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The U.S. Secret Service said Thursday it is investigating comments about President Donald Trump made by a Democratic state lawmaker from Maine in a video posted this week on Facebook.

Responding to a Fox News inquiry regarding remarks by state Rep. Scott Hamann, a Secret Service spokesman replied, The Secret Service is aware of the comments in question and are investigating the matter.

Allegations of any threat, inappropriate interest or unusual behavior directed towards a Secret Service protectee receives the highest priority of all our investigations.

No further details about the investigation were available, the spokesman said.

For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and method of how we perform our protective responsibilities, the spokesman said in a statement.

On Wednesday, after Maine Republicans posted Hamanns rant on their Twitter page, Hamann said he regretted what he described as his aggressively sarcastic and inappropriate comments about Trump.

Hamann had referred to Trump as a half-term president, at most, especially if I ever get within 10 feet. Some critics interpreted the comments as a threat of violence against the president.

Following the backlash, the lawmaker said he shouldn't have used such language and claimed he was mainly trying to make a point about the state of political discourse in the U.S.

In the same post, Hamann also described Trump as a joke and a rapist, and used a crude anatomical term.

One Facebook user, who did not respond to Fox News request for comment, replied incredulously to the implicit threat.

Scott Hamann you plan to kill the President? the user wrote.

Hamann also took a swipe at the presidents supporters, saying, I just can't deal with you ignorant people anymore.

Meanwhile, Hamann praised President Barack Obama, saying he ran quite possibly the classiest 2 term presidency in US history.

The Facebook posts have since been deleted, but screen grabs were forwarded to conservative talk radio host Keith Hanson, who hosts both First Look and The Keith Hanson Show on Fox News affiliate radio stations WNTK and WUVR in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Hanson shared the images with Fox News, as well as Hamann's bossesat the statewide hunger relief organization, Good Shepard Food Bank, where Hamann serves as a program director.

Maine Republican Party Chairman Demi Kouzounas posted Hamann's rant to the Maine GOP Twitter page.

The Maine State House Majority Office then released Hamanns apology statement.

While the tone of the post was born out of frustration with the vile language currently surrounding politics, I should not have responded with the same language, Hamman said in a statement. This is not language I typically use, it does not reflect my personal values, and while misguided, it was intended to make a visceral point about the developing political discourse in America.

Hamann has not responded to Fox News request for comment.

Fox News Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Read more:
Secret Service investigating Maine Democrat's comments about Trump - Fox News

By Kevin Diaz, Washington Bureau

Photo: Brendan Smialowski /AFP /Getty Images

Image 2 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Congress can get rid of a president they don't like, through impeachment. It isn't easy, though.

The Founding Fathers left America with a way to get rid of a president - impeachment. It's necessarily a difficult process and has only been done twice in the country's history.

Click through the gallery to see how impeachment works and when it has been tried on the president.

Congress can get rid of a president they don't like, through impeachment. It isn't easy, though.

The Founding Fathers left America with a way to get rid of a president - impeachment. It's necessarily a difficult

Image 3 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Impeachment proceedings start in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Congressmen must agree on articles of impeachment. If those are voted out of committee and approved by the full House, the president is considered impeached.

Impeachment proceedings start in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Congressmen must agree on articles of impeachment. If those are voted out of committee and approved by the full House,

Image 4 of 15 | How to impeach a president

The U.S. Senate serves as the jury for impeachment proceedings. They also set the rules for the trial. If 66 Senators vote to remove the president, he's booted from office. Anything less and the president stays.

The U.S. Senate serves as the jury for impeachment proceedings. They also set the rules for the trial. If 66 Senators vote to remove the president, he's booted from office. Anything less and the

Image 5 of 15 | How to impeach a president

The Constitution doesn't spell out what an impeachable offense is. The founding document only lists "high crimes and misdemeanors" as grounds for impeachment. The rest is up to Congress to decide what fits that definition.

