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Huffington Post — Trump Privately Pressuring GOP Senators To ‘Kill’ Border Deal To Deny Biden A Win
Donald Trump on Wednesday privately pressured Senate Republicans to “kill” a bipartisan deal to secure the U.S. border because he doesn’t want President Joe Biden to chalk up a win ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a source familiar with the tenuous negotiations on the package.
Trump directly reached out to several GOP senators on Wednesday to tell them to reject any deal, said this source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. The GOP presidential frontrunner also personally reached out to some Senate Republicans over the weekend, the source told HuffPost.
“Trump wants them to kill it because he doesn’t want Biden to have a victory,” said the source. “He told them he will fix the border when he is president… He said he only wants the perfect deal.”
Trump’s meddling generated an “emotional” discussion in a closed door meeting between Senate Republicans on Wednesday, as senators vented their frustrations for hours about the largely secret negotiations over emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and immigration. The conference is splintering into two camps: those who believe Republicans should take the deal, and those who are opposed at any cost.
“The rational Republicans want the deal because they want Ukraine and Israel and an actual border solution,” said the source. “But the others are afraid of Trump, or they’re the chaos caucus who never wants to pass anything.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott broke with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, using a loophole in its recent ruling to use razor wire at the border wall, escalating his ongoing feud with the Biden Administration.
On Monday, a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling granted the U.S. Border Agents the ability to remove razor wire from the top of Texas’ border wall, but said nothing preventing Abbott from instructing the Texas National Guard to continue laying it.
On Wednesday, Abbott posted a statement on X which said that the federal government had failed to protect Texas from invasion, as is set out in Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution.
...On Wednesday, Abbott posted a statement on X which said that the federal government had failed to protect Texas from invasion, as is set out in Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution.
A Department of Defense report found an obscene lack of control over the handling of controlled medications while Trump was in office
White House pharmacists reportedly distributed uppers and downers like candy to Trump administration officials during his time in office, according to a new report from the Department of Defense Inspector General.
...While Trump lived under the White House roof, the pharmacy reportedly kept messy, handwritten records, spent lavishly on brand-name medications, and failed to comply with a slew of federal law and Department of Defense regulations governing the handling, distribution, and disposal of prescription medication.
Through in-person inspections and interviews with over 120 officials, the report concluded “that the White House Medical Unit provided a wide range of health care and pharmaceutical services to ineligible White House staff in violation of Federal law and regulation and DoD policy. Additionally, the White House Medical Unit dispensed prescription medications, including controlled substances, to ineligible White House staff.”
... “One of our requirements was to go ahead and make packets up for the controlled medications. And those would typically be Ambien or Provigil and typically both,” the witness said. “So we would normally make these packets of Ambien and Provigil, and a lot of times they’d be in like five tablets in a zip‑lock bag. And so traditionally, too, we would hand these out.”
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key figure in getting bills passed through Congress, says she will not endorse former President Trump, even if he becomes the Republican Party’s nominee for president.
Asked if she could see herself endorsing Trump if he wins the nomination, Collins replied: “I do not at this point.”
The highly respected Maine senator was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection during his second Senate trial in 2021.
...Collins made her remarks at a time when more and more GOP senators are lining up behind Trump’s campaign, including Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), who previously raised questions about Trump’s viability in a general election.
Florida’s contested congressional map that helped Republicans capture the U.S. House may get left in place for the 2024 elections after the state’s highest court signaled it could be months before it rules on a lawsuit challenging the current districts.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawyers for the GOP-controlled Legislature had urged the Florida Supreme Court to keep in place an appeals court ruling that upheld a map that dismantled the seat that former Democratic Rep. Al Lawson held and which led to a net gain of four seats for Republicans during the 2022 election cycle. That map was muscled into law by DeSantis.
...House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell questioned why the high court took so long to accept the case, especially when there is also a separate challenge in federal court. She said it “demonstrates the lack of urgency which they view this issue. It’s a bit surprising, given that the federal court case is hanging out there.”
...The state lawsuit focuses on whether or not the decision to dismantle Lawson’s seat violates Florida’s voter-approved redistricting standards. Judge J. Lee Marsh in August had found that the map’s elimination of the seat held by Lawson diminished the ability of minority voters to elect a candidate of their choice.
