Tag Archives: Mitch McConnell

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Biden and McConnell show off their bipartisan bonafides in Kentucky

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CNN
 — 

A rare scene unfolded Wednesday in Covington, Kentucky: President Joe Biden stood alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as the two men promoted a major bipartisan legislative accomplishment they achieved together.

The president’s visit to McConnell’s home state to herald the implementation of the massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that McConnell and 18 other Senate Republicans voted for, and that Biden signed into law in 2021, marked his first domestic trip of the new year. The trip was aimed at sending an unmistakable message as Biden kicks off the second half of his first term: Even in a newly divided Congress, the Biden White House still sees room for bipartisanship.

Biden thanked McConnell for working across the aisle on the law.

“It wouldn’t have happened without your hand. It just wouldn’t have gotten done and I want to thank you for that,” Biden said to McConnell during his remarks.

He added that while he and McConnell don’t agree on a lot, the Kentucky Republican is someone you can trust.

“He’s a man of his word. When he gives you his word, you can take it to the bank, you can count on it, and he’s willing to find common ground to get things done for the country. So thank you, Mitch. Thank you,” Biden said.

The scene was a stark message of bipartisanship and pragmatism sent by Biden and McConnell as the two old Senate colleagues came together at the same time that House Republicans found themselves falling further into divisive chaos over Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker. As Biden spoke in Covington, McCarthy suffered a fourth defeat in his push to lead the House of Representatives.

The backdrop for Biden’s visit was the Brent Spence Bridge that connects Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, and is known to be one of the busiest freight routes in the country. Officials say the structure carries far more traffic than it is meant to support.

It’s also a bridge that Biden once promised he would overhaul: “We’re going to fix that damn bridge of yours going into Kentucky,” Biden said during a CNN town hall in Cincinnati in the summer of 2021, as the infrastructure bill appeared to be on the cusp of passage.

On Wednesday, the White House announced more than $2 billion from the infrastructure law would go towards upgrading the Brent Spence bridge and other “economically significant bridges” around the country.

Biden’s trip to the Ohio-Kentucky border on Wednesday will also feature Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and former Republican Sen. Rob Portman, as well as Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

White House officials say that the show of bipartisanship is aimed at sending a clear signal that as Republicans take control of the House, Biden remains convinced that there will still be opportunities for bipartisan legislative wins.

The White House made it clear on Wednesday that they had no intention of getting involved in the drama playing out in the House. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with the president that the Biden administration is “going to let the process play out.”

“It’s not my problem. I think it’s embarrassing the way it’s taking so long,” the president told reporters as he departed the White House Wednesday.

McConnell’s decision to appear with Biden on Wednesday also signals the GOP leader’s willingness to work alongside the president, even as many of his Republican colleagues in the House take a hardline stance against compromising with Democrats.

While White House officials regularly invite all congressional members to attend events Biden holds in their home states, Republicans frequently turn down the opportunity – making McConnell’s decision to join the president this week all the more notable.

Biden himself sought to downplay the importance of the pairing on Monday.

“We’ve been friends a long time. Everybody is talking about how significant it is. It has nothing to do about our relationship,” he said as he returned to the White House from his winter vacation in St. Croix. “It’s a giant bridge, man. It’s a lot of money. It’s important.”

McConnell, during his remarks ahead of the president, noted how the infrastructure law is an example of government working to solve problems for everyday Americans.

“If you look at the political alignment of everyone involved, it’s the government is working together to solve a major problem at a time when the country needs to see examples like this, of coming together and getting an outcome,” McConnell said.

A number of Cabinet officials also plan to travel later this week to promote the infrastructure law. Vice President Kamala Harris will stop in Chicago, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit New London, Connecticut, on Wednesday where they will each “discuss how the president’s economic plan is rebuilding our infrastructure, creating good-paying jobs – jobs that don’t require a four-year degree – and revitalizing communities left behind,” a White House official said.

Over the coming weeks, Biden is expected to reiterate his bipartisan achievements in stops around the country as the Republican majority in the House begins its work, culminating in his yearly State of the Union address. Biden’s aides have begun work on that speech and have made bipartisanship a central theme.

