Special counsel protection bill stalls in U.S. Senate, Flake starts protest

By Lisa Lambert

 

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) speaks to the media after a closed briefing for senators about the latest developments related to the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to protect the special counsel's office probe into possible Russian election interference stalled in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, spurring Republican Senator Jeff Flake to make good on his threat of opposing judicial nominations until the bill moves forward.

 

Fellow Republican Vice President Mike Pence was called in as president of the Senate to break a tie vote on advancing Thomas Farr's nomination as a U.S. district judge in North Carolina, after Flake voted "no."

 

Flake is a strong advocate for the protection bill, known as the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which would make it harder for President Donald Trump to undermine the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

 

The measure has already been approved at the committee level with support from both parties.

 

Trump has called Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which is also looking into possible collusion between Moscow and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, a witch hunt. Russia denies interfering in the 2016 election and Trump has denied any collusion occurred.

 

Speaking to reporters earlier on Wednesday, Flake, who is retiring soon, said he believed the bill could pass but that he had been told "somebody will block it."

 

"So my commitment to not vote for judges before the committee or on the floor until we get this done stands," Flake said.

 

Shortly afterward, Republican Senator Mike Lee took to the floor to block the bill, saying it went against the U.S. Constitution and gave the special counsel's office too much power, "creating a de facto fourth branch of government."

 

Flake in turn put the Farr nomination in jeopardy, creating a tie with his vote.

 

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, canceled a meeting of the panel set for Thursday. A brief statement by the committee did not give a reason for the cancellation.

 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell had said on Tuesday he would "probably" block a renewed effort to bring the special counsel protection bill to a vote, calling it "a solution in search of a problem." 

 

With Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate, Trump's nominees should win approval without much resistance.

 

Farr already faced a tough time, however, with moderate and liberal progressive groups objecting to his positions on civil rights. As a lawyer for North Carolina in 2014 he defended the state's voter registration law, which civil rights groups said intentionally suppressed minority votes.

 

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; ddditional reporting by Susan Heavey and Susan Cornwell; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-29

Trump's opponents should just keep giving him rope, so he can hang himself.

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

The "special council" is an appropriate and cost effective way to determine if crimes were committed.

Flakes name says all we need to know. The senate majority isn't so slim in 2019.

Jeff Flake is  compromised. 

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

Says Trump's man using Trump expression. 

I would have thought you would have liked the truth to come out on such an important issue. 

The republicans better grow some balls soon you don’t want to be on the losing side on this one rember the dems havethe house and Donald will be exposed for what he is

19 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

OK, we all see you're just a frustrated stand up comic. This witch hunt has nabbed AND CONVICTED plenty of witches with many more coming down the pike.

The fact the Republicans are fighting SO HARD against something that should be a non-issue SCREAMS of a cover up!

20 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

 

It's counsel.

 

And I do like the new use of "cooked-up". Is the witch cooked?

 

And the seizure of Manafort's assets has more than paid for the investigation, assuming the snakeskin jacket gets a good price at the Marshal's auction.

 

How much was spent on the five or so Benghazi hearings?

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 20187 yr by mtls2005

So is gifting Putin a $50m penthouse still a nothing burger? 555!

1 hour ago, pegman said:

So is gifting Putin a $50m penthouse still a nothing burger? 555!

 

Well, the trump Nothing Burger does come with Russian dressing, a side of Treason Weasel and a warm yellow-ish 'beverage'.

 

 

20 hours ago, yankee99 said:

Flakes name says all we need to know. The senate majority isn't so slim in 2019.

Seriously? His name? Are you in second grade or the U.S. president? 

Flake is becoming an American hero. He is standing up for justice, in the face of a barrage of false information, deflection, lies and obfuscation by a man who is horrendously guilty. 

 

I think the senate is emboldened. Like the lock on power has been broken.  And as Trump continues to sink, they might feel he is more of a liability. He will become radioactive. Everything he touches will turn to crap. From my point of view he is been becoming far less stable and more unhinged. For a few months. But since the election he has totally lost it. It devastated him. He cannot handle loss. He is basically a super corrupt empty suit, who has re-populated Washington with his own brand of crocodiles. 

 

He will leave office a broken man. Barely ever to be heard from again. And nearly broke. 

Edited November 30, 20187 yr by spidermike007

On 11/29/2018 at 2:21 PM, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

The special council is currently in profit (only special council ever to achieve that?) after confiscation of Manafort’s tax-evading ill-gotten gains.

 

For a witch hunt, it has indicted 26 Russians, convicted and jailed Trump’s campaign chair, jailed a foreign policy advisor, got guilty pleas from Trump’s national security advisor, deputy campaign chair (and chair of his presidentail inaugural committee), got guilty plea from Trump’s long time personal lawyer who has named Trump a co-conspirator and got guilty pleas from at least two other campaign operatives.

 

Trump himself has dutifully sent written answers to Mueller’s questions. Becuase even though he says it’s a witch hunt, he knows it isn’t—hence the dutiful submission of the answers.

On 11/29/2018 at 2:21 PM, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

 

You are information-challenged. The investigation has already locked-in several criminal convictions and guilty pleas, with more on the way.  This is money well-spent.

 

 

In recent decades, the US has done a poor job of catching and punishing white-collar criminals.  Now we can thank Trump for exposing their malfeasance, and his.

I think this protection bill just got a lot more gas after the revelations via Cohen trouble in trumpland me thinks lol

Witch hunt?  Innocent people do not plead guilty.

There was talk of pardons from day one, which is an admission of guilt, as someone who is not guilty would not need a pardon.  Innocent people say "there was no wrongdoing, and the jury will see that."  Never heard that from these guys.

If someone is constantly declaring "there was no crime!" it's a pretty clear signal that any rookie cop or elementary school teacher can figure out.

 

 

On 11/29/2018 at 2:21 AM, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

Yes indeed why do we need the special council wasting taxpayer money when we have Trump for that.  

5 minutes ago, sirineou said:

  On 11/29/2018 at 2:21 AM, Boon Mee said:

The "special council" is nothing but a cooked-up Witch Hunt which needs to be shut down now before it wastes more taxpayers money 

 

6 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Yes indeed why do we need the special council wasting taxpayer money when we have Trump for that.

There is opinion,( everybody has one , like the proverbial bodily orifice.) And then there are facts.  

"The special counsel’s office is officially budgeted for $10.4 million in direct costs for fiscal year 2018 "

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may/23/donald-trump/mueller-probe-costing-20-million-donald-trump-says/

 

"During his first 13 months in office, Trump flew down to his Mar-a-Lago resort 13 times. Those flights alone cost $27 million."

https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/trumps-56-million-in-golf-trips-cost-by-extravagant-cost.html/

 

Since Boon is worried about expenses, How about we get rid of Trump,

17 hours ago, Tug said:

I think this protection bill just got a lot more gas after the revelations via Cohen trouble in trumpland me thinks lol

I think you're overly optimistic about that but I hope you're right.