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Congressional Republicans are muting their criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions one day after a handful of key GOP officials broke ranks with him and President Donald Trump over Sessions' contacts with a Russian official.

Since Sessions' decision Thursday to recuse himself from investigations involving Trump campaign contacts with Russia, critical Republicans have either supported his decision or refrained from commenting. Democrats, meanwhile, are intensifying calls for accountability, demanding more answers about his and the administration's ties to Russia.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman was one of a handful of Republicans who called for Sessions to recuse himself on Thursday and now says he is satisfied with the decision.

"He thinks Jeff Sessions did the right thing and that his recusal will enhance the credibility of DOJ's investigation," said Portman's spokesperson Kevin Smith.

Related: Democrats Say Recusal Not Enough For Sessions

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's office pointed NBC News to his comments Thursday morning, before Sessions announced his recusal, where he said, "I don't want to pre-judge, but I just think for any investigation going forward, you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who also called on Sessions to step aside from an investigation, has remained silent after Session's Thursday announcement. So has Rep. Darrell Issa who had called for a special prosecutor into the matter. Requests into their office for comment went unanswered Friday.

But Democrats continue to call for a whole range of actions, from resignation to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the entire matter.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is among those who say Sessions should step down.

"I found his explanations simply not credible. You don't, I think, treat a visit in your office by the Russian Ambassador as something casual, something not memorable, and when you're asked about your contacts with the Russians in the Senate, that should have been disclosed," Schiff on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," said. "It's a conclusion I reach reluctantly."

Schiff is one of about 100 House members who have called on Sessions to step down, including House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"The recusal is an admission that something is wrong," Pelosi said Friday morning at a breakfast event hosted by Politico Playbook.

Related: Sessions Recuses Himself From Probe of Russian Election Interference

While resignation is not likely, some Democrats are also pushing for a special prosecutor, insisting that Sessions' recusal doesn't do enough to separate the Justice Department from an investigation.

Sessions said he will stay out of any investigation relating to the Trump campaign, but Democrats say that Sessions recusal should be much broader. And they argue that even the acting deputy attorney general, Dana Boente, should not oversee any investigations either. They say that the Obama appointee's direct reporting chain to the White House shrouds any possibility of independence.

"It's clear that this administration cannot be independent when it comes to looking at what Russia did in our past presidential election so I'm calling for an independent commission - bipartisan appointed - to take this outside of Congress and with respect to any criminal activity that may have occurred, a special council should be appointed to make sure that Attorney General sessions has nothing to do with this investigation," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said on MSNBC.

All nine Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee called on Sessions to return to return to the committee to clarify his answers to Sens. Al Franken and Patrick Leahy when he said he had no communications with the Russians.

But the idea was shot down by Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who said there are no plans to ask Sessions to come before the committee.

"Attorney General Sessions did the right thing by recusing himself, and he did exactly what he said he'd do regarding potential recusals when he was before our committee," Grassley said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that the Democrats didn't even have the decency to give him an opportunity to clear up confusion to the statement in writing."

Democrats said that Sessions could have committed perjury if he lied under oath, but to be prosecuted for perjury it has to be done consciously.

Both Sens. Angus King, I-Maine and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said earlier Friday that Sessions should "clarify" his questions under oath.

"For him to correct that record and avoid a perjury prosecution if one is required under the record right now. The question of the FBI investigation will concern whether or not perjury was committed in the Judiciary Committee," Blumenthal said on MSNBC.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is also calling on the Justice Department Inspector General to investigate Sessions' first three weeks as attorney general. They want to know if Sessions did anything to influence, direct or hinder any investigation in those three weeks.

And the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings next week on the nominations of Sessions' deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. Democrats are likely to use the hearings as another means to call attention to Sessions and any role that the Department of Justice plays in an investigation.

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Republicans Tamp Down Sessions Criticism While Democrats Ramp it Up - NBCNews.com

Sen. Rand Paul walks to a room on Capitol Hill on March 2, 2017, where he charges House Republicans are keeping their Obamacare repeal and replace legislation under lock and key and not available for public view.(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)

Democrats and at least one Republican were searching the Capitol on Thursday following a Bloomberg report that the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare was locked in a dedicated reading room.

Sen. Rand Paul who has said hed vote against a draft of the bill that was leaked last week was not happy about the report and asked to make a copy so he can publicly release it.

The Kentucky Republican then decided to take things into his own hands.

It didnt go so well.

In a statement, Paul said that he had been denied from making a copy.

"It is already bad enough that it appears House leadership wants us to settle for Obamacare Lite, but now we cant even expect full transparency during the process," he said. "I will not settle and I will not stand idly by while the American people are kept in the dark. I will continue to speak out for full repeal."

