Archive for the ‘Democrats’ Category

Democrats want FBI to review Ivanka Trump’s security clearance – ABC News

Nearly two dozen House Democrats are asking the FBI to review Ivanka Trump's security clearance as a presidential adviser, Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., announced Wednesday morning.

Beyer is spearheading the call for a review.

The lawmakers suggest that Ivanka's SF-86 form, like that of husband and President Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, may not have properly listed his meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya or Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak -- nor any other foreign contacts either may have had.

Despite the lawmakers' request, there is no indication that Ivanka's form was not in compliance. They are merely asking for a review. It does, however, underscore the intensifying scrutiny on the first daughter and her husband over the Russia contacts.

The authority to grant or revoke security clearance to senior staff in the West Wing ultimately rests with President Trump.

"As a member of the White House staff and close adviser to the president, Ms. Trump applied for a security clearance, and, as a result, was required to disclose her own foreign contacts as well as those of her spouse and siblings," reads the letter, addressed to FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe, made available by Beyer's office.

The letter continues, "We learned last week that Ms. Trump's husband, Jared Kushner, and brother Donald Trump Jr. met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others, including a former Russian counter intelligence officer ... Since his first filing, Mr. Kushner has had to update his SF-86 multiple times to reflect over 100 meetings or phone calls, including with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, according to reports."

The 22 lawmakers, according to the letter, "are concerned that Ivanka Trump may have engaged in similar deception. For example, did she disclose her husband's meeting with Kislyak and Gorkov? Did she disclose her brother's and husband's meeting with Veselnitskaya? Did she accurately disclose her own foreign contacts in her initial filing, which reports suggest may be numerous? If in fact she did accurately disclose these meetings, who at the White House knew of Mr. Kushner's and Mr. Trump Jr's multiple contacts with Russian officials before they were made public? And, most importantly, did she discuss any of these meetings with the President, and, if so, when?"

The letter was signed by Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Jackie Speier (Calif.), Jamie Raskin (Maryland), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Joseph Kennedy (Mass.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Frank Pallone (N.J.), Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Alcee Hastings (Fla.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Alma Adams (N.C.), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Donald Payne Jr. (N.J.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), and David Price (N.C.).

ABC News reached out to the White House for comment.

ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

See the original post:
Democrats want FBI to review Ivanka Trump's security clearance - ABC News

White House blames Democrats for Trumpcare’s collapse – MSNBC


MSNBC
White House blames Democrats for Trumpcare's collapse
MSNBC
Democrats have effectively no role in the federal policymaking process in the case of this health care bill, they couldn't even filibuster which is controlled by a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican White House. And yet, Trump ...
White House's Sanders slams Democrats, pledges health care action at off-camera briefingPolitico
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Democrats are responsible for health care failuresSalon
Huckabee Sanders: Democrats Responsible for Health Reform FailureWashington Free Beacon
TPM -Common Dreams
all 100 news articles »

Read the original here:
White House blames Democrats for Trumpcare's collapse - MSNBC

New Democrats, Tuesday Group Meet to Pursue Common Ground – Roll Call

The Tuesday Group and New Democrats met on Tuesday, bringing together moderate members of both parties to talk about areas that may be ripe for bipartisanship.

We talked about budget, we talked about health care, we talked about tax reform all with the intent of finding ways where there might be common ground, New Democrats Chairman Jim Himes told Roll Call.

The Connecticut Democrat said this is the second meeting the groups have held together this Congress and that it was coincidentally timed after the GOPs partisan approach to health has stalled in the Senate. Himes said he was hopeful but not optimistic that failure will lead to bipartisan action on health care.

Health care is such a freighted religious issue for people that I dont think a failure on the Senate side leads to next week kumbayas and bipartisan action. I think its much more likely on infrastructure, potentially on tax reform. But you got to start somewhere.

Himes criticized President Donald Trump for trying to label Democrats as obstructionists when Republicans were the ones who decided to take a partisan approach to health care.

Republicans in Congress set health care up to move through reconciliation, he said. That is telling us to go pound sand in advance. That is not a good way to get us on board.

The Tuesday Group/New Democrats lunch exemplifies how legislation should be produced, Himes said, noting, Resilient legislation is bipartisan.

Tuesday Group Co-Chairman Charlie Dent, who wasn't at the lunch because he was at an appropriations markup, said earlier in the day he didn't think the Senate's repeal only, partisan approach was a good approach, and suggested a bipartisan approach was the way to go.

"I think that probably wouldn't be a very wise strategy here...we're going to have to fix what's broken here," the Pennsylvania Republican said about the repeal only strategy.

A handful of New Democrats members last week unveiled a set of policy proposals aimed at stabilizing health insurance markets.

