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US

NYT: Rep. Perry played role in alleged Trump plan to oust acting AG

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Pennsylvania Rep. Scott PerryScott Gordon PerryDemocrats to levy fines on maskless lawmakers on House floor Growing number of lawmakers test positive for COVID-19 after Capitol siege New Jersey Democrat thinks she contracted coronavirus during Capitol siege MORE (R) played a key role in an alleged plan by former President TrumpDonald TrumpMcCarthy says he told Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene he disagreed with her impeachment articles against Biden Biden, Trudeau agree to meet next month Trump planned to oust acting AG to overturn Georgia election results: report MORE to oust then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in a bid to overturn the election results in Georgia, according to a Saturday report by The New York Times.

The outlet reported that Perry, who earlier this month voted in favor to object to the election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona in Congress, coordinated the introduction between Trump and Jeffrey Clark, the acting chief of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil division. 

Clark had reportedly been receptive to Trump’s claims that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him. 

The Times initially reported Friday that Trump sought to replace Rosen with Clark after Rosen refused to support Trump’s disputed claims that the presidential election was tainted by widespread voter fraud. Four former Trump administration officials told the newspaper that the plot to replace Rosen failed after DOJ officials uncovered the plan and threatened to resign en masse. 

On Saturday, the Times reported that former Trump administration officials said Clark informed the acting attorney general in late December about a meeting with the former president brokered by Perry.

The Times noted it was unclear how Perry initially met Clark, and how well they knew each other prior to the meeting with the former president. Both the president and Clark also reportedly engaged in several direct phone conversations. 

Justice Department officials were reportedly surprised by these interactions, as Clark had not previously alerted Rosen. The agency’s policy states that the president must first communicate with the attorney general or deputy attorney general on any DOJ matter. 

According to the Times, former officials said that Perry and Clark discussed a plan to have the Justice Department send a letter to Georgia state lawmakers stating that a voter fraud investigation was forthcoming that could potentially overturn the state’s election results. The two men then discussed the alleged plan with Trump. 

However, Rosen reportedly refused to send the letter. 

The former officials briefed on the matter told the Times that the Justice Department had carried out dozens of voter fraud investigations, none of which resulted in findings that would have altered the outcome of the election. 

The Hill has reached out to Perry’s office for comment on the Times report. 

Sen. Richard DurbinDick DurbinOvernight Health Care — Fauci: Lack of facts ‘likely’ cost lives in coronavirus fight | CDC changes COVID-19 vaccine guidance to allow rare mixing of Pfizer, Moderna shots | Senate chaos threatens to slow Biden’s agenda Hillicon Valley: Intelligence agency gathers US smartphone location data without warrants, memo says | Democrats seek answers on impact of Russian hack on DOJ, courts | Airbnb offers Biden administration help with vaccine distribution Democrats seek answers on impact of Russian cyberattack on Justice Department, Courts MORE (D-Ill.), the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the DOJ Saturday informing the agency that he was investigating alleged efforts by Trump and Clark “to use the Department of Justice to further Trump’s efforts to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerDivide and conquer or unite and prosper Roe is not enough: Why Black women want an end to the Hyde Amendment National Guard back inside Capitol after having been moved to parking garage MORE (D-N.Y.) has also called for the DOJ’s internal watchdog to investigate Trump over Friday’s Times report, tweeting Saturday that it was, “Unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.” 

“The Justice Dept Inspector General must launch an investigation into this attempted sedition now,” Schumer added. 

Schumer went on to say that the Senate will “move forward” with an impeachment trial into Trump over his role in  the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The trial is set to begin the week of Feb. 8.



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GOP rep who offered to work with Biden says call for unity ‘not off to a great start’

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Rep. Beth Van Duyne, who offered to work with President Biden on bipartisan solutions, says the Democratic president has turned off some Republicans with a flurry of executive orders reversing the former administration’s policies.

“Looking at what he did in his first day, it’s not off to a great start,” Van Duyne, R-Texas, told Fox News.

She led a group of 17 GOP freshmen to send Biden a letter on Inauguration Day offering to help with passing legislation on targeted coronavirus relief, protecting Americans with pre-existing health conditions, improving infrastructure and restoring the economy. 

HOUSE GOP FRESHMEN OFFER TO WORK WITH BIDEN: ‘AMERICANS ARE TIRED OF THE PARTISAN GRIDLOCK’

During Biden’s inauguration speech, he spoke repeatedly of unity and the importance of listening to and respecting differences of opinions. He pledged to be a president for all Americans. 

Biden, however, kicked off his presidency with a series of executive orders that took direct aim at President Trump’s signature policies related to border security, energy production and climate change that were popular among the GOP base.

BIDEN SIGNS 17 EXECUTIVE ORDERS REVERSING TRUMP POLICIES, RESTORING OBAMA-ERA PROGRAMS

Van Duyne is not alone in her disappointment.

Other Republicans pleased with Biden’s calls for unity in his Wednesday speech were frustrated that his first executive actions reflected the priorities of the left. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Biden of taking “several big steps in the wrong direction.”

Van Duyne called Biden’s immigration actions “very dangerous” and said the Democrat’s reversal of the Keystone XL oil and gas pipeline project on environmental grounds would kill jobs and lead to higher energy costs for struggling Americans.