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Brian Sicknick’s family explains snubbing McConnell and McCarthy: ‘This is an integrity issue’

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CNN
 — 

The family of fallen US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick said Wednesday that snubbing GOP leaders during a congressional gold medal ceremony was not for partisan reasons, but an “integrity issue.”

“We were talking about saying something and then we said, ‘No, I think the best way is to just ignore them.’ And we had no idea it was going to blow up like this. We just – we really didn’t. And I’m glad it did because I think it made them think about what they do,” Gladys Sicknick, Brian’s mother, said on “CNN This Morning.”

“Just sitting in the senators’ offices and looking at the pictures of their families behind them and thinking, ‘You know, what do they do when they go home? What do they say to their children and their grandchildren when they go home? You know, what kind of country is this going to be? Do they really want them to live in a country of their making?’” Gladys Sicknick said.

Craig Sicknick, one of Brian’s brothers, said snubbing the lawmakers was not hard to do.

“I really do not hold respect for people who have no integrity. Which is what – this is not a partisan issue, this is an integrity issue. They took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution. And when somebody challenges it, like Trump, they do nothing,” Craig Sicknick said. “Their silence is deafening. Or worse they keep perpetrating the same policies and lies that caused the insurrection to happen.”

On Tuesday, Brian Sicknick and other law enforcement with the US Capitol Police and the DC Metropolitan Police Department were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal – the highest honor Congress can bestow – for defending the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after the insurrection and suffered strokes. When accepting the gold medal on his behalf, Sicknick’s family refused to shake hands with either Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Gladys Sicknick previously told CNN she didn’t shake their hands because, “They’re just two-faced.”

“I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol Police is and then they turn around and … go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring and come back and stand here and sit with – it just, it just hurts,” she said, referring to former President Donald Trump.

McConnell in the past has criticized Trump and condemned him for actions during the January 6 insurrection, while McCarthy has visited the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate several times.

The Senate minority leader was asked about the snub and told reporters after the ceremony on Tuesday, “I would respond by saying today we gave the gold medal to the heroes of January 6. We admire and respect them. They laid their lives on the line and that’s why we gave a gold medal today to the heroes of January 6.”

Asked if she had a message for McConnell and McCarthy, Gladys Sicknick told CNN on Wednesday, “I just don’t know how they can stand there and talk to the press, talk to the cameras and say what they do knowing what they’ve done in the past.”

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Jan. 6 ‘heroes’ honored for defending Capitol from Trump mob

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were honored Tuesday with Congressional Gold Medals, praised as “heroes” for securing democracy when they fought off a brutal and bloody attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an emotional ceremony, tensions still raw in the stately Capitol Rotunda, which was overrun that day when Trump supporters roamed the halls trying to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.

“January 6 was a day of horror and heartbreak; it is also a moment of extraordinary heroism —staring down deadly violence and despicable bigotry,” Pelosi said.

In bestowing Congress’ highest honor, Pelosi praised the heroes for “courageously answering the call to defend our democracy in one of the nation’s darkest hours.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said: “Thank you for having our backs. Thank you for saving our country. Thank you for not only being our friends, but our heroes.”

But showing the raw political and emotional fallout from the insurrection and its aftermath, representatives of one of the medal recipients — the family of fallen officer Brian Sicknick — declined to shake hands with the Republican leaders, snubbing McConnell’s outstretched palm.

To recognize the hundreds of officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the medals will be placed in four locations — at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. In signing the legislation last year, Biden said that one will be placed at the Smithsonian museum “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said for some officers Tuesday was their first time visiting the Capitol since that horrific day, a scene filled with the clanking sound of metal steel flag poles being wielded as weapons, “the air still thick” with chemical sprays as officers were assaulted by the mob of Trump supporters.

“Many of us still carry the mental, physical and emotional scars,” Contee said.

“It was your blood, your sweat and your tears that marked these grounds,” he said.

Contee said the medal for the city’s police officers who rushed to help their Capitol Police allies defend the dome that day was symbolic of their “contributions not just to Washington, D.C., but to the entire country on Jan. 6.”

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger called it “a day unlike any other in our nation’s history. And for us. It was a day defined by chaos, courage and tragic loss.”

The ceremony at the Capitol comes as Democrats, just weeks away from losing their House majority, race to finish a nearly 18-month investigation of the insurrection.

