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‘Like Al Capone complaining about organized crime’: Jim Jordan slammed for demanding Manhattan DA testify
March 21, 2023
House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is under fire after sending notice to Alvin Bragg on Monday demanding the Manhattan District Attorney currently investigating Donald Trump's possibly unlawful payoff to Stormy Daniels testify before Congress to explain the ongoing case.
Legal experts have said Jordan's letter, which was also signed by the powerful House Oversight Chair Jim Comer, could be considered obstruction of justice.
Late Tuesday morning Jordan took to Twitter to defend his actions, which many see as an attempt to intimidate the Manhattan DA and interfere with the potential prosecution of the ex-president.
"Democrats think it’s ok for them to examine and defund local police," Jordan said. "But not ok for Republicans to examine a local prosecutor in Manhattan abusing his power to take down a political opponent."
The Judiciary Chair, who has a law degree from Capital University in Ohio, appeared to not understand that he does not have oversight authority over a duly-elected county district attorney.
Attorney Ron Filipkowski, a Republican turned Democrat, slammed Jordan's remarks.
"This makes literally no sense whatsoever. Local police are funded locally. Democrats aren’t seeking to haul local prosecutors in front of Congress for anything. This is a naked abuse of federal power over something Congress has no jurisdiction over."
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, now an NBC News and MSNBC Legal Analyst, called Jordan's and Speaker Kevin McCarthy's actions "a dramatic and transparent abuse of power."
Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) called Jordan's letter, "stupid and embarrassing" three times, and, called Jordan's attempt at oversight of a county DA "is invalid, unconstitutional, inappropriate, stupidly pretextual and political."
District Attorney Bragg, Fritscher continued, "will be on rock solid legal ground if he should decide to use their letter to kill insects or remove avian waste, but in the meantime we who have seen and written legitimate oversight letters in the past imo should mock Jordan, Comer et al for their hilarious incompetence."
Others on Capitol Hill also mocked Jordan.
"A kangaroo investigation has been opened by Jim Jordan and the House GOP into the Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg," U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) tweeted. "Republicans complaining about the weaponization of government is like Al Capone complaining about organized crime."
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The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee on Monday released letters from federal agencies that together provide a detailed look at the implications of the House GOP's proposed budget cuts, which would take an axe to programs that help millions of people make rent, feed their families, and afford childcare.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) asked the leaders of major government departments to outline what would happen if House Republicans succeeded in their push to freeze federal spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, a move that would inflict deep across-the-board cuts on agency budgets.
DeLauro said the agencies' responses make clear that the cuts "would cause irreparable damage to our communities by gutting the programs every single American relies on."
"Those proposals are unrealistic, unsustainable, and unconscionable," said DeLauro. "The draconian cuts would take away the opportunity for 80,000 people to attend college and impact all 6.6 million students who rely on Pell Grants. If implemented, 200,000 children will lose access to Head Start, and 100,000 children will lose access to childcare, undermining early education and parents' ability to go to work."
"As if that was not enough to deter these harmful cuts," she added, "1.2 million women, infants, and children would lose vital nutrition assistance they receive through WIC."
Those figures come directly from letters that agency heads sent to DeLauro last week as congressional Democrats and the Biden administration ramp up their criticism of the House GOP's pursuit of steep spending cuts, which Republicans are demanding in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling and averting a catastrophic default.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) toldRoll Call on Monday that House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) has instructed Republicans to "scrub every penny, every department, every agency, dollar, every penny spent, to try to find savings, to try to figure out where we can cut spending in a responsible way"—though top GOP lawmakers have indicated they will likely shield the fraud-ridden Pentagon Pentagon from cuts.
"Continued Republican calls for cuts of this magnitude—both secret proposals from Republican leadership and public demands from extremists in the party—would be absolutely detrimental to all Americans."
In a March 17 letter, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) warned that reverting its budget to fiscal year 2022 levels would strip federal rental assistance from 640,000 families, making it "impossible to stave off mass evictions."
The Department of Education, meanwhile, estimated that GOP cuts would have the effect of "removing more than 13,000 teachers and service providers from classrooms serving low-income children."