“It’s $1.6 billion of wages he just knocked out with a signature,” Van Duyne said of the reversal. “It’s thousands and thousands of jobs that were just decimated overnight. You think about the folks that Democrats claim that they represent — working poor, people on fixed incomes — and literally with one movement of the pen he has now raised their electricity rates, raised their gas rates. … They’re now going to have their utility costs go skyrocket.”

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, led a letter with 17 GOP freshman to President Biden offering to work with him on bipartisan solutions. “It is clear that the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans does not serve a single American,” they wrote in the Jan. 20, 2021 letter.
(Fox News screenshot)

TC Energy, the Canadian company behind the pipeline, said it laid off 1,000 workers as a result of Biden’s executive action. Trump had approved construction of the $9 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline that would transport up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska.

BIDEN ENDING KEYSTONE PIPELINE WOULD KILL THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN JOBS

According to the Keystone XL website, the project, initially proposed more than a decade ago, would sustain about 11,000 U.S. jobs in 2021 – including 8,000 union jobs – and generate $1.6 billion in gross wages.

In other action, Biden ordered a stop to building the wall along the southern border, ended Trump’s so-called “Muslim travel ban” and reversed one of Trump’s early executive orders that made anyone in the country illegally a priority for deportations.

Responding to the latter action, the Department of Homeland Security announced a 100-day moratorium on certain deportations. The pause does not apply to people who entered the country illegally on or after Nov. 1, 2020.

Van Duyne said that under Trump’s policies her home state had finally made headway on improving border security.

TEXAS REP.-ELECT BETH VAN DUYNE SAYS OBAMACARE WAS ‘ONE OF THE BIGGEST LIES’ OF HISTORY

“He’s basically now given an invitation for gang members, for the drug cartel and for human traffickers to come on into our country … That to me is very dangerous. And it’s going to affect border states, specifically states like Texas,” Van Duyne said. 

Van Duyne led the letter of GOP freshmen to Biden because she saw how the country suffered when Democrats worked for four years to resist Trump and were too concerned with impeachment and Russian collusion to find solutions, she said. 

“I quite honestly think I’m pretty much like most Americans who are sick of that fight,” Van Duyne said. “They want to move forward. They want to know that there are adults who actually are elected who are willing to work on policy issues that will affect them. And I raised my hand and I got 16 of my fellow freshmen to do the same thing.”

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She said Biden needs to work more closely with Republican lawmakers  in order to avoid issuing more damaging executive orders.

“You need to have Republicans at the table that are talking about how to best defend and fight for working families, and that right now is being completely missed,” she said.

Fox Business’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.

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US

McCarthy says he told Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene he disagreed with her impeachment articles against Biden

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyMcCarthy supports Cheney remaining in leadership amid calls for her to step down The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Biden hits the ground running on COVID Biden’s inauguration marked by conflict of hope and fear MORE (R-Calif.) said he spoke with Rep. Marjorie Greene (R-Ga.) about her efforts to move impeachment articles against newly-inaugurated President Biden.

In an interview with Greta Van Susteren, McCarthy said he disagreed with the first-term lawmaker’s efforts to oust Biden, but that she has a right to pursue impeachment.

“I called her. I disagree with that. That’s exactly what the Democrats did with President TrumpDonald TrumpIran’s leader vows ‘revenge,’ posting an image resembling Trump Former Sanders spokesperson: Biden ‘backing away’ from ‘populist offerings’ Justice Dept. to probe sudden departure of US attorney in Atlanta after Trump criticism MORE, and why we disagreed with when they wanted to come after him for purely political reasons,” McCarthy said. “I think Republicans are better than that. That this is one of the arguments we used against the Democrats, and I don’t think we should use it either.”

“She has a right to, as an elected member of Congress to submit those,” he added, “I just don’t think the timing and the case is right at this time, in this moment.”

Greene’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The Georgia lawmaker said Thursday — the first full day of the Biden administration — that she had filed the articles of impeachment.

The text of the articles was not immediately available, but she hinted they accuse Biden of abusing his power while serving as vice president by allowing his son, Hunter Biden, to serve on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. 

“President Joe BidenJoe BidenRev. Barber says best way to undercut extremism is with honesty Biden requires international travelers to quarantine upon arrival to US Overnight Defense: House approves waiver for Biden’s Pentagon nominee | Biden to seek five-year extension of key arms control pact with Russia | Two more US service members killed by COVID-19 MORE is unfit to hold the office of the presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama’s Vice President is lengthy and disturbing. President Biden has demonstrated that he will do whatever it takes to bail out his son, Hunter, and line his family’s pockets with cash from corrupt foreign energy companies,” Greene said in a statement.

Biden has denied that his son’s position swayed his policymaking during the Obama administration, and an investigation into the matter by Senate Republicans found no wrongdoing by either Biden.

Greene’s announcement Thursday came after the House voted last week to impeach then-President Trump, making him the first president in history to be impeached on two separate occasions. 

The intervention by the House’s top Republican comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle look to turn down the political temperature after the Jan. 6 violent riot at the Capitol that resulted in the deaths of several people.

Greene has made a splash on Capitol Hill since she was sworn into office earlier this month. Her candidacy drew national attention after it was revealed that she had made comments in support of the outlandish QAnon conspiracy theory, and she has used her time in Washington to rail against masks and promote disputed claims that the presidential election was marred by widespread fraud.



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