New York Times | A Trump-Obama 'Duel' on Fox News? New York Times In my fantasy, former President Barack Obama challenges President Trump to meet him on the set of Fox News at noon and demands that Mr. Trump present the factual basis for his allegation that Mr. Obama wiretapped him. Mr. Obama would then have the ... |
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A Trump-Obama 'Duel' on Fox News? - New York Times
Trump tweeted his thoughts on the relationship between the Obama administration and Russia ahead of the hearing for Rod Rosenstein, in which the deputy attorney general nominee was grilled on how he would handle the investigation intoRussia's meddlingin the U.S. presidential campaign.
Trump's comment was the latest in a string of tweets attacking Obama that beganSaturday morning, when Trump claimed , without citing evidence, that Obama wiretapped his phones during the 2016 election.
It came as Trump attempted to dispel rumors about his own administration's relations with Russia.
Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions announced the weekbefore that he would recuse himself from any investigations involving alleged Russian interference in the fall campaign after Justice Department officials disclosed he had met twice with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. despite having told Congress in January that he had engaged in no such contacts.
And Trumps first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned when it emerged that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador.
Democrats have pressed for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations of Russian interference and any potential ties Moscow may have had to the Trump campaign.
But Rosenstein sidestepped those calls during his confirmation hearing, testifying that he didnt know enough about the probe to make such a pledge.
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Trump says Russia 'ran over' Obama - Los Angeles Times
snopes.com | Rapport Between Donald Trump, Barack Obama Crumbles Wall Street Journal (subscription) The rapport between Barack Obama and Donald Trump is unraveling, with the president convinced that Mr. Obama is undermining his nascent administration and the former president furious over Trump tweets accusing him of illegal wiretapping, people ... Did 122 Prisoners Released from Guantanamo Under President Obama Return to the Battlefield? Donald Trump wrongly blames Barack Obama for former Guantanamo detainees returning to terrorism Trump tweets false Gitmo claim about Obama |
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Rapport Between Donald Trump, Barack Obama Crumbles - Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Somewhere, in an undisclosed room in the U.S. Capitol, there is legislation that will ostensibly repeal and replace Obamacare. On Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) went on a high-profile, somewhat quixotic crusade to find it.
The whole circus was a manifestation of the fact that Republicans trying to make good on a campaign promise to get rid of Obamacare are caught between reality (undoinga major social program on which 20 million people rely isn't easy) and ideology (influential conservative groups are demandingthat lawmakers fully repeal Obamacare, or else).
Then Paul got involved and took things to a whole other level.
The story of Rand Paul and the copy machine starts with a seeminglybenign meeting. Paul got word that the members of a House Energy and Commerce Committeewere gathering to talk about the legislation, as committee members with jurisdiction over health care sometimes do.
Paul marched over from the Senate to the House side a good quarter-mile walk, depending on where you start to bang on the door and demand that his colleagues in the House show him the secret draft Obamacare bill.
Never one to miss a posturing opportunity, Paul sent nearly a dozen tweets on his march over, ensuring that cameras and tweeting reporters greeted him when he showed up. He even brought his own copy machine you know, just in case.
A staffer came out to tell Paul that the bill wasneither there, nor could he see it. And Paul turned to face the cameras.
It's true that a proposal to change/reform/replace Obamacare is indeed in a somewhat secret room. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the draft is in a special viewing room only available to the 50+ lawmakers (and their staff members) who sit on the House Energy and Commerce committee, one of the committees withjurisdiction over health-care reform. Nobody will be given copies to take with them, Bloomberg reported.
The secrecy appears to be an attempt toprevent what happened last week, when another draft of the Obamacarebill leaked and blew up in House Republicans' faces. Conservativessaid they couldn't support that version because it didn't go far enough in fully abolishing Obamacare.
(Legislation is generally not made public until it is officially debated in committee, but legislation like this often leaks to lobbyists and reporters.)
Now, influential groups such asFreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity and Heritage Action for America plan to pressure lawmakers to support a full repeal or face the wrath of tea party conservatives,The Post's David Weigel and Sean Sullivan report.
That's a potentially scary prospect for Republican lawmakers. Recall that passionate town halls in 2009 in opposition to the health-care law helped launch the tea party.
The reverse is happening today, as mostly liberal constituents fearful of losing the health-care law show up to normally sleepy Republican town halls.
Citizens at town halls held by Republican members of Congress showed their displeasure with efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, among other issues. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
All this political tumult is one reason House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) promised in an interview on NBC's Today show this week that were not hatching some bill in a backroom and plopping it on the American peoples front door.
Which brings usto Thursday's saga.
Democrats saw an opening to poke at Republicans for the secrecy of the bill, for their bluster to fully repeal it and indecision about how, just for fun and poked hard.
From Weigel, who witnessed the whole circus on Capitol Hill:
Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) led another group of reporters on a sort of scavenger hunt to the Energy and Commerce committees main hearing room and through a Capitol basement.
After Paul left, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer arrived at [the conference room], trailed by a Facebook Live-streaming staffer and some reporters. Hoyer and press members managed to enter the room which was empty.
