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Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 21, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP file

"Jeff Sessions is among the most honorable men in government today...I have full confidence in Jeffs ability to perform the duties," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the most senior Republican in the Senate.

Hatch was the second senator to endorse Trump last year, he noted to reporters "some people thought I was crazy to do it."

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas conservative, called Sessions "a good man and a fine Attorney General."

Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., praised Sessions specifically for his handling of the Russia probe.

"I think that his independence has been proven by his willingness to recuse himself," Tillis told reporters. "I think hes doing a good job there and I look forward to him continuing to serve."

Asked if the Senate would confirm a replacement for Sessions should it need to, Tillies replied, "That raises the question about whether or not anybody would wanna do it."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has butted up against Sessions hardline on immigration, defended him on Twitter.

Trump snubbed Sessions on Monday when he spoke to the

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told CNBC that Sessions "embodies all of the things that are great about boy scouting and eagle scouts."

"I worked with Jeff Sessions for nine and a half years in the Senate," Barrasso added. "Jeff Sessions has my confidence."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich introduces Donald Trump at a rally last month in Ft. Myers, Fla. Evan Vucci / AP

And even Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and outspoken Trump defender, took Sessions' side. "I think Sessions should stay," Gingrich told NPR Wednesday. "I dont think this is one of the Presidents better moments."

Meanwhile in Alabama, three Republicans are the leading candidates

One of them, Rep. Mo Brooks, on Wednesday announced that he would drop out of the race if the other GOP contenders would do so as well so that Sessions could become the Republican nominee to get his old Senate seat back if he is fired by Trump.

"This public waterboarding of one of the greatest people Alabama has ever produced is inappropriate and insulting to the people of Alabama who know Jeff Sessions so well and elected him so often by overwhelming margins," Brooks said.

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Republican Senators Steamed Over Trump Attacks Back Sessions - NBCNews.com

President Trump made no effort to dispel the impression that he wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions out, telling reporters on Tuesday, We will see what happens. Time will tell.

At a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, President Trump took questions about his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

Mr. Sessions remained silent, but Mr. Trumps continued criticism of an early ally has opened a rift with conservatives who see the attorney general as their champion. It has also raised questions about the future of the investigation into Russias election interference and highlighted the complicated relationship between the president and congressional Republicans.

On Tuesday, the president addressed an adoring crowd in Ohio, while the Boy Scouts tried to distance the group from his politics-laced speech the day before.

Estimate of North Korean threat is revised.

A missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. is likely to be developed within a year, American intelligence agencies say, a significantly shorter time frame than previously given.

Scandal sinks dean at U.S.C.

The University of Southern California is under intense scrutiny over the departure of the leader of its medical school.

Dr. Carmen Puliafito was a prodigious fund-raiser, but a report last week detailed how he associated with criminals and used drugs on campus.

U.S. soldier tells of baffling attack.

A survivor of a shootout in Jordan last year that killed three Americans described a scene of confusion and terror.

A gun battle erupted between American Special Forces soldiers and a Jordanian Air Force sergeant last year at an air base outside Al Jafr, Jordan.

The Daily, your audio news report.

In todays show, we discuss the Senates health care debate.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

The White House is exploring ways to exploit Afghanistans vast mineral wealth, which Afghan officials have said could be profitably extracted by Western companies.

Weak productivity is conventionally understood to be the root cause of slow growth and low wages. What if its the other way around?

Frustrated by limits on transactions, a faction of programmers is starting a new virtual currency, Bitcoin Cash.

Employees at a tech company in Wisconsin are volunteering for microchip implants, making it easier to open doors and pay for food. The practice raises many questions, both privacy- and health-related.

U.S. stocks were up on Tuesday. Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

Can you test the health of your gut?

Recipe of the day: Weeknights call for comfort food like chicken curry.

Recalling riots in Detroit, 50 years on.

In todays 360 video, travel through archival photographs to sites of one of the most destructive civil disturbances in U.S. history.

In this 360 video, travel through archival photographs to sites of one of the most destructive civil disturbances in American history and hear from a woman who witnessed it.

111 N.F.L. brains. 110 with disease.

An overwhelming number of football players in a new study were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative disease linked to repeated blows to the head.

Not your typical Mexican fare.

At Atla, a casual cafe in New York from a team with original things to say about Mexican cuisine, chefs make food for every moment of the day, our restaurant critic writes.

In memoriam.

Margaret Bergmann Lambert, a world-class high jumper, was best known for her nonparticipation in the 1936 Olympics, when she was kept off the German team because she was Jewish. She was 103.

