Where's Rand Paul on the ban? Lexington Herald Leader Sen. Rand Paul has remained silent on the Trump administration's rash and ill-conceived executive order banning immigration from targeted Muslim-majority countries. His own hometown of Bowling Green has long been an international refugee center with ... |
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Where's Rand Paul on the ban? - Lexington Herald Leader
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Pauls decision to come out against Abrams strikes a damaging blow againsthis chances of ever receiving Senate confirmation should he be nominated, outside of bipartisan support that hes unlikely to receive or a full-court press by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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With 21 members11 Republicans and 10 Democratsif the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hold strong against Abrams should Trump select him, Pauls vote would be the deciding vote and he would fail in Committee. His decision to oppose Abrams per a senior aide puts the kibosh on Abrams chances once and for all, unless a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee comes out for himor unless McConnell and Corker try to bring him up straight on the Senate floor despite failing in Committee, something a senior Senate aide tells Breitbart News is not usually done.
Given how difficult Pauls decision here would make it to get Abrams through the Senate to confirmation should he be nominated, its unclear if Trump and his White House would want to go to such lengths to fight for someone who disagrees with the president on so many corepolicy visions. Abrams does not believe in an America First foreign policy vision, is from a wing of the GOP that Trump regularly criticizes, and has significant disagreements with Trumps stated vision on core matters like the Middle East and the Arab Spring.
Pauls efforts, a senior aide adds, are meant to be constructive. Since Abrams policy viewpoints dont match Trumps vision for foreign policy, Paul believes that Trump should turn to someone else.Paul will make this argument, and officially make his announcement against Abrams, in an op-ed that will be published on Tuesday.
In a country of 300 million people, surely there are reasonable foreign policy experts who have not been convicted of deceiving Congress and actually share the Presidents foreign policy views, Paul writes in an excerpt of the op-ed that will run in Rare, obtained by Breitbart News ahead of its release.
The fact Abrams is even being considered for the slot is baffling to many Trump supporters, given that he was aiding the Never Trump movement inside the Republican Partyand that he has a foreign policy worldview much more in line with the political dynasties Trump crushed on his way to the White House, the Bushes and the Clintons.
Elliott Abrams, a neoconservative who has long argued for an activist foreign policy that spreads American values around the world, was advising Republicans just last spring to keep your distance from Donald J. Trump and offering advice about what the party should do after the Trump collapse, the New York Times Gardiner Harris and David E. Sanger wrote on Monday night.
Nonetheless, Abrams has a meeting scheduled on Tuesday at the White House with President Trump to interview for the number two position in the State Department.
The Times reports that Abrams is known in foreign policy circles as controversial, but his conviction over misleading Congress in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal from the Ronald Reagan administration deeply understates the case. Abrams was later pardoned by Reagans successor in the White House.
He is remembered best for the days when he was an assistant secretary of state during the Reagan administration, and his conviction in 1991 on two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-contra affair, Harris and Sanger wrote. He was later pardoned by President George Bush, and that moment has largely receded from memory although if he is nominated, there is little question that Democrats will bring it up again.
Before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, the National Interests Daniel DePetris noted in a recent piece, Abrams pushed for Republicans to challenge Trump head on at the convention where he would be chosenas the GOP nominee for president.
Do not allow the Republican convention to be a coronation wherein Trump and Trumpism are unchallenged, Abrams said, urging the Never Trump movement to challenge him on the floor of the convention. Theres no reason others who won many delegates, from Rubio to Cruz to Kasich, should not have their names put in nomination. The party needs to be reminded that there are deep divisions, and Trump needs to be reminded of how many in the party oppose and even fear his nomination.
Abrams also called for Republicans to seize the party machinery back from conservatives and grassroots Trump supporters immediately after the Trump defeat by Hillary Rodham Clinton, something the man President Trump is now considering for the second highest diplomatic post in his administration said was inevitable, but which turned out not to happen.
