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WASHINGTON – Few have seen former President Donald Trump’s historic actual indictment, but that hasn’t stopped politicians from responding along partisan lines.
Republicans have, for the most part, avoided talking about why a grand jury voted to impeach Trump. This indictment has been sealed so no specific charges have been made public, but it is believed to include a bounty paid prior to the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, to prevent her from revealing an alleged affair she said she had with her. trump.
Congressional Republicans have echoed Trump’s claims that he is a victim of political persecution led by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
“It’s a sad case when a socialist DA would rather pursue a politically motivated witch hunt against President Donald Trump than crack down on violent crime,” Representative Tom Emmer, R-6th District, said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Democrats have stressed that the indictment is the result of a justice system that aims to treat everyone equally.
“No one is above the law — not even a sitting or former president,” Representative Betty McCollum of the Fourth Circuit said in a statement. “It is important in our society that the legal system holds people accountable for crimes committed. No exception should be given to a former president who has been suspended twice – because doing so would undermine the rule of law and our democracy.”
And while Trump called on his supporters to protest the indictment, some Democrats called for calm.
Rep. Angie Craig, D-2, District, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Rep. Dean Phillips, MD, of the 3rd District, told Axios, “There are going to be dangerous days ahead.”
Trump is expected to appear in court for trial on Tuesday.
Phillips breaks with the Democrats on guns
Congress has erupted into a partisan squabble over guns, as it has with increasing frequency in the aftermath of every horrific mass shooting in the country.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives moved quickly to demand the reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons like the AR-15 that killed three nine-year-old students and three teachers at a private school in Nashville this week.
“They are not being used to hunt deer, they are being used to hunt humans,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference about the US Capitol steps.
Representing Jefferies, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5y The boycott called on Republicans to move in new gun control regulations at that press conference; Something GOP lawmakers say they won’t do.
“Why, as a mother in the US, do I have to worry every day about whether my 10-year-old daughter is going to be shot in the classroom, the same way I worried about my safety when I was living through war,” said Omar, a Somali refugee.
Deputy Commodore Phillips D-3Research and development But the District has separated from most of its fellow Democrats in standing up for armed guards in schools, something some Republican lawmakers say is the answer to keeping kids safe in the nation’s schools.
“I may be a long way from this as a Democrat, but in the short term, I’ve come to the view that we should ensure that we have an armed security officer in every possible school in America right now,” Phillips said. Interview broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio. “It’s one of the few bipartisan actions – I would like to think – that we can take in the near term to provide a modicum of safety for our children.”
Nashville shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hill, 28, has been diagnosed with an emotional disorder, and her arsenal has her parents worried.
After the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year, Congress approved a few, very modest, new laws aimed at reducing gun violence, including one that provides states with new incentives to adopt “red flag” laws that It would allow courts and law enforcement to temporarily remove weapons from those that family members or friends consider to be a danger to themselves or others.
There is no realistic expectation that Congress will do anything else about gun safety. So it is up to the states to decide if they want to strengthen gun restrictions.
After the 2018 Parkland shootings, 18 states and the District of Columbia implemented red flag laws. But Tennessee did not. Nor Minnesota.
NFL leaders in the Minnesota legislature hope to pass a red flag law, but the outlook is uncertain because the party has a slim one-vote majority in the state Senate.
In defense of TikTok
Rep. Ilhan Omar has emerged as a leader of MPs defending TikTok. The popular social media platform has faced increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill after revelations that its parent company, ByteDance, a Beijing-based technology company, tracked the locations of American citizens.
There is bipartisan legislation banning TikTok or severely limiting its use. Another bill would allow the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Chinese companies that transfer sensitive personal data.
But Omar and other progressive lawmakers — as well as some more conservative members of Congress — have opposed legislation targeting TikTok. Omar said she “opposes efforts by some Republicans and Democrats to unilaterally block an entire social media platform” for various reasons.
“First of all, I don’t like censorship,” Omar said in a statement.
TikTok should not be singled out, she said, but Congress should create standards and regulations around data collection and privacy violations across social media companies. It also said that TikTok is not the only social media platform that can be used for propaganda and hate speech, and that other platforms, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, have “all been used by foreign adversaries in disinformation campaigns targeting US citizens”.
“Finally, there are legitimate concerns about the Chinese government — including its brutal suppression of the Uyghur people and their suppression of basic rights to freedom of expression in their country,” Omar said. But banning a single China-based social media company won’t solve those problems. The American model rests on our protection of those freedoms — the ability to speak out against the government, or share a 10-second video of cooking your favorite meal, if you choose. This is the beauty of our democracy and our constitution. This is what sets us apart from authoritarian regimes like China. This is the example we must set for the world.”
This and that
The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a broad energy bill promoted by Republicans that would reverse some of President Biden’s climate initiatives and include legislation sponsored by Rep. Pete Stober, the eighth Democrat.y boycott, that would expedite federal permits for mining operations.
Every Minnesota Republican voted for the package and every Minnesota Democrat voted against. Biden has threatened to veto the energy bill if it reaches his desk, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, R-N.Y., called it “dead on arrival” in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Biden will promote his climate change initiatives during a visit to Minnesota on Monday that will focus on manufacturing. The president will visit the Cummins power plant in Fridley, as part of his administration’s “Invest in America” tour.
The White House said that in October 2022, just two months after Biden signed the Inflation Act, Cummins announced that it would begin manufacturing electrolysers in the United States for the first time. The electrolyzer helps produce the clean hydrogen necessary to reduce emissions.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into a train derailment near Raymond, Minnesota, that caught fire and prompted the evacuation of residents living near the crash site. The train was carrying ethanol and corn syrup.
It will take the NTSB months to complete its investigation into the causes of the crash, but it will likely release a preliminary report before then. No injuries were reported in the accident and it is unlikely that the groundwater was contaminated.
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