Without support from GOP leadership, Democrats and just two Republicans have led the probe and vowed to uncover the details of the attack, which came as Trump tried to overturn his election defeat and encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” in a rally just before the congressional certification.

Awarding the medals is among Pelosi’s last ceremonial acts as she prepares to step down from leadership. When the bill passed the House more than a year ago, she said the law enforcement officers from across the city defended the Capitol because they were “the type of Americans who heard the call to serve and answered it, putting country above self.”

Dozens of the officers who fought off the rioters sustained serious injuries. As the mob of Trump’s supporters pushed past them and into the Capitol, police were beaten with American flags and their own guns, dragged down stairs, sprayed with chemicals and trampled and crushed by the crowd. Officers suffered physical wounds, including brain injuries and others with lifelong effects, and many struggled to work afterward because they were so traumatized.

Four officers who testified at a House hearing last year spoke openly about the lasting mental and physical scars, and some detailed near-death experiences.

Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described foaming at the mouth, bleeding and screaming as the rioters tried to gouge out his eye and crush him between two heavy doors. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, said he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said a large group of people shouted the N-word at him as he was trying to keep them from breaching the House chamber.

At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that immediately followed, and a third officer, Sicknick, collapsed and later died after one of the rioters sprayed him with a chemical. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.

Several months after the attack, in August 2021, the Metropolitan Police announced that two more of their officers who had responded to the insurrection had died by suicide. The circumstances that led to their deaths were unknown.

The June 2021 House vote to award the medals won widespread support from both parties. But 21 House Republicans voted against it — lawmakers who had downplayed the violence and stayed loyal to Trump. The Senate passed the legislation by voice vote, with no Republican objections.

Pelosi, McConnell, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attended the ceremony and awarded medals.

The Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow, has been handed out since 1776. Previous recipients include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope and Robert Frost. In recent years, Congress has awarded the medals to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason, who became a leading advocate for people struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and biker Greg LeMond.

Signing the bill at the White House last year, Biden said the officers’ heroism cannot be forgotten.

The insurrection was a “violent attempt to overturn the will of the American people,” and Americans have to understand what happened, he said. “The honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it.”

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Mitch McConnell wins secret-ballot election to continue leading Senate Republicans

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CNN
 — 

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has won a secret-ballot leadership election after days of finger-pointing over the Republican election losses, putting him on pace to become the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history.

McConnell defeated Florida Sen. Rick Scott, his first challenger in his 15 years atop his conference.

McConnell won the leadership vote 37-10-1, according to two senators. One senator voted present.

Senate Republican Conference chairman, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming formally announced the slate of GOP leadership positions following the elections, including that Republican Sen. John Thune would continue as whip.

Montana Sen. Steve Daines will replace Scott as the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.

For Democrats, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that their caucus leadership elections will be December 8, according to a source familiar at the Senate Democrats’ lunch on Wednesday.

After a tense meeting Tuesday that lasted several hours – the first in-person meeting for the Republican conference since the midterms – Scott told reporters he planned to challenge McConnell for the top job.

“I’m running for leader,” the Florida Republican told reporters. “I’m not satisfied with the status quo and so I think we ought to have an option.”

He added: “I still think we ought to delay the election.”

Throughout this year, Scott and McConnell have had a long-simmering conflict over messaging, outlook and how to spend resources this election cycle. The two have disagreed over the quality of their candidates, whether to engage in GOP primaries, whether to put forward an agenda or keep the focus on President Joe Biden, and where to compete.

Wednesday’s vote comes after Scott, as well as a handful of conservative senators, called for a delay in the leadership elections until after the Georgia runoff, underscoring Senate Republicans’ frustration with the outcome of the 2022 elections. That effort to push back the vote failed during the closed-door meeting, though 16 GOP senators voted to delay the GOP leadership elections, according to a source familiar.

And while Scott has little chance of succeeding in his bid to be leader, his declaration is seen as a protest vote. He’ll become the first challenger McConnell has faced in his time as GOP leader.

During the closed-door hearing with his Republican colleagues, Scott engaged in a tense back-and-forth with McConnell where they criticized each other.

