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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas took Capitol View host Jessi Turnure on a tour of the party's new headquarters, which is currently under renovation.

The party moved into its homestead on 6th Street right down the road from the state capitol in 1996, when Gov. AsaHutchinson served as chairman.

The renovated complex, the Rockefeller Republican Center, will include a brand new building in his honor, the Gov.Asa Hutchinson Historium. The facility merges two buildings built in the late 40sthat currently serve has the RPAheadquarters.

Chairman Doyle Webb said the historium will include busts of state elected officials, multimedia galleries and a custom-made light fixture symbolic of Arkansas history, including 75 stars for its 75 counties and a diamond for the state flag.

The current administrative office building, soon to be the Gov. MikeHuckabeeExecutive Wing, sits on the left of the historium with the reception hall, John PaulHammerschmidt Hall, on the right.

A new outdoor patio and kitchen, Diversity Plaza, is located behind the complex.

Webb said the RPA will move into its new headquarters in late summer and dedicate the facility Sept. 17, which is the230th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

You can see the full tour in the embedded video above.

Capitol View airs Sunday mornings at 8:30 on KARK.

Original post:
Web Extra: Tour of New Republican Party Headquarters - KARK

The Clarion-Ledger 5:54 p.m. CT June 18, 2017

President Donald Trump's lawyer said Sunday that the President is not under investigation for possible obstruction of justice despite Trump seemingly confirming that he was in a tweet earlier in the week. Time

Rich Lowry(Photo: Special to The Clarion-Ledger)

Donald Trump, the erstwhile Democrat, independent and member of the Reform Party, finally has a fixed partisan identity.

The president may be besieged, unpopular and prone to lashing out self-destructively, but all of this cements his bond to his party rather than erodes it. Commentators who ask wishfully and plaintively, When will Republicans dump Trump and save themselves? are missing the point: Trumps weakness makes him more Republican than ever before.

It was possible to imagine Trump, with a head of steam after his upset victory in November, cowing swamp-dwelling Republicans and wooing infrastructure-loving, anti-trade Democrats into supporting a populist congressional agenda. Maybe this was always a pipe dream given the instantaneous rise of the #resistance against him. But this scenario would have required a strong, focused president marshaling his popularity and driving Congress.

Weve seen close to the opposite. And, of course, theres the so-called Russia investigation. Russia is a misnomer. The controversy is now shifting from being about supposed Trump-campaign collusion to alleged obstruction of justice and whatever else special counsel Robert Mueller dredges up in what will probably be a free-ranging, yearslong investigation.

So, whatever Trumps true ideological predilections, theres no place for him to go. Make deals with the Democrats? At this point, Democrats are more likely to cooperate with Sergey Kislyak on an infrastructure package than with Donald Trump.

Dump or triangulate away from Republicans? Well, then who would do scandal defense, besides a handful of White House aides and outside media loyalists? Imagine what the Comey or Sessions hearings would have looked like if Republicans had joined Democrats in the pile-on.

The need for support on Capitol Hill could well get more urgent if things go badly the next year and a half. If Democrats take the House, Trump will rely on Republicans for an impeachment defense and, if it comes to that, for the votes in the Senate to block removal.

In one sense, this suits Trump. He may have a questionable partisan pedigree, but he is a natural partisan smash-mouth, heedless of process and norms, willing to make whatever argument suits him at any particular time. There have been many Republicans who have opposed Chuck Schumer before; it took Trump to call him a clown.

As for congressional Republicans, they, too, dont have much choice. Like it or not, whatever they tell reporters privately about their true feelings about Trump, his fate is their fate.

First, a presidents approval rating heavily influences midterm elections. The outcome in the campaign for the House will presumably be much different depending on whether Trump is at 35 or 45 percent. Republicans dumping Trump wouldnt make him any more popular.

Second, such a distancing is not really politically practicable. If Republicans try to skitter away from Trump, their base will roast them. Theres no reason to think that at this point the dynamic would be any different than after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, when Republicans dumping Trump were quickly forced to pick him right back up again.

Third, Republicans want to get some things done legislatively. A poisonous split with the White House wouldnt help. Trump may be a mercurial and frustrating partner, but he is a partner all the same.

Finally, most Republicans quite legitimately think the Russian controversy is a media-driven travesty. If there were a smoking gun, this posture would probably change (obviously, in that circumstance, it shouldchange). But Democrats are in no position to lecture Republicans on cutting loose a president of their own party when they twisted themselves in knots to defend Bill Clinton after he lied under oath over an affair that violated every feminist principle the party professed to hold.

If Trump and Republicans had their druthers, neither would be in quite this position. But this is the reality for everyone. For now, theres no way out, only through, and through it together.

