Tag: Cabinet of Donald Trump

Former top FBI lawyer James Baker, in closed-door testimony to Congress, detailed alleged discussions among senior officials at the Justice Department about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office, claiming he was told Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said two Trump Cabinet officials were “ready to support” such an effort. “I was being told by some combination of Andy McCabe and Lisa Page, that, in a conversation with the Deputy Attorney General, he had stated that he -- this was what was related to me -- that he had at least two members of the president’s Cabinet who were ready to support, I guess you would call it, an action under the 25th Amendment,” Baker told the committees. One way that could happen is if a majority of the president’s Cabinet says the president is incapable of discharging his duties. Fox News requested further comment from the parties involved. “As the deputy attorney general previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment.” During his testimony, Baker acknowledged he was not directly involved in the May 2017 discussions but testified over a two-day period in October that McCabe and Page came to him contemporaneously after meeting with Rosenstein for input in the days after Comey was fired by the president. “I had the impression that the deputy attorney general had already discussed this with two members in the president’s Cabinet and that they were…onboard with this concept already,” Baker said. During the closed-door hearing, the former FBI lawyer told lawmakers he could not say whether Rosenstein was taking the initiative to seek out Cabinet members: Question: “Do you know what direction that went? On Thursday, the top Republicans on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees called for McCabe and Rosenstein to testify before their respective panels, following McCabe's comments about these discussions. Also during the testimony, Moyer said the chances of securing a 2016 surveillance warrant for a Trump campaign aide were only “50/50” without the controversial anti-Trump “dossier,” according to transcripts confirmed by Fox News. Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump met Monday with four federal appeals court judges: Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Amul R. Thapar and Raymond Kethledge, according to three people briefed on the meetings who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump’s meetings with the four candidates Monday were each about 45 minutes. Sanders insisted that the president did not discuss past cases, such as Roe v. Wade , during the interviews. On Twitter, Schumer argued that Coney Barrett would support overturning Roe v. Wade. “The bottom line: Judge Barrett has given every indication that she will be an activist judge on the Court,” Schumer wrote. McGahn worked closely with Trump ahead of Monday’s interviews, both conferring with the candidates and briefing the president, according to two White House officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. Trump’s meeting Monday with Thapar, who lives and works in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, was described by several White House aides as both a gesture of respect for the Senate GOP leader and evidence that he is in serious contention. McGahn and Lee spoke by phone Thursday and talked about the confirmation process, according to three people familiar with the conversation who were not authorized to speak publicly. Informally called the “war room,” the group of Trump officials is expected to work closely with congressional Republicans in the coming weeks. Most outside conservative groups, for the moment, are targeting Senate Democrats running for reelection in states won by Trump in 2016, but one veteran GOP strategist said Monday that advertising campaigns against moderate Republicans are not being ruled out by major donors.