Ongoing Trump Investigations Could Mean A Plot Twist For Midterms
The question of whether Biden would explicitly politicize legal action against Trump is different from the question of whether he would benefit from a federal case against Republicans leading 2024 hopeful. Just as Trump understood the potential damage that could be done by an investigation the House impeached him for withholding security funds from Ukraine to try to force a probe of Biden in that country Biden clearly grasps that even the appearance of political interference would rob him of a key contrast with Trump.
No good comes in inserting yourself, Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York Democratic Party, said. It only diminishes the credibility of the professional investigations that are going on.
Thats a view shared by the White House.
He would not comment or discuss in any way whatsoever, one White House official said of the FBI search of Trumps home.
Biden has shown a willingness to highlight the work of the Jan. 6 committee, which has produced evidence that the Capitol riot was the culmination of Trumps two-month campaign to overturn the 2020 election. But the Justice Department, unlike the congressional committee, is under Bidens control, and that creates a political imperative for him to avoid appearing to point it at his enemy.
At the same time, a streak of positive news for Biden and the resurgent love Trump is feeling from Republicans has not convinced even some of his allies that the president should seek a second term.
Underscoring Trump’s Propensity For Drama
Some Republican insiders think there might be a lane for someone who might be able to appeal to Trump’s base but without his political and legal baggage.
“They’re tired of the drama all the time,” said a GOP operative who works for a potential 2024 candidate.
Trump fatigue was beginning to show up in focus groups after the House January 6 hearings, said Gunner Ramer, political director for the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project.
“As these groups become concerned about electability and finding a Republican to beat in 2024 they were starting to look around for other candidates that don’t have the baggage Trump has,” Ramer said.
The strategy would be similar to the playbook President Joe Biden used when he ran in 2020, when he presented himself as having the experience necessary to lead the country. The argument was persuasive to voters who appeared weary with a news cycle constantly focused on Trump.
Do Republicans Agree With Trumps Demand For A Do
By all appearances, Donald Trump is looking ahead to 2024 and gearing up for yet another Republican presidential campaign. Whats more interesting, however, is his apparent belief that he might not have to wait that long to return to the White House. HuffPost highlighted the former presidents latest pitch:
If anyone needed more evidence of Donald Trumps mind-bending view of reality, on Monday he demanded to be declared president nearly two years after the election he decisively lost. But he was also open to another option. In a minimal alternative solution, someone must immediately launch a do-over election, he said in a message on Truth Social.
Yes, nearly 22 months after losing by a fairly wide margin, Trump turned to his Twitter-like platform again yesterday to complain incoherently about the FBI and Hunter Bidens laptop. The Republican concluded his missive, Declare the rightful winner or, and this would be the minimal solution, declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised and have a new Election, immediately!
That was shortly before noon. In the middle of the night according to the timestamp, 1:46 a.m. eastern Trump returned to the subject. After more incoherent FBI/laptop whining, the former president again wrote, Declare the rightful winner, or hold a new Election, NOW!
For reasons unknown, hes apparently become fixated on this anew.
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A Reflexive Defense Of The President When The Public Knows So Little About The Subject Of The Fbi Raid Worried Some Legal Experts
In their defense of former President Donald Trump following an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, congressional Republicans showed how close they remain to Trump and previewed how the next Congress could proceed under Republican control.
Republican leaders, responding to Mondays search, quickly tied it to broader criticism of the Biden administrations Justice Department and its handling of issues such as a probe of the presidents son and a response to parent protests at school boards last year.
The also already fed into Republicans pitch to voters in the hotly contested midterm elections this fall.
We’ve got to take back the majority in the House and Senate so we can subpoena the records behind this and these other efforts, so we could bring in the director of the FBI, the attorney general and force people to testify under oath about who told you to do this what was the justification behind this, Sen. , R-Fla., told Fox News on Tuesday.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, used the search in a fundraising email Wednesday arguing for Republican Senate control next year. The FBI, Merrick Garland, and Joe Biden must explain what happened TODAY – or face impeachment, the email said.
House conservatives are united in standing with President Trump, Banks said on Truth Social. We will Make America Great Again!
Other Members Who Have Faced Questions About Jan 6
In addition to the members who have been implicated or directly named as participants Trumps efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, several other incumbent members of Congress have received formal requests for information from the Jan. 6 committee based on evidence and testimony it has received.
Thanks to Lillian Barkley for copy editing this article.
