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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is poised to become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced Friday that he would step down to take over the chairmanship of the Finance Committee. The shuffle would put Graham, a close ally of President Trump who made headlines this fall with a forceful denunciation of Democrats during Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, in charge of the panel handling judicial nominations. ADVERTISEMENT Graham is up for reelection in 2020. He praised Grassley’s leadership of the committee in a Tweet Friday. “I very much appreciate Senate @ChuckGrassley’s leadership of...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley brushed aside demands to hold a hearing on the ouster of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the designation of Matthew Whitaker as his acting replacement, saying Thursday that the law appears to have been followed. Mr. Grassley also said it was “ironic” that Democrats are now intent on defending Mr. Sessions, who they excoriated for the nearly two years he was in office. The Iowa Republican said he’s confident President Trump followed the Vacancies Reform Act in naming Mr. Whitaker, who was not in a Senate-confirmed position but who, according to the...

Senators returned to Washington Tuesday and immediately picked up where they left off — processing President Trump’s judicial nominees, over the objections of Democrats. The Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Paul B. Matey, nominated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and for four district court picks. Mr. Matey’s nomination is particularly controversial because it marks another round in the fight over Senate traditions and courtesies and their abuse in the era of Mr. Trump. Mr. Matey is slated to fill a seat on the appeals court that’s traditionally ascribed to New Jersey. But that state’s senators, both...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) plans to make a decision about which committee chairmanship he wants to hold next year after discussing the matter with his Senate colleagues next week, a spokesman for the senator said Wednesday. Grassley is currently the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But with the retirement of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Finance Committee chairmanship is open and Grassley has seniority on the panel. "Regarding Sen. Grassley’s chairmanship next Congress, Sen. Grassley will consult with his colleagues when the Senate returns next week and will then announce his decision," Grassley spokesman Michael Zona said. The Finance...

On Saturday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley released a 400-page report detailing the Senate’s investigation of the numerous charges leveled against Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the eleventh hour of his confirmation process. While it repeated many previously known facts, the report included several new tidbits that further expose the fraudulent nature of the claims of sexual misconduct. Here are the top seven takeaways.

Full title: Kavanaugh report's biggest bombshells: Grassley probe reveals details behind mistaken identity claims, more Weeks after Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation -- and the sexual assault allegations against him -- captured the country's attention, the Senate Judiciary Committee has released a massive report on those accusations that's largely flown under the radar in the run-up to the midterms. But the 414-page document, authored by the Republican majority and released over the weekend, contains a number of key revelations. Among them: the report summarizes a statement from a man who believes he may have been involved in an encounter with Christine...

President Trump on Sunday appeared to suggest additional women who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct were lying after one woman admitted she fabricated a claim against the judge. "A woman who accused then-Judge Kavanaugh of horrible, horrible crimes admitted that actually she never met Judge Kavanaugh, or Brett Kavanaugh or Kavanaugh period. Never met him, never saw him and the act never happened, and it was a lie," Trump told supporters during a campaign rally in Georgia. The crowd burst into chants of "lock her up" as Trump stepped away from the podium and clapped. Though...

There is one clear certainty about Tuesday’s midterm elections. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York will not become the Senate majority leader. I have looked at every Senate race this year, and I do not see any way the Democrats can win majority control of the chamber when voters cast ballots just a few days from now. The supposed blue wave broke before making it to shore. This is a much bigger breakthrough in national government than you might have expected. If the Democrats acquire a majority in the Senate they could block every person President Trump nominates for...

Senator Chuck Grassley and House Speaker Paul Ryan objected Tuesday to President Trump’s suggestion that he could end birthright citizenship by executive order. “I am not a lawyer but it seems to me it would take a constitutional amendment to change that as opposed to an executive order,” Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee told Iowa’s CBS2. Most legal scholars believe the 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents’ legal status. The Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced Friday that he is issuing a second criminal referral regarding lawyer Michael Avenatti. Grassley announced the move a day after referring Avenatti and his client, Julie Swetnick, to the Justice Department for a potential criminal investigation into whether they made false statements to Congress about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The GOP chairman indicated that the second referral was precipitated by an NBC News report on Thursday, which contended that Swetnick denied making key allegations, saying that Avenatti “twisted [her] words.” Avenatti responded in a statement to The Hill, calling Grassley's referral...

Lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted Thursday that he is ready to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation into himself and client Julie Swetnick as soon as "tonight." His tweet, directed at Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), came hours after Grassley announced he is referring Swetnick and Avenatti to the Justice Department for a potential criminal investigation into whether they made false statements to Congress about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh "@ChuckGrassley, let’s start the investigation tonight," Avenatti tweeted on Thursday evening. "I will make my client available for a sworn interview and you can make Judge Kavanaugh available for...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Thursday referred lawyer Michael Avenatti and a woman he represented to the Justice Department and the FBI for criminal investigation, claiming they made potentially false statements to Congress about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and alleged sexual misconduct. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, cited "contradictions" between what Avenatti's client Julie Swetnick originally told the Judiciary Committee about Kavanaugh in an affidavit in late September, and what she said about the then-Supreme Court nominee days later in an interview with NBC News. In his letter Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday referred lawyer Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick — one of the women who accused now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of misconduct during his confirmation proceedings — to the Department of Justice for a criminal probe, alleging that they made “materially false” statements to Grassley’s committee as it investigated the allegations. Swetnick said in a September affidavit that Kavanaugh attended a 1982 house party during which she says she was gang raped — an accusation Kavanaugh vehemently denied and said was from the “Twilight Zone.” Grassley said he is asking...

A Long Island man was busted for making death threats against GOP U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Susan Collins for their support of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, The Post has learned.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats struck a deal last week with Republicans that saw the quick confirmation of 15 more conservative judges in exchange for a rapid flight to the campaign trail. Liberal activists were infuriated, but after the brutally divisive fight to confirm Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the agreement held out a promise of peace. “I would like to have the future mending things,” declared the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. On Wednesday, at Mr. Grassley’s instruction, the armistice collapsed. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee convened yet another hearing to consider still...

Senate Democrats on Wednesday boycotted a Judiciary Committee hearing to examine a group of Trump administration nominees, complaining that the hearing shouldn't have been scheduled while the Senate was out of town. Republican Sens. John Kennedy of Louisiana, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Mike Crapo of Idaho, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska were the only Republicans at the hearing, which was called to consider six of President Trump's judicial nominees. The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, of California, had a scheduling conflict, a spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. She called on Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to...

Hillary Clinton has given up her security clearance in the wake of the scandal over her handling of secret information on her email server, the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed Friday. Chairman Charles E. Grassley also revealed top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills and four others no longer have clearance.

Hillary Clinton has given up her security clearance in the wake of the scandal over her handling of secret information on her email server, the Senate Judiciary committee revealed Friday. Chairman Chuck Grassley also revealed top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills and four others no longer have clearance.

With the Supreme Court nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh completed, GOP senators are quickly pivoting to filling out the rest of the federal courts, eyeing more than 40 district and circuit judges they want to confirm before the end of the year. One top priority is filling the seat left vacant on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when Justice Kavanaugh was elevated. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Republicans’ point man on the issue, said if the White House can nominate someone this week, lawmakers could have Justice Kavanaugh’s replacement seated by Christmas. That would be in...

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) promised to raise $3 million to support Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to counteract anger over her vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "I'm going to help raise $3 million to match that," Grassley told Marth MacCallum during an interview on Fox News Tuesday, when asked what he thought of a fundraising effort against Collins in Maine that has raked in about $3 million. Collins has come under fire from many on the left for supporting Kavanaugh in a narrow confirmation vote, who was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford and other women....