Trumpworld Goes Into Meltdown After Trump Endorses Dr. Oz
Hannah Beier/ReutersLate Saturday evening, former President Donald Trump officially endorsed his old TV pal Dr. Mehmet Oz in the ruckus Republican U.S. Senate primary race in Pennsylvania. In doing so, Trump, while speaking at a rally in North Carolina, ignited fury and ridicule among some of the loudest voices in Trumpworld. At issue among Trump’s most fervent supporters is the belief that Oz, a Turkish-American TV physician who has hobnobbed with Hollywood’s elite and has flip-flopped on the i
news.yahoo.comNorth Carolina Senate race tests Trump's endorsement power
When Ted Budd won a surprise endorsement from former President Donald Trump last year, he was a little-known congressman running for a Senate seat in North Carolina against some of the state’s most recognizable Republicans, including a former governor.
The Trailer: They're running for mayor of L.A. Protesters want them to shut up already.
In this edition: Why the candidates for mayor of Los Angeles keep getting interrupted, what happened to Mo Brooks, and what the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission thinks of the campaign to put her in jail.
washingtonpost.comTrump rescinds Brooks endorsement in Alabama US Senate race
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday rescinded his endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama's U.S. Senate race in a major blow to the congressman's campaign. In a statement, Trump cited Brooks' performance in the race, poor campaign staffing and what Trump perceived as a softening of Bro oks' stance on the former president's false 2020 election fraud claims. Trump said he will be making another endorsement announcement in the “near future.”
news.yahoo.comTrump calls Mo Brooks 'disappointing' in Alabama Senate race
“Mo Brooks is disappointing,” Trump told the Washington Examiner Tuesday, according to a report published Wednesday. Trump has backed Brooks since last April, more than a year ahead of the upcoming May 24 primary, rewarding the conservative firebrand and ally who whipped up a crowd of Trump supporters at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot. Brooks has since found himself in a primary battle with two formidable opponents: Katie Britt, the former head of a state business group, and Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and held prisoner in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident.
news.yahoo.comU.S. judge rejects Trump claim of ‘absolute immunity’ from Jan. 6 lawsuits
In a searing, 112-page opinion that quoted repeatedly and at length from the former president’s own public statements, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta refused to dismiss three lawsuits against Trump accusing him of inciting the Capitol attack.
washingtonpost.comHigh court's Alabama ruling sparks alarm over voting rights
The Supreme Court’s decision to halt efforts to create a second mostly Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election has sparked fresh warnings that the court is eroding the Voting Rights Act and reviving the need for Congress to intervene.
Mo Brooks Is the Jan. 6 Congressman Who Can’t Keep His Mouth Shut
Tom Williams/GettySomeone may need to tell Rep. Mo Brooks to stop talking.The Republican congressman from Alabama keeps defending himself in court against accusations that he helped incite the Jan. 6, 2021 riot—and it’s not helping the former prosecutor in the slightest.The particular defense Brooks has chosen seems aimed at having Justice Department lawyers mount a legal defense for him. He is arguing that his incendiary speech on Jan. 6 was part of his official duties as a congressman, a crusa
news.yahoo.comEXPLAINER: Why Congress is looking closely at Jan. 6 rally
The House panel investigating the Jan_ 6 Capitol insurrection has focused some of its early work on the planning behind a massive rally at which President Donald Trump falsely claimed to have won reelection and told his supporters to “fight like hell.”.
GOP members lash out at Rolling Stone report linking them to Jan. 6 planning
A number of Republican members of Congress named in a Rolling Stone report as being involved in planning the details of rallies and electoral certification objection on the day of Jan. 6 ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building, either personally or through top staff members, are pushing back on or outright refuting the story.
news.yahoo.comGOP Rep. Mo Brooks says he understands 'anger' at 'Socialism' amid Capitol Hill bomb threat
As U.S. Capitol Police were negotiating Thursday for the surrender of a suspect who threatened to detonate a truck bomb in front of the Library of Congress, Republican Rep. Mo Brooks issued a statement in which he said he understood "citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism."
news.yahoo.comLow-profile Trump backers struggle to raise cash
High-profile Trump backers in Congress who tried to block President Biden's election win have raked in cash this year. Many of their lesser-known rank-and-file colleagues have not.Why it matters: New campaign finance data underscore a disparity among election objectors. Some have used the infamy to catapult themselves into MAGA stardom. Those who haven't — including some facing competitive 2022 reelection fights — are stuck with all the baggage and little financial benefit.Stay on top of the lat
news.yahoo.comPelosi calls McCarthy a 'moron' in clash over Capitol mask mandate
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “a moron” on Wednesday in response to a reporter who asked her about McCarthy's suggestion that the decision late Tuesday night by Congress's top physician to reinstate a mask mandate indoors on the House side of the Capitol wasn't based on science. Later at a press conference, Pelosi said, “To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think, is not wise.”