The Constitution doesn't spell out what an impeachable offense is. The founding document only lists "high crimes and misdemeanors" as grounds for impeachment. The rest is up to Congress to decide

Image 6 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Once a president is impeached, the House designates members as managers of the case. In a nutshell, they go to the Senate and argue for the president's removal. Now U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., (pictured) served as one of the House managers during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton.

Once a president is impeached, the House designates members as managers of the case. In a nutshell, they go to the Senate and argue for the president's removal. Now U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,

Image 7 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Image 8 of 15 | How to impeach a president

The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over any impeachment trial. In the last such proceedings, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist oversaw the trial. If Donald Trump were to face impeachment and removal, current chief Justice John Roberts would preside.

The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over any impeachment trial. In the last such proceedings, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist oversaw the trial. If Donald Trump were to face

Image 9 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Image 10 of 15 | How to impeach a president

A Republican-controlled Congress went after Democrat Bill Clinton in 1998, after he admitted to lying in a civil lawsuit about having an affair with an intern. The impeachment charges didn't focus on the sex, but rather the civil suit. Clinton was acquitted in the Senate in early 1999 and finished his term.

A Republican-controlled Congress went after Democrat Bill Clinton in 1998, after he admitted to lying in a civil lawsuit about having an affair with an intern. The impeachment charges didn't focus on

Image 11 of 15 | How to impeach a president

President Bill Clinton had a fling with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s. His lies about it in a politically-motivated civil lawsuit were cited by Republicans as the basis for Clinton's impeachment in 1998.

President Bill Clinton had a fling with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s. His lies about it in a politically-motivated civil lawsuit were cited by Republicans as the basis for Clinton's

Image 12 of 15 | How to impeach a president

A House committee in 1974 voted out articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon related to his involvement and cover-up of the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned in August 1974 rather than face removal from office.

A House committee in 1974 voted out articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon related to his involvement and cover-up of the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned in August 1974 rather than

Image 13 of 15 | How to impeach a president

During President Barack Obama's eight years in the White House, Republicans talked frequently of impeaching him. They never did, but it didn't stop the GOP from using the idea to rev up conservative voters.

During President Barack Obama's eight years in the White House, Republicans talked frequently of impeaching him. They never did, but it didn't stop the GOP from using the idea to rev up

Image 14 of 15 | How to impeach a president

Controversy has swirled around President Donald Trump since he came into office. Now he is under increased scrutiny amid allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians to influence the presidential election.

Controversy has swirled around President Donald Trump since he came into office. Now he is under increased scrutiny amid allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians to influence the

Texas Democrat joins long-shot Trump impeachment bid

WASHINGTON Houston Democrat Al Green, the first member of Congress to call for President Donald Trumps impeachment on the House floor, signed his name to a resolution Wednesday to do just that.

Green joined a long-shot bid initiated by California Democrat Brad Sherman that accuses Trump of obstructing justice by firing then-FBI Director James Comey over an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

I dont see this as a long shot or a sure shot, Green said in an interview. I see this as the right thing to do. Ive always felt that if Im doing the right thing, my conscience is clear. And I think history will vindicate me regardless of how the House votes.

Sherman said in a statement that the article of impeachment in a Republican-led Congress is the first step on a very long road.

So far, the only sponsors of the impeachment resolution are Sherman and Green. Democratic leaders generally have distanced themselves from impeachment talk, fearing it could be either premature or politically counterproductive.

Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee has called for the House Judiciary Committee to launch an impeachment inquiry but has stopped short so far of calling for impeachment. She also has called on Trump to resign on his own.

Greens calls for Trumps impeachment in May were met with racist death threats, prompting protests by black community leaders in Greens defense.

Green said his motives are not political.

This is not about the right or the left, he said. Its not about Democrats, its about democracy. Its not about Republicans, its about the republic.

He suggested that he and others in the House may eventually file additional impeachment resolutions but that, in any case, he is committed to his course.

I dont know what the vote will be if I bring this to the floor of the House, he said. But I can assure you of this: There will be one vote for impeachment because I will vote for the resolution.

Calls for impeachment have become an increasingly common part of presidential politics since President Bill Clintons various sex scandals, which led to impeachment charges in the House but acquittal in the Senate.

