Tag: Mike Pence

Watch Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder’s entire March 2019 interview with MSNBC anchor and chief legal correspondent Ari Melber – a newsmaking discussion which drew a reaction from Vice President Mike Pence, for Holder’s comments about MAGA and voting…

Vice President Mike Pence trolled former Attorney General Eric Holder, after Holder had a broader conversation about voting rights and what makes “America great” with Ari Melber. Melber examines both sides of the debate and puts Holder’s comments in context,…

Rachel Maddow shows a pattern in behavior by the Trump administration of making dramatic announcements without following through to make sure the thing they announced ends up being real, and expresses caution about the announcement of the Mueller report happening…

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday issued his first veto, rejecting legislation to overturn his declaration of a national emergency to fund a wall along the southwestern border. The bill had attracted significant Republican support in Congress, a rare and notable departure from partisan solidarity. “Today, I am vetoing this resolution,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Mr. Barr said the president’s emergency order was “clearly authorized under the law” and “solidly grounded in law.” The veto, which was expected, will send the legislation back to Congress, which almost certainly does not have enough votes for an override. That means Mr. Trump’s declaration will remain in effect. “It is no surprise that the president holds the rule of law and our Constitution in minimal regard,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement. “There is no emergency; Congress has refused to fund his wall multiple times; Mexico won’t pay for it; and a bipartisan majority in both chambers just voted to terminate his fake emergency.” To that, Speaker Nancy Pelosi added, “The House and Senate resoundingly rejected the president’s lawless power grab, yet the president has chosen to continue to defy the Constitution, the Congress and the will of the American people.” Mr. Trump has long insisted that there was a security and humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico, an assertion that was undercut by Mr. Trump himself when he acknowledged that he could have waited to issue a declaration. On Thursday, a dozen Republicans joined Senate Democrats in voting to overturn Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration, 59 to 41. I said, ‘When I need your vote, I’m going to let you know.’ I didn’t need the vote because we all knew it was going to be a veto, and they’re not going to be able to override. The president said on Friday that there was nothing less than an “invasion” of the United States by migrants, and he added that so many of them had been apprehended that there was “nowhere left to hold all of the people that we’re capturing.” Even if Congress fails to override the veto, the emergency declaration is already drawing court challenges.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday issued his first veto, rejecting legislation to overturn his declaration of a national emergency to fund a wall along the southwestern border. The bill had attracted significant Republican support in Congress, a rare and notable departure from partisan solidarity. “Today, I am vetoing this resolution,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Mr. Barr said the president’s emergency order was “clearly authorized under the law” and “solidly grounded in law.” The veto, which was expected, will send the legislation back to Congress, which almost certainly does not have enough votes for an override. That means Mr. Trump’s declaration will remain in effect. “It is no surprise that the president holds the rule of law and our Constitution in minimal regard,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement. “There is no emergency; Congress has refused to fund his wall multiple times; Mexico won’t pay for it; and a bipartisan majority in both chambers just voted to terminate his fake emergency.” To that, Speaker Nancy Pelosi added, “The House and Senate resoundingly rejected the president’s lawless power grab, yet the president has chosen to continue to defy the Constitution, the Congress and the will of the American people.” Mr. Trump has long insisted that there was a security and humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico, an assertion that was undercut by Mr. Trump himself when he acknowledged that he could have waited to issue a declaration. On Thursday, a dozen Republicans joined Senate Democrats in voting to overturn Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration, 59 to 41. I said, ‘When I need your vote, I’m going to let you know.’ I didn’t need the vote because we all knew it was going to be a veto, and they’re not going to be able to override. The president said on Friday that there was nothing less than an “invasion” of the United States by migrants, and he added that so many of them had been apprehended that there was “nowhere left to hold all of the people that we’re capturing.” Even if Congress fails to override the veto, the emergency declaration is already drawing court challenges.

This was destined to be another example of the impossibility in Washington of deviating from unflinching support of Israel’s policies. A powerful lobby tried to suppress criticism of its work, and rank-and-file Democrats spoke their minds. Earlier this month, she tweeted that support in Congress for Israel was “all about the Benjamins baby,” referring to $100 bills. Let’s be clear about the sums we’re talking about. Outside of lobbying, AIPAC rallies its members to assist in political campaigns of like-minded candidates. AIPAC aside, one of the GOP’s largest donors is Sheldon Adelson, who is almost singularly focused on Israel policy. (The bill that AIPAC most frequently lobbied on during the last Congress was the “Combating BDS Act.”) Adelson’s campaign contributions exceeded $100 million in 2018, breaking his own record of $82.6 million in 2016. How these interests are advanced in Washington is pretty elemental. Either big-money lobbying puts powerful interests ahead of the public interest, or it doesn’t. Omar has made clear where she stands on the matter.

