Some Senate Democrats Question Durbin’s Bid To Helm Judiciary Committee
WASHINGTON With a Democratic opening at the top of the Judiciary Committee now that Sen. Dianne Feinstein has stepped aside, some Senate Democrats are questioning whether the heir apparent, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., should ascend to the post and also keep his Senate leadership position, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The debate among Democrats is a rare internal personnel dispute that could be resolved by an even rarer vote among the caucus in December if not settled before then. The vote, if necessary, would be to determine if Durbin can both be the party’s top member on the committee and also be the second-ranking Democratic leader in the Senate as party whip, according to the two sources who were granted anonymity to speak freely about internal dynamics.
Feinstein stepped aside from the top post on the committee which oversees judicial nominations to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department and immigration authorities after progressive groups and some Senate Democrats questioned if she was equipped to handle the partisan nature in the current state of politics. Feinstein’s hug with Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at the end of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings drew ire from Democrats and helped seal her fate.
Durbin announced his intention to seek the top spot Monday night, pointing to his experience on the committee.
Sahil Kapur contributed.
Georgia Secretary Of State: Trump’s Rhetoric Causes ‘growing Threat’ To Election Workers
WASHINGTON Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger doubled down on his condemnation of President Trump’s repeated false claims of voter fraud on Wednesday.
Even after this office requests that President Trump try and quell the violent rhetoric, being born out of his continuing claims of winning the states where he obviously lost, he tweeted out, expose the massive voter fraud in Georgia this is exactly the kind of language that is at the base of a growing threat environment for election workers who are simply doing their jobs, Raffensperger said.
Trump Reported Making More Than $16 Billion While President
Donald Trump reported making more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as President of the United States, according to a review of his financial disclosures by CREW. While Trump publicly took credit for donating his taxpayer-funded salary, that ended up being less than 0.1% of the revenue and income he disclosed during his presidency. Far from being a sacrifice, the donation was merely a fig leaf to cover up four years of brazen corruption.
Despite seeing a major dropoff in hospitality related revenue in 2020 due to the pandemic, in total Trump disclosed at least $1,613,583,013 in revenue from the Trump Organization and other outside income. Trump disclosed a high end of $1,790,614,202, but it is impossible to know exactly how much he pocketed as president, as some of his assets list a vague Over $5,000,000 in yearly income and because of the structure of Trump Organization businesses, reported revenue does not necessarily reflect his personal income from them. One of the reports also included 19 days of revenue and income before Trump assumed the presidency.
When Trump failed to separate himself from his businessesand in fact used the presidency to increase his business earningshe made it clear that his top priority was his personal profits. In that regard, the Trump administration was a ringing success.
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Trump Still Earns Money
Trump still profits off property he owns, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington and Trump Tower in New York. He also earns money from the rights to a U.K. television spinoff of “The Apprentice” and various properties in the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Scotland and the Philippines. So imprecise claims that Trump works for no money are not totally accurate.
Democratic lawmakers are appealing a case against the president because they believe that this profiting, combined with the fact that his hotels have reportedly been frequented by foreign diplomats from around the world since his term began, as The Hill reported, violates the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution.
The foreign emoluments clause states that no government official can receive gifts from king, prince or foreign state. The domestic emoluments similarly says the president cannot receive any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
For example, the New York Times reported the government of Kuwait spent tens of thousands of dollars on a gala at the Trump International Hotel in Washington from which Trump profited. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia owns a floor and pays thousands of dollars a year in common charges for building amenities at the Trump World Tower in New York, from which Trump also profits.
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Trump Has Built War Chest Of More Than $100 Million
In the first half of 2021, the former president raised far more money online than any other Republican, federal records show. But his team claimed he had raised more than he actually did.
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By Shane Goldmacher and Rachel Shorey
Despite departing from office and being barred from the leading social media platforms, former President Donald J. Trump was the Republican Partys most dominant fund-raiser in the first half of 2021 and ended June with a war chest of more than $100 million, according to new federal campaign filings made this weekend.
Mr. Trump raised far more money than any other Republican via WinRed, the partys main processing site for online donations, records show, and more than each of the three main fund-raising arms of the Republican Party itself. His nearly $102 million in cash on hand was also more than each of the party committees.
The next strongest online fund-raiser among Republican politicians was Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who delivered the G.O.P. response to President Bidens first address to Congress in the spring. Mr. Scott raised $7.8 million online.
Mr. Trumps advisers inaccurately announced on Saturday that his affiliated political committees raised nearly $82 million in the first six months of 2021.
That figure counted at least $23 million in transfers to his new political action committees that had actually been raised last year in other Trump-affiliated accounts, according to an analysis of federal filings.
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Trump Has Donated His Presidential Salary
Trump is not the first president to donate his salary. Former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover, both wealthy before they took office, donated all their earnings. Forbes reports Trumps net worth as of July 9 at $2.1 billion, making him the first president to be a billionaire.
When Trump announced his decision to forgo a salary, critics expressed doubt because presidents are required to be compensated for their work. To get around this, Trump takes $1 each year from his paychecks.
According to news coverage and White House news releases, Trump has written checks equal to a quarter of his $400,000 annual salary every quarter to various government agencies:
2017
Trump and his constituents have not yet announced where he will donate his salary for the first and second quarters of 2020.
The president came under scrutiny for donating $100,000 to the Department of Health and Human Services after proposing a 10% budget cut totaling billions of dollars. Hes also proposed cuts totaling amounts larger than his donations for the National Parks Service and the Department of Education.