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara cautioned against gluttony and early retirement, and championed climbing stairs and having fun. Practicing what he preached, he helped make Japan the world leader in longevity. He was 105.

Best of late-night TV.

Some of the hosts addressed President Trumps speech to the Boy Scouts. Be prepared.

Quotation of the day.

If an early supporter like this is thrown under the bus, then who is safe? You can imagine what the other cabinet secretaries are thinking.

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a supporter of stricter immigration policies like those championed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

War in a periscope declared the front page of The Times on this day in 1942.

The headline accompanied an image from the U.S. Navy, the first combat action photograph taken through the periscope of an American undersea craft.

That got us wondering about other photographic firsts at The Times, so we dived into our archives.

The Times published its first photographs on Sept. 6, 1896, in the first edition of its Sunday Magazine. (The pictures were of two candidates in the 1860 presidential election. Pictures of white, male politicians? Some things never change.)

It took 13 more years for a photograph to appear on the front page. The Times sponsored a daredevil flight from Albany to New York City and ran a picture of the plane at takeoff.

Experiments with color printing began as far back as the early 20th century, but the front page was strictly black and white until Oct. 16, 1997, when a photograph of the World Series-bound Cleveland Indians appeared.

Interested in seeing more from The Timess archive? Check out our blog, The Lively Morgue, and follow @nytarchives on Instagram.

Ryan Murphy contributed reporting.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. You can browse through past briefings here.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com.

You can sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox. Check out our full range of free newsletters here.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of a caption with this briefing misidentified both the source and the target of a torpedo that sank a Japanese ship. The torpedo was from a U.S. submarine, not a destroyer, and sank a Japanese destroyer, not a battleship.

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Republican Party, Jeff Sessions, North Korea: Your Wednesday ... - New York Times

Hours later, Mr. Trump joined the chairman of Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, for a big announcement: The company will open its first American factory in Wisconsin.

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3. The Treasury Department announced new financial sanctions on current and former Venezuelan officials. The Trump administration is threatening further action if President Nicols Maduro proceeds with a constituent assembly on Sunday that critics consider a danger to democracy. Above, a scene from a protest in Caracas.

And Russian legislators called for painful measures against the U.S. in response to plans for new American sanctions. The House voted on Tuesday to bolster sanctions to punish Moscow for aggression toward its neighbors and election interference. The bill goes to the Senate next.

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4. You can think of California as a giant laboratory.

That was a Berkeley professor as Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law expanding the states cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The state now plans to rethink every corner of its economy, from urban planning to dairy farms.

And theres a big scandal rocking the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times published an expos about the former dean of the medical school, who was seen on camera taking hard drugs and partying with much younger companions.

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5. Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and vacation sites in southeastern France as strong winds fueled wildfires that had been raging across the region for days.

At least two homes and 2,000 acres of forest were gutted, but there have been no reports of fatalities so far. The fire started at a campsite near Bormes-les-Mimosas, a town on the Mediterranean coast, where the population surges with vacationers during the summer.

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6. At least four people, including two teenagers, have died since Monday trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas, in another deadly sign of the extremes to which migrants will go to reach the U.S.

The river is normally just a trickle there, but heavy rains have transformed it into a dangerous torrent. Seven people were also rescued near El Paso, above.

The deaths came days after the authorities discovered the bodies of eight migrants packed in a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio.

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7. New York Citys subway system is a disaster at the moment plagued by delays, breakdowns and even derailments.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in June. Now hes going to Washington to meet with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the states congressional delegation about the crisis.

If youre wondering why the governor is in charge of the subway and not the mayor youre not alone. Heres the back story.

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8. A first-of-its-kind traveling exhibition of objects from Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp, will begin a tour of 14 cities across Europe and North America later this year.

The organizers said its more urgent than ever as the last survivors age, and anti-Semitism persists in many quarters.

The exhibit will include letters and testimonials, a tin that contained Zyklon B gas pellets and other grim reminders from the complexs gas chambers. Above, a wooden box made in Auschwitz by a Polish prisoner.

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9. Is your Roomba plotting to spy on you?

The company that makes the robotic vacuum, iRobot, is considering selling the mapping data the devices collect to a company like Google or Amazon.

The data could be a windfall for marketers, and the implications are easy to imagine as are the legal questions and privacy concerns that could arise.

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10. Finally, the late-night hosts had their hands full trying to make sense of the health care debate in the Senate. (We sympathize.)

But they managed. Ahead of the health care vote senators were saying that they had no clue what theyd be voting on, Jimmy Fallon quipped. Then Americans said, Hey, just like us during the election.

Tonight, Stephen Colbert talks to Michael Moore about his forthcoming one-man show on Broadway on The Late Show.