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Republicans In Congress Stay Largely In Line Behind Trump
A few top Republicans called for a smooth transition, but the critical mass of the party remained silent as President Trump continued to try to subvert the popular vote and falsely claim he won re-election.
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Nearly two weeks after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared the winner of the election, leading congressional Republicans remain unwilling to recognize his victory, keeping silent on Friday even in the face of President Trumps increasingly brazen attempts to subvert the results.
As Mr. Trump met at the White House with Michigan lawmakers in hopes of overturning that states popular vote, a few additional fissures emerged in the otherwise solid wall of Republican support for his tactics. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the retiring chairman of the Senates health committee, became the most senior Republican to call for Mr. Trump to begin the transition process. And the partys top House appropriator, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, said it was time for the president and Republicans to move on.
But by and large, those notes of dissent and others came from Republicans who are already retiring at years end or have no immediate plans to face voters, like Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
Gops Sen Lisa Murkowski Says Shes Struggling With Supporting Trump
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski says shes struggling over supporting Trump given his handling of the coronavirus and George Floyd crises.
But Murkowski could shrug off the threat because she has a strong Alaska brand her father was a long-serving senator and governor and a distinctive political base: She was elected in 2010 as a write-in candidate after losing the GOP primary to a tea party challenger she won the GOP nomination in a landslide in 2016.
Another Republican who has repeatedly criticized Trump with impunity is Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. She has objected to his proposed troop reductions in Germany and Syria, and his recent tweets promoting a baseless conspiracy theory about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. Still, not an ill word about her has issued from Trump or his Twitter account.
She is not terrified by Donald Trump, said Alan Simpson, a former GOP senator from Wyoming. She wont lose a single vote.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has criticized Trumps tweets, joined in a Black Lives Matter march, and was the only Republican to vote against Trump during his impeachment trial. Romney is basking in the political freedom of a 73-year-old former presidential nominee who comes from a red state where Trump is unusually unpopular.
Horn, who founded an anti-Trump political action committee called the Lincoln Project with other disaffected Republicans, bristles at the political fear of Trump gripping so many in the party.
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How Voters Feel About The Fbis Raid
- About half of voters , including 81% of Democrats and 48% of independents, said the search of Trumps property was primarily due to evidence that he committed a crime. Roughly 4 in 10 voters , driven by 69% of Republicans, said investigators were motivated to damage Trumps political career.
- Voters are generally inclined to believe Trump is a criminal: 58% think he broke the law while he was president, including 90% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 24% of Republicans.
- While House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has vowed to probe the FBI in retaliation for the raid, voters approved of the search by a 12-point margin . And while 63% of Republicans say the raid was an abuse of power that should be investigated, 62% of Democrats say it was not an abuse of power. Independents were narrowly more likely to say that the raid was not an abuse of power than to say it was, 42% to 35%.
The latest Morning Consult/Politico survey was conducted Aug. 10, 2022, among a representative sample of 2,004 registered voters, with an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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Former President Donald Trump is reportedly considering waiting until after the November midterm elections to announce a third presidential campaign as his legal troubles continues to mount. Trump is also facing concerns that Senate candidates he endorsed may not be as promising as he led on, CNN reports.
Trump initially planned to launch his 2024 campaign on Labor Day weekend, but the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month and diminished hopes for a “red wave” in November.
Documents at Trump’s Florida home were “likely concealed” to obstruct an FBI probe into his potential mishandling of classified materials, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday.
The filing provides the most detailed account yet of the motivation for the FBI raid this month on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which was triggered by a review of records he previously surrendered to authorities that contained top secret information.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump lawyer objects to DOJ investigating ‘mundane’ crimes like ‘espionage’ at Mar-a-Lago
Before the raid, the FBI uncovered “multiple sources of evidence” showing that “classified documents” remained at Mar-a-Lago, the filing says.
“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed… and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the filing adds.
Nevertheless, some within Trump’s orbit are urging him to launch immediately.
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Stat Of The Day: Endangered Sea Turtles Found On Louisiana Islands For First Time In 75 Years
For the first time in 75 years, hatchlings of the worlds smallest sea turtle species have been discovered on the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of New Orleans.
Wildlife experts at the Breton national wildlife refuge last week reportedly documented more than 53 turtle crawls and two live hatchlings that were navigating towards the sea. The news was particularly uplifting for environmentalists, writes Maya Yang, because the hatchlings were Kemps ridley sea turtles, an endangered species.
The BP oil spill resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion significantly affected the Chandeleur Islands, along with various hurricanes and other tropical weather systems in recent years.
