Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked a non-binding resolution to make special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report public, Axios reports.
“The resolution was passed unanimously in the House. McConnell cited national security concerns for his decision to block the proposal, and argued that Attorney General Bill Barr should have time to decide what’s made public.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he has yet to determine whether President Trump’s emergency declaration to build border barriers is legal, The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “I haven’t reached a total conclusion.”
Axios: “Like McConnell, Craft is from Kentucky, where she and her husband, billionaire coal CEO Joe Craft, rank among the state’s highest-profile Republican donors. Last month, she was being eyed as a potential candidate for lieutenant governor by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin in his re-election race later this year.”
“Well, I mean, the ultimate check against any of this is the ballot box. And one could argue, at least with regard to the House of Representatives last year, that there were plenty of people who wanted a midcourse correction.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times Magazine.
Washington Examiner: “With President Trump in the White House and his agenda enjoying the broad support of GOP primary voters, especially on the border wall, McConnell views the political terrain and his leadership differently, say knowledgeable Republicans. That has led to deferring to the president on policy and strategy during the 26-day-old government shutdown when in the past he might have taken the reigns and killed it.”
“McConnell’s overriding interest is avoiding the sort of public warfare with Trump that threatened to decapitate his majority early in 2018, before he reached a detente with the president, and put his conference in the best position to emerge from the 2020 primaries unscathed. The majority leader is among the Republicans up for re-election next year.”
Paul Kane: “McConnell’s absence is completely misunderstood. Many think that there is no deal because he is on the sideline, but in fact it’s the opposite: He is on the sidelines because there is no deal to be had, at least not yet.”
“There is a fundamental divide that cannot be bridged by a mathematical slight of hand the way McConnell helped resolve other impasses — move a little money from this account into that one, cut taxes from these workers but increase them on a few others. No, this is fundamental: Trump wants a border wall, Pelosi is morally opposed to that. There’s no old-school-appropriator resolution.”
Politico: “A handful of Senate Republicans are expressing frustration with their party’s handling of the ongoing government shutdown. But Mitch McConnell is a long way from facing any sort of rebellion.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell became the highest-ranking Republican to speak out against Rep. Steve King (R-IA) following his racially charged comments, saying that there is ‘no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind,” the Washington Post reports.
Said McConnell: “I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. Rep. King’s statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position. If he doesn’t understand why ‘white supremacy’ is offensive, he should find another line of work.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that the Senate “would shutter for legislative business until Thursday, leaving many federal agencies closed until later next week at the earliest,” the Washington Post reports.
“The decision came after President Trump had a lunch with conservative Republicans and dispatched Vice President Pence to the Capitol to make the latest offer to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), a meeting that is ongoing.”
“By shuttering the Senate until then, lawmakers will go home for the holidays as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are left in limbo about their status.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he was “distressed” by Defense Secretary James Mattis’s resignation announcement, The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “I believe it’s essential that the United States maintain and strengthen the post-World War II alliances that have been carefully built by leaders in both parties. We must also maintain a clear-eyed understanding of our friends and foes, and recognize that nations like Russia are among the latter.”
He added: “So I was sorry to learn that Secretary Mattis, who shares those clear principles, will soon depart the administration. But I am particularly distressed that he is resigning due to sharp differences with the president on these and other key aspects of America’s global leadership.”
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “shut down the possibility that the Senate might take up legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump, even after Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the No. 2 Senate Republican, held open the possibility earlier Tuesday,” USA Today reports.
“Earlier in the day, Cornyn signaled a potential change in the position of Republican leaders who have previously rejected a push by outgoing Republican Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) to allow a vote on the Mueller legislation.”
“The president has said on multiple occasions the Mueller investigation should be completed. He wishes it would happen sooner. But I don’t think there’s any chance that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by CBS News.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “was confronted Friday night by some angry diners who loudly berated him for his politics,” TMZ reports.
“The Kentucky Senator was eating dinner with his wife at Havana Rumba in Louisville, when 4 men confronted Mitch. The main aggressor screams at McConnell, ‘Why don’t you get out of here? Why don’t you leave the entire country?'”
“The woman who shot the video tells us, before she started recording, the main aggressor slammed his fists down on McConnell’s table, grabbed his doggie bag and threw the food out the door of the restaurant.”
“This Congress has been the best two years of my time here.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hit back at Hillary Clinton after she said that Democrats “cannot be civil” with Republicans until they retake control, USA Today reports.
Said McConnell: “The far-left mob is not letting up. Earlier today, former Secretary of State Clinton sent this signal as clear as day. She told CNN exactly how she views millions of Americans who hold different political views from her own.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that it’s up to President Trump to pick a potential successor for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but the nominee won’t come from the Senate, The Hill reports.
Said McConnell: “It’s not going to come from our caucus, I can tell you that. 51-49, you can do the math. We’re not doing that.”
Joe Scarborough ripped Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Morning Joe for referring to protesters of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation as “angry mobs,” after attendees of President Trump’s campaign rally last night chanted “lock her up” in reference to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Said Scarborough: “Now the president of the U.S. is holding rallies where angry mobs of people are demanding to lock up a U.S. senator because they disagree with her politics. I guess due process and keeping your head, that was in vogue for Republicans last week. Mitch McConnell must be shocked at the angry mobs.”
He added: “He was a snowflake just a couple days ago, just melting on national television because of all the angry mobs. I wonder what Mitch thinks again about people talking about locking up one of his colleagues… because they disagree with her politically. That’s an angry mob, right?”
Matthew Yglesias: “At the end of the day, the belief that getting two Supreme Court nominees confirmed reflects some kind of peculiar legislative genius on the part of Mitch McConnell doesn’t stand up to any kind of scrutiny. After all, Barack Obama and Harry Reid also got two Supreme Court justices confirmed. So did George W. Bush and Bill Frist. So did Bill Clinton and George Mitchell. That’s just what happens.”
“That’s not to deny that McConnell is a shrewd legislative tactician — he’s an experienced politician and legislative leader, and he’s good at his job. It’s just to emphasize that, in many ways, circumstances make the man.”
“Had the 2016 election broken slightly differently, after all, the blockage on Merrick Garland might have ended up looking like a fiasco that ultimately allowed President Hillary Clinton to swap him out in favor of a younger and more left-wing justice.”
“I’m stronger than mule piss.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, explaining to President Trump just how committed he was to pushing Brett Kavanaugh through to Supreme Court confirmation.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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