“Sen. Scott disagrees with the approach that Mitch has taken in this election and for the last couple of years, and he made that clear and Sen. McConnell criticized Sen. Scott’s management of the NRSC,” Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told reporters about the exchange.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he was eager to get past the divisions with his Republican colleagues after emerging from the closed door meeting on Tuesday and hold the leadership elections.

He said he believed Republicans’ focus should be on helping Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker in his December 6 runoff against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

“I think the best thing we can do is get this behind us,” Cornyn told CNN. “Because you guys will keep writing about it for the next three weeks and it will distract from the Georgia runoff, which I think should be our undivided focus.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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Trump mounts anti-McConnell campaign as conservatives seek delay in leadership elections

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CNN
 — 

Former President Donald Trump is calling up his allies in the Senate, GOP sources tell CNN, and making a suggestion as he seeks to divert blame for – Republicans’ lackluster midterm performance: Take aim at Mitch McConnell.

Trump, who is facing a round of sharp criticism from inside his own party for hurting Republican candidates in the midterms, has instead sought to gin up opposition to McConnell ahead of leadership elections next week – even as the GOP leader has already locked down enough support to win another two years, which would make him the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history.

Yet McConnell is facing new dissension within the ranks as a faction of Senate Republicans are grumbling internally about the timing of the leadership elections next week and are now calling for a delay – something that several GOP sources and a member of Republican leadership have signaled is unlikely to happen.

The internal back-biting has prompted a new round of fears: That Republicans will be at odds over their future and hurt their ability to unite ahead of the December 6 runoff for the US Senate seat in Georgia. Some of Trump’s allies fear that his obsession with the Kentucky Republican will only undercut their campaign in Georgia, with memories still raw for many in the party who blame the former President for costing them two seats and the Senate majority in last year’s runoff in the Peach State.

But privately, Trump is trying to turn GOP anger toward McConnell.

In phone calls with allies, elected officials and incoming members of Congress, the former President has accused McConnell of spending recklessly in states where Republicans faced significant headwinds at the expense of candidates in more competitive contests. He and aides have specifically alluded to the Alaska Senate race, where the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund spent more than $5 million attacking a Trump-backed Republican challenger to incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. That candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, appears poised to advance to a ranked choice runoff against Murkowski on November 23.

Trump has been extremely critical of McConnell’s decision to slash support for Arizona Senate hopeful Blake Masters over the summer, one aide noted. Masters currently trails incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly by more than 100,000 votes with 80% of votes counted, according to the latest CNN data.

Sources said Trump has conveyed these frustrations to nearly everyone he has spoken to since Tuesday, hoping it will translate into an onslaught of public criticism of McConnell.

“He isn’t making explicit asks, but he wants to see more Republicans holding Mitch accountable,” said a second person close to Trump.

McConnell’s office declined to comment to CNN for this story.

But it was McConnell’s super PAC, that was the biggest spender in all Senate races in either party – dropping more than $280 million in ads along with its affiliated nonprofit group. Trump’s outside group spent a small fraction of that in Senate races.

In the Arizona race, McConnell told CNN last month that he and the major GOP donor, Peter Thiel, had a discussion over “resource allocation” as other outside groups went onto to prop up Masters. Plus, it was McConnell’s group that poured roughly $30 million into Ohio to bolster Trump’s-endorsed candidate, J.D. Vance, who was struggling against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan but ultimately won convincingly.

Steven Law, the head of the Senate Leadership Fund, told CNN the group tried to put a concerted focus on Biden and Democrats this cycle. But he suggested that Trump’s emergence on the campaign trail helped Democrats late in the cycle.

“Keeping the focus on Joe Biden and Democrats who had voted for inflationary spending and who supported soft on crime policies, those are the priorities,” Law said. “And to the extent that there’s any distraction from that, it diminishes our ability to drive home that argument.”

Senate Republicans next week are poised for a series of tense meetings. They are expected to meet behind closed doors next Tuesday for their first in-person meeting since the midterms.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is calling for a delay in the leadership elections, believes that Republicans first need to have a discussion about “why the results were what they were and what we are going to do about it,” a Rubio adviser said. The adviser said that Trump did not encourage Rubio to make the public plea for a delay.