Democrats also seized on the opportunity:

The stunts highlight the ongoing repeal-and-replace drama surrounding the Affordable Care Act.

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Democrats, Sen. Paul go on hunt for secret ACA repeal bill

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, as chairman of Philadelphias Democratic City Committee, is often spoken of as a big-city political boss.

But Bradys job is more akin to a full-time mediator, trying to keep competing factions from shaking apart the local Democratic Party.

Nowhere is the fractious nature of the party more frequently on public display than the heavily Latino North Philadelphia neighborhoods, east of Broad Street and south of Roosevelt Boulevard.

The constant squabbling among Democrats there now has a new embarrassing cost: yet another in a series of high-profile party messes.

The state will hold a special election on March 21 in the state Houses 197th District, which includes parts of Feltonville, Hunting Park, Glenwood, Fairhill, North Square, and Francisville.

As of now, there will be no Democrat on that ballot, even though the party controls 85 percent of the voter registration in the district.

Only Republican nominee Lucinda Little is on the ballot. Her party holds just 5 percent of the registered voters there. Independents and smaller political parties make up the other 10 percent.

Bradys frustration is clear when he discusses the area and its Democratic leaders.

Theyve got to get their act together, Brady said of the ward leaders and elected officials in the neighborhoods that include the 197th District. They just dont get along together. Theres too much animosity. The Latinos, its a shame they just cant get their act together.

The 197th seat is open because former State Rep. Leslie Acosta pleaded guilty last year to a felony embezzlement charge but then, to the consternation of her party, won reelection and waited until Jan. 3 to resign, just before her colleagues in Harrisburg planned to eject her.

Acosta, who replaced another convicted felon, former State Rep. Jose J.P. Miranda, had pushed for the local Democratic ward leaders in the district to select as their candidate for the special election Frederick Ramirez, president of Pan American Mental Health Clinics.

But state Commonwealth Court Judge Anne E. Covey on Feb. 23 removed Ramirez from the ballot, ruling that he does not really reside in the home he owns in the district.

Another Commonwealth Court judge previously prevented Green Party candidate Cheri Honkala from being listed on the ballot because her nomination papers were filed one day late. Sheappealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which on Friday in a 4-3 decision rejected her bid to get on the ballot. Honkala has vowed to run a write-in campaign for the seat.

Covey, who was elected to the court as a Republican, on Friday rejected a request from the Democratic Party to allow Emilio Vazquez, a Philadelphia Parking Authority revenue auditor on a 30-day leave from that job, onto the ballot as a replacement candidate for Ramirez.

Vazquez, the Democratic leader of the 43rd Ward, has been involved in the efforts to replace Acosta since the special election was called in January.

The party doesnt run it from the top down, Brady said of selecting special-election candidates. I let people be independent. The ward leaders in the district have the say.

As if on cue, the ward leaders and elected officials in the area promptly blamed their problems on each other.

State Rep. Angel Cruz represents the 180th District, next door to the 197th District. He previously represented parts of the 197th until the decennial redistricting plan was approved in 2012, shifting his district eastward. That plan made the 197th a majority Hispanic district, at 53.5 percent.

Cruz, who is also the Seventh Ward leader, concedes that a power struggle roils the area. He spent part of last week arguing on Facebook with people who back other potential candidates.

I try not to make those kinds of comments, Cruz said. But you can only take so much.

Cruz is an on-again, off-again political ally with Carlos Matos, Democratic leader of the 19th Ward.

Complicating the conflict, Matos is married to Renee Tartaglione, daughter of former City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione and sister to State Sen. Tina Tartaglione.

Renee Tartaglione is awaiting federal trial, accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Juniata Community Health Clinic, where Acosta previously worked before taking office.

Acosta is now a cooperating witness for the prosecution who is expected to testify at Tartagliones trial in May.

Matos, who had supported Acostas bid for office, feuds frequently with City Councilwoman Maria Quiones Snchez, except when he is allied with her against other foes. Snchezs Seventh District shares some of the same territory as the 197th District.

I think people have to put the community first, said Matos, after suggesting Snchez does not. They cant be worried about how much power they can gain or whatever.

Snchez, who supported her husbands unsuccessful run against Tina Tartaglione in the 2014 Democratic primary, said she is not a party leader but tries to work within the framework.

She blames the partys inability to secure a candidate in the 197th on the shifting alliances in the district.

I think its part of what has to happen for people to see how bad it is, Snchez said.

Former City Councilman Angel Ortiz laughingly calls the local Democratic leaders a dysfunctional family."

