Ousters, upsets halfway through 2022 primary election season
More than halfway through a tumultuous primary season, voters have rendered verdicts in a number of contests, many of which featured candidates arguing they best represented a continuation of policies favored by former President Donald Trump.
GOP unity? Some aim for reconciliation after tough primaries
Two days after losing a bitter primary to a rival she once deemed a “sellout” for occasionally working with Democrats, Katie Arrington appeared at a “unity rally” to urge South Carolina Republicans to come together and back Rep. Nancy Mace in the fall general election.
What we know about Trump's actions as insurrection unfolded
Members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection are holding their first prime-time hearing to share what they have uncovered about then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Jan. 6 panel's 1,000 witnesses: From Trump aides to rioters
The House Jan. 6 panel has interviewed more than 1,000 people who were directly or indirectly involved in the U.S. Capitol insurrection as it's probed the violent attack and former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented efforts to overturn his election defeat.
North 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.
High 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.
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EXPLAINER: 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.”.
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GOP 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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.