U.S.
STEPHEN KING CALLS FOR SUSAN COLLINS’ OUSTER FROM THE SENATE FOLLOWING IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
U.S. STEPHEN KING DONALD TRUMP SUSAN COLLINS MAINE
Best-selling author Stephen King has slammed Republicans and called for the ouster of his state’s senator – Susan Collins of Maine – predicting that the GOP lawmaker will vote to acquit President Donald Trump in the ongoing impeachment trial.
King, whose well-known books have been developed into films and television series, has been a frequent critic of Trump and Republican lawmakers. The author was even previously blocked by the president on Twitter. As a Maine resident, King has strongly criticized Collins on multiple occasions in the past.
On Friday, the Republican majority of the Senate voted against calling for additional witnesses and evidence in the president’s impeachment trial, despite Democrats’ urging. Collins, as well as GOP Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, voted with Democrats to hear from further witnesses. It’s unclear whether Collins and Romney plan to vote to acquit or remove Trump from office.
“Whitewash. Shameful,” King tweeted on Saturday, referring to the impeachment trial. He then went on to predict that Collins would vote to acquit the president along with her Republican colleagues, calling for her to be voted out of office as she faces re-election this year.
“Republican [Lisa] Murkowski [of Alaska], not up for re-election, voted against witnesses. Republican Collins, up for re-election, voted for witnesses. Both will vote to acquit,” he tweeted. “It’s Moscow Mitch [McConnell] at his finest. Hey hey, ho ho, Susan Collins has to go.”
Murkowski had previously suggested that she would consider voting with Democrats to call for additional witnesses, but inevitably sided with her Republican colleagues against the measure. Democrats needed at least four GOP lawmakers to side with them in order for the vote to pass with a simple majority of 51 to 47 in the Republican-controlled Senate.
McConnell, the Senate majority leader from Kentucky, had repeatedly said ahead of the trial that he planned to coordinate closely with the White House. This led many Democrats, and some Republicans, to raise concerns about his lack of impartiality. McConnell has previously drawn significant criticism for blocking legislation to address foreign election interference – particularly from Russia – leading to critics calling him “Moscow Mitch.” U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.
Senator Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) walks during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill on January 31 in Washington, D.C.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY
King has repeatedly called for Collins to be voted out of office.
“It’s time for Susan Collins to go,” the author tweeted last June, after Democrat Sara Gideon announced her intention to challenge the senator in 2020.
“Susan Collins has been there for about a thousand years,” he later lamented in September during an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Collins’ approval rating has dropped sharply since Trump took office in 2017. Morning Consult found that she has the highest disapproval (52 percent) of any senator nationally, dropping from 67 percent approval when the president took office to just 42 percent at the end of 2019.
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Rebooting Trump
Will Trump use impeachment big time in his State of the Union message? -Republicans hope not.
Final vote on impeachment awaits senators as they state their pos…
Donald Trump may take early victory lap at State of the Union as impeachment winds down
DAVID JACKSON | USA TODAY | 3 hours ago.
With the vast majority of senators voting along party lines, a motion to call witnesses failed in the U.S. Senate in Trump’s impeachment trial.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump will use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to tout his record on the economy and – perhaps – take an early victory lap with the Senate impeachment trial expected to wrap up this week.
Trump, who ran on the slogan “Make America Great Again,” has dubbed this year’s speech “the Great American Comeback.”
“We’re going to talk about the achievements that we’ve made,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a Super Bowl Sunday interview.
The address will take place before a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. EST and offers Trump a high-profile platform to argue for his reelection. It comes a day after problems with the Iowa caucus left the outcome of the first contest in the Democratic nominating contest uncertain. Trump’s campaign blasted the Iowa Democratic Party over what it said was a “train wreck.”
While it was unclear whether Trump planned to mention impeachment or the election, there could still be moments of awkwardness in the House chamber where he will deliver his speech.
He will be introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Trump and the speaker have had a fraught relationship since the Democratic takeover of the House in the 2018 midterms, and the tensions have only grown after the House vote last year to impeach the president over his dealings with Ukraine.
Impeachment trial: House managers, Trump team make closing arguments – live updates
During Trump’s speech last year, Pelosi rose to her feet and clapped when the president called for an end to the “politics of revenge.” Video of her locking eyes with Trump while clapping went viral on social media.
Sitting in the audience during the speech will be 230 lawmakers – 229 Democrats and one independent – who voted in favor of an article of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power over allegations he withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate Joe Biden, the former vice president and a 2020 presidential candidate. A second article of impeachment, charging Trump with obstruction of Congress, got 229 votes.
Senators who are serving as jurors in the impeachment trial will also be in the audience, including several Democrats who are vying to replace him. The trial is expected to end Wednesday with a vote to acquit in the Republican-led Senate.
Iowa caucuses: Follow along for live coverage from across Iowa, and the world
Jessica Taylor, the Senate and governors editor at the non-partisan Cook Political Report, said the White House will look to use the speech as a “reset.”
The question, she said, is whether Trump “will take the bait and talk about impeachment and the Democratic primary. … Trump is just so unpredictable. Will he able to stay on script and stay on message?”
Aides said Trump will emphasize five themes in the speech.
Economy
Playing up the issue that will drive his reelection bid, Trump will stress what he calls a “blue-collar boom” and likely call for more tax cuts and reductions in government regulations. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to push new “middle-class tax cuts,” as well as breaks for businesses.
The economy has performed well under Trump, growing an average of about 2.5% annually during the three years of his term, more than the 2.2% post-recession average before he took office. And average monthly job gains of 191,000 in his tenure are similar to totals under President Barack Obama – after job losses from the Great Recession ended in February 2010. Under Trump, the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%, a 50-year low.
Trump is credited with spearheading federal tax cuts and spending increases that juiced economic growth to nearly 3% in 2018. But that stimulus during an economic expansion has swollen the federal deficit and could make it tougher for Congress to boost spending dramatically in the next recession.
Trade fights with China and other countries have created some uncertainty about growth in the year ahead.
Working families
Trump plans to discuss job training initiatives and child care – a signature issue of Ivanka Trump, his daughter and a senior adviser. He is expected to call for tax credits to benefit parents who want to send their children to private schools, the “school choice” issue.
Health care
While touting proposals on on drug pricing and medical billing, Trump is also expected to brand Democratic health care plans as “socialist,” a claim he has also made on the campaign trail.
While failing to repeal Obama’s health care law, Trump has said he wants to promote plans to reduce drug prices, make medical billing more transparent, and give people more flexibility in choosing doctors and health plans.
Immigration
Trump will tout his plans to crack down on illegal immigration, including his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president is expected to renew his call to discourage “sanctuary cities” that give shelter to undocumented immigrants.
Since taking office, Trump has touted a signature promise of his 2016 campaign: to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The administration said this month that it had built 100 miles of border wall, but virtually all of that construction has replaced barriers that existed during the Obama administration. That despite a government shutdown in 2018 over wall funding and an emergency declaration that allowed Trump to free up military funding for the wall.
National security
Trump will discuss a litany of foreign policy challenges, from the Middle East and Iran to North Korea and China. He is expected to promote his proposed Middle East plan, his hopes for more nuclear talks with North Korea, and a new trade deal with China.
On Iran, Trump is likely to tout his decision to authorize a strike killing Qasem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general responsible for the deaths of many American soldiers.
Trump and his national security advisers say Soleimani’s death has made the U.S. safer. And they argue Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran has crippled that country’s economy and made it harder for Tehran to finance terrorism.
But some believe Trump’s actions, starting with his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, have made Iran a more provocative and dangerous force across the Middle East.
Can he change minds?
As Trump starts his fourth year in office, it may be difficult for him to change many minds with a single speech, analysts said, even the nationally televised State of the Union.
“He’s compiled an extensive record of policy accomplishments, judicial appointments and animosity,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst. “I think people who like him will like what he says, and anybody who doesn’t like him will dismiss what he says.”
Contributing: Paul Davidson, Deirdre Shesgreen and Paul Davidson
Originally Published 4 hours ago
POLITICO
CONGRESS
Republicans pray Trump shuns impeachment in SOTU
“Everyone should just know that Trump will be Trump," says GOP
Senate Republicans are praying President Donald Trump does something out of character during his State of the Union address — avoid talking about impeachment.
Trump will deliver his speech Tuesday, one day before the Senate ends its nearly three-week impeachment trial with a likely vote to acquit him. While the president is all but assured to take a victory lap Wednesday, Senate Republicans don’t want the State of the Union to turn into the type of speech he’d deliver at a campaign rally.
“My advice would be that in the State of the Union he should move on,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). “The president’s got a good record when you look at the economy and lower taxes and fewer regulations and higher incomes and I think he’d be well advised to focus on that and let the impeachment trial speak for itself.”
“We’re not done tomorrow and I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to bring it up,” added Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). “He is his own person, obviously he can bring up things as he chooses to … but I’m not coming into that speech to be able to hear more about impeachment.”
The president has repeatedly tried to undermine the impeachment proceedings, either when speaking to reporters or on Twitter. Just on Monday, Trump reiterated the impeachment inquiry is a “hoax” and asked “where’s the whistleblower,” referring to the individual who triggered the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry by filing a complaint about the president’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Trump was impeached in December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden, and withholding almost $400 million in aid to the country.
Former President Bill Clinton also delivered a State of the Union address during the midst of his 1999 impeachment trial and famously didn’t bring up his ongoing trial. Richard Nixon, in his 1974 State of the Union address, asked Congress to end the Watergate investigations, saying “one year of Watergate is enough.” Nixon resigned months later after it became clear he’d be impeached and removed from office.
Senate Republicans advised Trump on Monday to focus his attention on other topics, like lowering the cost of prescription drugs, the economy, or even climate change, as well as outline his vision for a second term.
"We’ve got a great strong economy, our military is finally being rebuilt under this administration,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of GOP leadership. “There are a lot of really great things he should talk about — and stay away from maybe what the proceedings are. We’re not voting until Wednesday.”
But Senate Democrats aren’t holding their breath for a unifying message from the president and expect to get an earful about impeachment.
“I am almost certain he will” bring it up, said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) “Have you met the man … One of the core arguments is that he is utterly unrepentant, unlike President Nixon and President Clinton, who after their impeachments delivered formal apologies to the country and to the Congress.”
“Predicting what Donald Trump will say is a little bit like buying a lottery ticket,” added Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “But I suspect he will talk about impeachment.”
Trump’s previous State of the Union addresses have made appeals to national unity and bipartisanship. But he’s also angered Democrats with his rhetoric. Last year’s speech left Democrats fuming after he asked for their help to build a border wall and called for a late-term abortion ban. He also urged House Democrats who had just taken the majority to skip “ridiculous partisan investigations.”
White House officials say Trump is viewing his state of the union speech as an official relaunch for his reelection bid. Last week, they said they did not expect Trump to mention impeachment and that he would instead focus on other issues like the economy or the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, which the senate approved last month just before the start of the trial.
White House officials told reporters in a background briefing Friday that the speech would present “a vision of relentless optimism.”
Still, even Trump’s strongest Capitol Hill allies say that it’s impossible to predict what the president’s message will be until he actually delivers his speech.
“Everyone should just know that Trump will be Trump and that means we don’t know what he’s going to say,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “I don’t think that he needs to be pressured to be anything other than who he is. I’m not writing his speech. Whoever is knows that there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll read it as written.”
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