Wow -- Duckworth says she will block Senate approvals of **1,123** senior U.S. Armed Forces promotions until Esper "confirms in writing that he did not, or will not, block the expected and deserved promotion of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to Colonel."
Can someone help me do a clip search and find whether Antonin Scalia was asked whether he could be a proper father to nine children when he was nominated to the Supreme Court
During the Senate GOP lunch today, Moran told colleagues that Rand was at the gym this morning, per two sources briefed on the lunch, and that he was swimming in the pool. Rand got his COVID-19 results back this morning.
The audience in the hearing room, largely quiet during much of the testimony, is getting audibly frustrated with Graham. One woman mutters "shut up" as Graham interrupts Jackson again
The Biden White House will have a private contractor provide "disinfectant misting services" to clear the air of lingering droplets after Trump moves out and before Biden moves in.
@seungminkim
Our community is 50% immigrant. Folks are victims of DV, trafficking, + have personal medical issues.
This town hall was designed for residents to feel safe discussing sensitive issues in a threatening political time.
We indicated previously that it would be closed to press.
Overnight, the Senate confirmed Biden’s 40th judge — the most since Reagan, who also got 40 judges confirmed in his first year. Biden’s confirmed judges also far surpass the number of judges Trump got confirmed in his first year (18)
Biden to the press: “You all write for a living. I haven’t seen any of you explain the supply chain very well. No no I’m not being critical. I’m being deadly earnest.”
Where we’re at: a high school friend who is a doctor in a different state is offering to FedEx me her spare N95s because covering the White House is hazardous.
Mark Kelly, should he win the Arizona Senate seat, could be sworn in as early as Nov. 30, according to elections law experts who spoke to the Arizona Republic
Yowza:
@Sen_JoeManchin
, who has barnstormed WVa today visiting post offices, tells MSNBC that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “won’t even talk to us” and “shouldn’t even be there to begin with and anyway you can get rid of him, please do so.”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.” 🐼🐼🐼
Yowza -- Senate Dems say in new letter that there is information in Kavanaugh's past FBI background checks that involve either inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse (aides won't elaborate which)
Amy McGrath, when asked during the Kentucky Senate debate whether she supports packing the courts:
"We should be working on unpacking the Senate right now."
WOW -->
@lisamurkowski
calls on Trump to immediately resign: "I want him out. He has caused enough damage ... He doesn’t want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out."
I was inside the chamber for Murkowski's speech. The contrast between that and Collins' speech was just remarkable.
No colleagues gathered to watch her, except Hoeven who was presiding. Just a small handful of aides. Near empty public. Just me and
@pkcapitol
in press gallery
Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive
Oh wow, Jackson pushes back on the relentless focus from some Republicans on her sentencing record: "What I regret is that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we have spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences ..."
One metric as we chat about who is qualified to be a judge and who is not …
Trump, whose judges were primarily white men, had 10ish of his noms rated “not qualified” by the ABA.
Biden, whose 1st year judicial picks have been historically diverse, has none so far. (49 WQ/8 Q)
During a fundraiser in Houston, while on a riff about Trump’s handling of covid-19,
@JoeBiden
asks the donor crowd: “Remember when he said inject bleach?”
After some chuckles, Biden continues: “I think he must’ve done it.” Crowd erupts in laughter
Reuters has acquired a photo of Ted Cruz at the Cancun airport today on his way back to Texas.
Notice how he’s wearing a mask with the Texas State flag on it.
Phone call with Senate Ds and Pence was dominated by testing Qs and got testy, per source:
At one point,
@SenAngusKing
said “I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life" and said admin’s failure to develop an adequate nat'l testing regime is a “dereliction of duty."
Federal judge Timothy J. Kelly sided with CNN on Friday, ordering the White House to reinstate chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass.
Just devastasting. Ralph Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, says her son is “able to communicate mostly when he feels like it, but mostly he just sits there and stares, and the buckets of tears just rolls down his eyes.”
SCOOP --> Schumer is exploring whether to invoke an obscure power -- allowing Senate leaders to reconvene the Senate in times of emergency -- to hold an impeachment trial immediately after the House impeaches Trump
Whooboy, the WH-
@HawleyMO
fight escalates. Pressed on Hawley's criticisms of KBJ re sentencing of child sex offenders,
@PressSec
says:
"I'm not sure that someone who refused to tell people whether or not he would vote for Roy Moore is an effective + credible messenger on this."
NBC News confirms that Vice President Mike Pence is currently vacationing in Vail, CO, having arrived earlier this week, and is set to fly out of the local airport after New Year's. Pence's office has not commented on his location.
Friendly reminder that Schumer tried to get McConnell to bring the Senate back into session under emergency powers that the two leaders have, so a trial would be held while Trump was still in office. McConnell declined.
Acosta must go. He handed a sweetheart deal to a serial sexual predator. Survivors of Epstein’s abuse have been denied their day in court for too long. I’m thankful other prosecutors stepped in to finally deliver justice.
Trump said last night of Bevin: “If you lose, they're going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. This was the greatest. You can't let that happen to me!” Well ....
At Highland Park fundraiser (which raised $2.5m for the Biden campaign, per host), Biden begins to tell a story about a person coming up to him with crushing debt.
Biden said he responded, “Donald, I can’t help you.” (This gets big laughs)
.
@FLOTUS
(via campaign) weighs in on Hur report:
“I hope you can imagine how it felt to read that attack -- not just as Joe’s wife, but as Beau’s mother.”
“Joe is 81, that’s true, but he’s 81 doing more in an hour than most people do in a day.”
Mayor Gillum conceded on Election Day and now Broward County has put him “back into play.” Bill Nelson conceded Election - now he’s back in play!? This is an embarrassment to our Country and to Democracy!
.
@CaptMarkKelly
will be sworn in as senator on Wednesday at noon, per a senior Democratic aide. at which point the Republican majority in the Senate will shrink by one vote.
NYT bombshell could significantly change the calculus on witnesses in the trial. One senior GOP official says: "The odds of deposition for new witnesses is certainly rising dramatically."
On Fox News, Maria Bartiromo asks Trump whether there are UFOs.
@realDonaldTrump
: "Well I'm going to have to check on that ... I'll take a good, strong look at that."
Oh wow: per
@jonkarl
, “The Secret Service tells the WHCA they were not involved whatsoever in this effort by the WH to change seating assignments” despite a White House official telling today’s pooler he needed to switch seats with CNN and that the Secret Service was involved
More news —> McConnell is telling members they should go back into the chamber tonight to project strength after today’s catastrophe, per two senior GOP sources familiar with his message