“First we need to make sure that those who want to lead us are genuinely committed to fighting for the priorities & values of the working Americans (of every background) who gave us big wins in states like Florida,” Rubio tweeted.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who opposes McConnell’s leadership bid, also tweeted that Republicans should delay the elections so as not to “disenfranchise” Herschel Walker, who is running in the Georgia runoff that will take place after the elections.

And three GOP senators – Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah – sent a letter urging members of the GOP conference to postpone leadership elections scheduled for Wednesday, underscoring Senate Republicans’ frustration with the outcome of the 2022 elections.

“We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not,” says the letter. “We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024.”

Despite the push to delay, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said the leadership elections will go on as scheduled.

“We look forward to meeting next week with our new and returning members. I expect a full and open discussion beginning at Tuesday’s policy lunch on our path forward. On Wednesday we will meet again for our scheduled conference for elections,” said Barrasso, who oversees the leadership elections, in a message to the conference that was obtained by CNN.

“I welcome the questions and points made in the letter circulated by Senators Rick Scott, Lee and Johnson,” he wrote.

While the path to a Republican majority is narrow, Johnson and Lee won their reelection races in 2022. Scott serves in leadership now as the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is “supportive” of Johnson running for the No. 4 spot, Republican policy committee chair, according to her spokesperson.

“Someone suggested I run. I didn’t reject the idea and then rumors started to fly,” Johnson told CNN about a potential leadership bid. “My primary objective is to have robust and organized discussions within the conference prior to any leadership election and develop a more collaborative model for the conference.”

But McConnell allies say delaying an election where the GOP leader is not being challenged will only intensify the internal divisions.

“We need to move on,” one Senate GOP source said. “McConnell will win.”

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Why Republicans can’t walk away from Herschel Walker

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CNN
 — 

Republicans are standing by Herschel Walker.

“I think we’re going to stick with Walker….we’re going take it all the way to the end,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with CNN that aired Tuesday afternoon. “I think they’re going to hang in there and scrap to the finish.”

McConnell’s comments came just hours before The Washington Post reported that “the mother of one of Herschel Walker’s children had to repeatedly press the former football star who is now the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia for funds to pay for a 2009 abortion that she said he wanted her to have, according to the woman and a person she confided in at the time.”

That was the latest in a series of allegations swirling around Walker and his past relationships with women. Amid all of this, his son, Christian, a conservative influencer, has spoken out against his father – insisting he was a less-than-ideal parent and that members of his family had urged him not to run for office.

The contrast between McConnell’s vote of confidence in Walker and the latest allegation against the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia are striking. But, it speaks to an uncomfortable reality that undergirds Republicans’ continued support for Walker: They badly need to win this seat for the Senate majority, and it’s simply too late now to back away from him and his troubled candidacy.

The Senate math is simple. Republicans need to net a single seat to win the majority. But, with Dr. Mehmet Oz trailing in Pennsylvania where Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is retiring and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly running surprisingly strong against Blake Masters, Republicans are looking at a very narrow window of opportunity to make the gains they needs.

A two-seat window, in fact. Nevada, where Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is in a very tight race with Adam Laxalt and, you guessed it, Georgia where Walker continues to run competitively against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

There’s just no other seat that has come on the board for Republicans that could allow them to step away from Walker. New Hampshire was, at the start of the election cycle, widely seen as a potential pickup but popular Gov. Chris Sununu decided not to run and Trump-aligned Don Bolduc emerged as the Republican nominee. While Republican strategists still view Sen. Maggie Hassan as vulnerable, she is clearly in a better spot than many expected her to be even a year ago. In Colorado, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s numbers are somewhat soft but a Marist poll released this week showed him leading Republican nominee Joe O’Dea 48% to 41%.

Given all of that, what McConnell is engaging in is a bit of realpolitik. He is sticking with Walker not because he buys that all of the allegations against Walker are false or because he thinks Walker is a stellar candidate but because Walker gives him the best chance to win in a state where polling suggests Republicans can still win.

That’s it. Don’t overthink it. This isn’t about Walker. Not really. This is about getting McConnell to 51 seats in the Senate – plain and simple.

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Republicans saw the Herschel Walker problem coming a mile away

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CNN
 — 

The last week of Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign – beset by a report that he paid for a woman he was dating to have an abortion more than a decade ago – has been an utter disaster.

