Discover and Read the Best of Twitter Threads by @SenWhitehouse

This morning, the President said it is up to Dr. Blasey Ford to convince him she is telling the truth. That is preposterous. Her story is credible: it is rich in remembered detail, corresponds to facts that are known, and was told to others years before.

.@realDonaldTrump and @SenateGOP should follow protocol and order the @FBI to complete its background investigation as to this claim. This process has been off the rails for a long time now, but the last 24 hours signal a new low. medium.com/senator-sheldo…

Dr. Ford is incredibly brave & very credible. Her story is rich in remembered detail, corresponds to facts that are known, and was told to others years before.

The #SupremeCourt gives too many indications of having been captured by the far right. In case after case, the five #Republican-appointed justices band together with no Democratic appointee, and over 90 percent of the time deliver huge wins for Republican and corporate interests

That pattern leaves Americans to wonder which of their rights, freedoms, and protections the Roberts Court may sign away next.

During his hearings, #Kavanaugh could have pledged to help buck that trend, and reassured those with pre-existing conditions, women, consumers, workers, vulnerable communities, or victims of pollution.

Was there a third important court event, on top of #Manafort and #Cohen verdicts? Prosecutors and Flynn lawyers agreed to postpone #Flynn’s sentencing; sentencing is the usual day of reckoning for cooperation.

It is not unheard-of for a “substantial assistance” motion to be filed after sentencing, but it’s rare. The #Flynn plea is in; the sentencing memos are presumably complete; the question of “substantial assistance” — cooperation — is the logical reason for postponement.

I may be reading too much into this terse and nondescript document, but very big things moving sometimes leave only small surface ripples.

Read my statement on watchdog group @weareoversight's request to a federal court seeking to unseal a court-ordered report on possible violations of grand jury secrecy laws by #Kavanaugh. #WhatAreTheyHiding #WhatsAtStake

Divulging grand jury information is a serious offense that no judge will take lightly. It can put witnesses at risk, compromise important evidence, and threaten the integrity of entire investigations and prosecutions. #WhatAreTheyHiding #WhatsAtStake whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/w…

We know Ken Starr played a dangerous game of using the news media to prosecute his case in the court of public opinion, and we know that #Kavanaugh was an important part of Starr’s team. #WhatAreTheyHiding #WhatsAtStake

Here’s my statement regarding the refusal by @senjudiciary Chairman @ChuckGrassley to request critical documents related to Supreme Court nominee #BrettKavanaugh’s work as a senior advisor to President George W. Bush⬇️

The blinking red question is, what are Republicans so scared of? What is so disqualifying in #Kavanaugh’s record from the White House that they would accede to the admin’s wishes & ignore the precedent Repubs set in demanding exhaustive document productions by Obama nominees?

The Senate and the American people should have this information. Republicans ought to join us in demanding it rather than fight to keep it in the darkness. What exactly are they trying to hide? #ReleaseTheRecords

I talk a lot about the corrosive evils of dark money, but I’ve never said it plainer than @SenJohnMcCain, in his new book… apple.news/A-UQ5YJN0QIiWZ…

Urging us to “demand a less secretive and corrupting campaign finance system, and change the law to require that 501(c)(4)s, so-called nonprofit social welfare organizations, must disclose their donors”

“They’re often financed by one or two or several billionaires, who can spend unlimited amounts of money effectively in support of a candidate or candidates, and consequently yield enormous influence.”

Republican Senator: “The ethical lapses associated with Scott Pruitt are troublesome.” #VeryImportantPruitt
nytimes.com/2018/04/20/cli…

Republican strategist: “Pruitt’s real problem [is that h]e thinks he is more worthy than the little people he represents.” “Maybe when Pruitt’s 30-person Secret Service detail carries him through Disney World in a sedan chair like a mandarin, people will have had enough.”

So why don’t more Republicans stand up and object?

In ordinary times it would be weird for a Republican House to pass a last-minute funding bill they KNOW the Republican-controlled Senate will reject.

In these crazy times it barely wiggles the weird-o-meter.

But seriously, it's shutdown eve -- don't Ryan and McConnell talk? What is their game? Why not work this out?

I oppose #GrahamCassidy bill because RI would lose $625M in health care funding. Will Senators in states facing massive cuts do the same?

Will @lisamurkowski & @SenDanSullivan oppose $255M in cuts for Alaska under #GrahamCassidy bill? cbpp.org/research/healt…

Will @SenJohnMcCain & @JeffFlake oppose $1.6B in cuts for Arizona under #GrahamCassidy bill? cbpp.org/research/healt…