Email Rich Lowry at comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.

Read or Share this story: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/06/18/trump-really-republican-now/407457001/

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Trump really a Republican now - Jackson Clarion Ledger

The man who shot House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others at a congressional baseball practice earlier this week had with him a piece of paper with doodles and the names of three lawmakers, according to a person familiar with the case.

The person told the Associated Press on Saturday that investigators weren't sure of the significance of the names and didn't know whether it was a list of people he was targeting. This person was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The person did not disclose the names, but said those listed had been briefed.

Scalise's trauma surgeon said Friday that the GOP whip can hope to make an excellent recovery even though he arrived at the hospital Wednesday at risk of imminent death.

Dr. Jack Sava of MedStar Washington Hospital Center said there was a good possibility that the Louisiana Republican will be able to return to work in his full capacity.

Sava declined to put a timeline on when that might happen or when Scalise, 51, will be able to leave the hospital. The doctor described how a bullet from an assault rifle entered Scalise's hip and traversed his pelvis, shattering blood vessels, bones and internal organs along the way.

For now, Scalise remains in critical condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.

Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, arrived at the hospital via helicopter in shock, with intense internal bleeding, Sava said.

Since then, the lawmaker has undergone multiple surgeries and procedures to stop the bleeding and repair bone. He has been brought out of sedation periodically and been able to recognize and communicate with his family, Sava said.

Scalise was wounded when a gunman opened fire at a GOP lawmaker baseball practice Wednesday morning.

Several other people were also injured in Wednesday's shooting before Scalise's security detail and other police officers gunned down the assailant, who later died. The shooter was an Illinois man, James T. Hodgkinson, who had lashed out against President Trump and Republicans over social media.

Sava said Friday that there were still hundreds of bullet fragments in Scalise's body, but that doctors have no intention to try and remove all the bullet fragments at this point.

Nonetheless, said Sava, We fully expect him to be able to walk and hopefully run.

Sava said that after being released from the hospital, Scalise will require a period of healing and rehabilitation.

I feel a lot more confident and a lot more optimistic than I did two, three days ago, Sava said. I think that his risk of death right now is substantially lower than when he came in; he was as critical as you can be when he came in.

Sava said he told Scalise's family: I am not declaring victory until he's playing ball in his backyard with his family.

Also suffering relatively minor injuries were two Capitol Police officers, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, and House GOP aide Zachary Barth. Griner remains hospitalized at MedStar Hospital after getting shot in the ankle, and Sava described her in good condition.

Bailey was spotted Friday in the Capitol, on crutches and out of uniform, accepting congratulations from fellow officers.

Lobbyist Matt Mika, who was also shot multiple times and critically wounded, has undergone additional surgery and doctors expect a full recovery, his family said Saturday.

In a statement, Mika's family said he would remain in the intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital at least through the weekend. They said he was able to communicate through notes and signed the game ball from Friday's congressional baseball game.

Mika is a lobbyist for Tyson Foods and a former aide to Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg.

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See the original post here:
Gunman went to Republican baseball practice with a list of names - Los Angeles Times

On Sunday Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., said it wascompletely unacceptable that the Senate Republicans have been secretively handling their health care proposal that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in a closed-door process.

During an interview on Face the Nation host John Dickerson asked Sanders if he was on board with halting all Senate business because Senate Republicans are designing their health care bill in total secrecy. I believe it is 10 Republicans working behind closed doors to address 1/6th of the American economy. Thats what health care is. Republicans. The average Republican doesnt even know whats in that legislation, Sanders explained.

My understanding is that it will be brought forth just immediately before we have to vote on it. This is completely unacceptable, he added. I mean, nobody can defend a process which will impact tens of millions of Americans and nobody even knows whats in the legislation.

The most important part, according to Sanders, is that the Republicans have purposely kept the proposal hidden because its a disastrous bill.

Who is going to defend cutting Medicaid by $800 billion at the same time as you give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest 2 percent? So they want to keep it secret. They dont want the media involved. They dont want members of Congress involved. And in the last minute, they present it. They push it through, Sanders explained.

Sanders also said that the health care bill that passed in the House at the beginning of May was the worst piece of legislation frankly against working class people that I can remember in my political life in the Congress.

But Sanders is far from the only one who has taken issue with theclosed-door process, even some Republicans have spoken out about it. On Sunday Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fla., who was also on Face the Nation criticized his own colleagues and said, The Senate is not a place where you can just cook up something behind closed doors and rush it for a vote on the floor.

Especially on an issue like this, Rubio added.