Himes said the New Democrats shared the proposals, which he noted are designed to be bipartisan, with the Tuesday Group members during their meeting.

Kellie Mejdrich contributed to this story.

Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

Read more:
New Democrats, Tuesday Group Meet to Pursue Common Ground - Roll Call

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on healthcare fixes – Los Angeles Times

July 18, 2017, 12:37 p.m.

House Democrats are willing to come to the table on healthcare if Republicans abandon their attempt to do it alone, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)said in a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday.

"Democrats extend the hand of friendship if Republicans will set aside repeal, abandon cuts to Medicaid, and abandon huge tax breaks for the wealthy," Pelosi states.

With the GOP healthcare bill seemingly dead in the Senate, and senatorsunwilling to consider a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act, many on Capitol Hill are wondering what will happen next to President Obama's signature healthcare law that Republicans have pledged to kill for nearly a decade.

The overture from Pelosi doesn't include many details on what she thinks the next moves should be, exceptthat they should begin before Congress leaves for its August recess.

Read the rest here:
Nancy Pelosi: Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on healthcare fixes - Los Angeles Times

House Democrats Focus on Ethics, Political Money – Roll Call

Amid the collapse of a signature piece of Republicanhealth care legislation and continued revelations about the Trump teams ties to Russia, House Democrats have turned their spotlight on proposals to revamp ethics, campaign finance and voting rights laws.

Were fighting back against the lack of accountability that we see in the Trump administration and from special interests, said Maryland Rep.John Sarbanes, who chairs his partys Democracy Reform Task Force.

The president said he was going to do it, he said he was going to drain the swamp, that he was going to bring accountability to Washington hes done absolutely the opposite, Sarbanes said. He suffers and his administration appears to suffer from ethical blindness when it comes to recognizing conflicts of interest rules and basic ethical standards.

House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosiand Sarbanes told reporters during a Tuesday news conference that their party was developing a series of legislative proposals they dubbed the By the People Project that would include updates to the nations ethics and elections systems.

Some of the measures, such as one to encourage small-dollar campaign donations and another to require additional public disclosures of political spending, have already been introduced.

Those bills are unlikely to move in the GOP-controlled Congress but will provide messaging for Democrats over the August recess and on the campaign trail into next year. Lawmakers are crafting other parts of the agenda, such as the overhaul of ethics laws. Sarbanes said they will work with colleagues on the committees of jurisdiction.

This has got to be an important part of the Democratic message as we move forward, hesaid.

The proposals are the latest in congressional Democratsmonths-long resistance effortaimed at putting a focus on President Donald Trumps potential conflicts of interest and ethical woes.

Their goal is two-fold: weaken the White Houses agenda by pointing to the presidents persistent controversies over his business ties and the Russia probe and to try to link Republicans in Congress to those matters.

Members of the minority party have already used their limited procedural tools, such as resolutions of inquiry, to attempt to force the Trump administration to release documents related to the Russia probe as well as the presidents personal tax returns. Republicans have voted down those measures.

Democrats on the Hill have also offered unsuccessful amendments to the annual appropriations bills, and they have penned numerous letters to ethics officials asking for clarifications of the rules.

Outside government watchdogs have also buoyed the effort. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government, or CREW, brought a lawsuit in the first days of the Trump administration, alleging that the president was in violation of the Constitutions Emoluments Clause by maintaining ownership of his hotels where foreign dignitaries sometimes stay.

CREW this week announced that it would make public the guest lists of Trumps private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, after a judge ruled that the administration must provide the list to the group.

House Democrats also blasted the administrationsAdvisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Rep.Pramila Jayapalof Washington called it a sham commission intended to make it harder for Americans to vote. She noted alettersent Tuesday from Maryland Rep.Elijah E. Cummingsand other Democrats calling on Vice President Mike Pence to ask for the resignation of Kris Kobach, theKansas secretary of state who serves as vice chairman of the commission, and to rescind Kobachs request for voter information.

Though Democrats say they believe the commission aims to suppress votes especially in minority districts, supporters of the election commission, including the conservative-leaning Public Interest Legal Foundation, argue that the effort would help rid election systems of fraud and voting irregularities.

Meanwhile, a collection of campaign finance and liberal groups, including Common Cause and Every Voice, held a demonstration on Tuesday outside the Justice Department calling for an investigation of possible election law violations.

Common Cause last week filed complaints with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission alleging thatthe presidents son Donald Trump Jr. illegally solicited a political contribution from a foreign national by meeting with a Russian operative reportedly to obtain information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Our nation is under attack from Russia and our leaders are making excuses and defending the attacker, said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. Its time for the people to hold these politicians accountable.

Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

Read this article:
House Democrats Focus on Ethics, Political Money - Roll Call