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Senate Democrats may use floor debate this week on an Iran sanctions measure to try to force a vote on legislation that would impose harsh sanctions on Moscow as punishment for its alleged interference in last years presidential elections.

Democrats exact strategy for securing a Russia sanctions vote was still developing Tuesday, with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker trying to forestall them a little longer.

Cloture has been filed on a bill to impose sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile work and support of terrorism. A cloture vote to limit debate is expected Wednesday.

To block Democratic efforts to offer the Russia sanctions bill as an amendment, Corker could press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellto use a procedural maneuver known as filling the tree, which prevents additional amendments from being considered on a bill. But that move would frustrate Democrats and several Republicans, including Armed Services Chairman John McCainof Arizona, who co-sponsored the Russia legislation.

Were going to try, McCain said when asked whether he planned to offer the Russia sanctions measure as an amendment to the Iran bill.

Introduced in January, the Russia sanctions bill from Foreign Relations ranking member Benjamin L. Cardinof Marylandhas attracted nine Democrats and 10 Republicans as co-sponsors.

New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, one of the co-sponsors, said she planned to offer the measure as an amendment during floor debate on the Iran bill. She also left open the possibility of tweaking the Russia sanctions legislation, in the hope of strengthening the language.

My hope is to talk to not only Sen. Corker, but obviously Sen. Cardin and Sen. McCain because its their bill, she said.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who has also signed on to the Russia bill, said it would be a good thing to find a way to amend the Iran sanctions bill.

Last month, Corker told committee members he would bring an unspecified Russia sanctions bill up for committee consideration before the July 4 recess, if he hasnt seen significant progress made between Moscow and Washington in resolving differences over the long-running Syrian civil war.

My guess is there will be a sanctions bill that deals with Russia during this work period, the Tennessee Republican told reporters Tuesday, declining to say whether that would be the Cardin-McCain bill or some other type of legislation.

Corkersaid he had a constructive meeting on Monday night with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to discuss the state of Russias willingness to cooperate with the United States on Syria issues.

Several Democrats on Foreign Relations have said they fear their panel is at risk of losing its oversight of Russian sanctions to the Banking Committee, which has already held hearings on the matter.

Last Thursday, Banking Chairman Michael D. Crapoof Idahoand ranking DemocratSherrod Brownof Ohioannounced they had agreed on the framework of a bill that would strengthen existing sanctions on Russias energy sector and its ability to attract debt financing, and also impose new sanctions on certain Russian individuals.

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Democrats Eye Iran Debate for Vote on Russia Sanctions - Roll Call

He also shared harsh criticism of the Democratic Party as a whole.

"They're imploding," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night, adding: "They have no message. You see the head of the (Democratic National Committee), who is a total whack job."

Trump -- one of President Donald Trump's five children -- also said Democrats are obstructing the current administration.

"They lost the election that they should have won because they spent seven times the amount of money that my father spent. They have no message so what do they try and do? They try and obstruct a great man, they try and obstruct his family, they come after us viciously, and its truly, truly horrible," Trump said.

Trump is currently helping run the family business with his brother, Donald Trump Jr., while their father serves as president.

Here's the full Eric Trump quote in context:

I've never seen hatred like this, and to me they're not even people. It's so, so sad, I mean morality is just gone, morals have flown out the window we deserve so much better than this as a country. You know it's so sad. You see the democratic party -- they're imploding. They're imploding. They have no message. You see the head of the DNC who is a total whack job. There's no leadership there. And so what do they do? They become obstructionists because they have no message of their own. They have no solid candidates of their own. They lost the election that they should have won because they spent 7 times the amount of money that my father spent. They have no message so what do they try and do? They try and obstruct a great man, they try and obstruct his family, they come after us viciously, and its truly, truly horrible.

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Eric Trump: Democrats in Washington are 'not even people' - CNN International

With his nomination of Christopher Wray to become the next director of the FBI, President Trump has put Democrats in a bind and made opposition to the pick all but impossible.

A former federal prosecutor and longtime legal veteran Wray has impeccable credentials at least that's what the Senate believed in 2003. When President George W. Bush nominated Wray to become assistant attorney general, he was confirmed unanimously by voice vote.

That's why this is a smart pick for Trump. Not only has he nominated a candidate who could restore credibility to the FBI, he's forced the Left to fight an uphill battle. Should they protest, Democrats would have a hard time explaining why they were for Wray before they were against him.

The first case-in-point comes courtesy of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. After approving Wray 14 years ago and now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feinstein demurred Wednesday morning, telling reporters that the nominee "may be fine."

Asked the same question, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., did little better. The ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Warner could only doubt the timing of the nomination.

"There will be a time and place to review him," Warner said on CNN. "But it seems to me that this is an effort to try to take people's attention off what is going to be the main event, at least for the next two days: the leaders of our intelligence community and the FBI director."