Have a great night.

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Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

And dont miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays.

Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.

What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

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Republican Party, Russia, Venezuela: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing - New York Times

A key House Republican has written an online column that describes the transgender bathroom debate as a distraction built, in part, on duplicitous grandstanding by politicians.

The posting on the Texas GOP Vote website is significant because Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, is chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, which will handle legislation pertaining to transgender bathroom use.

As the special session continues to unfold, I am disappointed that our great state is continuing to waste so much time over the bathroom debate, Cook wrote, saying the issue is a smokescreen threats facing rural communities and schools.

Cook went on to explain his position on the issue, saying he supports legislation that limits admittance (based on gender at birth) to multi-stall bathrooms and locker rooms in our schools and requires local schools districts to develop single-stall bathroom policies for its transgender students.

Beyond clarifying this policy for our public schools, we already have strong laws in Texas against sexual predators. Therefore, I do not condone duplicitous grandstanding on this issue and/or discriminatory legislation; nor do I support laws that will adversely affect our states economy, he wrote.

The Texas Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 3 shortly after midnight Wednesday, sending the bill to an uncertain reception in the House, where Speaker Joe Straus has already announced sharp opposition to the issue.

The State Affairs Committee also has not set a hearing on two bills by Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton House Bill 50, which would ban schools from adopting policies that extend anti-discrimination protection to bathroom, locker room and changing room use, and HB 46, which would extend that prohibition to local governments as well as schools.

See the original post:
Key House Republican calls bathroom bills a distraction - Austin American-Statesman

Somewhere between Alaska and West Virginia, theres an invisible line dividing the Republican Party.

Not literally, of course or, for that matter, even figuratively. But in the highly contentious battle over whether the Senate should move forward in its pursuit of an overhaul of Obamacare, the ideological gulf between Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) was what separated a yes from a no.

The motion to proceed vote was decided when Vice President Pence broke a 50-50 tie on Tuesday, a tie that resulted from two Republicans joining 48 Democrats and the Senates two independents to stop the health-care bill (or, really, the concept of a bill) from moving forward. Those two Republicans were Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the two most moderate members of the Republican caucus according to data compiled by VoteView.com.

Visually, it looks like this. The higher the dot, the more conservative the senator. Dots farther to the left mark senators who represent states that backed Hillary Clinton last year by a wide margin; those farther to the right backed President Trump.

The line were talking about is the dashed one running horizontally between the black Murkowski dot and the red Capito one the split. Every senator under that line voted no. Every senator above it voted for the motion to proceed.

Capito seemed like she was likely to vote no until Tuesday morning. A week ago, she publicly declared her opposition to pressing forward without a bill she could support. When push came to shove, that promise fell by the wayside. That her dot is so far to the right might help explain why: West Virginia was a fervently pro-Trump state in 2016, unlike, say, Maine. But, then, her fellow senator, Joe Manchin III the uppermost dot/most conservative of the Democrats voted no.

Also highlighted are three senators whose votes seemed particularly important on Tuesday. Nevadas Dean Heller had publicly wavered on backing the Republican bill; he voted with his party. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was one of the final two senators to vote, playing coy with the media and then casting a yes, as could have been predicted. Likewise John McCain (R-Ariz.) who cast the other of the last two votes. Each of those three senators are from states that voted fairly purple last year, but ideologically, they were more in line with the rest of their caucus than were Collins or Murkowski.

We dont know that the split line itself is particularly important or wedded tightly to the result of the vote. But we will note that the number of Republican senators as moderate or more moderate than Murkowski is lower in the past three congresses than at any point prior, with most of the partys caucus being at least as conservative as or more conservative than Capito. A similar vote in past congresses, we might assume, would have yielded much different results.

Where the line may become important is once the Senate figures out what its actually voting on. Nearly any legislation that will be offered will end up offering a more conservative choice than simply whether to proceed with debate. In other words, the line will theoretically move up. Will Capito still back it? Will McCain, after offering hints on Tuesday that he might not? This is where other factors come in Hellers 2018 reelection, for example, or that pro-Trump fervor in West Virginia.

In this first vote, though, the line fell in just the right place for Senate Republicans to claim victory. As the president put it in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday afternoon:

Its a very, very difficult situation, he said, because you move a little to the left, and you lose four guys. You move a little bit to the right, and all of a sudden you have a bloc of people who are gone. You have a one-inch road and it wheels through the middle of the valley.

On Tuesday, that road actually ran somewhere between Juneau and Charleston.

See the rest here:
Where the ideological line was drawn in the Republican health-care vote - Washington Post