Free Republic

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Joe Biden bore “ultimate responsibility” for the classified material found at his home and office. Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want to turn to the new classified documents that the FBI found at the president’s house in Delaware. It was a 13-hour search that happened on Friday. It’s just the latest revelation of the president having classified items that he shouldn’t have. You’ve been in Congress for 40 years. You’ve handled classified material for a lot of those years, probably most of them. How concerned are...

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it is pathetic” that Govs. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) were taking advantage of helpless people by sending migrants to northern cities. Durbin said, “It is pathetic that the governors are taking advantage of these helpless people, making promises to them, and off they go to places far removed from where they’re supposed to be appearing under the requirements of our law in a matter of weeks and months. He is jeopardizing their stay here. Why is it when the Republicans want to enforce their immigration...

Mark Keam, a long-serving Democratic member of the House of Delegates from northern Virginia, has resigned his seat, a move that will set up a special election to fill the vacancy in the blue-leaning district. An attorney who was first elected to his Fairfax County-based seat in 2009, Keam said in an interview Tuesday that he had stepped down to take a job in the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Keam said he will serve as a deputy assistant secretary running the National Travel and Tourism Office, which is focused on bringing foreign travelers to the...

Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, is calling on his colleagues involved in bipartisan talks on gun reform to “do the right thing” following last week’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas. When asked by CNN “State of the Union” co-anchor Dana Bash on Sunday if lawmakers would take action following the shooting in Uvalde that left 19 students and two teachers slain, Durbin said the photos and stories of the victims have been “compelling” for lawmakers.

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that “we’re dealing with a transitional economy, coming from a shutdown economy under COVID-19, reemerging, creation of jobs at record levels, but with it, comes the fires of inflation.” And there’s also “a lot” of price gouging. Durbin stated that poor poll numbers for Democrats reflect “history’s reality that off-year elections are not kind to the president’s party. That’s the starting point. Secondly, we’re dealing with a transitional economy, coming from a shutdown economy under COVID-19, reemerging, creation of jobs at record levels, but with...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, on Tuesday called the protests outside of Supreme Court justices’ homes “reprehensible” in an interview. “I think it’s reprehensible. Stay away from homes and families of elected officials and members of the court,” the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman told CNN when he was asked about his thoughts on the protests.

As federal agencies prepare for a “mass migration event” at the United States-Mexico border due to President Joe Biden’s ending Title 42 on May 23, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are setting their sights on amnesty for illegal aliens. Last week, Biden officials announced that the administration would end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Title 42 authority that has allowed U.S. Border Patrol to quickly return illegal aliens to their native countries over the last two years.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) argued against voting on an amendment to the coronavirus spending bill on Title 42 by stating doing so would delay passage of the spending bill that he hopes “would have a sense of urgency and emergency” to it. Host Chuck Todd asked, “COVID relief funding is something that’s needed. I know you’re going to say they’re playing politics here, you know there are some Democratic votes for this. Why not include the amendment on Title 42, what’s the downside?”

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that the Biden administration can “Absolutely” cut red tape to get military equipment to the Ukrainians more efficiently. Durbin said, “The United States and NATO are on their side. We have provided massive amounts of equipment, ammunition, and resources for them to engage in the fight. We need to do more and we need to do it quickly. Time is of the essence. If the parliamentarians made one thing clear, they need help and they need it yesterday. They don’t need to wait for weeks...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) accused Republicans Wednesday of attacking Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson because of a “stereotype” against a “Harvard grad, black woman” during her confirmation hearing. Durbin opened the third day of hearings by using his opening statement to attack Republicans for their questions the day before, implying that they were motivated by racist and sexist prejudice against the nominee.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman and Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Democrats could have done a better job handling the timing of the accusations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his nomination to the Supreme Court, but “hindsight is very clear. At that time, we were trying to do the best we could under an extraordinary set of circumstances.”

As Durbin resumed the hearing, Graham got up and walked out of the room, taking a bottle of soda with him.

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman and Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that criticisms of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record on crime from some Republicans are because Republicans accuse “every” Biden judicial nominee of being soft on crime to push the issue for the 2022 elections and because “there are some of them that are still struggling to accept” an African American female public defender would be “a good asset to the Supreme Court.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) does not have “credibility” when addressing his criticism of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson before her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Anchor George Stephanopoulos said, “You are the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearings are set to begin. In the face of those hearing, we are seeing attacks. Josh Hawley set out a series of tweets suggesting Judge Jackson is soft on child porn. It has been debunked by several independent fact-checkers. What does that tell you about the confirmation fight ahead?...

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said we should see if Iran and Venezuela “can help those countries that are trying to stop Putin” by boosting the world’s energy supply, and that while doing so is a deal with the devil, “doing business with the devil for a few days” isn’t as bad as Russia killing civilians daily. Durbin also stated that we should ensure “people in the oil industry are not using this crisis to raise their profits.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) will be in the news a lot this month. Beginning March 21, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee will preside over the confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Mainstream media outlets have already started praising Durbin for his "historic" role in the confirmation of the High Court's first black female justice, and it's only going to get worse. Last month, the Washington Post published a lengthy profile of Durbin highlighting the career politician's determination to "make history." He could not have asked for a friendlier (as in whitewashed)...

Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) pushed back against criticism from the GOP over President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would nominate a black woman to replace outgoing-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Durbin argued on CNN’s “New Day” that both former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump announced they would nominate a woman to the Supreme Court and noted the same people upset about Biden’s plan to nominate a black woman have never voted for a black nominee.

Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) discussed President Joe Biden’s speech in Atlanta a day earlier promoting congressional Democrats voting legislation. In the speech, Biden suggested opponents were akin to former Democrat Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a self-declared segregationist at the height of his popularity.

Sen. Durbin on filibuster reform: "It has to be done for the good of this country. [...] If we don't change the rules to go back to a Senate that truly debates and legislates and responds to the needs of America, then it's going to be a great misfortune for this country." Clip...

Democrats are threatening hardball tactics as they try to break a blockade by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that has left dozens of President Biden’s State Department nominees in limbo. Democrats and the conservative firebrand are struggling to make progress toward an agreement that would trade votes on some of Biden’s ambassador nominees for a vote on sanctions related to the construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a longstanding goal for Cruz, who has ensnared nominations across the State Department, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID). Absent a deal, Democrats are warning that they...