His successor, George W. Bush, faced 35 articles of impeachment filed by Democratic U.S. Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Robert Wexler. The House voted to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, but no further action was taken.

There also were frequent calls for the impeachment of President Barack Obama, including one by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But no formal resolutions were filed.

The Trump impeachment bid comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on Christopher Wray to replace Comey as FBI director.

It also comes amid reports that the presidents son Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during the campaign in the belief that she would have damaging information from the Russian government about Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But Green said it was Comeys firing and Trumps threatening admonitions to Comey on Twitter that form the basis of the impeachment case against the president.

When you combine those things, you have an impeachable act, and for that the president has to answer to Congress, he said.

Read more from the original source:
Texas Democrat joins long-shot Trump impeachment bid - mySanAntonio.com

Mark Eves, the former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives who frequently clashed with Gov. Paul LePage, announced his campaign for governor Thursday during a barbecue at his North Berwick home.

Theres so much that we can do to lift the pressure that families are living under today and build a better Maine one family at a time, and that is why I am running for governor, Eves said to a cheering, clapping crowd.

Eves is the fourth Democrat to join the race to replace LePage, a Republican who is termed out, in January 2019.

In his speech he joked about his clashes with LePage, saying weve gone at it a time or two, and pledged to work to unite Mainers. The political climate in Augusta and in Washington, he said, has left the nation divided and theres no in-between.

There are those that have taken advantage of that. Some even thrive on it. Thats what weve had here in Maine the last long seven years, Eves said. I think there is a lesson we once knew that we have to learn again. That is to see the good in each other even when we disagree. To stop seeing each other as us and them and start seeing each other as neighbors, as classmates, as co-workers and, I would say, yes, even as friends. I believe that is how we will start to bring together a state that can feel all too divided.

His announcement was streamed live on Facebook, and an accompanying prepared statement said that while his bouts with Gov. Paul LePage have been well publicized, under Eves leadership the Legislature passed a bipartisan middle-class tax cut, boosted property tax relief for all Maine families, and strengthened investments in Maines children, seniors and workers.

In 2015, Eves sued LePage after the governor threatened to withhold state financial support for a nonprofit private charter school that had hired Eves to be its president.

Good Will-Hinckley, which operates the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Fairfield, offered Eves the job in June 2015. But the offer was rescinded roughly two weeks later after LePage denounced the hiring and pointed to Eves record of legislative opposition to charter schools.

Eves and his attorney accused LePage of blackmailing the school for at-risk students and argued that his action violated the Democratic speakers rights to free speech and political affiliation, as well as his right to due process. In May, U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal dismissed Eves lawsuit, prompting an appeal to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, which also ruled against Eves in November 2016.

Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, called Eves decision to run for the Blaine House a crony comeback attempt that Republicans will firmly oppose.

I had hoped that Mark Eves days of Augusta insider crony politics were over, but sadly he appears to want to make a comeback, Savage said. At every turn our job will be to remind voters that, among other concerns, as speaker of the Maine House, Mark Eves used his paid legislative staff to land himself a cushy job running a charter school whose very existence he fought on behalf of the (Maine Education Association), until there was a paycheck in it for him.

Eves spent more than 15 years working as a counselor and a therapist for both families and individuals, as well as an administrator at several behavioral health organizations. His resume includes stints at larger organizations such as Sweetser and Woodfords Family Services and in private practice as a therapist. He lives with his wife, Laura Eves, and the couples three children.

While at the State House, and often to LePages chagrin, Eves forged working relationships with key Republican rivals, including Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport. Thibodeau, who worked with Eves to craft a state budget in 2015 that could withstand a LePage veto, once said that if Eves moved to Waldo County, he would like to be his neighbor.

He is a nice man. Politically we are very different, but again, he is a nice, honest person, Thibodeau said at the time.

Eves, the son of a retired military chaplain and a schoolteacher, is a native Californian but largely grew up in Kentucky, where he graduated from the University of Louisville in 2000 with a bachelors degree in psychology. He earned a masters degree in family and marriage therapy at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2003.

