Cornyn: "it just adds to the confusion and chaos ... I’m sure I’m not the only one that would like some return to a little bit more of a — I don’t even know what’s normal anymore.”
@AndrewDesiderio Krebs’ firing comes amid a purge of senior officials viewed as insufficiently loyal to the president Esper was the first to go, then Krebs. Wray and Haspel next?
“If it looks like there’s just a flurry of them, it will raise more questions,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) acknowledged
@AndrewDesiderio Everyone we talked to praised Krebs, though Sen. Ron Johnson had this to say:
“I don’t agree with his sweeping declarations that there’s no evidence. There’s plenty of evidence of irregularities ... I can understand why it would probably upset the president.”
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Cotton will nominate McConnell as GOP leader today: “A few weeks ago, someone called him the Apex Predator of American politics, which may be the best yet. I nominate as our leader, the Apex Predator of the United States Senate.”
Jones: “I was fighting the same battle that Jaime Harrison was fighting, that Mike Espy was fighting, that Cal Cunningham was fighting, that Steve Bullock was fighting. And Democrats have not been able to fully counter the Republican narrative.”
Manchin: “I’ve watched the last three elections: 2016, ‘18 and ‘20. We truly should have been in the majority and it didn’t happen...Whatever our message is, it hasn’t worked. And I would hope that our leadership from the top to bottom understands that. It has not worked.“
McConnell has told Republicans that they will need to be in D.C., potentially quite a bit, to win floor votes that Democrats can force
McConnell “has told us that there might be a lot of that back and forth that will require physical voting," says Sen. Hawley
One Democratic senator had a long conversation with Chairman Graham this week about timetable. This senator said there's almost no hope of getting him to pump brakes
“He and Trump and McConnell are fully committed to barreling ahead"
Sen. Grassley, most senior R senator, on Trump’s transfer of power comments
Grassley: “I would have the same concern when Hillary Clinton advised Biden not to concede the election”
“We have a constitution and the constitution says when the presidency ends.”
“You ask me just from the standpoint of what the president said: it isn’t very good advice from Hillary Clinton to advise Biden about that”
McConnell when asked a follow up
“Did you see my tweet? that pretty well sums it up”
Do you take Trump seriously?
“That’s what my tweet was about I think it pretty well sums up how I feel about it”
@JamesArkin Kelly opposes per spokesman, as does Greenfield per spokesman
Giden: "I have doubts"
Ossoff, Gross oppose
Cunningham: "Sends Democrats around the exact wrong path"
Dem whip Durbin: “We are not pursuing that at this point. At all,"
@JamesArkin Republicans say not to buy it. Their message is that Democrats will do whatever Schumer tells them after the election (Schumer has said everything is on table)
“I don’t believe him,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) of Gross.
@AndrewDesiderio COVID spread and recession could still be top issues. But at party meeting today, most incumbents said SCOTUS is top issue in their races. Cotton warned senators not to buy Democrats' threats, and Republicans watched video of Dems saying "We need nine" from Garland era
@AndrewDesiderio Dems say closeness of ACA case to election makes SCOTUS cut more like 2018 than 2016. Warren: “The American people do not want to see Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump go forward and steal a second Supreme Court seat,”