P.J. Medias David Goldman writes that selecting Abrams would be like picking an arsonist to serve as a towns fire chief. While Goldman understands that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may need an experienced diplomat to help run the State Department and has few good choices, picking Abrams would be a mistake.
Bringing the Bush Utopians back into the picture, though, would be a cure far worse than the disease, Goldman wrote. During the campaign, Abrams made clear that he would rather see his party fail than see Donald Trump succeed. Inside the administration, Abrams would have the opportunity to make this happen. Arsonists may have great experience with fires, but that doesnt qualify them to become the captain of the fire brigade.
Now, with Rand Paul coming out against Abrams preemptivelybefore Abrams even meets with the president on Tuesdayhe may be saving the movement the trouble of a fight.
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Rare.us | Rand Paul unveils his Obamacare Replacement Act Rare.us Earlier this month, Sen. Rand Paul was one of the first Republican leaders to say that while Obamacare should be repealed his party must also present an alternative plan. If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the ... |
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Rand Paul unveils his Obamacare Replacement Act - Rare.us
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Kellanne Conway appears to be dabbling with alternative facts again.
In an interview with MSNBCs Chris Matthews that aired on Thursday night,Donald Trumps former campaign manager and now an adviser in his administration, referenced the Bowling Green massacre when justifying the presidents controversial executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspending the United States Syrian refugee resettlement program.
I bet its brand new information to people that President Obama had a 6-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. It didnt get covered.
While Matthews did not press Conway on her Bowling Green massacre claim in the interview, so much of her statement is untrue that essentially the only accurate part is that there were no media reports fitting her description.
First of all, Obama didnt stopthe Iraqi refugee program.
The Obama administration imposed additional background checks on Iraqi refugees in 2011 but did not stop or ban Iraqi refugees from resettling in the U.S.
As for Conways complaints that the Bowling Green massacre didnt get covered, it didnt get covered because it didnt happen.
Conway may havebeen referring totwo Iraqi men livingin Bowling Green, Kentuckywho were indicted in 2011forusing improvised explosive devices against U.S. soldiers in Iraq and also for attempting to send weapons and money to Al-Qaeda in Iraq for the purposeof killing U.S. soldiers. Both are serving life sentences. Neither the money nor the weapons ever reached foreign shores, the Associated Press reported, because they were intercepted by an FBI investigation into the two mens activities. As Vox notes:
During the investigation, the FBI found something worrying: fingerprints from Alwan on a roadside bomb in Iraq. This suggested there was a very specific flaw in Americas refugee screening process: Databases of fingerprints from Iraqi militants were not well-integrated into the broader State Departmentrun refugee admissions process. As a result, the Obama administration initiated a new review of all roughly 57,000 Iraqi refugees who had been recently admitted into the United States.
Neither man was linked to attacks or planned attacks within the United States.
Those incidents received a fair amount of media coverage, but public interest was limited since there was never even a plot to massacre people in Kentucky.The local newspaper the Bowling Green Daily News noted that the case received extensive coverage.
But despite the best reporting efforts of his local paper, even one of Kentuckys Republican senators echoed Conways wholly inaccurate account.In a separate interview with MSNBC, Paul referred to the attempted bombing in Bowling Green, where I live.
Contrary to what both the senator and Conway appear to be pushing by spreading the myth of a terror attack in Bowling Green, attempted or a massacre, analysis by the Cato Institute of terrorist attacks on US soil between 1975 and 2015 found that foreign nationals from the seven countries targeted by Trumps travel ban Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia have killed no Americans.
Conways conspicuous massacre comment comes less than two weeks after she defended false assertions about the size of Trumps inauguration crowd as alternative facts.
Youre saying its a falsehood. And theyre giving Sean Spicer, our press secretary gave alternative facts, Conway told NBCs Chuck Todd while discussing Spicers claim that the Jan. 20 crowd was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration.