Eves and his wife moved to Maine that year, drawn by the chance to live close to Eves parents in York and by the states close-knit feel and natural beauty. They settled in North Berwick a former mill town of 4,500 residents roughly 10 miles west of Kennebunkport and their first child, Elaina, arrived in 2005, followed by Lucas and Naomi, all born about two years apart.

Eves announcement came just days after Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, a Farmington Democrat, said she would be running for the office in 2018. Also in the race for Democrats are Betsy Sweet, a lobbyist, Adam Cote, a 20-year Army veteran and attorney from Sanford, and Patrick Eisenhart, a retired Coast Guard commander from Augusta.

Scott Thistle can be contacted at 791-6330 or at:

[emailprotected]

Twitter: thisdog

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Democrat Mark Eves jumps into 2018 race for governor - Press Herald

Cynics are said to be people who are prematurely disappointed about the future. Such dyspepsia is encouraged by watching Republicans struggle to move on from the dogs breakfast they have made of health-care reform to the mares nest of tax reform. Concerning which, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), whose preternatural optimism makes Candide seem morose, says: If were going to truly fix our tax code, then weve got to fix all of it. Trying to fix all of immigration in 2013 and health care in 2010 with comprehensive legislation left almost everyone irritable. Perhaps the third time is the charm. Sen.Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is skeptical about fixing much this year, even given Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells (R-Ky.) decision to limit the August recess.

The fourth-most-senior Democrat and the ranking minority member on the tax-writing Finance Committee, Wyden, 68, is usually relaxed but now is especially so, for two reasons. He was just elected to a fourth term. And for him and other Finance Committee Democrats, tax reform is, so far, an undemanding spectator sport. This was underscored last weekend when, as he was being driven from one Oregon town hall to another, he read a Wall Street Journal article headlined GOP Tax Overhauls Fate Rests on Big Six Talks.

Five of the six were in an almost taunting photo provided to the Journal by Ryans office Ryan, McConnell, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The missing sixth person was National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn. No congressional Democrat is included. Evidently, Republicans plan to pass tax reform without Democratic votes, under reconciliation, which is inherently partisan 51 votes will suffice and limits debate to 20 hours. The 1986 reform, the gold standard of bipartisan tax legislation, was on the Senate floor for more than 100 hours spread over 20 days after seven days of hearings and 16 days of mark-up.

Ryan and McConnell say tax reform will be revenue-neutral. This might require dynamic scoring calculating that reformed incentives will stimulate economic growth to project implausible growth rates. Plausibility is, however, optional, as it was in April, when Mnuchins department produced a tax plan that resembled Lincolns soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death. The document shorter than a drug store receipt, says Wyden was one page long, contained 218 words, eight numbers and a thumping vacuity, the promise to eliminate tax breaks for special interests.

Last November, Mnuchin told CNBC there would be no absolute tax cut for the upper class, meaning no net cut after lost deductions. In Mnuchins January confirmation hearing, Wyden mischievously suggested calling this the Mnuchin rule, which enthralled Mnuchin, who later said: I feel like Im now in good company with the Volcker rule and the Buffett rule. In a June hearing, however, Mnuchin told Wyden: You made it a rule, I didnt make it a rule. It would be entertaining to watch Republicans try to adhere to that rule while fulfilling their promise from which they began retreating on Tuesday to repeal the 3.8 percent Obamacare tax on investment income.

No Democrat, says Wyden, likes the status quo. When he recently described the tax code as a rotting economic carcass, his wife asked him to stop scaring the children. The complexity of the code, which is about 4 million words, is why America has more people employed as tax preparers (1.2 million) than as police and firefighters. If tax compliance were an industry, it would be among the nations largest; it devours 6.1 billion hours annually, the equivalent of more than 3 million full-time workers.

