Archive for the ‘Democrats’ Category

Democrats seize on Trump’s judge slam – Politico

House Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat John Conyers is among those included in the draft letter. | Getty

House Democrats are preparing to put a squeeze on Republicans for their silence in the face of President Donald Trump's attack on a federal judge.

A draft resolution being circulated by three Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee including ranking Democrat John Conyers sharply criticizes Trump for his weekend swipes at the Seattle-based district court judge, James Robart, who halted the president's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.

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"Whether or not one agrees with the substance of a particular judicial decision, it is inappropriate for sitting presidents, or other government officials, to engage in ad hominem attacks against a judge, or otherwise place political pressure designed to undermine the independence of that judge, or to erode trust in the entire court system," according to the resolution.

The non-binding, politically charged measure, spearheaded by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), will likely go nowhere in the GOP-controlled House. But it's a tool in the limited Democratic arsenal meant to embarrass Republicans and highlight their uncomfortable relationship with Trump early in his presidency.

The draft resolution quotes from a slew of Trump's weekend tweets aimed at Robart, highlighting Trump's characterization of the George W. Bush-appointed jurist as a "so-called judge."

The measure also slaps at Trump for his campaign-season attack on Gonzalo Curiel, the judge who presided over a lawsuit against Trump University. It concludes with a statement of support for the notion that the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government are co-equal and "each deserves the respect of the others."

Republicans have largely refrained from directly criticizing Trump over his weekend comments about Robart, though several issued harsh rebukes of Trump during the campaign when he slammed Curiel. A few GOP lawmakers, though, chided Trump for getting personal with Robart.

"It is best not to single out judges," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

And on ABC's "This Week," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a frequent Trump critic, said: "We dont have so-called judges."

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Democrats seize on Trump's judge slam - Politico

For Democrats in Carson City, control only an illusion – Las Vegas Review-Journal

The 2017 legislative session begins today, and Democrats have only the illusion of control.

In last years elections, Democrats won majorities in both the Senate, 12-9, and Assembly, 27-15. Leftists expect those majorities to push through liberal policy priorities: rolling back Republican-passed labor and education reforms, raising property taxes and increasing the minimum wage.

Fortunately, Democrats cant achieve these goals without Republican support. Democrats need the signature of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval on their bills, or they need Republican votes in the Assembly and Senate to get the two-thirds majority needed to override any Sandoval veto.

Republicans have leverage, and theyve already boxed in Democrats on two significant issues: Education Savings Accounts and property tax increases. Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, has declared, No ESA funding no budget. Sandoval has put $60 million into his budget to partially fund ESAs.

Robersons statement means nothing if Sandoval isnt willing to veto the budget over ESAs. Roberson was Sandovals strongest ally in 2015. Read between the lines: Sandoval is going to play hardball for ESAs.

Its already working. Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, has signaled hes willing to negotiate on ESA funding. As I wrote last month, Sandoval will determine whether ESAs are funded or not.

The Senate Republican caucus also has declared that its members will not support a property tax increase, which matters because tax increase bills require two-thirds majorities in both houses. This puts Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, who wants to be governor and may run in 2018, in a pickle.

Local government unions, powerful players in any Democratic primary, want a property tax increase. Ford, D-Las Vegas, doesnt have the votes. Even if he did, Nevadans, especially older citizens who vote in midterm elections, hate property tax increases.

Further complicating matters for Ford: Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, who already has $3 million for his all-but-announced campaign for governor, can have it both ways. Sisolak, also a Democrat, has called for a legislative fix that increases the property tax cap which pleases union bosses but hasnt come out in support of a specific legislative proposal. This would allow a Sisolak-supporting super-PAC to bash Ford in a gubernatorial primary for wanting to raise property taxes, while Sisolak can simultaneously tell unions he supported legislative action.

Expect Ford to be vocal about wanting to increase property tax caps while letting others try to advance it behind the scenes.

This pattern is going to play out for other major Democrat priorities, like another $1 billion-plus tax increase for new K-12 funding. If Democrats dont announce a major tax increase proposal this week, theyre not serious about making it happen. Democrats have a history of proposing tax increases so late in a session that the proposals have no prayer of passage. Theyre announced solely to convince the partys liberal base that lawmakers tried really hard.

Sandoval is supportive of some liberal priorities. For instance, hed probably sign a small minimum wage increase paired with overtime reform, but one thats far from $15 an hour.