Originally posted here:
The average Republican doesn't even know what's in that legislation: Bernie Sanders blasts GOP on health care An ... - Salon

Ever since Donald Trump became president, wary Republican elites have believed he was an anomalya unique candidate who owed his success to celebrity appeal and weak opposition, despite some noxious views and behavior. Take away Trump the person, they believed, and there would be no Trump phenomenon.

That viewpoint got a rude wake-up call this week, in a Virginia Republican primary that wasnt supposed to be a contest at all. And while the GOP establishments preferred candidate still won, the surprise result showed theres still a substantial appetite in the partys base for the populist impulses Trump represents.

Virginia elects governors in the odd-numbered years after presidential elections, and this year, it was Democrats whose primary looked like a pitched battle. Two well-credentialed progressivesone the sitting lieutenant governor, the other a former congressman and Obama administration officialwere locked in a battle for the partys soul. But despite polling showing a tight race, the Democratic establishment candidate, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, pulled out an easy win, defeating Tom Perriello by a 12-point margin.

On the Republican side, meanwhile, Ed Gillespie expected to coast to an easy victory over his main challenger, Corey Stewart, a Trump acolyte who highlighted his hard line on immigration and support for Confederate monuments. It doesnt get much more establishment than Gillespie, a former D.C. lobbyist and chairman of the Republican National Committee. Polls had shown Gillespie up by 20 points over Stewart, a local county board chairman. Gillespie had all the major endorsements and many times as much money as Stewart.

But off-year elections, where turnout varies wildly and partisans are often late to decide, are devilishly difficult to poll. Virginia primaries have defied the pollsters before: In 2014, grassroots conservatives delivered a shocking defeat to Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, just weeks after Cantors pollster had told him he was winning by 34 points.

In this case, Gillespie and Stewarts vote totals hovered within a point of each other for hours after the polls closed. Gillespie was finally declared the winner by just over 1 percentage point, drawing 43.7 percent of the vote to Stewarts 42.5 percent.

I spent the weekend before Tuesdays vote following Stewart and Gillespie, on the theory that their primary was an early test of the Trump eras most pressing political question: whether the unorthodox new president represents a long-term political realignment or just a weird one-off. Had Gillespie walked away with the primary as expected, it might have been evidence that the Republican fever had broken, and that the GOP was looking to return to business as usual with sensible, practical candidates rather than race-baiting firebrands.

Virginia isnt exactly Trump country: The state went for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Trump won the states primary by a narrow margin over Marco Rubio. Despite its Southern geography, Virginia today is an urban, transient, diverse, highly educated state, where many local Republican activists are wealthy consultants and lobbyists like Gillespie. When I went to see Gillespie campaign at a local fair, I met one such activist, a former mining-industry lobbyist who lives in the D.C. suburbs. Gillespies campaign was premised on the notion that Virginia Republicans were looking for a candidate who, while not openly repudiating Trump, was the polar opposite of Trump in temperament and orientation, emphasizing tax cuts and economic growth over culture-war controversies.

Stewarts theory was the opposite: that Trump changed everything and showed what the GOP base was really looking for. Serving as the Trump campaigns Virginia state chairman last October, he led activists in a march on the RNC headquarters, where he charged that the establishment pukes were undermining Trumps campaign. (He was fired for the stunt.) Last weekend, Stewart told me he had warmed to Reince Priebus, the former RNC chairman now serving as White House chief of staff, but still believed the Republican establishment was hampering Trumps presidency.

The Stewart supporters I spoke to, at a campaign rally in a diner in Fredericksburg, were galvanized by his nationalist message. There were numerous Confederate flag bumper stickers in the parking lot, and one woman wore a stars-and-bars hat with the word REBEL. They told me they were disgusted with Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan, and put all their faith in Trump.

On Tuesday, there turned out to be a lot more of these types of Republican voters than Ed Gillespie expected.

Trump had an effect on the Democratic side of Tuesdays primary as well. More than they competed on policy, the Democrats vied to be the most virulently anti-Trump, with the winner, Northam, airing an ad in which he called the president a narcissistic maniac. And Democrats were clearly energized: More than 540,000 turned out to vote in the Democratic primary, compared to 370,000 in the Republican primary.

In Fredericksburg, I asked Stewart if he believed Trump had changed the face of American politics. Thats what this election is going to help answer, Stewart replied. He certainly was a different kind of Republican. The question is, did that start a new era in Republican politics? Or are we going to revert back to the same old same old, with more establishment candidates winning nominations?

Stewart, of course, believed he was going to win, and he didnt. But in coming as close as he did, he gave the Republican establishment a scareand showed that a sizable portion of the GOP base doesnt want to go back to business as usual. Far from being weary of the controversial and unorthodox president, a lot of Republicans want more candidates like Trump.

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Virginia's Wake-Up Call to the GOP Establishment - The Atlantic