Fmr Republican Gov Walker On Fbi Search Of Trumps Home: Its Outrageous
The unprecedented investigation into a former president one who is a likely candidate for his old job creates a labyrinthine set of political risks and opportunities for Biden and Trump. For Trump, the greatest threat is becoming toxic to voters because of an indictment or conviction. Biden has to walk a tightrope between partisans who want him to ensure that Trump is prosecuted and voters who may see such a move as an abuse of power that unfairly targets a political adversary.
Biden appears to have chosen the cautious and traditional route of letting Justice Department officials speak or act for themselves.Its not even Bidens style to use something the Justice Department does to his political advantage, said a source close to the White House who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Criticizing Trump’s Support For The Covid
Trump backed Operation Warp Speed a historic government undertaking that resulted in COVID-19 vaccines being delivered in record time.
But when Trump goes to rallies and encourages people to get the shot, his supporters have booed him.
Some Republican insiders, like Nunberg, said Trump’s vaccine push could be a political liability. Data show that voters in heavily red states do not plan to get vaccinated.
Some signs show people fervently opposed to vaccines might agree. Earlier this month Alex Jones, who hosts the InfoWars conspiracy theorist radio show, bashed Trump for supporting the vaccine and praised DeSantis for raising concerns about it.
‘the Silence Is Deafening’
A person close to some of the biggest real estate executives in New York who backed Trump during both of his runs for the White House said this time is different. Their view is he’s taken “major hits” during the Jan. 6 hearings. None from that group are coming to defend him, at least for now.
“The silence is deafening,” this person added.
The lack of interest in Trump by some of the wealthiest Republican donors could boost fundraising efforts for other GOP presidential hopefuls. Multiple Republicans could run in 2024, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Scott is up for reelection in 2022 but recently headlined an event in Iowa, a key state for candidates running for president. Cotton reportedly has huddled with donors to discuss a possible 2024 run.
The former president has not publicly ruled out running for the White House again in two years after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020. Despite a lack of support from corporate leaders, Trump has maintained a massive campaign war chest thanks largely to small-dollar donors.
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Klobuchar: Trump’s Actions Are Like A ‘global Watergate’ Scandal
Today, as Democrats in the House of Representatives move toward bringing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, with the next Judiciary Committee hearing of evidence set for Monday, few Democrats are still clinging to the hope that Republicans will reach a breaking point with Trump like they did with Nixon.
“I really don’t think there is any fact that would change their minds,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News.
Why? Two key changes since Nixon: a massive divide in American political life we hate the other team more than ever before and a media climate that fuels and reinforces that chasm, powered by Fox News on the Republican side.
Himes said he was “a little stunned by the unanimity on the Republican side,” especially among retiring lawmakers who don’t have to worry about surviving a GOP primary had they gone against Trump. “We’re in a place right now where all that matters to my Republican colleagues is the defense of the president,” he added.
No Republican congressmen have said they support impeachment. In the Senate, the entire GOP voted to condemn the impeachment inquiry, except for three moderates: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The three have stopped short of saying they support Trump’s impeachment, however, and it would take at least 20 Republican senators to vote to convict him in a Senate trial for removal to succeed.
Mccormick Takes Pa Senate Ballot Fight To Court
The Club also stood firm in its Senate endorsement of Brooks in Alabama after Trump rescinded his support in March, continuing to buy television ads on Brooks behalf and releasing a statement in which McIntosh called Brooks the only principled, pro-growth conservative in the race.
After Trumps decision to yank his endorsement of Brooks a move the former president made as Brooks was floundering in the polls, but blamed on the congressman going woke for wanting to move on from the 2020 election other prominent Republicans stepped in to lend their support.
Paul, who, like Cruz, backed Brooks in the Alabama Senate primary, also reiterated his support.
Earlier this month, the National Rifle Association endorsed Brooks support the congressman promptly announced in a television ad that ran across the deep-red state, where Second Amendment rights remain a top priority for voters.
On Monday, both Cruz and Paul stumped for Brooks, Cruz coming to Huntsville and Paul holding an election eve tele-town hall with 13,000 Republican voters.
If you get into the runoff, Im looking at my calendar I think I might want to come down to Alabama and help if you make it into the runoff, Paul said to Brooks at the end of the call Monday.
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, left, waves during a campaign appearance with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in Huntsville, Alabama, on Monday, May 23.|Kim Chandler/AP Photo
Christie didnt tiptoe around some of Trumps endorsement missteps.
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