Trump to Senate: Scrap rules if needed to confirm Gorsuch
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged the Senate’s Republican leader on Wednesday to resort to the “nuclear option” of scrapping longstanding chamber rules if needed to confirm Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, an aggressive opening to what’s shaping up as a ferocious clash over the future of the high court.
At the White House a day after nominating Gorsuch, Trump endorsed a scenario that would involve majority Republicans unilaterally changing Senate rules over the objections of the Democratic minority.
It could come into play if Democrats try to block Gorsuch’s confirmation with a filibuster, as the liberal base is demanding, and would allow the GOP to confirm Gorsuch with a simple majority instead of the 60 votes now needed.
Addressing GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell from the White House, Trump said, “If we end up with that gridlock I would say, ‘If you can, Mitch, go nuclear.’” He said of Gorsuch that it “would be a absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web.”
Trump made his comments as Gorsuch traversed Capitol Hill, escorted by Vice President Mike Pence and winning extravagant praise from Republican senators.
US puts Iran ‘on notice’ after missile test, won’t elaborate
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. put Iran “on notice” Wednesday after the Iranian military tested a ballistic missile and allied rebels in Yemen attacked a Saudi naval vessel in the Red Sea, an early manifestation of President Donald Trump’s promise of a tougher American approach to the Islamic republic.
“Iran is now feeling emboldened,” Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters.
Delivering his first public remarks since Trump took office, Flynn didn’t elaborate on what actions the U.S. might take in response to Iran’s missile test earlier this week. But he made clear the administration’s view that President Barack Obama’s strategy of containing Iran’s destabilizing behavior while cooperating more closely on nuclear and other matters wasn’t working.
“The Obama administration failed to respond adequately to Tehran’s malign actions — including weapons transfers, support for terrorism and other violations of international norms,” Flynn said.
Asked to clarify what Flynn meant by putting Iran “on notice,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, “We felt as though their actions were both provocative and in violation.”
UK lawmakers back bill to trigger EU exit talks
LONDON (AP) — Britain moved closer to leaving the European Union Wednesday as lawmakers backed a bill authorizing divorce proceedings and kept alive the government’s plan to trigger Brexit talks within weeks.
The House of Commons decisively backed the bill by 498 votes to 114, sending it on for committee scrutiny. The result was a victory for the Conservative government, which had fought in court to avert the vote out of fear Parliament would impede its Brexit plans.
Lawmakers also defeated a “wrecking amendment” proposed by the Scottish National Party that sought to delay Britain’s exit talks with the EU because the British government has not disclosed detailed plans for its negotiations.
During two days of debate in the House of Commons, many legislators — Euroskeptic and Europhile alike — said they would back the bill out of respect for voters’ June 23 decision to leave the EU.
But opposition parties will try to insert more amendments during the next stages of the parliamentary process. They are seeking to prevent an economy-shocking “hard Brexit,” in which Britain loses full access to the EU’s single market and faces restrictions or tariffs on trade.
GOP pushes 2 top Cabinet picks through to full Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans jammed two of President Donald Trump’s top Cabinet picks through the Senate Finance Committee with no Democrats in the room Wednesday after suspending a rule that would have otherwise barred them from taking the vote. The tactic seemed a warning shot that they might deploy brute political muscle in the upcoming fight over the Supreme Court vacancy.
With a near-toxic vapor of divisiveness between the two parties across Capitol Hill, nasty showdowns broke out elsewhere as well. One Senate panel signed off on Trump’s choice for attorney general only after senators exchanged heated words, and another committee postponed a vote on the would-be chief of the Environmental Protection Agency after Democrats refused to show up.
Busting through a Democratic boycott of the Finance panel, all 14 Republicans took advantage of Democrats’ absence to temporarily disable a committee rule requiring at least one Democrat to be present for votes.
They then used two 14-0 roll calls to approve financier Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to be health secretary, ignoring Democrats’ demands that the two nominees provide more information about their financial backgrounds.
All the nominations will need full Senate approval.
Israel evacuates West Bank outpost amid new settlement binge
AMONA, West Bank (AP) — Israeli forces uprooted this West Bank outpost on Wednesday, removing residents and hundreds of their supporters in sometimes violent clashes as they dismantled a community that has become a symbol of Jewish settler defiance.
The evacuation, which followed years of legal battles, came amid a flurry of bold new settlement moves by Israel’s government, which has been buoyed by the election of President Donald Trump.
Thousands of police officers carried out the removal, squaring off against hundreds of protesters, many of them young religious activists who flocked to the wind-swept hilltop to show their solidarity with residents.
Planting themselves inside trailer homes and the community’s synagogue, the protesters defied police, who carried some away. Protesters chained themselves to heavy objects or linked arms to form a wall against police, chanting “Jews don’t expel Jews!” Dozens of residents reluctantly left their homes without resistance, young children in tow.
“This is my home. I want to stay here. It is my right to stay here,” resident Tamar Nizri told Channel 2 TV news. “This is expulsion, destruction, an injustice and a crime. The most basic truth is that the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” including the West Bank, she said.
Jury convicts man who wounded black protesters in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A jury has convicted a Minnesota man who shot and wounded five black men demonstrating against the fatal shooting of a black man by Minneapolis police officers.
Twenty-four-year-old Allen Scarsella of Bloomington was found guilty of assault and riot charges Wednesday. Scarsella was accused of shooting and injuring the men at a Black Lives Matter protest after the death of Jamar Clark in 2015.
Attorneys for Scarsella and the three men he was with say their clients went to the protest outside a north Minneapolis police station to livestream video on Nov. 23, 2015.
Scarsella testified that he opened fire to protect himself after he says he was punched and told to leave by protesters.
The other three men have pleaded not guilty and await trial.
