All posts tagged "senate"

Todd Blanche's Senate confirmation fight may expose Epstein coverup: expert

President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, and his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing could reveal more about his efforts to conceal the Epstein files and backfire on his nomination, a former White House insider explained on Monday.

Bill Kristol, the editor at large for The Bulwark and a former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, described how senators who will vote to confirm Blanche as the nation's next top law enforcement official will ultimately have to face off over Jeffrey Epstein and Blanche's role in the cover-up.

"There are many, many Republican lawyers in America," Kristol wrote. "Many, sadly, are also pro-Trump. But it is Todd Blanche who has been selected by the president to be attorney general of the United States. He has this distinction: He is the prime orchestrator and key executor of the Trump administration’s Jeffrey Epstein coverup."

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi testified to the House Oversight Committee on May 29, saying Blanche “supervised [the] entire process” of overseeing the Epstein files.

"He was leading the Epstein matter and the release of everything from the beginning," Bondi said in her testimony.

Questions have surrounded Blanche and his visit to Epstein co-conspirator and former partner to the late financier, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell has been pushing for clemency as a condition of her testimony to Congress.

"Blanche has also been the most visible public defender of the coverup, and of the decision not to investigate or prosecute anyone else for crimes," Kristol wrote.

After the files were released, no follow-up investigations have been underway.

"But thanks to Trump’s nomination of Blanche, there is a chance to force a real public debate, with real Senate votes, on the Epstein coverup," Kristol explains.

"That is not what Blanche wants. In early April, shortly after becoming acting attorney general, Blanche told Fox News, 'And so I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward,'" Kristol wrote.

And that doesn't mean senators will not question him about it.

"But the Epstein coverup should be part, a key part, of one thing going forward: It should be a key part of the upcoming debate on Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general," Kristol wrote. "The Blanche confirmation fight can bring the Epstein coverup back into the spotlight this summer. His nomination can be turned into a referendum on the coverup by the Trump administration, and by the entire political class, of Epstein and his co-conspirators and clients."

"The vote on Blanche can become, it should become, a vote on Epstein," Kristol further added.

Steve Bannon makes a staggering prediction about the midterms

With a few months left before the November midterms, a former Trump White House insider predicted Republicans will lose the Senate.

Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief White House strategist, in the latest episode of his podcast, "War Room," said, "You're going to lose the Senate in the fall anyway," speaking to Republicans.

Bannon blasted Republicans for losing sight of working-class voters, who are feeling "crushed," he said.

"That's the backbone of the nation," Bannon said. "When we lose sight of that, you lose it all."

He told big GOP donors, "You might as well take your money out in big barrels and take it in the front yard like leaves and just burn it," Bannon said. "Just like you did in Texas," referring to money wasted on campaigning for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

"The Senate is lost," Bannon continued, saying GOP candidates are behind in the polls in Maine, North Carolina, and Ohio. "Last time I looked, I think they're kind of MAGA country. You're down there. Why? People are not going to go door to door and engage."

One-on-one canvassing and engagement is what wins modern voters, Bannon insisted, and the GOP, specifically Trump-backed candidates, lack "volunteers who believe in something."

Senate GOP shoots down effort to kill Trump slush fund — despite 3 Republicans flipping

Senate Republicans defeated the first attempt by Democrats to permanently block Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, the New York Times reported.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate minority leader, motioned to prohibit the fund by adding an amendment to an immigration bill, according to the NYT.

The motion failed 50 to 49, with three Republicans joining the Democrats, including senators running to keep their seats in November, such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Jon Husted (R-OH), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), per the NYT.

Todd Blanche's old podcast appearance may haunt him at confirmation hearing: report

President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and now pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, might be confronted with tough questions from the Senate over his "cozy relationship" with the lawyer for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, according to a report on Thursday.

David Oscar Markus has represented Maxwell and suggested she could be pardoned by Trump. She has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee, but only under the condition of clemency.

And with Trump's decision to reward Blanche with the nomination for the nation's top legal job, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, Maxwell, have questioned the president's move, wrote Farrah Tomazin, The Daily Beast's political correspondent covering the White House and Congress, in a post for The Swamp, The Daily Beast's Substack.