news.yahoo.comGOP doubters unswayed by Jan. 6 testimony
Rather than winning over House Republicans, the dramatic testimony delivered during the Jan. 6 select committee's first public hearing led them to double down on their criticism that the investigation is purely political.Why it matters: The remarks signal that regardless of the panel's eventual findings, many Republican lawmakers — most of whom didn't even watch Tuesday's hearing — will dismiss the proceedings as a partisan witch hunt.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights
news.yahoo.comBritt enters US Senate race to replace Shelby in Alabama
Republican Katie Boyd Britt entered the race for Alabama’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday promising to “put Alabama first” while stressing her experience as the former leader of a state business group and former chief of staff to retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby. Two Republicans are already in the race: Congressman Mo Brooks, who is armed with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, and Lynda Blanchard, a businesswoman who was Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia. Shelby, one of the Senate’s most senior members, announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection in 2022, igniting what is expected to be a messy GOP primary at a time when the national Republican Party is trying to chart a direction following Trump’s departure.
news.yahoo.comGOP firebrand US Rep. Mo Brooks enters Alabama Senate race
The north Alabama Republican announced his entry into the race at an event with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. And as President Trump can vouch, I don't cut and run. “Nobody has had President Trump’s back more over the last four years than Mo Brooks. Your vote for Mo Brooks will allow him to carry on the America First agenda," Miller said as he gave his support to Brooks. Some carried signs reading “Traitor Mo has got to go” and that “Mo Brooks words incited violence."
House impeachment manager sues Trump, allies over riot
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. Swalwell's attorney Philip Andonian praised Thompson’s lawsuit, filed under a Reconstruction-era law called the Ku Klux Klan Act, and said they were behind it 100%, but saw the need for this one, too. “We see ourselves as having a different angle to this, holding Trump accountable for the incitement, the disinformation,” he said. But the lawsuit, like the one by Thompson, was brought against Trump in his personal, not official, capacity. “Unable to accept defeat, Donald Trump waged an all out war on a peaceful transition of power,” Swalwell said in a statement.
Conservative gathering to feature Trump's false fraud claims
Trump himself is headlining the three-day session in a Sunday speech that will be his first public appearance since leaving the White House on Jan. 20. Trump has been keeping a relatively low profile since he moved from the White House to Palm Beach a month ago. “I think the broader point will be: Here's where the Republican Party and conservative movement and the America First movement goes from here," said senior Trump adviser Jason Miller. Here we’ll see the president address the fact that the only divide in the Republican Party is between the elites and the conservative grassroots in the party." “In opposition, when you don’t have the White House, there are many more voices that lead the party,” Cotton said in an interview.
Alabama US Sen. Shelby announces he won't seek a 7th term
FILE-In this Jan. 29, 2005, file photo, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., speaks during the panel "A Reality Check on the US Economy" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Shelby is the fourth Senate Republican to announce his retirement, following Sens. “Few people have had a more consequential impact on our state than Senator Richard Shelby,” said Alabama Gov. Leahy said Alabama was losing a “strong champion.”“A fifth-generation Alabamian, Senator Shelby is a true statesmen, and a man of his word. Brooks said he will either run for reelection to his own seat or the Senate seat in 2022.
AP sources: Alabama senator has indicated he won't run again
“I would say that is his greatest accomplishment, to get money allocated to the state for many different projects,” former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said. Still, the GOP primary could serve as a microcosm of the larger national tug of war over the direction of the Republican Party. While Shelby has amassed a conservative voting record, the measured Republican senator has not embraced the bombastic populist style of Trump and Trump-like candidates. I don’t think there is anyone who has meant more to the state of Alabama in that position in my lifetime,” former Gov. ___This story has been edited to correct that Bill Armistead is the former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
Capitol assault a more sinister attack than first appeared
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told “60 Minutes.”“I said, ‘No, I want to be here,’”she said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures.
The unfolding of 'home-grown fascism' in Capitol assault
Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told “60 Minutes.”“I said, ‘No, I want to be here,’”she said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures. These domestic terrorists were in the People’s House, desecrating the People’s House, destroying the People’s House.”___Associated Press writers Dustin Weaver in Washington and Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
Lawmakers who voted against Biden are denounced back home
Protesters, newspaper editorial boards and local-level Democrats have urged the lawmakers to step down or for their colleagues to kick them out. The House and Senate can remove members with a two-thirds vote or censure or reprimand with a majority. In St. Louis on Saturday, several hundred people protested against Sen. Josh Hawley, the first-term Missouri Republican who led efforts in the Senate to overturn Biden's election. Johnson initially supported Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, but after the riot, he voted in favor of Biden's win. Perry condemned the Capitol violence.
EXPLAINER: How Congress will count Electoral College votes
(Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes could drag late into the night as some Republicans plan to challenge Democrat Joe Biden's victory in at least six states. Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.
EXPLAINER: How Congress will count Electoral College votes
Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. The appointed "tellers" from the House and Senate, members of both parties, then read each certificate out loud and record and count the votes. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.
Congress opens new session as virus, Biden's win dominate
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi administers the oath to members of the 117th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. The House and Senate were required to convene Sunday, by law, and imposed strict COVID-19 protocols. But by day's end, House lawmakers were hugging and congratulating one another after taking the oath of office in the crowded chamber, an alarming scene during the pandemic. “To say the new Congress convenes at a challenging time would be an understatement,” McConnell said as the chamber opened. House Republicans boosted their ranks in the November election, electing a handful of women and minorities, more than ever.
GOP senator rebukes 'dangerous ploy' to fight Biden victory
“I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,” Sasse wrote. When Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College results, any lawmaker can object to a state’s votes on any grounds. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted. Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all has been dismissed or dropped. The group of House Republicans has said it plans to challenge the election results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.
Trump, House lawmakers plot futile effort to block Biden win
But members can use the event to object to a state’s votes. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said he organized Monday's session with about a dozen House Republicans who are willing to challenge the results. “President Trump is very supportive of our effort,” Brooks said in an interview late Monday. Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. McConnell has told Senate Republicans that a dispute over the results in January would yield a “terrible vote” for Republicans.
McConnell warns GOP off Electoral College brawl in Congress
Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. “I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate. One House Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is planning to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes for the joint session. John Thune of South Dakota and Roy Blunt of Missouri, warned the senators off any Electoral College challenge, according to one of the people familiar with Tuesday's call. The GOP leaders further warned senators that forcing their colleagues into a vote on Electoral College challenges would prove difficult, especially for those facing their own reelections in 2022.
McConnell congratulates Joe Biden as president-elect
He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant.”Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said barring further legal challenges it appears Biden will be president. Some GOP lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to Jan. 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College results. Others have said Trump's legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, Jan. 20. "Once the Electoral College has voted, most people are going to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect." "Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-Elect,” said Sen.
In a first, leading Republicans call Biden president-elect
He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant.”Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said barring further legal challenges it appears Biden will be president. Others have said Trump's legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, Jan. 20. "Once the Electoral College has voted, most people are going to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect." "Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-Elect,” said Sen. Many Republicans are unwilling to declare Biden the winner for the same reasons they avoided standing up to Trump during his presidency.
President-elect? GOP may wait for January to say Biden won
President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, to announce his health care team. Next week’s Dec. 14 Electoral College deadline may produce just a few more congratulatory GOP calls to Biden. Increasingly, GOP lawmakers say the Jan. 6 vote in Congress to accept the Electoral College outcome may be when the presidential winner becomes official. They're relying on Trump voters to power the Georgia runoff elections Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate. Until then, his group is trying to push Georgia's Trump voters to the polls, even as the president disputes Biden's win of the state.
Tuesday's safe harbor deadline is boost for Biden
The safe harbor deadline is six days earlier. The attention paid to the normally obscure safe harbor provision is a function of Trump's unrelenting efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the election. Judge Stephen Simanek, appointed to hear the case, has acknowledged that the case would push the state outside the electoral vote safe harbor. The safe harbor provision played a prominent role in the Bush v. Gore case after the 2000 presidential election. The Supreme Court shut down Florida’s state-court-ordered recount because the safe harbor deadline was approaching.
Republicans vote against temporary protected status for Venezuelans
Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON - A bill that seeks to protect thousands of Venezuelans currently living in the United States from deportation by granting them Temporary Protected Status failed Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Florida, a co-sponsor, said he and others will seek a new vote in regular order to pass the bill. "Granting Venezuelans TPS is one of the most bipartisan immigration acts each of us as member of Congress can take right now," said the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Darren Soto, a Florida Democrat. The Congressional Budget Office estimates 200,000 Venezuelans currently living in the United States could receive TPS. President Donald Trump said in June his administration was considering granting TPS to thousands of Venezuelans who have fled to the U.S. amid ongoing unrest.