This reality will define the session. Democrats are in charge, but they arent in control.

Victor Joecks column appears in the Nevada section each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.

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For Democrats in Carson City, control only an illusion - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Trump sets Democratic field ablaze with anger – Politico

The Democratic base is so roiled and enraged after only two weeks of Donald Trumps presidency that a take-no-prisoners posture toward the White House is emerging as the price of entry for the 2020 primary.

An election that could have focused in on economic inequality and the excesses of Wall Street the issues that animate the lefts leading tribunes, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren is already shaping up as a contest about the intensity of the resistance to Trump.

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In almost 20 years of doing this, Ive never felt like were in a moment like we are now, said Anne Caprara, a senior advisor for the Priorities USA Action super PAC and a veteran Democratic campaign operative. This is the moment in history. People will look back and ask what you did, and theres a real palpable recognition of that among elected officials."

The urgency of the moment is not lost on the partys leading 2020 hopefuls. Many of them including Warren and fellow Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Kamala Harris abandoned their schedules last weekend to appear at protests in their home states or in Washington, grasping the imperative to be both public and distinctive in their opposition to Trumps executive order on refugee travel. Then Warren, Sanders, Gillibrand, and Booker voted against approving Elaine Chao for Secretary of Transportation, one of Trumps least controversial picks and an unmistakable thumb in the eye of Chaos husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

People will say, Where were you when he appointed Jeff Sessions? Where were you when he picked a Supreme Court justice? That will be a real question in primaries, and I wouldnt want to the the candidate on the wrong side of that, said longtime strategist Bob Shrum, warning of the importance of public resistance in a week where Democratic senators began boycotting votes on Trump picks altogether.

Leading Democratic strategists warn that the first signs will appear in midterm elections, where the primary electorate will demand more than just marching outside the White House or grabbing a bullhorn at an arrivals lounge. Theyll be expecting something close to 100 percent rejection of Trumps agenda making the coming years complicated for members of Congress, who have to vote on it, rather than the governors and mayors who get to assume more offensive posture.

Base voters are likely to want their pols to press on specific issues against Trump, not just on his generally objectionable behavior, say operatives considering how to counsel ambitious lawmakers. If each candidate is anti-Trump, the thinking goes, the best way to distinguish one's self is to distill an original anti-Trump message focused on a concrete policy point.

I dont really have any doubt that, setting party or ideology aside, all of us as Americans are going to be talking to our kids and grandkids about this time in American history and what we were doing, said former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who narrowly lost that state's U.S. Senate race in 2016. And that means we all have to maximize the platform that we have.

Democratic pols at every level have instinctively reacted to the idea that party voters are demanding a response commensurate with the scale of the perceived threat. After many of them caught grief for missing the womens marches to appear at a donor conference the previous weekend, for example, three of the candidates for Democratic National Committee chairman rushed to George Bush Intercontinental airport in Houston to protest publicly following their candidate forum last Saturday.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21. | AP Photo

It's not just traditional progressive leaders who are leading the charge to respond to the base. Among the most prominent faces of the anti-Trump airport protests were a pair of moderate governors who have previously clashed with liberals, but who nevertheless manned the front lines in the wake of Trumps immigration order. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe rushed to Dulles International Airport, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a reopening of public transit to John F. Kennedy International Airport so more of his constituents could demonstrate.

In Virginia, the site of one of the Trump eras first primaries in 2017, the presidents presence is already inescapable in the governors race.

Ive always tried to respond and speak up for the values and principles that I believe in, and Ill continue to do that, said Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a candidate for the seat. Its just that hes put them front and center in the first few days hes been president, so hes stirred up a hornets nest.

Sadly, I think Donald Trumps actions leave us in a place where the question is no longer how to engage with the Trump administration, but how do we engage Republicans in Congress to oppose these actions that are a threat?, added former Congressman Tom Perriello, Northams primary opponent, who appeared at Dulles last weekend. Theres an awareness that this is not some latest turnover of partisan power. This is a much deeper threat to our democratic institutions. I think the question is whether some of the Republican electeds who feel the tingle in their spine if they can find their spines can form a bipartisan resistance."

Gone are the concerns about appearing overly obstructionist an accusation frequently tossed at McConnell during Barack Obamas presidency. Officeholders are now chasing a base that will not tolerate any sign of accommodation.

Everyone is getting to the same point, said Democratic pollster Margie Omero. This is not like after George W. Bush won, where people had different kinds of strategies."

