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Briar patch or pent-up frustration over being sidelined? In an interview with Fox & Friends earlier today, Donald Trump told the panel that he welcomed a Senate trial — if Democrats dare to impeach him. Trump says he would like nothing better than to turn the tables on “shifty Schiff” and call all the witnesses the House Intelligence chair blocked when requested by Republicans (via Colby Hall at Mediaite): President Trump just said this on @foxandfriends in a phone interview this morning:"I want a trial."The hosts tried to ask him a follow-up question about that, but he didn't stop...

In a lengthy interview with Fox & Friends Friday morning, the first since impeachment inquiry hearings appear to have wrapped up, President Donald Trump proclaimed “I want a trial,” in the matter of Trump’s alleged plot to seek domestic political help from a foreign entity.

President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal appeals court is in jeopardy following a conservative revolt from two Republican senators who have said publicly they won’t support him. Trump nominated federal judge Halil “Sul” Ozerden of Mississippi to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June. The New Orleans-based court handles cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The Senate Judiciary Committee says it removed Ozerden from a planned vote Thursday at the request of the White House. A White House spokesman declined to comment.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (Alabama, Florida and Georgia) currently has 12 active judges after the appointment of 3 already this term by President Trump; the Circuit is now tied 6 - 6 with R and D appointees; with 3 more vacancies to fill; each of which has a current nominee awaiting vetting and a vote. The tie-breaking 13th judge will be under active consideration for a cloture vote this afternoon on the Senate floor with likely confirmation tomorrow; making in 7R to 6D. Once the additional two vacancies are filled; an enduring 9R to 6D majority will be...

Not only is the Trump presidency at a critical juncture, but so is the United States. The House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), is set to go public with testimonies from key witnesses from the administration this week. While House Republicans, and for the most part, their colleagues in the Senate, have stood united against efforts to impeach President Trump, Savage cautions the upper chamber’s GOP members could ultimately join their Democrat counterparts in voting to remove the president. “They’ll go whichever way the wind blows,” Savage predicts, pointing to how Republican Senators...

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday criticized Senate Republicans for opposing Democratic legislation. Ruhle dismissed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R., Calif) argument that impeachment has interfered with legislative progress by pointing to the Republican-controlled Senate's unwillingness to rubber stamp bills passed by House Democrats. "At this point there are over 300 bills, passed by the Democratic-controlled House, sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk," Ruhle said. "How on Earth does Kevin McCarthy make that argument?" Michael Steele, a longtime spokesman for former House speaker John Boehner, said that many of those bills, such as a mandatory $15 minimum wage, have only...

When Senate Republicans drafted a resolution condemning the House for hearing witness testimony behind closed doors while excluding Republicans in violation of the President’s Due Process rights, beyond the scrutiny of cross examination and the rules of evidence, and then demanded the House conduct a formal vote and provide Due Process protections as well as minority participation, cheers rang out among rank and file Republicans: Senate Republicans finally threw away their tiddlywinks and actually stepped things up by bringing a knife to the Democrats’ gun fight! Not unsurprisingly, the positive yields from punching back versus simply taking it have been...

Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he wants 'something even stronger' in the Senate than the House's resolution formally opposing Donald Trump's troop withdrawal from northern Syria last week. The Senate Majority Leader said he was 'encouraged' by the House, including 129 Republican members, voting to condemn the president's highly contested decision. 'I believe it's important that we make a strong forward-looking strategic statement. For that reason my preference would be for something even stronger than the resolution that the House passed yesterday which has some serious weaknesses,' McConnell said from the Senate floor Thursday. The vote Wednesday – where more...

Top Republicans in Congress -- including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- criticized President Donald Trump over his decision to remove US troops from northern Syria as Turkey plans a military offensive there. McConnell urged Trump to reverse his move, saying "a precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is signaling that he's prepared to dispose quickly of articles of impeachment against President Trump and that any upcoming trial in the Senate will look much different than the 1999 impeachment trial of President Clinton. McConnell says he is required by the Senate rules to take up articles of impeachment, but notes that there is no requirement on how long such a trial must last. "I would have no choice but to take it up. How long you're on it is a whole different matter," McConnell said on CNBC Monday. Clinton's trial in 1999...

