Free Republic

As the House impeachment of President Donald Trump becomes more of a forgone political conclusion it’s worth considering what terms and conditions Senate Leader Mitch McConnell will extract in order to preserve a Trump Presidency.

A little earlier today, Nancy Pelosi decided that more of the Schiff-show was not going to be helpful and she directed various House committees to proceed with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump. The White House issued its official response: Stephanie Grisham ✔ @PressSec .@SpeakerPelosi & the Democrats should be ashamed. @realDonaldTrump has done nothing but lead our country - resulting in a booming economy, more jobs & a stronger military, to name just a few of his major accomplishments. 🇺🇸 We look forward to a fair trial in the Senate. 21.3K 9:13 AM - Dec 5, 2019 And...

President Trump said Thursday that if House Democrats are going to impeachment him they should do it "now" and "fast" so he can have a "fair" trial in the Republican-controlled Senate. In a series of tweets, Trump also said he wanted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and the Bidens to testify at a Senate trial. "The Do Nothing Democrats had a historically bad day yesterday in the House. They have no Impeachment case and are demeaning our Country. But nothing matters to them, they have gone crazy," Trump tweeted. "Therefore I say, if...

The Senate confirmed four trial court nominees to the federal bench Wednesday, among them a public interest lawyer Democrats say will trim abortion rights. The package passed as the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from constitutional scholars pursuant to its impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Senators confirmed Sarah Pitlyk to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on a 49-44 vote that largely followed party lines. “Sarah’s strong legal experience, sharp intellect, and commitment to the rule of law make her an outstanding choice for the Eastern District,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said in...

Mitt Romney joins bipartisan Senate climate change solutions group FILE - Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks at the Sutherland Institute in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks at the Sutherland Institute in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mitt Romney has joined a bipartisan Senate group that aims to find answers to climate change. The Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, led by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., consists of an equal number or Republicans and Democrats. Romney said it would serve as a starting...

Kelly Loeffler intends to portray herself as strong supporter of President Donald Trump, a critic of the “impeachment circus” and an outspoken opponent of abortion rights when she’s introduced Wednesday as Georgia’s next U.S. senator. In prepared remarks obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the financial executive will introduce herself to Georgia voters as an outsider who will fight the “socialist gang” in Washington bent on defeating the president.

BREAKING: Dems are encouraging GOP Never-Trumpers to exploit "loophole" in Senate impeachment clause whereby they wouldnt need 67 votes to remove but only 2/3 of "members present." If enough Never-Trumpers sit out trial, pretending to boycott it, they could remove Trump w/o actually voting.

Due to a pension sweetener available only to veteran Illinois lawmakers, Cullerton’s annual pension will soon be more than he ever made from his Statehouse salary. Illinois’ second-longest serving lawmaker announced Nov. 14 that he will retire in January 2020. But the departure of Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, highlights one example of how pension sweeteners Illinois lawmakers passed decades ago are putting taxpayers on the hook for extravagant benefits today. Cullerton is set to receive more than $2 million in state pension payments over the course of his retirement, should he live to age 85. He will take home...

(snip) (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has openly cheered for the impeachment process to move to the friendlier confines of the GOP-led Senate, but there may be some surprises in store for him on the way to a likely acquittal. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said it’s “inconceivable” at this point that the Senate will convict Trump on any articles of impeachment sent over from the House. It would take at least 20 Republican votes -- along with all Democrats -- to form the two-thirds majority required to remove Trump, and at present there are exactly zero. McConnell and Trump,...

Jeff Sessions’ path to regaining a place in the U.S. Senate may have gotten a little bit easier. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill decided to end his own run for Senate yesterday specifically citing the ex-Attorney General’s entry into the race in his campaign suspension announcement on Facebook. With the announcement by Senator Jeff Sessions on November 7th, the dynamics of this election have changed dramatically. When I entered the race on June 25th, I, along with my family and closest supporters, saw a path to victory. We met our initial goals and had six months of successful...

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will likely tap business executive Kelly Loeffler to the U.S. Senate despite strong criticism from his conservative base over Loffler’s affiliation with Planned Parenthood, Stacey Abrams, and establishment Republicans, according to a report released Friday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that Kemp plans to tap business executive Loeffler next week as he will attempt to appeal to Georgia suburban women despite the conservative opposition to Loeffler. Kemp’s potential nomination of Loeffler will defy President Donald Trump, prominent conservative organizations, and Georgia’s conservative base that helped Kemp get elected to the governor’s office. Breitbart News has...

The Democrats have manifestly failed to build the national consensus necessary to remove a sitting president from office. The “impeachment inquiry” decreed by Nancy Pelosi in late September, combined with Adam Schiff’s inequitable conduct of the subsequent public hearings, have produced the reverse of their intended result. Several reliable voter surveys show that they weakened support for impeachment among Independent voters, particularly those in crucial swing states, while hardening support for the president among Republicans. When the Democrats pass their impeachment resolution, the sordid spectacle will move to the Senate, where Chief Justice John Roberts must preside over a trial...

A group of Democratic senators, half of whom currently running for president, are supporting a new bill that would direct the Federal Reserve to formally factor climate-change risks into its oversight of large financial firms. Sen. Brian Schatz, (D., Hawaii) announced on Wednesday that he was joining with nine other Democrat senators on the legislation—including presidential hopefuls Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Michael Bennet (D., Colo.), Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) and Kamala Harris (D., -Calif.). Rep. Sean Casten (D., Ill.) has introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives. The bill, if passed, directs the...

On Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) refused to say he would testify in an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the Senate. When asked if he would be willing to testify in the Senate, Schiff said, “There is nothing to testify about. I think if the president or his allies in the Senate persist, it means they are not serious about what they are doing.” Host Jake Tapper said, “Sorry for interrupting. They would cite David Kendall, President Clinton’s attorney, got to cross-examine Ken Starr. I understand you are not an independent...

President Trump welcomes a Senate trial. Is this a good idea? Let's take a look at the current Republicans in the Senate and see which ones would vote to remove the President from office.

Briar patch or pent-up frustration over being sidelined? In an interview with Fox & Friends earlier today, Donald Trump told the panel that he welcomed a Senate trial — if Democrats dare to impeach him. Trump says he would like nothing better than to turn the tables on “shifty Schiff” and call all the witnesses the House Intelligence chair blocked when requested by Republicans (via Colby Hall at Mediaite): President Trump just said this on @foxandfriends in a phone interview this morning:"I want a trial."The hosts tried to ask him a follow-up question about that, but he didn't stop...

The target of Democrat zealots in the House of Representatives lead by Speaker Pelosi and Adam Schiff is to impeach and remove President Donald Trump. Sadly for him the person they have a much higher probability of removing from his lofty perch is Chief Justice John Roberts. The famous cliché; the law of unintended consequences is fast approaching. ... Since the Constitution definitely states it must be the “Chief Justice” by title that presides over a Senate trail it can easily be understood and fully accepted that provision (b) of serving in government employment is not an ABA ethical disqualification....

President Trump has opted against pressuring Senate Republicans to immediately dismiss articles of impeachment, sparing the party the prospect of a clash at the outset of an election year. White House counsel Pat Cipollone signaled during a Thursday meeting with key Senate Republicans that Trump has concluded he has more to gain politically from presenting a detailed defense at trial than from no trial at all, said GOP sources familiar with the discussion. That decision should shield Senate Republicans from the damaging backlash from the conservative base that might ensue — at the onset of GOP primary season — if...

An attorney representing former Gov. John Hickenlooper in a case being investigated by the Colorado state ethics committee has been paid $43,390 in taxpayer dollars for his work ... Denver lawyer Mark Grueskin was made a special assistant attorney general and appointed in October 2018 to handle the ethics complaint against Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper, now running for U.S. Senate to try to unseat Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, was governor until January of this year, but the ethics case is ongoing. ... Grueskin is being paid $525 an hour – totaling $43,39 for his work on the case so far. A paralegal...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that he can't envision any scenario in which the GOP-controlled Senate would vote to remove President Trump from office. “I can’t imagine a scenario under which President Trump would be removed from office with 67 votes in the Senate," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky, USA Today reported. Rebuking House Democrats for "Trump derangement syndrome," he also argued that the impeachment effort would take up time that the Senate should be using for important legislative business. "Nothing is happening because House Democrats seized with Trump derangement syndrome are consumed with this argument with...