Wyden knows he sounds like a one-song jukebox when he keeps stressing wage growth but he notes that last week the encouraging number of jobs created in June (222,000) was accompanied by discouraging wage growth (year-over-year, 2.5 percent, barely ahead of inflation). Many economists are puzzled that low unemployment (4.4 percent) is not forcing employers to bid up the price of labor. Wyden says he is puzzled by neither the cause (persistent slow growth, limping at about 2 percent) nor the cause of this cause insufficient money in middle-class paychecks to power an economy where 70 percent of the fuel comes from consumer spending. He favors, for example, doubling the earned-income tax credit. He seems, however, to be preemptively, but not prematurely, disappointed about a legislative process that will fall somewhat short of fixing all of what ails the rotting carcass.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.

See the article here:
The Democrat who knows the tax code is a 'rotting carcass' - Washington Post

Democrats scored two surprising electoral wins on Tuesday night by flipping statehouse seats in one of the more unlikely locations: Oklahoma.

Michael Brooks-Jimenez, a local immigration attorney, was elected as a new state senator for District 44, an area that encompasses southwest Oklahoma City. And in Tulsas House District 75, Karen Gaddis, a retired school teacher, won a seat that had been in Republican clutches for over two decades.

The wins were owed, in part, to scandal that has beset the Republican Party in Oklahoma, where a number of state officials have been forced to resign because of sexual harassment claims and, in one instance, child prostitution allegations. Additionally, an ongoing budget crisis, which has led to four-day weeks at many Oklahoma schools, has spurred dissatisfaction with Republican leadership.

But the victories also underscore a growing backlash against the GOP that has elevated Democrats in various contests across the country.

The senate seat won by Brooks-Jimenez had been held by Ralph Shortey who resigned this year due to child prostitution allegations. Similarly, representative Dan Kirby, who held the Tulsa House seat, resigned following an investigation into sexual harassment claims made by a previous assistant.

Despite that context, Anna Langthorn, the newly elected chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that both wins were pleasantly unexpected.

I will say that when youre in Oklahoma and we win, its always somewhat of a surprise, she said. You prepare yourself for any result.

Langthorn said that while both Democratic candidates were uniquely tailored to win in their specific districts, they also benefited from the publics souring on the states conservative political bend. Brooks-Jimenezs district has the largest Hispanic population in the state, she said, making him an appealing choice given his work in the community as an immigration attorney and his ability to connect with voters in both Spanish and English. As for Gaddis, Langthorn said that the states budget crisis -- and specifically its effects on education, paring down many five-day school weeks to four -- paved the way for the victory.

Though Democrats have failed to flip a single congressional seat in the series of national special elections that have taken place since Donald Trumps victory in November, they have made conspicuous gains both there and on the state level. Of the 29 special elections that have taken place, four seats (all of them state-based) have been flipped from Republican to Democrat. None have gone in the opposite direction. Those contests have seen an average voter swing of 11 percentage points towards Democratic candidates compared to the 2016 cycle, according to data compiled by the liberal website Daily Kos.

Langthorn was reluctant to chalk up Tuesdays wins to national politics, only conceding that it helped us more than it hurt us."

Gaddis' campaign manager, Sarah Baker, agreed with that assessment while also acknowledging that the victory came as a surprise.

"I've seen a number of stories since last night trying to make that connection [to national politics] but what we heard while knocking doors and talking to voters across the district never gave me that impression," Gaddis told The Daily Beast. "Very few people made mention of Trump and instead talked about what was going on in our own state. They talked about how voting for the Republican in this race was just going to give us more of the same in Oklahoma."

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But Carolyn Fiddler, a former top official with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee who recently joined Kos as political editor and senior communications advisor, told The Daily Beast that Democrats were in a unique position to win statewide due to a combination of national resentment with the Republican Party and local backlash to conservative governance.

These successes are not a complete shock in light of the overall trend of strong Democratic performances in special elections this cycle, but they're certainly a surprise, considering [the] conservative nature of Oklahoma's electorate generally and in these districts specifically, Fiddler said. These Democratic pickups are two more data points in a growing set indicating nationwide Democratic electoral strength and enthusiasm this cycle.

See more here:
Democratic Candidates Just Pulled Off Surprise Wins In Two Oklahoma Statehouse Races - Daily Beast