Background on this story: The EPA was worried this judge would block it from ALL environmental justice action, so they backed down. That should have ended the case, but the judge decided to go ahead and rule anyway…
Louisiana successfully convinced a federal judge in the state to block the EPA and the Department of Justice from imposing disparate impact requirements under the Civil Rights Act.
Judge James D. Cain Jr.'s decision Tuesday prevents the Environmental Protection Agency and DOJ from imposing or enforcing such requirements against the state or any state agency under Title VI of the act.
Cain, of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, also blocked the EPA and DOJ from enforcing any Title VI requirements unless they are both ratified by the president and based on requirements within the EPA’s disparate impact regulations. The agency’s regulations essentially block EPA-funded agencies from taking actions that “are intentionally discriminatory or have a discriminatory effect.”
Louisiana’s case stems from the federal government’s investigations into complaints that certain state agencies violated Title VI by discriminating against Black residents through the agencies’ oversight of an area known as “Cancer Alley.”
The federal government asked the judge in August to toss Louisiana’s case after the EPA dropped its investigations. But Cain found Tuesday that the regulations still in place impose increased costs on the state, and that the state is “entitled to unambiguous clarity concerning Defendants’ power to regulate beyond the plain text of Title VI.”
The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has reached out to the woman whom the congressman allegedly had sexual relations with when she was a 17-year-old minor, according to a source familiar with the committee’s work.
The outreach, which has not previously been reported, is a sign that the GOP-led committee’s investigation into the Florida Republican has recently expanded to include questioning around allegations of sex crimes.
Sources said the committee also has reached out to the Justice Department requesting materials from its investigation into Gaetz, which included allegations of lobbying violations, sex-trafficking and possible obstruction of justice. The federal probe, which also included allegations he had sex with a minor, concluded in 2023 with no charges brought against the congressman.
In related news, there’s this Xtweet:
If you are unsure of how completely insane Trump's political operation is, and how royally screwed the GOP is going into the general election, this should give you an idea:
On January 22nd, Trump attorney Alina Habba told Judge Lewis Kaplan she needed to delay Trump's defamation trial because her parents had Covid and she herself was sick.
On January 23rd, Trump staffer Dylan Quattrucci took a photo with Alina Habba at Trump's NH primary victory party and posted that photo to social media.
Quattrucci inadvertently shared with the world that Habba had lied to a Judge to delay court proceedings. (I would image that Habba committed some kind of crime there).
For doing that, Quattrucci was immediately kicked out of Trump's victory event. Of course he filmed his expulsion and posted it to social media...
When Americans are asked to check a box indicating their religious affiliation, 28% now check 'none.'
A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is "nothing in particular" – is now the largest cohort in the U.S. They're more prevalent among American adults than Catholics (23%) or evangelical Protestants (24%).
..."We know politically for example," Smith says, "that religious Nones are very distinctive. They are among the most strongly and consistently liberal and Democratic constituencies in the United States."
And that could change electoral politics in the coming decades.
The political power of white Evangelicals has been well-reported in recent decades, but their numbers are shrinking while the number of the more liberal Nones is on the rise.
More than 1 in 4 Gen Z adults in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, dwarfing the percentages of LGBTQ Americans in older age groups, a new survey has found.
Twenty-eight percent of Gen Z adults — which the survey’s researchers specify as those ages 18 to 25 — identify as LGBTQ, according to a report released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI. That compares with 10% of all adults, 16% of millennials, 7% of Generation X, 4% of baby boomers and 4% of the Silent Generation, the institute found.
“With respect to LGBTQ identity, it’s very clear that Gen Z adults look different than older Americans,” said Melissa Deckman, PRRI’s chief executive.
More than 1 in 4 Gen Z adults in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, dwarfing the percentages of LGBTQ Americans in older age groups, a new survey has found.
Twenty-eight percent of Gen Z adults — which the survey’s researchers specify as those ages 18 to 25 — identify as LGBTQ, according to a report released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI. That compares with 10% of all adults, 16% of millennials, 7% of Generation X, 4% of baby boomers and 4% of the Silent Generation, the institute found.
“With respect to LGBTQ identity, it’s very clear that Gen Z adults look different than older Americans,” said Melissa Deckman, PRRI’s chief executive.
