“This Judiciary Committee is no longer an independent branch of government. And we’re supposed to be. The Senate is supposed to be an independent, equal branch of government. We’re no longer that. We are an arm — and a very weak arm — of the Trump White House. Every semblance of independence has just disappeared. It’s gone.”
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), quoted by CNN.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was “not truthful” when he denied knowing that he had received documents that Leahy said had been “stolen” from him and other Democrats, the Washington Post reports.
“Leahy said that emails disclosed during Kavanaugh’s nomination hearing this week buttress his case that Kavanaugh knew, or should have known, that he had received documents that Republican staffers took from a computer jointly shared with Democrats.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told the Burlington Free Press that he was too quick in calling for Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) resignation in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.
Said Leahy: “I have stood for due process throughout my years as a prosecutor and in chairing the Judiciary Committee. I regret not doing that this time.”
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“Sam Clovis was almost a comically bad nominee, even for this administration.”
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), in a statement.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) asked then-FBI Director James Comey to investigate Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “amid concerns that he may have had an additional meeting with the Russian ambassador the United States, Sergey Kislyak,” CNN reports.
Said the letter: “We are concerned about Attorney General Sessions’ lack of candor to the committee and his failure thus far to accept responsibility for testimony that could be construed as perjury.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who was elected during the Watergate scandal, told the New York Times that he had “never seen anything so outlandish, outrageous or incomprehensible” as President Trump’s claims that President Obama ordered illegal wiretaps.
Said Leahy: “I’ve never seen anything like this — ever — since I’ve been here. It is completely unprecedented, and it is destructive of our democracy.”
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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.