The Republican leadership issued a memo Saturday clarifying that the Senate must take action if the House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. The statement came in response to concerns that the Senate could simply refuse to hold a trial. “There is no way we could somehow bar the doors and prevent the managers from presenting the articles to the Senate,” stated the memo, which was obtained by HuffPost. “The rules of impeachment are clear on this point.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also said as much in a March interview with NPR: “If it...

For Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the very notion that President Donald Trump could be deserving of impeachment seemed "laughable" After having read a summary of the July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that sparked House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into the president, McConnell said on Wednesday that it was "laughable to think this is anywhere close to an impeachable offense." "If this is the 'launching point' for House Democrats' impeachment process, they've already overplayed their hand," the Senate Majority Leader said.

Senate Republicans are vowing to quickly quash any articles of impeachment that pass the House and warn that Democrats will feel a political backlash if they go forward and impeach President Trump. Republican senators say there are no grounds to impeach Trump and are daring Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to embark on what they dismiss as a fool’s errand that will turn off swing voters. “My response to them is go hard or go home,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over impeachment. “If you want to impeach him, stop talking....

In a recent editorial, the Washington Post calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to “Do something.” The editorial lists names of people killed in the last 20 years in mass public murders that involve guns. All of them easily fit on less than one page of the Post. The writer calls for action, out of emotion, and nothing else but emotion. From the Washington post: The list below, far from comprehensive, is tragic, in part, because it is so far from inevitable. No, no single law would end gun violence. But there are reasonable, obvious measures that would help....

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged Tuesday that Republicans would fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2019 or 2020, arguing the dynamic is different now than when the party held open a seat in 2016. Asked during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt if Republicans would support filing a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 2019 or 2020, McConnell said "absolutely." McConnell has earned fierce pushback for blocking Merrick Garland, President Obama's final Supreme Court nominee, from getting a hearing or a vote. But he's said that Republicans would fill a vacancy ahead of the 2020 presidential election....

Twitter locked accounts belonging to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's and several prominent conservatives Monday, after they posted videos of left-wing protesters gathered outside McConnell's Kentucky home -- with one demonstrator calling for someone to stab McConnell "in the heart" and for McConnell to break his "raggedy" neck. The episode prompted the McConnell campaign, known as "Team Mitch," to slam Twitter for political bias, saying the social media platform had effectively blamed the victim. Meanwhile, observers noted, Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro remains active on Twitter, even after he posted the names of San Antonio residents who donated to Trump. “This...

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pledging to force a vote on President Trump's $4.5 billion request for emergency border money, regardless of whether or not they get a deal with Democrats. McConnell told Fox News's "Fox & Friends" during an interview on Monday that he was planning to bring up a "freestanding" deal in an effort to force Democrats to go on the record either supporting or blocking the request for humanitarian aid legislation. "I'm going to bring it up freestanding next week and see if they really aren't interested in dealing with this massive humanity that we have...

Republican senators sent the White House a sharp message on Tuesday, warning that they were opposed to President Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on Mexican imports, just hours after the president said lawmakers would be “foolish” to try to stop him....“I want you to take a message back” to the White House, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, told the attorneys, according to people familiar with the meeting. “You didn’t hear a single yes” from the Republican conference. He called the proposed tariffs a $30 billion tax hike on Texans.

“I’ve talked with a number of people today, all of them off the record, but I can tell you tonight, I fear for the republic,” he said. “The Republican Party is being led on, well, in the U.S. Senate, on Capitol Hill, by cowards. They don’t represent the Americans who sent them there to represent the national interests. Instead, they’re clearly led by multi-nationalists, big business and Wall Street and the lobbies that represent those multi-nationals and business interests.” As he spoke, images of Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were displayed on the screen. Earlier Tuesday, McConnell issued a statement...

GOP senators say that if the House passes articles of impeachment against President Trump they will quickly quash them in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has broad authority to set the parameters of a trial. While McConnell is required to act on articles of impeachment, which require 67 votes or a two-thirds majority to convict the president, he and his Republican colleagues have the power to set the rules and ensure the briefest of trials. "I think it would be disposed of very quickly," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).