And it’s been made worse by the fact that smart Republican strategists have known for the better part of a year that Walker was a) deeply untested and b) deeply unpredictable as a candidate.

More than a year ago, in response to an Associated Press story detailing Walker’s turbulent past – including reportedly threatening his ex-wife and exaggerating his business successes – Josh Holmes, a longtime confidante to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was blunt in his assessment of the situation.

“This is about as comprehensive a takedown as I’ve ever read,” tweeted Holmes in July 2021. “My lord.”

And while McConnell stayed silent publicly, he was operating behind the scenes to try to maneuver Walker from his prime position in the Georgia Senate primary.

As CNN reported in August 2021:

“McConnell has suggested to allies that former Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler should take another look at running again, according to three sources familiar with the matter, after their narrow losses in January flipped the Senate to Democratic control.”

Ultimately those efforts went for naught. And by around this time last year, McConnell had given up – endorsing Walker’s bid. “Herschel is the only one who can unite the party, defeat Senator Warnock, and help us take back the Senate,” McConnell said at the time.

For close observers of McConnell, it was clear then that this was a marriage of convenience – at best.

Walker had already been endorsed by Donald Trump. He was (and is) a celebrity in Georgia due to his football accomplishments. None of the other potential high-profile GOP candidates – like Perdue and Loeffler – ended up running.

McConnell didn’t get to where he is – the longtime leader of Republicans in the Senate – by charging at windmills. He knew that there was no point in standing in Walker’s way because the former football star was going to be the Republican nominee. So, McConnell got on board.

But those initial doubts that led him – and one of his top political consiglieres – to be skeptical of Walker never went away. It was a classic case of, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” in action.

Unfortunately for McConnell and Senate Republicans, what’s played out of late was exactly what they were worried about all those months ago. (CNN has not independently verified the allegation against Walker, who has repeatedly denied that he ever paid for an abortion.)

The Point: It’s not clear McConnell had any choice but to get behind Walker. But when he did that, he knew things could end this way. Badly.



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Marc Short says Trump’s post on Elaine Chao was a “racial slur” that was “obviously wrong”

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Marc Short, a senior adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence and onetime director of legislative affairs under then-President Trump, said it was “obviously wrong” for the former president to use a “racial slur” against Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump’s former transportation secretary.

Short made the comments in an interview on CBS News’ “Red and Blue” Monday night, after Trump last week posted on his platform Truth Social that McConnell has a “DEATH WISH” for voting with Democrats to approve a stop-gap funding bill, and called Chao, “his China-loving wife, Coco Chow.” Short called the post “erroneous,” to say the least, highlighting how much Chao has done for the cause of freedom in China. 

“When I — when I saw those tweets at midnight, I sort of assumed the president had taken to drinking at that point,” Short joked. “I think that you know, it’s important to remember that Elaine Chao and her family have been strong crusaders against communist China their whole lives. She’s devoted herself to that. She’s spent time outside of government working at Heritage Foundation, fighting the cause for freedom. She, her family is actually from Taiwan. I think that that certainly was a misplaced and erroneous tweet, to say the least.”

Trump, who doesn’t drink, continues to criticize Republicans who don’t fully align with him on Truth Social. Although the former president is expected to announce a 2024 bid, exactly when he might do so isn’t yet clear. Pence has also hasn’t ruled out a presidential bid and has made multiple trips to Iowa since the 2020 election. 

CBS News correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns pointed out that most Republicans have offered little in the way of rebuke for the former president’s “death wish” tweet. On CBS News “Face the Nation” Sunday, Sen. Rick Scott declined to criticize the former president’s comments. 

“Caitlin, I can’t speak for them,” Short said of other Republicans. “I think that Elaine Chao has been a strong crusader against communist China. I think the president’s factually wrong in his tweet, much less to the notion of him taking a racial slur like that I think was obviously wrong.” 

Short also suggested that “there’s a sense that there’s been such enormous bias against [Trump] in the mainstream media, that perhaps [Republicans] are overcompensating for that. But again,” he added, “I don’t think there’s any place for the tweet he sent out the other night, and I think it’s entirely wrong.”

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.