Sen. Cory Booker, center, speaks with other members of Congress as demonstrators protest against President Donald Trump's travel ban during a rally outside the US Supreme Court on Jan. 30. | Getty

Protesters gathered outside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumers Brooklyn apartment last week to demand he take a harder line on Trump, in a demonstration marketed as, What the f*ck, Chuck?!"

Warren, the progressive icon, was forced to defend her vote to approve Ben Carsons nomination for Housing and Urban Development secretary, taking to Facebook to explain a move that had party members accusing her of "selling us out" at the DNC meeting in Houston last weekend. Still facing heat, Warren expanded on her apology in a speech to the Congressional Progressive Caucus in Baltimore on Saturday.

"Like a lot of you, I'm still finding my way, finding my footing, day by day, step by step," she said. "We make mistakes. But with each passing day, we learn.

Liberal Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse got an even rougher ride: he was shouted down by protesters yelling Obstruct! last week in Providence after he voted for Trumps CIA Director pick, former congressman Mike Pompeo. The point was made: Asked on MSNBC several days later if he would support Secretary of State-nominee Rex Tillerson, Whitehouse was unequivocal: I checked with the parliamentarian, and they dont allow hell no, so Ill be voting 'no.'"

Whether the leaders of the Democratic Party will catch up to their base remains to be seen, said Mark Longabaugh, a longtime campaign operative and a senior strategist for Sanders' 2016 presidential bid.

Some of the partys larger outside groups are fueling the drive to push officials toward loud, hard-line resistance. MoveOn.org last Monday published an open letter instructing senators that Showing up at protests must be just the beginning. Were doing our job. Senate Democrats must do theirs by using every procedural tool available to stop Trump."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to a crown gathered at Logan Airport in Boston on Jan. 28. | AP Photo

Our Revolution, the group built out of the Sanders campaign, is pushing backers to demand that their senators use the full 30 hours of debate on each Trump nominee, effectively grinding the Senate to a procedural halt. Even Priorities, which supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and became the partys largest super PAC ever, has stepped up the pressure on lawmakers now that Trump has picked Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court: the group is mobilizing its supporters to urge their senators to force a 60-vote threshold for him.

To professional Democrats whove been working for candidates for decades, the current wave of activity is beginning to look more like a broad-based movement.

This is a grassroots reaction at a level of intensity that I havent seen in the Democratic Party since Vietnam, said Shrum. It even exceeds the reaction to Iraq, which was more a slow simmer than this kind of explosive reaction."

Added former New Mexico governor and onetime presidential hopeful Bill Richardson, Anyone who is hoping for a reconciliation or bipartisanship is smoking weed right now."

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Trump sets Democratic field ablaze with anger - Politico

Trump’s Russia-US Comparison Rejected by Democrats and Republicans – NBCNews.com

Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers have rejected President Donald Trump's most recent notion that the United States government is morally equivalent to Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The most recent controversial claim took place during the president's interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, which aired Sunday before the Super Bowl. During the discussion, Trump defended his decision to criticize longtime allies instead of the Russian authoritarian regime.

"I say it's better to get along with Russia than not," Trump said.

O'Reilly pushed back. "He's a killer though. Putin's a killer," the host said, referring to Putin's critics who have been found dead and Russian military tactics in Syria and Ukraine.

Related: Trump, Challenged About Putin, Says 'Our Country's So Innocent?'

"There are a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country's so innocent?" the president responded.

Trump's unexplained defense of Russia, which has he sustained since the campaign, continued to stump some lawmakers who appeared on network news shows Sunday.

"I'll be honest, I don't know what the president is trying to do with statements like these," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said on ABC's "This Week."

The Nebraska senator then described the rights provided by the First Amendment, making it clear that Putin and Russia's government do not provide those freedoms to its citizens.

"There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America the greatest freedom loving nation in the history of the world and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defense of his cronyism," Sasse added.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) shared Sasse's view of Russia, though he refused to criticize the president for his conflation of the United States and an authoritarian regime.

"Well, Putin is a former KGB," McConnell said. "He's an agent. He's a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election. The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and messed around in our elections. No, I don't think there is any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does."

The dismissal of a moral equivalency went beyond television appearances, as a number of noteworthy Republicans sounded off on Twitter.

But some lawmakers stuck up for Trump. Vice President Mike Pence defended the president on "Meet the Press." Later, in an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," he dodged John Dickerson's question whether the United States was morally superior to Russia.

