Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s earlier support for the Iraq war and defense of enhanced interrogation techniques — or ‘torture’ in the view of Paul and many other senators — is disqualifying for his nomination to be Secretary of State, Politico reports.
“And the Kentucky senator indicated he may be willing to filibuster both Pompeo’s nomination and CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, who he says is ‘gleeful’ in her defense of torture techniques.”
Politico: “Every time it seems the president has zeroed in on an issue, and appears determined to see it through — guns and immigration are just the two latest examples — he moves on to something else. And Congress, which isn’t designed to respond swiftly to national events and the wishes of the White House even in the least distracted of circumstances, simply can’t keep up.”
“The constant whiplash of priorities is getting on lawmakers’ nerves.”
Said Sen. Susan Collings (R-ME): “It’s unbelievable to me. The attention span just seems to be … it’s a real problem.”
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) will resign effective April 1, citing his deteriorating health.
According to Mississippi law, an interim gubernatorial appointment will be made until a special election is held.
“For unpaid interns on Capitol Hill, secrecy is so much a part of the job that on their first day, many are required to sign sweeping nondisclosure agreements,” Vox reports.
“Employment lawyers reviewed two Hill NDAs obtained by Vox and said they are written in a way that could discourage interns from speaking up about anything, potentially protecting members of Congress and their staff even in cases of harassment or abuse… Lawyers questioned the scope of the language, the absence of an exception for incidents of harassment, discrimination, or abuse, and the fact that interns are not guaranteed a copy of what they signed.”
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages between the Senate panel’s top Democrat and a Russian-connected lawyer,” the New York Times reports.
“Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the committee’s Republican chairman, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat, were so perturbed by the leak that they demanded a rare meeting with Speaker Paul D. Ryan last month to inform him of their findings. They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).”
“To the senators, who are overseeing what is effectively the last bipartisan investigation on Capitol Hill into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the leak was a serious breach of protocol and a partisan attack by one intelligence committee against the other.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the U.S. Senate’s second highest-ranking Republican, “expressed doubt that Congress will pass legislation to increase infrastructure spending this year, citing time constraints,” Reuters reports.
An Arizona Republic survey of Sen. John McCain-related tweets collected in an NBC News database of messages finds that Russian accounts routinely spread insults and conspiracy theories smearing McCain as a “traitor” and a “RINO.”
“That the Russian Twitter trolls sought to discredit McCain, R-Ariz., was perhaps predictable given the six-term senator’s longstanding criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who officially sanctioned McCain in 2014.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) “surprise address this month on her disputed Native American heritage was just one piece of a concerted campaign by the Massachusetts senator and potential 2020 hopeful to put the controversy behind her,” Politico reports.
“Derisively nicknamed ‘Pocahontas’ by President Donald Trump over allegations that she used claims of Native American heritage to get a head start in her job search — a claim she and former colleagues strongly deny — Warren has met with close to a dozen tribal leaders and prominent activists recently.”
“She has also signed onto at least six bills directly related to Native American policy. It’s clearly an organized effort: Four of those co-sponsorships came within two days of her speech, and Warren endorsed two bills around that time even though they’d been introduced months earlier.”
President Trump mocked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — without using his name — for his no vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act, Axios reports.
Said Trump: “Remember, one person walked into a room when he was supposed to go this way (Trump enthusiastically gives a thumbs up) and he said he was going this way, and he walked in and he went this way (Trump throws his thumb down) and everyone said what happened? What was that all about? … I don’t want to be controversial so I won’t use his name. What a mess!”
Just two weeks ago, Meghan McCain told Politico that Trump had called her to say he would “back off” her cancer-stricken father.
Colbie Holderness and Jennie Willoughby, ex-wives of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, have received letters of apology from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who defended his former aide from “a vile attack” after two ex-wives accused Porter of domestic abuse, the AP reports.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “made a surprise appearance at the National Congress of American Indians Wednesday morning, forcefully responding to President Trump’s derisively calling her ‘Pocahontas’ and addressing her claims of Native American heritage more directly — and far more expansively — than she ever has before,” the Boston Globe reports.
“She did not apologize for her claims that her mother’s family had Cherokee blood… But she also planned to tell the gathered tribal leaders from around the country that she understood the distinction of being a member of a tribe, and that while it was part of her heritage, she was not a tribal member.”
Gallup: “Congressional approval is now 15%, down slightly from an uptick to 20% last month after Congress passed tax reform in December. Positivity quickly faded this month as the government shut down twice in three weeks because of impasses over the federal budget.”
“Actually, the Senate is a pretty collegial place. We don’t dislike each other. We have to work together.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by the Washington Post, on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward (R) told MSNBC she stands by her comments that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) should resign immediately.
Said Ward: “I think that anybody who is not able to do their job should step aside and allow the process to continue in Washington, D.C., because there is such important work to be done.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) “is known as one of the more prolific Twitter users in Congress, often writing his own tweets himself to chime in on policy issues, crack jokes, and in some cases, rebuke President Donald Trump. But over Christmas weekend last year, Sasse stopped tweeting and has not picked up the phone since,” Business Insider reports.
Sasse sees his sabbatical from Twitter as a healthy decision too, because “there’s just a ton of data about the way social media is designed to create dopamine hits for teenage kids.”
“We don’t live in a dictatorship or a monarchy. I swore an oath—in the military and in the Senate—to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.”
— Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), on Twitter, in response to President Trump’s suggestion that not applauding at the State of the Union was treasonous.
Playbook: “Spend a day on Capitol Hill and you’ll hear Republican elected officials who publicly say they adore Trump spit unthinkable invective off the record.”
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.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.