In its LGBTQ identity breakdown, the report found 72% of Gen Z adults identified as straight, 15% as bisexual, 5% as gay or lesbian and 8% as something else.
...As a result of Boeing's mismanagement, America's only aircraft supplier steadily has lost ground to Airbus, which today enjoys a 2:1 advantage over Boeing. But it's not just Boeing that's the weak link aviation. US aviation is a chain entirely composed of weak links.
Take jet engines: Pratt & Whitney are Spirit's major engine supplier, but these engines suck as much as Boeing's fuselages. Much of Spirit's fleet is chronically grounded because the engines don't run. The reason Spirit buys its engines from those loveable goofballs at Pratt & Whitney? The Big Four airlines have bought all the engines for sale from other suppliers, leaving smaller airlines to buy their engines from fat-fingered incompetents.
This is why – as Dayen notes – smaller US airlines are so horny for intermarriage. They can't grow by adding routes, because there are no pilots. Even if they could get pilots, there'd be no slots because there are no air traffic controllers. But even if they could get pilots and slots, there are no planes, because Boeing sucks and Airbus can't make planes fast enough to supply the airlines that don't trust Boeing. And even if they could get aircraft, there are no engines because the Big Four aviation cartel cornered the market on working jet engines.
Part of Jetblue and Spirit's pitch was that they hand off the routes that they'd cut after their merger to other small airlines, like Frontier and Allegiant. But Frontier and Allegiant can't service those routes: they don't have pilots, slots, planes or engines.
A few minutes ago The New York Times moved a story saying that the White House has decided to pause permitting for new LNG terminals—if it’s true, and I think it is, this is the biggest thing a U.S. president has ever done to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
...Yes, there are always devils in the details. And it doesn’t guarantee long-term victory—it sets up a process where victory is possible (to this point, the industry has gotten every permit they’ve asked for). But I have a beer in my hand. If the administration backtracks, it will be a disappointment of epic proportion that I can’t imagine them doing it. Here’s what veteran energy analyst Jeremy Symons, who has been a rock in this fight, just emailed campaigners:
I am heartened by several things in this article, including, critically, that the full array of LNG projects are potentially implicated. Also, this: "Within the White House, there is little division over the decision to delay CP2, in part because it is not seen as a major energy security issue, said people familiar with the discussion. That’s because the United States is already producing and exporting so much gas. That capacity is set to nearly double over the next four years, making the need for CP2 less urgent."
As you all know, this is a sea change in how the administration has viewed LNG. It is not by any means a final victory, but we KNOW that the facts will win the day when given a fair hearing. We have never had a fair hearing, until now.
One reason to think the Times story is correct is that the right wing is already screaming.
More on this story on DKOS from Dan Bacher — Biden Administration announces pause in approvals for liquid natural gas (LNG) export terminal
It wouldn’t be the Academy Award nominations without a few shockers mixed in, and this year was no exception. While some big names like Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio missed out on acting nominations, there were also some unexpected inclusions along the way…
SNUB: Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, “Barbie”
The powerhouse duo responsible for the biggest movie of the year found love in other categories —Robbie is included in the film’s best picture nomination as a producer and Gerwig saw her screenplay (with co-writer Noah Baumbach) recognized. But Robbie ultimately missed on the competitive best actress lineup while Gerwig was shut out of director….
SNUB: Leonardo DiCaprio, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
The Oscar winner seemed like a sure thing since the premiere of “Flower Moon” at Cannes last May. But after missing out on a SAG nomination, there were fears he would fail to show up on the best actor list for his acclaimed turn as Ernest Burkhart. It’s not the first prominent miss for the actor. Perhaps some voters were turned off by how unsympathetic his character came off, or he was just a victim of a wildly competitive category.
SNUB: The Actors of “May December”
Coming into the season, the trio of performances at the center of Todd Haynes’ latest film looked promising. Both lead Natalie Portman and supporting actress Julianne Moore were previous Oscar winners, and supporting actor Charles Melton was considered a major breakthrough. In fact, Melton took home the Gotham Award over some stiff competition early on. Golden Globe, Spirit and Critics’ Choice noms followed — but then the cast was left out at SAG. Sadly, that foretold the Oscar nominations, in which all three actors were shut out.
YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS. Right now.
What are YOU doing to get on the right side of history tonight? Tell us all about it in the comments!
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) eeff, Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw