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Rick Scott says ‘It’s never, ever OK to be a racist’ when asked about Trump’s personal attack on Elaine Chao

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CNN
 — 

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said Sunday that “it’s never ever OK to be a racist” when asked about former President Donald Trump’s personal attack on Elaine Chao, his onetime Transportation secretary. Scott offered a measured response to Trump’s mocking of a notable Asian American in the GOP.

Trump, in a Friday night post on his social media platform Truth Social, directly ridiculed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Chao, the Kentucky Republican’s spouse, referring to her as the senator’s “China loving wife, Coco Chow!”

“It’s never, ever OK to be a racist,” Scott told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” when asked whether Trump’s comments were acceptable. “I think you always have to be careful, you know, if you’re in the public eye … how you say things. You want to make sure you’re inclusive.”

“I hope no one is racist,” the Florida senator added. “I hope no one says anything that’s inappropriate.”

In his Truth Social post last week, Trump said McConnell had a “death wish” for supporting “Democrat sponsored bills,” something Scott avoided criticizing when asked by Bash if he was OK with it, though he later added, “I don’t condone violence.”

“I think, you know, what the President is saying is, ‘You know, there’s been a lot of money spent over the last two years. We’ve got to make sure we don’t keep caving to Democrats. It’s causing an unbelievable inflation and causing more and more debt.’”

It was not clear what bills Trump was criticizing on Friday, or what he meant as he accused McConnell of believing in the Green New Deal, a package of progressive proposals that McConnell blocked from coming to the Senate floor for a vote when he was majority leader.

Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, saw his own disagreement with McConnell spill into the public over the summer.

“Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” McConnell said in August, before later describing the GOP’s chances of flipping the Senate as a “50/50 proposition.”

Scott responded in an op-ed without mentioning the Kentucky Republican by name, writing, “If you want to trash-talk our candidates to help Democrats, pipe down.” (Scott denied last month that his op-ed was directed at McConnell.)

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Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search

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NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s pick for governor in the swing state of Wisconsin easily defeated a favorite of the Republican establishment.

In Connecticut, the state that launched the Bush family and its brand of compassionate conservatism, a fiery Senate contender who promoted Trump’s election lies upset the state GOP’s endorsed candidate. Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans ranging from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defended Trump against an unprecedented FBI search.

And that was just this week.

The rapid developments crystalized the former president’s singular status atop a party he has spent the past seven years breaking down and rebuilding in his image. Facing mounting legal vulnerabilities and considering another presidential run, he needs support from the party to maintain his political career. But, whether they like it or not, many in the party also need Trump, whose endorsement has proven crucial for those seeking to advance to the November ballot.

“For a pretty good stretch, it felt like the Trump movement was losing more ground than it was gaining,” said Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who is urging his party to move past Trump. But now, he said, Trump is benefiting from “an incredibly swift tail wind.”

The Republican response to the FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida estate this week was an especially stark example of how the party is keeping Trump nearby. Some of the Republicans considering challenges to Trump in a 2024 presidential primary, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, were among those defending him. Even long-established Trump critics like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan questioned the search, pressing for details about its circumstances.

But even before the FBI showed up at Mar-a-Lago, Trump was gaining momentum in his post-presidential effort to shape the GOP. In all, nearly 180 Trump-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot have won their primaries since May while fewer than 20 have lost.

Only two of the 10 House Republicans who supported Trump’s impeachment after the Jan. 6 insurrection are expected back in Congress next year. Rep. Jaime Herrera-Beutler, R-Wash., who conceded defeat after her Tuesday primary, was the latest to fall. Leading Trump antagonist Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is at risk of joining her next week.

The Trump victories include a clean sweep of statewide primary elections in Arizona last week — including an election denier in the race for the state’s chief elections official. Trump’s allies also prevailed Tuesday across Wisconsin and Connecticut, a state long known for its moderate Republican leanings.

In Wisconsin’s Republican primary for governor, wealthy Trump-backed businessman Tim Michels defeated former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, an establishment favorite. And in Connecticut, Leora Levy, who promoted Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, surged to an unexpected victory over a more moderate rival after earning Trump’s official endorsement.

On Monday, just hours after the FBI search, Trump hosted a tele-town hall rally on her behalf. Levy thanked Trump in her acceptance speech, while railing against the FBI’s search.