Even if deliberate, the timing of Wray's nomination doesn't definitely qualify or disqualify him. Former FBI director James Comey's testimony tomorrow will do little to diminish or polish the resume of his old colleague.

Of course, a lot has changed since the last time Wray stood for confirmation. There are some vulnerabilities, like the somewhat unseemly fact that he defended New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the Bridgegate scandal. There's a lot to like though, specifically his leadership of the DOJ's Criminal Division where he oversaw investigations like the Enron Task Force.

Reading through Wray's resume, it seems that Trump took seriously the calls from both the Left and the Right for a nonpartisan and serious FBI director. Considering the fact that Wray has batted a thousand in Senate confirmations so far, this is a smart pick.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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Trump puts Democrats in a bind with his nomination of Christopher Wray for FBI - Washington Examiner

By Win McNamee/Getty.

Even Donald Trump, who plans to stop tweeting approximately never and may even live-tweet during former F.B.I. director James Comeys testimony on Thursday like its an episode of The Bachelor, doesnt want everyone following him on Twitter. Like any half-sane person on the social-media platform, he has blocked a number of people from seeing or responding to his tweets. Unlike the rest of us, however, Trump is also president of the United States, and, as White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday, Trump tweets should be considered official statements by the president. Which means that Trump may be violating the First Amendment rights of the people he has blocked.

Thats the argument being made by lawyers for two Twitter users who were blocked by the president, closing off access to what they say he is using as an official, public platform. This Twitter account operates as a designated public forum for First Amendment purposes, and accordingly the viewpoint-based blocking of our clients is unconstitutional, nonprofit organization Knight First Amendment Institute said in a letter to Trump on Tuesday. We ask that you unblock them and any others who have been blocked for similar reasons. Some legal experts are more dubious. Ken White, a First Amendment expert and former assistant U.S. attorney, says he finds the case ridiculous. Theres also an argument to be made that Trump is merely behaving within the terms of service of Twitter, a privately held company.

Whatever the merits of the case, it is undeniable that Twitter has become a central feature of the Trump presidency, and one of its greatest vulnerabilities. White House aides and allies have implored Trump to stop tweeting, to vet his posts with a lawyer first, or to at least limit what has become a deeply self-destructive habit. The tweeting makes everybody crazy, Trumps close friend Tom Barrack, the chairman of Colony Northstar, said at a Bloomberg conference this week. Theres just no gain in doing it.

In the past few days alone, he has attacked the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after a terrorist attack that left seven dead, and appeared to undermine his own legal teams efforts to defend his immigration executive order before the Supreme Court, using a tweet to call it a TRAVEL BAN and drawing a remarkable rebuke from Kellyanne Conways husband, George, who noted on Twitter that the presidents online posts may have sabotaged his own case. Voters want Trump to stop tweeting, too: a new Politico poll says that 69 percent of voters say the president uses Twitter too much. Fifty-nine percent say his Twitter habit is a bad thing, and even 53 percent of G.O.P. voters say he should cut down on his use of the platform.

Excerpt from:
Is Trump Violating the First Amendment by Blocking People on Twitter? - Vanity Fair

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler took several positions on the First Amendment during the past two weeks.

On May 29, Wheeler asked the federal government to block a downtown Portland rally organized by right-wing protesters, saying visiting extremists had no legal right to hate speech. That request was denied by the feds, decried by civil liberties watchdogs, and sneered at by "alt-right" leaders.

Worse, he was wrong: The protections of the U.S. Constitution are designed to forbid the government, including Portland mayors, from deciding what citizens can and cannot say, even when it is deeply offensive.

By this week, Wheeler's office reversed itself again, saying the mayor had misspoken.

Wednesday, May 24 In a WW story on the street brawls that had already occurred between alt-right and antifascist groups, Wheeler's spokesman Michael Cox said: "Portland is going to continue with our strategy: honoring First Amendment rights while not tolerating acts of violence, vandalism or blocking transit."

Monday, May 29 Three days after a double murder on a MAX train, Wheeler called for revoking federal permits for the alt-right rally:

"My main concern is that they are coming to peddle a message of hatred and of bigotry. And I am reminded constantly that they have a First Amendment right to speak, but my pushback on that is that hate speech is not protected."

Wednesday, May 31 Wheeler wrote an op-ed in USA Today, backing away from his interpretation of the Constitution from a day earlier:

"I am a firm supporter of the First Amendment. While this planned demonstration is constitutional, it is highly irresponsible."

Monday, June 5 Cox said Wheeler didn't really mean hate speech was unconstitutional:

"He was being a being a bit imprecise. He was really talking about words meant to incite violence."

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Mayor Ted Wheeler Changed His Mind About the First Amendment ... - Willamette Week