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Trump Family Has Gotten Much Richer Since President Moved Into The White House
President Donald Trump’s family appears to have grown richer since he entered the White House. The wealth is coming in because Trump, unlike past presidents, handed control of his businesses over to his children instead of fully divesting from them. The president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have similarly stepped down as bosses of their companies but maintained a hand in them.
Here are ways the first family has gained since Donald Trump took office:
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are tens of millions richer
The couple may serve as unpaid senior White House advisers, but they made at least $82 million from their own businesses last year, financial disclosure forms released Monday showed.
Ivanka Trump made $5 million from her namesake clothing company, as well as $3.9 million from her share in the Trump International Hotel near the Capitol, more than $2 million in Trump Organization severance, and a $289,000 advance for her Women Who Work book, according to analysis of the disclosure forms by The Washington Post and Politico.
Meanwhile, Kushner earned at least $70 million from his shares in his family-owned real-estate company Kushner Cos., including $5 million from a New Jersey apartment building it acquired last year.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump made at least $82 million in outside income last year while serving in the White House, filings show
Amy Brittain
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What House Races Are Still Left To Call
WASHINGTON Election Day may be three weeks in the past, but there are still a handful of competitive House races still left to be called by NBC’S Decision Desk.
The vast majority are in California and New York, two states that take a while to count ballots. And there’s one race in Iowa that appears to be headed to a recount.
Here’s a look at the uncalled races and where they stand :
California-21: Democratic Rep. TJ Cox v. former Republican Rep. David Valadao
Valadao, who Cox defeated in the 2018 midterm elections, leads Cox by less than 2,000 votes in the Decision Desk’s count, as final results keep trickling in.
California-25: Republican Rep. Mike Garcia v. Democrat Christy Smith
Garcia v. Smith is a rematch of the spring special election, one of the first general elections run in the coronavirus era, when Garcia won by a comfortable margin. Garcia has declared victory, a decision Smith has criticized, with the margin sitting at just 400 votes.
Iowa-02: Democrat Rita Hart v. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks
The race to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack could turn out to be the closest House race of the cycle. The two candidates were separated by just a few dozen votes, with Hart requesting a recount that’s prompted a dust-up between the two candidates.
New York-02: Republican Andrew Garbarino v. Democrat Jackie Gordon
New York-11: Democratic Rep. Max Rose v. Republican Nicole Malliotakis
New York-24: Republican Rep. John Katko v. Democrat Dana Balter
Kamala Harris Adds To Vp Team With A Majority Of Women Of Color
WASHINGTON Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced on Thursday she hired three more women to be on her senior staff. Harris chief of staff, domestic policy adviser and national security adviser will all be women, two of whom are women of color.
Harris has a long history of hiring and elevating women of color in her senate office and primary campaign and in the general election, as well.
Together with the rest of my team, todays appointees will work to get this virus under control, open our economy responsibly and make sure it lifts up all Americans, and restore and advance our country’s leadership around the world, Harris said in a press release.
Tina Flournoy, who currently serves as former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, will become Harris’ chief of staff. Flournoy is a member of “The Colored Girls”, a group of Black women who work in public service. Other members include Donna Brazile and Minyon Moore. Harris pointed to Flournoy’s “deep experience, public policy expertise and accomplished career in public service” as her reasons for the pick.
Harris’ domestic policy adviser will be Rohini Kosoglu. Kosoglu was a senior adviser on Harris’ presidential campaign and worked in Harris’ office. She previously held positions with Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
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Accounting For Net Worth Of Trump Clintons And Obamas
Quick Take
A meme circulating on Facebook claims without evidence that Hillary Clinton has made $95.5 million since she ran for president in 2016, and falsely implies that she and former President Barack Obama enriched themselves by steal your money.
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A meme circulating on Facebook compares what it claims to be the net worth of President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama, and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before and after they ran for president.
But it uses unsubstantiated numbers for Trump and Obama, and gets them wrong for Clinton.
Heres how the meme assesses their wealth:
- Trump: $4.5 billion before running for president, $3 billion after.
- Obama: $3 million before running for president, $40 million after.
- Clinton: $480,000 before running for president, $100 million after.
It concludes, But Trump is the guy trying to steal your money?
These claims have been around, in some version, since at least 2017.
The oldest version we could find was posted in November 2017 on a Facebook page called President Trump Fans. That post used almost the same numbers the only difference is that it pegged Trump at $3.5 billion after the election. It said that the numbers represented the fortunes of the Trumps, the Obamas, and the Clintons.
Like the Clintons, the Obamas net worth is difficult to calculate since they are no longer required to file financial disclosures.
As for Trumps net worth, the meme is generally on target.
Donald Trump Got A *lot* Less Rich As President
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
During his four years as president, Donald Trump loved to remind people that being president was costing him a whole bunch of money.
“Every investor at some point has kicked himself for holding an asset too long. Perhaps none, however, has made such a monumental miscalculation. By refusing to divest his portfolio upon taking office, Trump bogged down his presidency with ethics issues for years, while also missing a chance to cash in on a market boom he helped propel. “If he had sold everything on Day 1, paid the maximum capital-gains taxes on the sales, then put the proceeds into a conflict-free fund tracking the S& P 500, Trump would have ended his presidency an estimated $1.6 billion richer than he is today.”is
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