“All of us can tell him how upset and offended and disgusted we were at what happened to him,” she said. “That is un-American. That is what they do in Cuba, in China, in dictatorships. And that will stop.”

Despite his recent dominance, Trump — and the Republicans close to him — face political and legal threats that could undermine their momentum as the GOP fights for control of Congress and statehouses across the nation this fall.

While Trump’s picks have notched notable victories in primaries this summer, they may struggle in the fall. That’s especially true in several governor’s races in Democratic-leaning states such as Connecticut and Maryland, where GOP candidates must track to the center to win a general election.

Meanwhile, several Republicans with White House ambitions are moving forward with a busy travel schedule that will take them to politically important states where they can back candidates on the ballot this year and build relationships heading into 2024.

DeSantis plans to boost high-profile Republican contenders across Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Former Vice President Mike Pence, another potential 2024 presidential contender, is scheduled to appear next week in New Hampshire.

On the legal front, the FBI search was part of an investigation into whether the former president took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence. While Republicans have rallied behind Trump, very few facts about the case have been released publicly. Trump’s attorneys have so far declined to release details from the search warrant.

Prosecutors in Washington and Georgia are also investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election he falsely claimed was stolen. The Jan. 6 congressional commission has exposed damning details about Trump’s behavior from Republican witnesses in recent hearings, which have prompted new concerns, at least privately, among the GOP establishment and donor class.

And on Wednesday, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he testified under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his business dealings.

Trump’s legal entanglements represent a distraction at best for Republican candidates who’d rather focus on President Joe Biden’s leadership, sky-high inflation and immigration troubles to help court moderate voters and independents in the general election.

“Today, every Republican in every state in this country should be talking about how bad Joe Biden is, how bad inflation is, how difficult it is to run a business and run a household,” said Duncan, the Georgia lieutenant governor. “But instead, we’re talking about some investigation, we’re talking about Donald Trump pleading the Fifth, we’re talking about Donald Trump endorsing some conspiracy theorist.”

Trump critics in both parties are ready and willing to highlight Trump’s shortcomings — and his relationship with midterm candidates — as more voters begin to pay attention to politics this fall.

“This is, and always has been, Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in an interview, condemning “MAGA Republicans” and their “extreme agenda” on abortion and other issues.

At the same time, the Republican Accountability Project and Protect Democracy launched a $3 million television and digital advertising campaign this week across seven swing states focused on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The ads, which will run in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, feature testimonials from Republican voters who condemn Trump’s lies about nonexistent election fraud that fueled the Capitol attack.

One ad features congressional testimony from Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who has publicly declared that Trump should never hold public office again.

Still, Cheney faces her own primary election against a Trump-backed challenger next week in Wyoming. One of Trump’s top political targets this year, she is expected to lose. Anticipating a loss, Cheney’s allies suggest she may be better positioned to run for president in 2024, either as a Republican or independent.

Trump’s allies are supremely confident about his ability to win the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024. In fact, aides who had initially pushed him to launch his campaign after the November midterms are now encouraging him to announce sooner to help freeze out would-be Republican challengers.

“It’s going to be very difficult for anyone to take the nomination away from him in 2024,” said Stephen Moore, a former Trump economic adviser who has spoken with Trump about his 2024 intentions. “He is running. That is a certainty.”

Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., predicted that Trump would “lose in a landslide” if he sought the presidency again, adding that the former president’s overall grasp on the party is “eroding on the edges.”

“In a normal election, you’ve got to win not just the base. You’ve got to win the middle, too, right, and maybe crossover on the other side,” said Rice, who lost his recent primary after voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment.

Rice warned that Trump far-right candidates could lead to unnecessary losses for the party in November. “Donald Trump is pushing things so far to the right,” he said in an interview.

Meanwhile, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, eyeing a 2024 bid himself, warned against making bold political predictions two years before the Republican Party selects its next presidential nominee.

“We’re sitting here in August of 2022,” Christie said in an interview. “My sense is there’s a lot of water over the dam still to come before anybody can determine anybody’s individual position in the primaries of ’24 — except to say that if Donald Trump runs, he will certainly be a factor.”

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Associated Press writers Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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