He wants the party to give more opportunities to young, active Democrats. But a lack of leadership prevents that from happening, he said, and puts the 197th seat at risk.

I think were going to make national news on March 21, either way it goes, Ortiz said. It would be a heavily embarrassing situation for the Democratic City Committee.

The Republicans already hold a sturdy majority in the 203-seat state House with 121 members. So picking up a formerly Democratic seat won't signal any major shift in power. Still, justtwo members of the Philadelphia delegation to the House are Republicans, and both hail from Northeast Philly.

And the Pennsylvania Republican Party pounced on the ruling. New chairman Val DiGiorgio quickly issued a plea for campaign donations and volunteers to help Little.

"We now have an opportunity to shock Philadelphia's Democratic machine because of their sheer incompetence and corruption," DiGiorgio wrote in that plea.

For now, the Democrats have appealed Coveys ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Brady says the Democrats will run a write-in campaign for the seat if Vazquez is kept off the ballot. But he acknowledged that the Republicans could win the seat, at least until the next regular election for a two-year term next year.

Until then, Brady will keep mediating.

The Hispanics have been fighting for years, Brady said. And the common denominator is they all talk to me. I try to keep them together.

Published: March 3, 2017 3:26 PM EST | Updated: March 3, 2017 6:24 PM EST

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North Philly feud costs Democrats a shot at a state House seat - Philly.com

The Pennsylvania Senate Democrats have been hit by a ransomware attack that has locked senators and employees out of their computer network since the early morning hours of Friday, state officials told NBC News.

In a statement, Sen. Jay Costa, the Democratic leader, said the Democrats were working with law enforcement agencies and Microsoft to resolve the problem. He did not say what payment has been demanded to unlock the data, or whether the attackers had suggested any political motive.

In a ransomware attack, hackers inject a network with malware that typically encrypts important data, and then demand payment in exchange for a key that releases the data. They threaten to destroy the data if they aren't paid.

The Democratic senators in the state capital of Harrisburg are on their own computer network and there is no indication that other state agencies of the Republicans have been affected, said a state official who declined to be identified. The official said the Democrats had no idea whether they were targeted for any specific reason.

A spokeswoman for the FBI was looking into whether that agency had been called in. A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Democrats, Stacey Witalec, declined to say whether the data was backed up elsewhere or whether the attackers had identified themselves or any motive.

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Senate Democrats in Pennsylvania Are Being Held Cyber-Hostage - NBCNews.com

Having apparently temporarily misplaced his Android phone after his joint address to Congress, President Trump has relocated it (probably on the nightstand in the Lincoln bedroom) and has resumed his habit of angry early morning tweeting about his political opponents.

On Friday morning, his target was Democrats on Capitol Hill who he said are still blocking his Cabinet picks from being approved.

Its hard to overstate what nonsense this is.

It is true that, at one time, Senate Democrats were dragging their heels on Trumps Cabinet picks. In January, members of the party boycotted committee votes to advance nominees to the full Senate, slowing the process. In recent weeks, however, the process has happened in regular bursts. Three Cabinet picks have been approved in the last two days.

How does Trump compare to past presidents? At this moment, he has two unconfirmed Cabinet positions the same as Barack Obama had on Mar. 3, 2009. In fact, only three of the last six presidents have had their entire Cabinets in place at this point.

Remember: The Democrats dont control the Senate. While they were able to throw some hurdles in the path of the president hurdles that Republicans overcame by changing the rules to allow a vote without Democrats present there was nothing they could do to block nominees entirely.

So whats the hold-up on the two empty slots? Well, one is his nominee for Secretary of Labor. His first pick, Andrew Puzder, withdrew last month and Trump nominated Alexander Acosta in his stead. Theres a natural delay built-in to that switchover.

But the main problem is that neither that pick nor Trumps pick to run the Department of Agriculture have been sent to the Senate yet.

Senate Republicans are baffled that the White House hasnt yet sent over the necessary paperwork for Sonny Perdue, his late pick to run Agriculture. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chair of the Senate committee that will forward Perdues nomination, told ABC News on Wednesday that he didnt know when to expect Perdues formal nomination. I wish to hell I did, Roberts said. We need a champion for agriculture, we need him on board.

Trumps team also hasnt sent over Acostas paperwork something that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) subtly pointed out in a tweet on Thursday evening.

The president has embraced the idea that the opposing party is behind all of his problems, blaming them for Attorney General Jeff Sessions current troubles and for the regular protests over the course of his presidency. But in this case in particular, the Democrats arent to blame.

The buck, as they say, stops with the president. Whether he likes it or not.

The rest is here:
President Trump's blaming the Democrats for Cabinet delays that are normal and his own fault - Washington Post