A prominent Republican senator issued a blunt warning to President Trump not to interfere with the Russia investigation, saying that any effort to get rid of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III could be “the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters Thursday that “there will be holy hell to pay” if Trump fires Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a favorite of conservatives who represented Alabama in the Senate for 20 years.
Graham's words were the sternest yet among Senate Republican warnings to Trump about the potential consequences of firing either the attorney general or the special counsel.
The chairman of the judiciary committee, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), issued his own warning in a tweet Wednesday night, saying his committee would not take up a nomination of a replacement attorney general this year.
Starting with an interview in the New York Times last week and continuing with a three-day barrage of critical tweets, Trump has raged at Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from supervising the investigation into the Russian attempts to influence the election, and into whether anybody involved in Trump’s campaign participated in the scheme.
Trump also has bitterly complained about Mueller, whom he has accused of leading a “witch hunt,” and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and who is now supervising the probe.
Justice Department regulations say that only the attorney general, or in this case Rosenstein acting in his place, can fire the special counsel. If Sessions were gone, Trump could try to appoint a replacement willing to carry out the firing.
Graham said he will introduce a bill next week that would require court review if anyone tried to fire a special counsel who was investigating the president.
“I think I’ll get all the Democrats and I hope to get a good number of Republicans,” he said, adding that the enacting such a law is “not just for Trump but for any future president. We need a check and balance here.”
Graham said Trump’s campaign to “marginalize and humiliate the attorney general is not going over well in the Senate” or among conservatives.
He also said Trump, who has called on Sessions to investigate his former rival Hillary Clinton, has gone “way beyond what is acceptable in a rule of law nation.”
“This is not draining the swamp,” he said. “What he’s interjecting is turning democracy upside down…..taking 200-year-old concepts that we’re a nation of laws and not men and trying to turn it upside down.”
GOP senators defend Sessions after Trump's Twitter attacks
Embed
Share
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others are standing up for Attorney General Jeff Sessions after President Trump suggested he wants Sessions to resign. (Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
For arguably the first time, Republicans are starting to draw red lines in an effort to save President Trump from himself.
As Trump weighs firing one or both of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and special counsel Robert Mueller, a pair of GOP senators is promising measures to thwart or dissuade him. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said Wednesday that his panel would not confirm a new attorney general to replace Sessions this year. Then Thursday morning, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he would introduce legislation to protect Mueller and warned it “could be the beginning of the end” of Trump's presidency if he tried to fire the special counsel.
Both moves are unprecedented. For perhaps the first time, Senate Republicans with real sway are talking about concrete steps to counteract Trump's impulses and prevent constitutional crises.
Republicans have spent plenty of time talking tough about Trump, mind you. Plenty of them said Trump's comments about women on that “Access Hollywood” tape were beyond the pale, and some even urged him to drop out of the presidential race. Many of these same members, such as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), would later embrace Trump. (Chaffetz has since retired from Congress.)
Like Graham, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been among the most vocal Trump critics in the GOP, including giving a brutal speech denouncing Trump's worldview in February in Munich. But even that speech didn't call out Trump by name, and McCain has frustrated Trump's opponents by not backing up his words with actions, such as voting against Trump's agenda.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), too, has been called upon to occasionally denounce Trump. And sometimes he has obliged. But he has also assumed a nonconfrontational approach to dealing with the president, repeatedly brushing off his tweets — including as recently as Thursday morning — in favor of trying to work with Trump to get things done.
But this is the first time the stakes have been this high. And Grassley and Graham are going on-record with specific actions and threats.
Look, politics is an inherently disingenuous business. Sometimes you say something with a little extra conviction to send a message, or you make threats that you're not 100 percent committed to backing up. Politicians also have to deal with the realities of alienating a president who has significant sway over whether they can pass their agenda. There is no doubt Republicans, after denouncing Trump repeatedly on the campaign trail and seeing him win anyway, have grown gun-shy. This is the moment he's gone too far and I can cut him off, they've thought so many times, only to be proven wrong in short order.
I'm not one of those people who thinks McCain can't denounce Trump one day and vote for his agenda the next. McCain is a conservative Republican, so he tends to support Republican legislation. He wants to replace Obamacare, so he voted to move forward with a debate on doing just that this week, despite his reservations about the process.
But at some point, Republicans who think Trump is truly flirting with a constitutional crisis will need to back up their tough rhetoric with actions. Grassley and Graham seem to be at least edging toward doing that — perhaps recognizing the uniquely fraught options Trump is apparently considering.
We'll see how much follow-through there is. But at some point, the rubber must meet the road, or it just amounts to a bunch of talk.
32
Comments
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖
Hey is someone is not doing the job you think they should be doing then FIRE them. People in the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President. Get over it guys, this is how government is run you just don't like President Trump if it was Obama none of you would say a word. Double Standard!
Obamacare was a nice try, but not really fit for purpose.
I do not think Hilary Clinton was "crooked" but she sure was stupidly careless with her emails and the emails of her staff (the buck stops with the boss), possibly negligently so.
Trump won fair and square. More people voted for him. The Russians playing with the system probably had nothing to do with him directly = though he does need to show that clearly for the sake of the respect the office of President holds.
I also think Obama's foreign policy left things in a ridiculously dangerously poor state.
But Trump's attacks on the press, which is far less partisan than he and which is vital for the effective running of any country, are worrying, dangerous and reminiscent of Hitler/Goebbels. There are many things he has done, will do and many opinions he holds with which I take issue, but that is the same for every other politician who ever held any office, The difference is that he is trying to occlude the open view of them - by silencing the press. That is unforgivable, unprecedented, unpresidential and terrifying.
