Free Republic

Chuck Schumer lost the first impeachment trial battle to Mitch McConnell. But the Democratic leader and his party insist they can still win the war. While Senate Majority Leader McConnell has locked up enough Republican votes to ignore demands for a bipartisan framework for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, his Democratic counterpart is readying a counteroffensive. Schumer will force a series of votes designed to squeeze vulnerable Republicans and harm them on the campaign trail if they side with Trump. Democrats argue the half-dozen at-risk GOP senators will need some daylight between them and Trump to get reelected. And if...

President Donald Trump will not consider the House-passed universal background checks bill as part of his proposed gun package, according to a source familiar with the conversation on guns. Trump’s position on the House-passed bill is not exactly a surprise. The White House issued a veto threat against the bill in February. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have called on Trump repeatedly to bring up the House-passed universal background checks bill. Over the weekend, Pelosi and Schumer issued a statement following a phone call with Trump that anything other than the House-passed bill...

ADEL, Iowa —Joni Ernst had barely kicked off a town hall one morning here recently when the barrage of complaints about Donald Trump began. One after one, constituents took to the microphone to grill the first term Republican senator about the president — his attacks on John McCain, his emergency declaration at the border and why, in the opinion of several voters, Ernst hasn’t stood up to him more often. “Other senators are speaking up criticizing Trump and defending McCain, but I have yet to hear one word from you,” one man implored her. “Is there no line Trump can...