WASHINGTON — As the White House gears up for the 2020 campaign, it’s pressing the case that Democrats are rallying behind what it’s calling the policies of “socialism.” Trying to portray Democrats as out of step with ordinary Americans, Vice President Mike Pence said in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the choice in the next election is “between freedom and socialism, between personal responsibility and government dependence.” It was the latest step in a coordinated effort by President Donald Trump and his allies to drive up enthusiasm among the GOP base by sowing fears about the policies pushed by Democrats. “The moment America becomes a socialist country is the moment America ceases to be America,” Pence told the crowd of conservative activists. Pence also took aim at “Medicare for all” and the Green New Deal, policy proposals prominent in the crowded Democratic contest for the presidential nomination. The Medicare proposal really means “quality health care for none,” Pence said. And “the only thing green” about the Democrats’ environmental framework to combat climate change, the vice president said, “is how much green it’s going to cost taxpayers if we do it: $90 trillion.” Pence called Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is making a second run for the Democratic presidential nomination, an “avowed socialist” and said Sanders epitomized Democratic candidates and officials who “have papered over the failed policies of socialism with bumper-sticker slogans and slick social media campaigns.” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said at the conference Thursday that Americans should “put socialism on trial and then convict it.” Trump was expected to deliver a similar message when he addresses the conference on Saturday. The White House has tried to cite the political chaos in Venezuela, where moderates backed by the Trump administration are challenging the socialist government of Nicholas Maduro after years of economic collapse, as a warning sign about the consequences of Democratic policies in the United States. A Gallup poll from last August found that 37 percent of Americans feel positive about socialism, a share little changed over the past decade. Nearly 6 in 10 Democrats (57 percent) reported having a positive view of socialism, more than three times the share of Republicans (16 percent). According to Gallup, young adults are especially likely to view socialism positively. Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe and Hannah Fingerhut contributed.

Meanwhile, Vice President Pence traveled to Colombia to meet with opposition leader Juan Guaido, promising that the U.S. would increase sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to oust President Maduro, and calling for other countries to do the same. Special correspondent Nadja Drost reports. Nadja Drost: The town of Urena on the border with Colombia was the front line on Saturday in the battle between the two leaders for control of Venezuela. Nadja Drost: They're following a plan devised by the man they now consider their president, Juan Guaido, who is trying to peel away support of President Nicolas Maduro from the military to allow aid into the country. Protesters want to make their way onto the bridge that crosses the river into Colombia, but the national guard has been blockading all groups from access. No matter what happens, protesters here today say they will find a way to break the blockade of the national guard in order to allow humanitarian aid from Colombia to pass the border into Venezuela. Nadja Drost: As the national guard took to the streets and started firing at protesters with rubber bullets, many of them were rescued by mobile units of volunteer nurses and brought to the nearest safe house, before being transferred to this private health clinic opening its doors to anyone injured. While the opposition blames Maduro for not allowing shipments of food and health supplies donated by the U.S., seen by the Maduro's government as their number one enemy, the government says the effort to force in aid is a form of foreign intervention and threat to sovereignty. While the Venezuelan Red Cross has offered to administer whatever aid is in the country, it has refused to participate in an operation where alleged political motivations eclipse humanitarian ones. Patients either don't come because they know the hospital can't to treat them, or they cross into Colombia.

Good Monday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ • Mike Pompeo will face his greatest test as secretary of state this week, when he accompanies President Trump to a summit meeting with North Korea’s leaders: He must keep Mr. Trump from giving away U.S. leverage on denuclearization while remaining in Mr. Trump’s good graces. • Vice President Mike Pence is commonly seen around Washington as a mute helpmate to a bombastic president. On foreign soil, he has toyed with the idea of branching out — just not too far. • Mr. Trump delayed his own deadline to increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports, citing “substantial progress” during a week of trade talks in Washington between American and Chinese officials. • Last week, home for the first district workweek of their term, moderate Democrats got to see firsthand how the voices of a small but vocal number of liberal lawmakers are reverberating in far more marginal districts. • Even before Democrats finish drafting bills to create a single-payer health care system, the health care and insurance industries have assembled a small army of lobbyists to kill “Medicare for all.” • Representative Adam B. Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that House Democrats were prepared to go to court to force the release of the final report from the special counsel, Robert Mueller, if it were not made public. • Who is Konstantin Kilimnik, and what did he and Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, discuss in 2016? Here’s the story behind the Russian operative pivotal to the special counsel investigation.