Well, Mr. Lincoln, I cant find the bill, said Hoyer, turning to a bust of the 16th president. I know, Mr. Lincoln, that you are as upset with your party as I am.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issueda statement to defend the committee's bill-writing process from one of his own colleagues: Reports that the Energy and Commerce Committee is doing anything other the regular process of keeping its members up to speed on latest developments in its jurisdictions are false.We are continuing to work on drafting and refining legislative language to provide relief from a failing law.
It was a weird day. But the weirdnessunderscores that if we've learned one thing about health care, it's that itgets people into town halls and out to voting booths. And apparently senators to cross Capitol Hill to the House side with copy machines.
Continued here:
Rand Paul, a copy machine and a secret Obamacare bill - The ...
Inside a nondescript Capitol meeting room, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee were discussing the details of a possible Affordable Care Act replacement bill. Outside, there was an unwelcome visitor: Sen. Rand Paul (R).
The Kentucky senator, who has pledged to oppose any bill that does not fully do away with the ACA and its insurance subsidies, learned late Thursday morning that committee members were talking about the bill in H157, a room on the Capitols first floor.
I have been told that the House Obamacare bill is under lock and key, in a secure location, and not available for me or the public to view, he tweeted.
According to House Republican staff, this wasnt the whole story. The bill, which has been workshopped and previewed in private meeting, is not ready yet. But at noon, a dozen reporters were already staking out the room which wasbeing guarded by Capitol Police officers Paul and several members of his staff strolled up, toting a copier just in case the senator got his hands on the bill. Over the objections of the officers, reporters and photographers followed Paul into the tight space in front of thedoor to the room.
Id like a copy of the bill, Paul said to a House staff member near the door. Told that he could not get a copy the bill is still being drafted, though Republicans are being made aware of what it will likely contain Paul turned and faced the press.
Were here today because Id like to read the Obamacare bill, said Paul, as more reporters sprinted to join the scrum. If youd recall, when Obamacare was passed in 2009 and 2010, Nancy Pelosi said youll know whats in it after you pass it. The Republican Party shouldnt act in the same way.
Since 2010, Republicans like Paul have described the passage of the ACA as an opaque and secret-laden process, one that Democrats rightly paid a price for. For seven years, theyve summed up the laws passage with a quote that then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) gave to the National Association of Counties: We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.
Since then Republicans have promised that their repeal of the ACA would avoid the tumult of the 2009-2010 process by which it was passed. Were not hatching some bill in a backroom and plopping it on the American peoples front door, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan(R-Wis.) said onNBCsToday this week.
[Conservative groups and lawmakers demanding full repeal could derail Obamacare rollback]
Its common for complex legislation to be worked overin private by committees ahead of a public markup, with the text of the bill available to the public two days in advance. But Paul, who has introduced his own ACA replacement bill with the backing of the House Freedom Caucus, used his visit to H157 tobrand the meeting as a violation of the Republican Partys promises.
In my state, in Kentucky, its illegal to do this, he said, gesturing to the door he wasnt allowed to walk through. This is being presented as if it were a national secret, as if this were a plot to invade another country.
As more reporters craned their necks and pointed their recorders, Paul denounced the aspects of the GOP replacement bill that hed learned from media sources and conservative House members.
[Trumps fishy suggestion that nearly 20 million are paying an Obamacare penalty]
What were hearing rumors of is that parts of Obamacare are left in place, he said. For example, the Cadillac tax will be left in place but renamed. The individual mandate will be left in place, and instead of paying the government a penalty, youll be paying an insurance penalty. These, to me, are Democrat ideas.
For a few more minutes, Paul attempted to carry out a newsconference in a space designed for anything but. Capitol Police moved around the groupof reporters and called out when a staffer trying to get around the crowd stumbled over a tripod. Paul wrapped it up only when Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), a member of the committee, was unable to enter the room.
We will put a formal protest in now, said Paul. This is the beginning of this. I expect public pressure will get them to release this.
[Video: Pence promises an orderly repeal and replace of Obamacare]
In a statement released after Paul left, Ryans office pointed outthat the Kentucky senator was protesting not a bill, but a place where legislators were trying to meet. The bill was being hammered out, with a markup scheduled for the coming week.The Energy and Commerce Committee members are working on their portion of the health-care repeal and replace plan, said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong. We would refer you to the committee for more.
But that statement did not close down the circus. While Paul was holding court near H157, Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) led another group of reporters on a sort of scavenger hunt to the Energy and Commerce committees main hearing room and through a Capitol basement. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer arrived at H157 shortly after Paul, telling a bust of Abraham Lincoln that he couldnt find the bill, as a staffer filmed the encounter for Facebook. For an afternoon, Democrats and conservatives were feeling the same, befuddled mood.
We asked for the score and all that. We were told well have that by the time it gets to the floor, said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a Paul ally in the House. We need to have that now! You cant have a discussion about this proposal independent from costs. Its ridiculous. Thats kind of like, just vote for it to see whats in it.'
Mike DeBonis and Kelsey Snell contributedto this report.
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Rand Paul protests outside room where House Republicans are ...