Category: US Senate

Bipartisanship in Congress isn’t about being nice – it’s about cold, hard numbers

Before he was even inaugurated as president, Joe Biden, elected at a time of strong political polarization, emphasized the importance of bipartisanship in dealing with Congress: “I think I can work with Republican leadership in the House and Senate. I think we can get some things done.” 

Incoming presidents routinely make such appeals, and for good reason. 

Senate rules require a “supermajority” – 60 out of 100 senators, including both Democrats and Republicans – to pass major legislation. But presidents have found it difficult to fulfill the promise of bipartisanship, which would require negotiation between Democratic and Republican leaders and the agreement of substantial numbers of lawmakers from both parties. Continue reading.

‘Shameful’: Fox News cuts away from Senate trial as shocking footage emerges

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As other networks airing Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday showed chilling new video footage of the deadly January 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol incited by the former president, Fox Newsopted to cut away to cover different stories. 

Even the fiercely pro-Trump One America Network aired Trump’s trial. Fox, however, decided to run segments on stories including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s decision to forego the national anthem at his NBA team’s home games, and the viral video of a Texas attorney’s “I’m not a cat” Zoom courtroom filter fail.

Fox‘s decision to cut away from the trial was lambasted as “f*cking shameful.” Continue reading.

Republicans criticized a Biden nominee for her tweets. Democrats see a ‘whole new level of hypocrisy.’

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For the second time this week, Republican senators grilled President Biden’s pick to head the White House budget office over her history of controversial tweets — infuriating critics of the GOP who said the lawmakers were hypocritical for chastising nominee Neera Tanden while failing to speak up about former president Donald Trump’s incendiary tweetstorms now at the center of an impeachment inquiry.

During a heated back-and-forth, Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), known for his colorful expressions, accused Tanden of attacking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“You called Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut,” he said, evoking the sexist term famously satirized on “Saturday Night Live.” Continue reading.

Lindsey Graham caught saying one thing on impeachment to reporters — but then another to Sean Hannity

Sen. Lindsey-Graham (R-SC) got caught talking out of both sides of his mouth after leaving the impeachment trial on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Graham advocated for Capitol police to have shot the protesters and killed more of them. 

“I just can’t believe that we could lose the Capitol like that. I got mad. I mean these police officers had every right to use deadly force, they should have used it,” he said.

But when he appeared on Fox News, Graham had a whole other take perfect for Hannity viewers where he blamed Democrats instead. Continue reading.

Republican Senators Joke About Trump’s Deadly Incitement To Rioters

On the second day of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, House managers presented evidence to support the charge of incitement to insurrection on which Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on January 13.

Republican lawmakers are treating the proceedings as a joke, ignoring the evidence of the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by Trump supporters that left five dead and deriding the entire thing as a “political stunt.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday tweeted a video of herself walking toward the Senate chamber for the second day of the trial. Continue reading.

The Memo: New riot footage stuns Trump trial

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Shocking new footage of the Jan. 6 insurrection was presented in the Senate chamber Wednesday, dismantling the idea that the second impeachment trial of former President Trump would produce no fresh information.

The presentation packed an enormous emotional punch. Its impact was visceral, even as most Americans need no reminder of a day that was a low point in the nation’s history.

Clips shown by Democratic impeachment managers revealed Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) narrowly escaping the mob and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) breaking into a run in the Capitol’s halls after apparently being urged to change direction by a police officer.

The officer in question was Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police, who has already won praise for diverting the mob of Trump supporters away from the Senate chamber at considerable risk to himself. Continue reading.

GOP aide’s friends texted her right-wing conspiracy theories as she hid from Capitol rioters

GOP aide Leslie Shedd barricaded herself in her office as pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But as she prayed for her safety, friends were texting her right-wing disinformation as the attack unfolded, according to an account published by VICE.

“As friends and family texted to make sure she was safe, two claimed in separate conversations that the rioters were really left-wing agitators in disguise, not the Trump supporters who’d flocked by the thousands to a rally where the president claimed the election was stolen from him. A third floated a conspiracy theory involving the Capitol Police,” VICE’s Cameron Joseph reports. 

One friend texted Shedd that the people storming the Capitol were really “BLM and antifa people” disguised as Trump supporters.  Continue reading.

New security video shows harrowing details of Capitol attack

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The House Democrats prosecuting former President Trump‘s impeachment case unveiled harrowing new video footage on Wednesday, lending a new glimpse of just how close the rioters came to former Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. senators as they breached the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The new footage, released on the second day of Trump’s Senate trial, takes advantage of Capitol security cameras positioned around the complex, depicting both the violent intentions of the mob and the heroics of several Capitol Police officers, including Eugene Goodman, who diverted the mob away from senators on the chamber floor. 

“This is now effectively a riot.”

The videos are meant to drive home the Democrats’ argument that the former president purposefully stirred up his supporters with claims of a stolen election and then encouraged them to march on the Capitol to block the vote certifying the victory of his opponent, President Biden.  Continue reading.

Josh Hawley isn’t on the ballot, but he’s still a factor in Missouri’s Senate race

Democrats are seeking to tie Hawley to GOP Sen. Roy Blunt

Missouri Democrat Scott Sifton’s video launching his Senate campaign opened with an image of his state’s Republican senator — but not the one who’s up for reelection next year. 

“When he raised his fist and betrayed our democracy, Josh Hawley showed us who he really is,” Sifton, a former state senator, says in the video as a widely shared image of Hawley greeting supporters of President Donald Trump outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 dissolves into scenes of rioters, fired up by Trump’s and Hawley’s false claims of election fraud, smashing their way into the building. 

The video then pivots to GOP Sen. Roy Blunt, who is up for a third term in 2022, with Sifton saying that Blunt “was too weak to stand up to his party’s lies, he showed us who he is too.” Continue reading.

5 takeaways from Day 4 of Trump’s impeachment trial

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Former president Donald Trump’s legal defense made its presentation Friday at his impeachment trial.

Below are some takeaways.

1. A heavy dose of whataboutism

The early part of the Trump team’s presentation was overwhelmingly focused on things that didn’t involve him. It was almost 100 percent whataboutism.

Democrats over the past three days have played lengthy videos of the insurrection at the Capitol, so Trump’s team played video of the unrest at racial justice protests this summer. Continue reading.