"Senators involved in the confirmation process might also want to check out Blanche’s cozy relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense attorney David Oscar Markus," Tomazin wrote.

"Indeed, back in 2024, Markus appeared on a podcast with Blanche, who warmly described him as a 'friend,' someone he 'knows pretty well,' and 'the best out there,'" Tomazin added. "When the lawyer for one of the country’s most notorious sex offenders is publicly embraced by the Justice Department’s first-in-command—and that same sex offender is now seeking a pardon —you can see why victims are concerned."

NYT flags moment Trump may have accidentally handed Dems Senate majority

Donald Trump may have handed Democrats one of their most potent weapons in the fight for Senate control — and he did it back in January, almost without anyone noticing.

According to a New York Times report on Republican fears ahead of the midterms, Trump's January attack on Sen. Susan Collins of Maine could be deployed by Democrats this fall to suppress Republican turnout in one of the most consequential Senate races in the country.

After Collins voted with Democrats to curtail Trump's war powers following his military action against Venezuela, Trump declared on Truth Social that she "should never be elected to office again." The Times notes that Democrats could now use that quote directly against Collins — not to persuade Republican voters to vote Democratic, but simply to demoralize them enough to stay home.

Collins holds one of the seats Democrats must flip if they hope to take back the Senate majority. The race is already considered a toss-up.

The revelation underscores a broader pattern the Times identifies in its reporting: Trump has repeatedly taken actions that damage his own party's electoral prospects, from endorsing scandal-plagued Ken Paxton in Texas to creating a $1.8 billion fund to compensate January 6th rioters. But the Collins case is unique because the damage was self-inflicted months ago and has been quietly sitting there ever since, waiting to be used.

'Good for the country': Dan Rather finds hope in the GOP's 'never-ending trainwreck'

Veteran journalist Dan Rather sees potential good that can come out of the GOP's "never-ending trainwreck" playing out before him.

In his latest Substack piece, Rather wrote that infighting between Republicans and Trump will "be good for the country" if it manages to nix some of the president's more outrageous plans.

Rather observed how Republicans are responding to the creation of Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund. It was created as part of a settlement for a lawsuit by Trump against the IRS.

"The settlement has upended a lot of pieces on the political chessboard," Rather wrote. "Senate Republicans canceled a planned vote on an immigration enforcement bill. It should have been a slam-dunk."

However, Rather expects the GOP-controlled Senate to be hostile territory for Trump. "For the rest of the year, the Senate is going to be a hard place for Trump to get his unpopular measures passed," he wrote.

"Both Houses of Congress have the power to at least slow him, if not stop him," Rather stressed. "But only if they have the courage to do so."

Even Republican strategist Karl Rove was coming out against Trump with a Wall Street Journal editorial. Rather found it "more surprising" to read Rove had "argued that the only way Republicans can hold onto control of Congress is to rein in the president."

Rather even envisioned "impeachment and conviction could become a factor" against Trump, "but we're a long way from that."

Impeachment plan for two GOP Supreme Court judges floated: 'Reasons for removal'

Democratic Party candidate Graham Platner has outlined a plan to impeach two sitting Supreme Court judges.

Platner, who is running for the Democratic nomination for US Senate in Maine, told NBC there are reasonable grounds for the removal of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Alito and Thomas have faced significant ethical scrutiny during Trump's second term. Alito authored the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that sparked widespread controversy and calls for his recusal from abortion-related cases.

Thomas has been embroiled in controversy also, with recent calls for his removal from the Supreme Court following a speech where he denounced progressive politics.

During an appearance at University of Texas Austin Law School, Thomas said, "Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government."

Platner has since called for the impeachment of both sitting judges. He said there is a "compelling case" against both Alito and Thomas. "The relationship between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is not hard to see as clearly corrupt, and Justice Thomas doesn’t even recuse himself from cases that impact Crow’s businesses," he said.

Platner added that he is "definitely open to doing more, including adding seats on the court." He also outlined a plan, should the Democratic Party win a majority in the Senate, to investigate Donald Trump's administration.

“I want to shut the White House down,” Platner said. “I want us to, for the next two years, be dragging every single person in the White House, every single person in all these agencies that have been conducting themselves in illegal and unconstitutional ways. They need to be dragged by subpoena in front of Senate committees over and over and over again."

