Tag: GOP OK with Trump abuses of power

Republicans brush off Bolton’s bombshells

The Hill logoSenate Republicans faced another Trump-related crisis on Thursday, a day after media outlets reported bombshell claims by former national security adviser John Bolton in his new memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”

Privately, however, GOP senators who spoke to The Hill expressed little doubt that what Bolton has written about his interactions with President Trump are by and large true.

It didn’t come as a shock to them that Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to buy American soybeans and other farm commodities to help him win reelection, or that he didn’t know that Britain was a nuclear power, or that he spent most of the time in his intelligence briefings airing his own views instead of listening to what experts had to say, or that he intervened to lighten penalties on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. Continue reading.

Tumultuous week in US rattles allies around the globe

The Hill logoU.S. allies around the world have reacted with shock at the death of George Floyd and President Trump’s threat to use military force to crack down on protests, dealing another blow to their already bruised relationship with Washington.

Their alarm was illustrated by a press conference Tuesday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, held one day after Trump used pepper balls and smoke bombs to disperse a crowd protesting Floyd’s death in front of the White House. Asked about his response to the forcible removal of demonstrators, Trudeau paused for 21 seconds before answering.

“We all watch in horror and consternation at what is going on in the United States,” he told reporters. “It is time to pull people together.” Continue reading.

GOP chairmen stake out turf in Obama-era probes

The Hill logoGOP chairmen are carving out their turf in controversial probes stemming from the Obama administration.

Senate Republicans are set to escalate their investigations on Thursday, when two panels will vote on dueling subpoenas that have significant areas of overlap.

But Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)—who chair the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, respectively — say they are trying to avoid a jurisdictional fight as they prepare to do a deep dive into decisions stemming from the Obama era.  Continue reading.

Like A Dictator, Trump Keeps Chopping Away At Democracy

Step by ominous step, Donald Trump is eliminating or blocking every Constitutional check and balance on his administration to evade accountability for corruption.

The only path still open to save America from becoming an autocracy is the ballot box in November. Even there Trump is working to rig the election with help from his secretary of State and various elected Republican leaders.

On national television, he has declared willingness to accept help from Moscow and Beijing, which would violate criminal law. But as Trump dismantles the mechanisms Congress created to ensure Executive branch integrity, who can stop him? Continue reading.

Barr Openly Promotes Trump’s Dictatorial Ambitions

In a major step toward establishing a Trump dictatorship, the Justice Department moved Thursday to drop the criminal case against confessed felon Michael Flynn, the retired Army general and secret foreign agent who was Trump’s first national security adviser.

Instead of seeking equal justice under law, an extraordinary court filing demonstrated that Trump has one standard of justice for his enemies and an entirely different one for his allies. The court action shows how fully Trump has turned our Justice Department into his personal protection agency.

The 108-page court filing is rife with falsehoods and tortured interpretations of established facts, a mendacious necessity since Flynn twice confessed to multiple crimes under oath in open court. It argues that the lies Flynn told FBI agents were not “material” to the case against him. The trial court judge has already dismissed that as nonsense. Continue reading.