Republicans

The Hill reports: Senate Republicans are taking the House impeachment proceedings against President Trump more seriously as damaging revelations against the president mount and the possibility of a quick dismissal of the charges shrinks. Earlier this year, GOP senators pledged to quickly quash any articles of impeachment passed by the House. But as the Democrats compile more evidence that Trump …

The Hill reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday blasted the newly unveiled House impeachment procedures, arguing they still fall short of giving President Trump due process. Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a top ally of Trump, said that the decision to allow House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to take the lead in the …

The New York Times reports: Robert Livingston, the former Republican congressman turned lobbyist, repeatedly told a foreign service officer assigned to the White House that the American ambassador to Ukraine should be fired because of her association with Democrats, the officer plans to tell impeachment investigators on Wednesday. The officer, Catherine M. Croft, will testify that she “documented” multiple calls …

The Washington Post reports: Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), a top candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Alabama, said Tuesday that he would not back out if Jeff Sessions tries to reclaim his old seat and warned that the former attorney general’s antagonistic relationship with President Trump would damage him politically should he run again. In recent weeks, Sessions has …

The Muncie Star Press reports: U.S. Rep. Greg Pence is asking supporters to donate to his October End of Month Impeachment Defense Fund. “We need 60 Sixth District Hoosiers to chip in and fight back against radical House Democrats who are impeaching President Trump based on fake allegations,” Pence emailed friends on Tuesday. The email calls the impeachment inquiry into …

NBC News reports: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney first learned about the U.S. military raid against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after the operation was already underway, according to five current and former senior administration officials. Mulvaney was at home in South Carolina when President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday night that “Something very big has …

Kansas City’s NPR affiliate reports: Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach agreed to legal sanctions to resolve a disciplinary complaint about his conduct in a voting rights case he lost last year. As part of the resulting diversion agreement made public Monday, Kobach admitted that he did not properly supervise lawyers and others while contesting a lawsuit that challenged …

This is a fascinating turn of events: Republicans may quibble with the substance of Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman’s testimony as they try to protect President Donald Trump from the fast-moving impeachment inquiry. But congressional GOP leaders say it’s out of bounds to attack Vindman’s patriotism and allegiance to the United States, as some conservative pundits did on Monday night. “That …

CBS News reports: CBS News has learned former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is “seriously considering” a campaign to win back his former U.S. Senate seat, according to multiple people familiar with his thinking. A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment early Tuesday. His Washington-based attorney did not immediately return requests for comment. “He is seriously considering a campaign,” said a …

CNN reports: In contentious interviews with CNN’s Manu Raju, two House Republicans struggled to defend President Trump when pressed about whether it was okay for him to ask a foreign country to investigate the Bidens. Rep. Mark Amodei, who at first publicly supported impeachment before walking the announcement back, repeatedly refused to answer questions about the substance of Trump’s now-infamous …

Mike Allen writes for Axios: A growing number of Republicans are privately warning of increasing fears of a total wipeout in 2020: House, Senate, and White House. All of this is unfolding while the economy still looks strong, and before public impeachment proceedings have officially begun. House Republicans in swing districts are retiring at a very fast pace, especially in …

Talking Points Memo reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said on Monday that she won’t co-sponsor the Senate’s resolution condemning the House impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump. “I have been critical of the House not holding a vote to authorize the inquiry but the House determines its own procedures,” Collins said. The Maine Republican said she hasn’t decided what her …

Politico reports: Rep. Greg Walden, the top Republican on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, will retire at the end of this Congress, the veteran lawmaker announced Monday. The 62-year-old Walden, who was first elected in 1998, said he was confident he’d win reelection but decided instead to end his congressional career in Jan. 2021. The Oregon congressman is …

The Washington Post reports: In hushed conversations over the past week, GOP senators lamented that the fast-expanding probe is fraying their party, which remains completely in Trump’s grip. They voiced exasperation at the expectation that they defend the president against the troublesome picture that has been painted, with neither convincing arguments from the White House nor confidence that something worse …

Mediaite reports: Senator Lindsey Graham spoke to reporters this morning on the successful operation that took out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commending the Trump administration and the US forces that carried out the raid. “The killing of Baghdadi is a game changer in the war on terror. Doesn’t mean the war is over,” Graham said. “The president’s determination over time has …

Reuters reports: Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina was released from a Florida prison on Friday after serving most of her 18-month sentence for conspiring to influence U.S. conservative activists and infiltrate a powerful gun rights group, and taken into custody by immigration officials to be deported to her native country. A prison official confirmed she was released on Friday morning …

Metro News reports: A majority of GOP senators are backing a resolution calling on the House to formalize its impeachment inquiry into Trump. The resolution, introduced Thursday by Lindsey Graham, condemns the current inquiry for what GOP  lawmakers argue is a denial of due process. The resolution details the issues the senators have with the investigation, including Trump’s legal counsel …

Mediaite reports: Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, has been the object of much ridicule on Thursday afternoon, following the release of a stunning phone call in which she threatened a reporter and bashed her husband. “Let me tell you something, from a powerful woman,” she said. “Don’t pull the crap where you’re trying to undercut another woman based on …

The right wing Washington Examiner reports: Top White House aide Kellyanne Conway, describing herself as “a powerful woman,” aggressively and disparagingly told a female reporter that it was improper to write about her husband and threatened to investigate the reporter’s personal life. This journalist, a breaking news reporter for the Washington Examiner, had written an article on Tuesday about President …

The Daily Beast reports: After Republican members of the House literally stormed the gates of the impeachment hearings on Wednesday, Judge Andrew Napolitano stopped by Fox & Friends Thursday morning to deliver a harsh wake-up call: Democrats are just “following the rules”—rules written by Republicans. “I read the House rules,” Napolitano said. “And as frustrating as it may be to …