A Supreme Court justice can be impeached through a constitutional process outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The House of Representatives must vote to impeach the justice, requiring a simple majority, by charging them with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Following House impeachment, the Senate conducts a trial where the justice can present a defense. A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to convict and remove the justice from office.

No Supreme Court justice has ever been successfully impeached and removed through this process, though several have faced impeachment attempts throughout American history for various alleged misconduct and ethical violations.

Convicting Trump is no longer a pipe dream

Friends,

Speaking at a January 6 retreat for House Republicans, Trump stated, “You gotta win the midterms ‘cause, if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached.”

This was before Trump’s agents murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, before the Justice Department released more Epstein files, before Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, before Trump threatened death to the entire Iranian civilization, before a gallon of gas hit $4 or more, before other prices also began rising because of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, and before additional price hikes associated with Trump’s tariffs had kicked in.

It was also before Trump’s polls slid to record lows, before the MAGA faithful began complaining that Trump had betrayed his promise to avoid foreign entanglements, and before a slew of special elections in which Democratic candidates have won Republican districts (and even when they didn’t win, lost by far smaller margins than Trump won by in 2024).

Until recently, I thought impeaching Trump and convicting him in the Senate was a pipe dream. I was concerned that even talk of impeachment at this stage might distract attention from the affordability crisis brought on by Trump and could even fortify Republican charges of Democratic “extremism.”

No longer.

The president of the United States is stark-raving mad. He’s a clear and present danger to America and the world. The American public is beginning to see it.

We’ve got to do whatever we legally can to remove him from office. The 25th Amendment would be useful if Trump’s Cabinet and key advisers had any integrity, but they don’t. They’re ambitious, unprincipled traitors.

Which leaves impeachment.

You may be skeptical. After all, he’s already been impeached twice, to no avail. How can the third time be the charm?

Because it seems likely that Democrats will retake control of the House and the Senate in this fall’s midterm elections (unless Trump prevents free and fair elections).

And because it’s also possible that there will be enough votes in the Senate starting next January to convict Trump of impeachable offenses and send him packing.

I understand how difficult this may seem. Both times Trump was impeached in the House, he was saved by the Constitution’s requirement that two-thirds of the Senate (67 senators, assuming all 100 are present) convict in order to remove a president.

The highest Senate vote count against Trump came in 2021, and it was 10 votes short of the constitutional requirement. Fifty-seven senators, including seven Republicans, voted to convict him of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in U.S. Senate history, but it still fell well short of the 67 votes needed to convict Trump.

So why do I think it’s possible now? Because public sentiment has swung further against Trump now than it was in 2021. And it’s likely to swing even further against him, because he’s going out of his mind at a rapid rate.

The way to accomplish this is to defeat enough incumbent Republican senators who are up for reelection in 2026 to create a Democratic majority in that chamber, totaling some 54 votes, and pressure at least 13 Republicans up for reelection in 2028 to vote to convict him.

That’s not impossible. In the upcoming midterms, it’s likely that Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins will be replaced by a Democrat (either Janet Mills or Graham Platner). I also assume that former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper will replace Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who’s retiring.

And I’d like to believe that the good people of Ohio will see the light and reelect Sherrod Brown over Jon Husted, the dullard who was appointed to fill the remainder of JD Vance’s term.

James Talarico could take the Texas Republican Senate seat now occupied by John Cornyn. In Alaska, I’d put odds on Mary Peltola defeating incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. In Nebraska, assume that Dan Osborn prevails over incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts. And so on.

Republican senators last elected in 2022 who will be on the ballot in November 2028 include some who are vulnerable because they’re in swing states, such as North Carolina’s Ted Budd and Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson; or are in states that could be competitive, such as Indiana’s Todd Young; or are vulnerable to internal party shifts, such as Louisiana’s John Kennedy and South Carolina’s Tim Scott.

Those vulnerabilities mean that their constituents could push them to vote to convict Trump in an impeachment, or else threaten to vote against them in 2028.

So it’s possible to get the 67 Senate votes, my friends. And it’s absolutely necessary that we try.

The vast No Kings demonstrations should be considered a prelude to targeting enough Republican Senate incumbents and open races to flip the Senate this fall, and pressuring Republicans up for reelection in 2028 to do their constitutional duty.