"A reduction of 22% from currently enacted levels would cut $468 million in federal support to determine, disburse, and service student aid," the agency continued. "This level of funding would have devastating effects on student and parent interactions with the department, as well as on their ability to successfully apply for and receive student aid."
In a press release, DeLauro spotlighted projections from other agencies that demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of the GOP's austerity push:
- After recent near-misses, our air travel would come to a halt with 125 Air Traffic Control Towers shutting down, impacting one-third of all airports;
- Following the catastrophic derailments in eastern Ohio and West Virginia, rail safety jobs would be dramatically reduced, with 11,000 fewer safety inspection days, and 30,000 fewer miles of track inspected annually;
- Amid a mental health and overdose crisis, nearly 1 million people facing a suicidal or mental health crisis would be unable to access support services through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and tens of thousands of individuals could be denied admission to opioid use disorder treatment, denying them a potentially life-saving path to recovery;
- An estimated 2 million vulnerable individuals and families, including rural and underserved populations, would lose access to healthcare services through Community Health Centers;
- With the looming rise of food insecurity, nutrition services, such as Meals on Wheels, would be cut for more than 1 million seniors; and
- The Social Security Administration would be forced to close field offices and reduced access to in-person services, and people applying for disability benefits would wait an additional two months for the processing of claims.
"The programs that we fund every year keep our communities safe and healthy, lower prices, and create jobs, and we have increased investments in them year after year with the support of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate," DeLauro said Monday.
"Continued Republican calls for cuts of this magnitude—both secret proposals from Republican leadership and public demands from extremists in the party—would be absolutely detrimental to all Americans, many of whom have not seen a pay raise in years and are struggling to pay their bills," said the Connecticut Democrat. "The math is not there."
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Private communications with GOP legislators read like 'Handmaid's Tale' excerpts: report
March 21, 2023
A trove of leaked emails between South Dakota legislators and anti-trans lobbyists read like excerpts from "The Handmaid's Tale," according to a new report.
The communications between lobbyists, state Rep. Fred Deutsch and other South Dakota legislators use deeply religious language that shows Christian nationalists are pushing restrictions on LGBTQ rights as part of what they believe is a holy war, reported Vice News.
“Know that many have prayed and are praying for you this day," wrote Vernadette Broyles, a lawyer and president of the Georgia-based Children and Parental Rights Campaign in a 2020 email. "Do not back down, nor should you be afraid. Know that the Lord is with you. The children of South Dakota belong to him. He is jealous over them. Let his jealousies be spoken forth in the House of Representatives of South Dakota today so that his children would be made safe. Know you are HIS representative today. Do not be afraid. Stand firm in what is right."
The emails were shared with Vice by Elisa Rae Shupe, a trans woman who had de-transitioned and become an anti-trans advocate before re-transitioning and renouncing her ties to Christianity.
IN OTHER NEWS: Harris Faulkner scolds Trump defender: 'The Bible talks about it, you can't be a philanderer'
“I fell prey to the belief that if I did what they suggested that I would be cured of my gender dysphoria," Shupe said. "I was encouraged to confess my sins, ask for forgiveness by Jesus, and turn my plight over to the Lord Jesus Christ. I was also asked to accept that my transgender status was a sexually motivated sin and to cure myself by attending a religious 12-step program, which I did for approximately a year."
The messages are peppered with references to blessings, prayers and apocalyptic warfare.
“It is the language of Christian nationalism,” said Thomas Lecaque, an associate professor of history at Grand View University. “It is the language of people who very much believe they are doing God’s will, and it is the language of people who very much believe that they are engaged in a holy war.”
Lecaque said South Dakota Republicans, who've gotten three anti-trans bills signed into law by Gov. Kristi Noem, and GOP legislatures around the country are trying to eradicate the trans community while presenting themselves as underdogs.
“They are not trying to protect children," Lecaque said. "They are trying to murder the transgender community,”
“Stopping the existence of transgender people and the acceptance of trans people in the public sphere is to them some sort of religious imperative,” Lecaque added. “It’s particularly fascinating that this group that has all this money, control in state legislatures, control of the house, they had a presidency, is acting like somehow they are David in the struggle.”
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