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Bowling Green massacre: Kellyanne Conway, Rand Paul fabricate attack to defend Muslim ban - Salon
Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced Wednesday that they would not be voting for the billionaire philanthropist. Elizabeth Keatinge (@elizkeatinge) has more. Buzz60
Ky. Sen. Rand Paul speaks during the Republican event at the Galt House in downtown Louisville on election night. Nov. 8, 2016(Photo: Alton Strupp/The CJ)Buy Photo
As the federal vote on Education secretarynominee Betsy DeVos looms, Louisville resident Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons wanted his representative, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, to know where he stands.
But Graves-Fitzsimmons hasn't been able to reach Paul's staffdespite repeatedly calling the senator's offices this week. He got the chance to leave a voicemail once.
"I admire Sen. Paul's independence from the Republican Party ... so I actually believed he would listen to his constituents," he said. "He just isn't picking up the phone, I guess."
Graves-Fitzsimmons isn't the only one having trouble reaching Paul and his staff. Kelsey Cooper, Paul's state communications director, said the office hashad an influx of calls lately, many of which are from out of state.
"I know that plenty of other Senate offices are having issues with a high volume of calls coming in right now," Cooper said. "We are picking up as many of the phone calls as we can."
People have called about a mix of topics, including DeVos, said Cooper, who has helped answer calls. Staffers have seen an uptick in citizen emails, too.
"That's kind of the beauty of democracy that people want to call their representatives and voice their concerns," she said.
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But the deluge of calls can be time-consuming, leaving staffers with less time to address personal concerns Kentuckians want help with, such as problems with veterans' benefits, Cooper said.
Several of President Donald Trump's cabinet nominees have been contentious, perhaps none more so than DeVos, a major Republican donor. The Michigan billionaire's lack of experience in public education and fervent support of alternatives like charter schoolshave sparked grassroots efforts to derail her nomination for Education secretary.
Two Republican senators announced Wednesday that they will not vote for DeVos when her nomination reaches the Senate floor. With the chamber's Democrats apparently united against DeVos, Wednesday's announcement sparked a barrage of social media posts encouraging people to urge other conservative senatorsto ditch DeVos too.
This week, Paulconfirmed his support for DeVos in an emailed statement from a spokeswoman.
"Sen. Paul believes every child in Kentucky and America deserves a chance to get a quality education. Increasing the choices parents and students have and getting Washington out of the way are the most important things the federal government can do to improve the education opportunities available to our children," the statement said. "Ms. DeVos is committed to those principlesand Sen. Paul supports her nomination."
Graves-Fitzsimmons didn't reachout to Kentucky's other senator, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, about DeVos because he said he knows McConnell will back Trump's pick. But with Paul who recently voted against another Trump nominee, newly minted CIA Director Mike Pompeo Graves-Fitzsimmons saw someone willing to consider his concerns.
He said he wished Paul's team had taken his call before backing DeVos.
People have had trouble reaching McConnell too. Indivisible KY, an anti-Trump organization, rallied Tuesday outside the senator's Louisville office. People held phones up as a sign of their inability to get in touch with McConnell, whose spokesman issued a statement that said Kentuckians have had a hard time reaching their senator "thanks to a coordinated effort by liberal activists across the country."
Dawn Cooley, co-founder of Indivisible KY, said that both Kentucky senators' decisions affect people outside their home state. McConnell and Paulneed to make improvements, such as bigger voicemail boxes that store more messages, she said.
"How are they supposed to be able to know what their constituents want if they are not able to hear them?" Cooley asked."It's not the constituents who need to change. It's the system that is not sufficient to handle our feedback."
Despite the phone trouble, Cooley said her group isgrateful for Paul's willingness to "part from the pack." Members of Paul's staffeven contactedIndivisible KY's leaders to schedule a meeting after the organization held a rally near his office.
Contact reporter Morgan Watkins at 502-875-5136 or mwatkins@courier-journal.com.
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Sen. Rand Paul backs Betsy DeVos for Education secretary - The Courier-Journal