Now is the time to show the size and intensity of America’s commitment to removing Trump from office, for the good of us all.

Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org

'This could end poorly': GOP had 'ugly' scramble in lead-up to big Senate choice

The Republican Party found itself extinguishing fires up to the very last moments of confirming a Senate candidate for this year's midterm elections.

White House insiders were keen to maintain the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate, Brenda Wilson, for the Indiana seat. But staffers found themselves fighting off a growing interest in Alexandra Wilson, with the long-time Trump supporter initially asked to drop from the race. But she refused to do so, and from there, Alexandra Wilson found herself in frequent, combative discussions with three Trump administration aides.

Alexandra Wilson, speaking to NBC News, claims political director Matt Brasseaux, deputy chief of staff James Blair and Midwest regional political director Marshall Moreau — as well as Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith; Gov. Mike Braun’s chief of staff, Joshua Kelley; and a staffer for the conservative group Club for Growth, Evan Oudekerk, all contacted her in the hopes of having her abandon her Senate primary pitch.

Incentives and threats were made to Alexandra Wilson, the hopeful candidate claimed, as a way of trying to pressure her out of racing against the Trump-approved candidate, Brenda Wilson. State Senator Greg Goode had been in the running also, but had voted against Trump's wishes.

Gov. Micah Beckwith had aired his concern over Alexandra Wilson running with conservative group Turning Point Action in the hopes they would stir some Republican Party members to convince her to drop out.

"I just said I don’t know if you guys really thought this one through, because this probably could end poorly for this woman," Beckwith said.

Further pressure from Blair came in the form of a phone call with Alexandra Wilson, with the would-be Senate candidate grilled for her past arrest. She resolved this with a plea deal for a misdemeanor charge, calling it a "poor choice" she made "right after my mother passed away".

Blair continued his pressure on Alexandra Wilson, claiming the candidate she runs against for the Senate seat would use the arrest as ammunition for a political advertisement.

"I think that they’re going to run television ads on it. I think they’re going to run mail pieces on it,” Blair said of her past arrest. “They’re going to tell every voter in the district about this kind of stuff. Because they don’t have to tell your side of the story. They will tell the side of the story they want people to hear.

"I just wanted to talk about that brass-tacks reality that I think is going to be really ugly. And I think we’re sort of working at cross purposes with two people with the same last name on the ballot."

Alexandra Wilson is, at the time of writing (April 10), still listed on the May 5 primary ballot. This could change should an appeal to the Election Commission from conservative attorney Jim Bopp, a supporter of Brenda Wilson's campaign, be successful.

The commission's previous vote had a 2- 2 deadlock on whether to keep Alexandra Wilson on the ballot.

'Zero respect': GOP civil war erupts as House and Senate feud hits breaking point

The relationship between Republican Party representatives in the House and Senate has never been worse, according to various insiders.

Unnamed GOP lawmakers from both the House and Senate made their thoughts clear on the divisions currently undermining the party. A fix for the Department of Homeland Security freeze pitched by the Senate was trashed by the House, with a boiling point reached, according to NOTUS. Insiders say the divide has only worsened over the last few months, with reps from the upper and lower chambers making clear their thoughts on the tension.

An anonymous House Republican said, "The Senate clearly, like transparently, has zero respect for the House at all. There’s this idea that they are far superior to us intellectually, that they understand issues better than we do. The Senate sees the House as a bunch of sort of barbarians or Philistines, and they’re the enlightened ones."

A separate, senior GOP aide added, "The Senate is still acting like the Senate, which is why the House hates it. It’s sort of ignoring the House’s plight. I think leadership’s trying to be sensitive to that, but members aren’t.

"Even if the relationships are not at an all-time low, the functioning is at an all-time low." Even House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly do not "respect or trust" one another.

Johnson's aide alleged there was no battle between House and Senate at the moment, and that the GOP is focused solely on pushing through potential divisions.

"Johnson has consistently emphasized the importance of House and Senate Republicans working closely together as one team, and he has worked hard to ensure it," the unnamed senior aide said.

"That cooperation and trust have been the reasons for the landmark achievements of the 119th Congress, in spite of our historically small margins. The stakes are too high to allow any division to develop now."