65% unfavorable, with brutal trendiness.

Civiqs Results

Democratic Party favorability: 44% favorable, 49% unfavorable, with gradually improving trendiness. 

Civiqs Results

Republicans already lost the 2018 and 2020 elections, and demographic trends continue to move against them. Trump cost them the White House, the Senate, and the House, and there is zero guarantee his voters will ever turn out for an election without Trump on the ballot (they haven’t before). Yet the Republican Party isn’t just doubling down on Trumpism, it’s doubling down on opposing popular legislation.

Think about it, even a Q-addled Republican will have to think twice in 2022 if she or he has to vote between losing their monthly child credit check from the IRS, or a Republican promising to end any such help. Deliver help to people, and it’s a different playing field. It’s already happening, and the legislation hasn’t even passed into law. 

Democrats gifted Republicans the chance to rip out the Trump cancer from their party, but the GQP refused to convict in the impeachment trial. Now Republicans are gifting Democrats the chance to lock in popular support for their party and candidates. 

Perhaps it’s time to stop looking the gift horse in the mouth, and just run up the advantage. 

Donald Trump Jr. Deposed By DC Attorney General Probing Former President’s Inaugural Committee

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Donald Trump Jr. was deposed earlier this month by Washington, D.C. attorney general Karl Racine in a probe of former President Trump’s inaugural committee, a court filing indicates.

Racine is spearheading a probe into the alleged misuse of inaugural funds involving a payment made by the Trump Organization to a D.C. hotel for nearly $50,000 in 2017, the week of the inauguration.

Trump Jr., a Trump Organization executive, in the deposition, stated he did not authorize spending $50,000 from his father’s inaugural committee on hotel rooms for his friends.

Racine has sued the organization and Trump’s D.C. hotel over misuse of inaugural funds.

He has accused both entities of “blatantly and unlawfully abusing nonprofit funds to enrich the Trump family.”

The former President’s son and the Trump Organization have denied any such accusations.

RELATED: Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement Of Biden’s 100 Day Ban On Deportations

Trump Jr. Deposed By an Anti-Trump AG

Racine, a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention and supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, has had a bit of a fixation with the Trump family for years now.

So it’s no surprise that he’s deposed Donald Trump Jr.

Racine took part in a lawsuit against the former President on June 12, 2017, that alleged Trump had not fulfilled his pledge to separate his political activities from his business ventures while serving as president.

Yes, the good ol’ emoluments clause.

The Supreme Court ended the lawsuit last month, declaring them moot as he was no longer in office.

RELATED: House Democrats Want Biden To Relinquish Sole Authority To Launch Nuclear Weapons

Just Another Witch Hunt?

Racine’s obsession with the Trump family also includes reviewing the potential for charges against the former President for his alleged role in the Capitol riot in early January.

“Lawyers inside the Washington, DC attorney general’s office are working to determine if it is legally viable to use district statutes to charge former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in the insurrection,” CNN reported two weeks ago.

They add that Racine’s office was “collaborating at a high level with federal prosecutors.”

Law enforcement officials tasked with protecting the Capitol testified earlier this week that they did not anticipate the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, indicating there was no way President Trump could have either.

Also deposed in the current case are Donald Trump Jr’s sister, Ivanka, and former Trump campaign deputy campaign manager Rick Gates.

According to the court documents, Trump Jr.’s deposition “raised further questions about the nature of the Loews Madison invoice and revealed evidence that Defendants had not yet produced to the District.”

Racine is reportedly seeking more time to collect further information and conduct three more depositions for the case.

The post Donald Trump Jr. Deposed By DC Attorney General Probing Former President’s Inaugural Committee appeared first on The Political Insider.

Report: Nikki Haley Isolated After Attacking Trump, Not Among GOP 2024 Presidential Hopefuls At CPAC

Posted on by Becky Noble

As conservatives gather for their annual conference known as CPAC, Nikki Haley will not be among the possible 2024 GOP contenders in attendance, with speculation that her rivalry with Donald Trump being a contributing factor.

According to one report, Haley is “isolated” after she attacked President Trump for the January 6 Capitol riot.

This comes in the aftermath last week of the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. asking for a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Her request was turned down.

Haley has a long history of attacking President Trump.

RELATED: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Accused Of Sexual Harassment By Former Staffer Lindsey Boylan

Haley’s History Of Anti-Trump Comments

Nikki Haley has a history of comments critical of Trump, so it is not surprising that he would have turned down a meeting.

After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and just prior to Tump’s second impeachment, in an interview Haley said of Republicans that “We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t ever let that happen again.”

In the same interview, she questioned “any political viability” he was going to have going forward. Haley said she did not believe Trump would run in 2024. “I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.”

Haley’s comments on Donald Trump go back much farther than January of this year.

In 2016, she gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union Address, when she stated, “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”

In an interview the next day on NBC’s Today Show, Haley said that she was specifying then front-runner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump, was one of the “angry voices” she was referring to.

Haley invoked the Jun 2015 shooting of nine black parishioners in a Charleston church when she stated that she thinks Trump’s rhetoric is “dangerous.” She went on to say, “I know what that rhetoric can do. I saw it happen.”

She even went on to repeat the lie that Trump had not disavowed the KKK. 

“I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK,” Haley said. “That is not a part of our party, that is not who we want as president. We will allow not allow that in our country.”

Even PolitiFact acknowledges that Trump has disavowed white supremacists for decades.

In February of 2016, then South Carolina Governor Haley sounded every bit like a Never-Trumper.

Speaking to CNN affiliate WIS Television in Columbia, she said that candidate Donald Trump represented “everything a Governor doesn’t want in a president.”