Related: Mike Pence: Trump 'Has Every Right to Criticize' Other Branches of Government

"American ideals are superior to countries all across the world," Pence told Dickerson. "But, again, what the president is determined to do, as someone who has spent a lifetime looking for deals, is to see if we can have a new relationship with Russia and other countries that advances the interests of America first and the peace and security of the world."

On the Democratic side, messaging remained the same as leaders continued to call for an investigation on Russia's involvement in the hacks of the Democratic Party during the presidential election, in which Putin was personally involved, NBC News confirmed.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that the Russian government was working to aid Trump during the election.

"I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump. I think we have to have an investigation by the F.B.I. into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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Trump's Russia-US Comparison Rejected by Democrats and Republicans - NBCNews.com

Democrats See Opening Against Gorsuch in Trump Judge Attack – Bloomberg

Democrats may make President Donald Trumps attacks on the so-called judge who halted his immigration restrictions a test of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuchs willingness to check executive power.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturdays Twitter message criticizing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesnt always bend to his wishes and would increase the scrutiny on Gorsuch.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuchs nomination, the New York Democrat said in a statement. Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview with ABC News, said the comment wasnt an attack on the Constitutions separation of powers.

The idea of making judicial independence a cornerstone for Gorsuchs confirmation hearing comes as Democrats look for a strategy to block Trumps nominee. That looks like an uphill battle since Gorsuch was confirmed for his current post by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate in 2006.

The first question at Judge Gorsuchs confirmation hearing should be whether he condones this disparagement of a fellow federal judge, Ronald Klain, a Democratic lawyer who worked in the Obama and Clinton White Houses, said on Twitter.

The tweet that set off the firestorm read, The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!

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Trump was referring to Robart, who late Friday ordered a nationwide halt to an executive order halting travel to the U.S. by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Robart was an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush and won Senate confirmation in 2004 by a vote of 99 to zero.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the chambers longest serving Democrat and a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, condemned what he called Trumps attempt to bully and disparage Robart. Leahy said in a statement that Trumps hostility toward the rule of law is not just embarrassing, it is dangerous. He seems intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis.

Trumps response makes it even more important that Judge Gorsuch, and every other judge this president may nominate, demonstrates the ability to be an independent check and balance on an administration that shamefully and harmfully seems to reject the very concept, Leahy said.

Leahy noted that Trumps comments were not his first attack on a judge. During the presidential campaign the Republican suggested that a federal judge couldnt impartially oversee a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican ancestry. The judge, Gonzalo Curiel, was born in Indiana.

The war of words comes as Democrats face pressure from their base to block Trumps nominee. Supreme Court nominees are subject to a 60-vote threshold under current Senate rules, and Schumer has said Democrats will insist on that standard to ensure the eventual justice is mainstream. Republicans have 52 votes in the chamber.

Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway noted Saturday that Schumer was among those approving Gorsuch in 2006.

So far, the only Democrat that Gorsuch has met with is West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, although other moderate party members have sounded open to supporting him. Republicans have broadly praised Trumps pick.

Neal Katyal, a former acting U.S. solicitor-general in the Obama administration, said in a tweet that hed never seen a president attack a sitting judge this way. Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School, said on Twitter that it would be good strategy for Judge Gorsuch to condemn Trumps so-called judge remark. If he doesnt, that in itself would be troubling.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on ABCs This Week, Pence defended Trumps criticism of Robart as part of an effort to keep the U.S. secure. Asked whether calling Robart a so-called judge undermines the separation of powers in the Constitution, Pence said he doesnt think it does.

The American people are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind and speaking very straight with them, Pence said, according to a partial transcript provided by the network.

Trump has said that if Democrats block Gorsuch, hell suggest that McConnell change the rules of the Senate -- which a majority can do with 51 votes -- to eliminate the Supreme Court filibuster. If we end up with that gridlock I would say, If you can, Mitch, go nuclear, Trump told reporters on Feb 1.

McConnell didnt rule out eliminating the filibuster when asked this week by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt if he would be willing to do so to confirm Gorsuch. Still, no Supreme Court nominee has ever been defeated by a filibuster.

Gorsuch was nominated on Jan. 31 to fill the vacancy created when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. McConnell declined to give consideration to Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obamas nominee, arguing that the seat should be filled by the winner of the 2016 presidential election.

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Democrats See Opening Against Gorsuch in Trump Judge Attack - Bloomberg