If I see someone being mugged, it is my moral duty to try to stop it.
If I see someone being bullied it is my duty to intervene.
If I see someone trying to deceive their country it is my duty to speak out against them.
I claim the right to do my moral duty, as my conscience sees fit.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
Trump DID NOT win the popular vote he lost it by almost 3 MILLION he is President ONLY because of the actions of the Electoral College you see here in AMuRIkA you can win the votes of the people but still lose the election !!!
Trump has every legal right to fire this general and may very well do so
but this is BAD BAD BAD news for Trump people are fighting back and they're doing it IN TRUMP'S FACE it's called DEFIANCE
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov
Gee Satori, where have you been all these years when the Electoral College elected the President every 4 years.
"In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected president despite not winning either the popular vote or the electoral vote. Andrew Jackson was the winner in both categories. Jackson received 38,000 more popular votes than Adams, and beat him in the electoral vote 99 to 84. Despite his victories, Jackson didn’t reach the majority 131 votes needed in the Electoral College to be declared president. In fact, neither candidate did. The decision went to the House of Representatives, which voted Adams into the White House. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won the election (by a margin of one electoral vote), but he lost the popular vote by more than 250,000 ballots to Samuel J. Tilden. In 1888, Benjamin Harrison received 233 electoral votes to Grover Cleveland’s 168, winning the presidency. But Harrison lost the popular vote by more than 90,000 votes. In 2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of the general election and became the 43rd president, but he didn’t win the popular vote either. Al Gore holds that distinction, garnering about 540,000 more votes than Bush. However, Bush won the electoral vote, 271 to 266."
So this is not new! Just because you do not like the results does not change our President!
Gee defy but please do it in the correct forum, this is a forum for prepping not for your political rants.
Carbon, President Trump is not a loser he has the right to say he is disappointed in someone he has hired. Maybe that will push the person to do better. But because it is President Trump you all have to hate on him.
Guys Grow Up like we did when we did not like President Obama! Have some class!
I am off to bed so this is not the long dissertation I SHOULD have written. Sorry!
The electoral college is not the best system America could have had, true*, but you need a good president with lots of backing to change it. So we have to make the best of a bad job. As to growing up - not if I can help it! I want to fit in with the kids around me.................. "Muslim-in-Chief, Obummer to name but a few namecalling sessions."
As to the forum, well it is quiet at the moment (the last time one of us said that all hell broke loose- oops!). Also this thread is in "discussion" and, frankly, Trump has become another reason for prepping. He is perceived as a threat to media independence, climate accord, medicaid, the dollar's worth on the international markets, international relations and international stability, I could continue, but I am too tired. His polices even reduce the effectiveness of the CDC, should an outbreak of some nasty occur. Not that you can break that which was already broken.
* Just look at the "rasher of bacon" for the epitome of rigged.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
Gee Satori, where have you been all these years when the Electoral College elected the President every 4 years.
"In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected president despite not winning either the popular vote or the electoral vote. Andrew Jackson was the winner in both categories. Jackson received 38,000 more popular votes than Adams, and beat him in the electoral vote 99 to 84. Despite his victories, Jackson didn’t reach the majority 131 votes needed in the Electoral College to be declared president. In fact, neither candidate did. The decision went to the House of Representatives, which voted Adams into the White House. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won the election (by a margin of one electoral vote), but he lost the popular vote by more than 250,000 ballots to Samuel J. Tilden. In 1888, Benjamin Harrison received 233 electoral votes to Grover Cleveland’s 168, winning the presidency. But Harrison lost the popular vote by more than 90,000 votes. In 2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of the general election and became the 43rd president, but he didn’t win the popular vote either. Al Gore holds that distinction, garnering about 540,000 more votes than Bush. However, Bush won the electoral vote, 271 to 266."
So this is not new! Just because you do not like the results does not change our President!
Gee defy but please do it in the correct forum, this is a forum for prepping not for your political rants.
Carbon, President Trump is not a loser he has the right to say he is disappointed in someone he has hired. Maybe that will push the person to do better. But because it is President Trump you all have to hate on him.
Guys Grow Up like we did when we did not like President Obama! Have some class!
let me AGAIN point out to you that this FORUM has multiple sections some concern themselves with politics or other subjects not related to prepping if you dont like the political stuff then why do you continue to click on those sections and read them and then complain ??? of the 3 "political" threads most active at this moment NOT ONE was started by me NOT ONE and your a pot calling the kettle black you've posted QUITE a few RANTS of your own
and ONCE again let me point out TRUMP LOST THE POPULAR VOTE and I am well aware of how the Electoral College works
and your multiple attempts to quell any dissent are not exactly in the finest tradition of the country are they ??? Americans,including Satori,have the RIGHT to free speech I have the RIGHT to speak against Trump just like you have the right to support him
and there is one thing Trump supporters cant seem to understand the majority of Americans do not like Trump and DO NOT SUPPORT HIS AGENDA that is a FACT DEAL WITH IT
maybe you should quit complaining about Trump's detractors and start posting all the wonderful stuff Trump is doing I cant wait to see that list
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov
and the beauty of this is that Reuters has LONG been regarded as being a PRO Trump polling organization
thats right TWO OUT OF THREE AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF TRUMP AND HIS AGENDA
now if we can just get the rest of AMUriKa to WAKE THE HELL UP
but I don't hold much hope for the Volkssturm
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You can vote in polls in this forum