RELATED: Biden HHS Nominee Xavier Becerra Could Not Name A Single Abortion Restriction He Would Support

Haley’s Presidential Aspirations In Jeopardy?

According to a report from The Hill, a GOP source says that while Haley has been trying to position herself for a run for the White House, she is having difficulty in connecting with Trump supporters.

The source went on to say that “Haley has never understood the President and seems to not understand where the base of the Party is.” 

The Hill also quoted Alex Conant, a GOP consultant and former advisor to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in reference to Haley’s comments:

“Trump might run again, so you have to treat him as a potential competitor. But even if he doesn’t, he wants influence over who the party picks, and loyalty is what he values more than anything else. So it’s hard to build your own identity separate from him while maintaining loyalty and his support.”

The fact that she may be seen as a flip-flopper may harm her presidential hopes. A week after the riot, the Charleston CBS affiliate reported that while Haley criticized the President for the riot, she “called for people to ‘give the man a break’.”

She also stated she did not think there was “basis for impeachment.” 

RELATED: Democrat House Set To Pass ‘Equality Act’, Critics Warn It Attacks Women’s Rights And Religious Freedom

CPAC Will Draw Other Possible Presidential Contenders

As usual, this year’s CPAC gathering will draw other potential presidential hopefuls. Some other names that have been mentioned include Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is also scheduled to speak, and has even been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate recently by Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

Most of those mentioned have been strong supporters of Trump, not only of the direction he would take the Republican Party, but his “America First” platform.

Nikki Haley’s comments for and against Donald Trump may separate her from other would-be Republican candidates, and the optics may say that she may prove the sources right, that she is indeed out of touch with the base of the party.

Politco reported that Lee Bright, a former colleague of Haley and an “archconservative in the statehouse” in South Carolina, might have sounded the alarm about Haley.

“Nikki is willing to do whatever she needs to do and be whoever she needs to be,” he said. 

He went on to add more serious accusations, “The fact is, she doesn’t have a core. Adapting to the electorate is what keeps you around in politics, and she’s done it more effectively than anyone I’ve ever seen. She went from being an enemy of the establishment to being the face of the establishment.”

Nikki Haley’s first decision about a White House run should be which part of the Republican Party she supports.

The post Report: Nikki Haley Isolated After Attacking Trump, Not Among GOP 2024 Presidential Hopefuls At CPAC appeared first on The Political Insider.

D.C. attorney general: Trump Jr.’s deposition ‘raised further questions’ about inaugural payments

Posted on by Walter Einenkel

In January of 2020, Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine filed a civil complaint against the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (Trumps) and the two entities—the Trump Organization, which owns the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., and the Loews Hotel chain, which owned The Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C. in 2017. At issue were the exorbitant rates the Inaugural Committee paid to the hotel for private parties and rooms and spaces that were not even used. Racine pointed to evidence that people within the Inaugural Committee knew the prices were overboard and questioned them at the time. In December, Ivanka Trump had to sit for at least five hours to answer questions. Like a good grifter Trump, she claimed it was all a political witch hunt.

At around the same time Ivanka was being deposed, her older brother Junior was getting phone calls from Racine asking him about a purported $49,358.92 that the Trump Organization was contracted to pay to the hotel connected to the inauguration. It turns out that not only didn’t the Trump Organization pay that money back to itself (in essence)—the nonprofit, donor-funded Presidential Inauguration Committee ended up cutting that check back to the Trumps’ hotel interests. In fact, Trump Jr. may have been the person who forwarded that check on to the Inaugural Committee. Weeeeeeeiiiiird, huh?

Well, it turns out that while many of us were watching the awful sequel impeachment trial of Donald Trump during the week of Feb. 9, Donald Trump, Jr. was having his own deposition with Racine’s office. CNN reports that the Washington, D.C. Attorney General’s office says this new deposition "raised further questions about the nature" of that very same invoice—the one that was forwarded by the Trump Organization to the Trump Inaugural Committee to pay Trump’s hotel.

Will Trump Jr. be able to explain why the Trump Organization’s hotel bill was paid by the Trump Inaugural Committee? Let’s just guess that any excuse given by someone related to Donald Trump at this point is likely going to be less than satisfactory. But that’s not all of Junior and the Trump family’s problems. On Wednesday, the Daily Beast reported that investigators from the Manhattan district attorney’s office have begun focusing more intensely on the Donald’s eldest, least remarkable son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as on Trump’s old buddy and longstanding CFO of the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg.

Weisselberg has been interviewed by all kinds of law enforcement agencies over the last few years, and was even offered immunity when cooperating in the FBI’s investigation into former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. According to the Daily Beast, the Manhattan investigation—not to be confused with the Washington, D.C. investigation—has “broadened the range of investigation into the Trump family’s assets, and have recruited some extra manpower.” 

The New York investigation comes out of the Donald’s tax filings and Weisselberg has already been deposed at least once by Manhattan prosecutors during the investigation. More recently, sources say that Donald Trump’s properties and the nature of the loans he’s taken out against some of his properties have been examined by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. These investigations are different from the one being conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which is also investigating some of Trump’s sketchy property development loans.

Sources close to Trump say that the New York investigations—as well as all of the numerous other investigations into Trump and his family’s affairs, while on his mind—are being dismissed by the family as a political witch hunt. But maybe there’s a reason why Weisselberg was on everybody’s list of people Donald Trump may try to preemptively pardon before leaving office? Maybe all of these people have secret “break-in-case-of-emergency” pardons, as some have speculated? Maybe Trump’s attempt to load up the Supreme Court with ultra-right-wing, underqualified judges hasn’t worked as well as he had hoped in protecting his criminal behavior.

Maybe Trump’s No. 1 motivation for positioning himself to run again in 2024 is the hope that he can once and for all legalize his and his family’s apparent criminal enterprise.