Ramsey Touchberry, Salon

A watchdog group has demanded that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close ally of Donald Trump, be removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee over his attempt to pressure a Georgia election official to reverse the former president's stunning loss in the Peach State.

The Checks and Balances Project (CBP), a nonpartisan investigative group, has written to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell requesting that Graham immediately relinquish his position on the prestigious Judiciary Committee, which oversees the nomination of federal judges, including Supreme Court justices.

"My question to you is this," CBP executive director Scott Peterson wrote to McConnell, in a letter sent Monday night that was provided to Salon. "Is it appropriate for a Senator to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee when he is under investigation for such a serious crime?" ...

A slew of Republican senators have thrown in the towel. At least five GOP incumbents are planning not to run for re-election next year, making way for a potential seismic ideological shift in the upper chamber.

With most of the outgoing lawmakers considered to be old school, pragmatic conservatives, their GOP colleagues say the institution may be adrift without their leadership.

This exodus may offer Democrats increased optimism that they may be able to hold onto a Senate, despite the long tradition that the sitting president's party typically loses seats in midterm elections. But on the other side of the aisle, it remains to be seen what path the Republican Party chooses to go down: Does it back candidates who align themselves with Donald Trump, or those who try to distance themselves from him?...

As the Senate began to officially debate the latest coronavirus spending measure on Thursday, a wide-ranging package worth roughly $1.9 trillion, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., drew sharp criticism from his Democratic colleagues for positioning himself as the central figure standing in the way of aid swiftly reaching struggling Americans.

This article originally appeared at Salon.

The Wisconsin Republican has vowed to delay the pandemic relief that includes provisions like individual $1,400 checks, extended unemployment benefits and housing assistance because of its size and scope. One of his tactics was to force Senate clerks to read the bill's more than 600 pages in its entirety — and force stenographers to retype the whole package — which could take up to 10 hours....

In 2019, newly-elected Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey hailed a sweeping elections reform package led by Democrats as a "clean-up corruption in Washington" bill that would "restore our democracy and promote bipartisanship."

This article first appeared in Salon.

But on Wednesday, almost exactly two years later to the day, the two-term lawmaker equated the legislation, known as H.R. 1, to socialism "served on a platter."...

On Jan. 6 at 1:49 p.m., Maj. Gen. William Walker, commander of the District of Columbia National Guard, received a frantic phone call from then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. The Capitol complex was being overrun by hostile supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Sund told the general, asking for immediate assistance from as many National Guard troops as Walker could muster.

"I would have immediately pulled off the Guardsmen supporting the Metropolitan Police Department," Walker testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday, and told them to "get on buses and go straight to the armory and report to the most ranking Capitol Police officer they saw and take direction."

But the decision wasn't up to Walker; he needed Pentagon approval. While he awaited the official go-ahead, Walker quietly directed 155 Guard troops to meet at the D.C. armory and board buses, in order to be ready the second the order came down....