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Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) is asking federal authorities to conduct an investigation into whether disinformation tactics similar to those used by Russian hackers were used in his Senate race last year. Jones’s call for a federal investigation comes after a report in The New York Times that said New Knowledge, a cybersecurity research firm, experimented with using social media posts spreading disinformation in the 2017 Alabama Senate race. Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of New Knowledge, said he used the disinformation posts — which he said were similar to those used by Russia in the 2016 election — to test whether...

Outgoing and retiring Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte, appears on Fox and Friends weekend to discuss the status of investigations into the DOJ and FBI corruption. Goodlatte notes the reason for former FBI Director James Comey to refuse to testify to a closed session, and also outlines how the joint House Oversight and Judicary committee will turn over their investigative material to the Senate Oversight (Ron Johnson) and Senate Judiciary (likely Lindsey Graham) committees. VIDEO 4:24 MIN

The Senate approved a seven-week funding bill on Wednesday, preventing a partial government shutdown that was expected to begin on Saturday. Senators passed the legislation by voice vote, which represented the final item on the Senate's to-do list as they wrap up their work for the year this week It still needs to pass the House, which returned to Washington on Wednesday night, and be signed by President Trump. Republican senators say that while they believe Trump is unhappy with Congress passing a short-term fix, they believe he will sign it because they were able to keep other controversial policy...

Much misplaced anger is visible. President Trump wants the southern border wall; he is being opposed by every interest who doesn’t want it. The people in DC who are opposed to border security, are the people who write the laws. I’m not talking about congress; I’m talking about the real people who actually write the laws, the lobbyists. Right now Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are writing a short-term continuing resolution to fund government and avoid a shutdown. They know President Trump is quite comfy with a shutdown. Why would republican Mitch McConnell take such an...

The Senate passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill on Tuesday night, handing a significant victory to President Trump and senators who lobbied to advance the legislation before the end of the year. Senators voted 87-12 on the legislation, which merges a House-passed prison reform bill aimed at reducing recidivism with a handful of changes to sentencing laws and mandatory minimum prison sentences. Its passage is also a win for Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, who took on criminal justice reform as one of his primary policy goals and who has lobbied individual senators to back the bill...

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has appointed former Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally to fill late Senator John McCain's seat."All her life, Martha has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights and at the toughest of times,” Ducey released in a statement Tuesday morning. “She served 26 years in the military; deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan; was the first woman to fly in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat; and she’s represented Southern Arizona in Congress for the past four years. With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified...

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday appointed Rep. Martha McSally to fill the Senate vacancy originally created with the death of Republican Sen. John McCain. Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, was appointed to succeed McCain on an interim basis. McSally, a Republican who lost a bid for Senate in November, received the appointment to McCain's seat on a permanent basis, to take effect after Kyl departs the Senate on Dec. 31. McSally will immediately have to stand for election in a 2020 special election to determine who serves out the final two years of the six-year term McCain won in...

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed fellow Republican Rep. Martha McSally to the Senate, he announced Tuesday, picking a favorite of GOP leaders to fill the seat John McCain held for decades. McSally, who lost a close race for Arizona’s other Senate seat this year, will succeed Sen. Jon Kyl (R). Kyl will step down at the end of the year following a brief time in McCain’s seat after McCain’s death in August. “With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her...

Martha McSally has reportedly been chosen to fill the Senate seat once filled by late Senator John McCain. Governor Doug Ducey appointed her to the position Tuesday morning. He said in a tweet: "All her life, (McSally) has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights. With her experience and record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to fight for #Arizona in the U.S. Senate."

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced Monday he will not seek re-election in 2020. .... “I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020,” Alexander said in a statement. “The people of Tennessee have been very generous, electing me to serve more combined years as Governor and Senator than anyone else from our state. I am deeply grateful, but now it is time for someone else to have that privilege. I have gotten up every day thinking that I could help make our state and country a little better, and gone to bed most nights...

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander announced Monday he will not run for re-election in 2020, saying it’s time for “someone else” to have the privilege of representing Tennessee in the Senate. “I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020,” the 78-year-old Alexander said in a statement. Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, previously served as governor of Tennessee. He also worked as secretary of the Department of Education under then-President George H.W. Bush. “The people of Tennessee have been very generous, electing me to serve more combined years...

Put this into the category of delusional thinking... CNBC chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood with a well-known antipathy towards Republicans and President Donald Trump stated on Sunday on the MSNBC Weekends with Alex Witt that via what he claims he was told by a No Labels founder that it is possible that the Senate could convict Trump on impeachment charges. That would mean that even if every Democrat voted to convict, they would still need 20 Republicans to vote that way for the requisite two-thirds of the Senate.Mark that up to a personal fantasy of Harwood especially considering and it is hard...

FULL TITLE: Ouch! Jeff Flake makes two embarrassing errors on his way out. One was announcing his farewell on Twitter Sen. Jeff Flake made his share of mistakes since taking office, chief among them being to underestimate the intelligence of the average Republican voter, so it’s only fitting that the lawmaker makes two embarrassing errors on his way out the door. The first and perhaps most brutal error was for the moderate Trump-hating Arizona Republican to announce his farewell on Twitter. “Full of gratitude today as I deliver my farewell address in the Senate Chamber at 11:00 EST,” Flake advertised....

We are former senators. The Senate has long stood in defense of democracy — and must again. "During our service in the Senate, at times we were allies and at other times opponents, but never enemies. We all took an oath swearing allegiance to the Constitution. Whatever united or divided us, we did not veer from our unwavering and shared commitment to placing our country, democracy and national interest above all else."

Do you recall, back during the initial rush of the #MeToo moment, when we discovered that legislators in the House and Senate had slush funds available to pay for the silence of sexual harassment accusers? There was a general uproar over that and we were assured that the members were going to get right to work on cleaning up their act. Good times, my friends. But what happened to that project?As it turns out, not much. There were proposals written, and the House actually passed a bill, but when it hit the Senate, nobody could ever seem to agree on...

The Senate Judiciary Committee is postponing votes on nearly two dozen judiciary nominees for the second time in as many weeks. The decision to punt the business meeting again comes as Republicans are locked in a stalemate with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) over legislation protecting special counsel Robert Mueller. Flake is voting against all judicial nominees until he gets a vote on the bill, which would let Mueller, or any special counsel, challenge the firing and be reinstated if a court determined it wasn’t for “good cause.” With Republicans holding an 11-10 majority on the Judiciary Committee, Flake’s "no" vote...

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission survived his confirmation vote Thursday, returning a GOP majority to the powerful federal agency. Bernard McNamee — Trump’s pick to become a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — won confirmation by a 50-49 vote. The razor-thin margin fell along party lines, with Democrats sharply opposed to his nomination. The vote brings an end to what became a contentious candidacy for McNamee. Democrats on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee initially took umbrage with his past work in the Department of Energy, where he led an unsuccessful effort...

Former Attorney General and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions hinted to Politico that he is done with politics after his ouster from the Department of Justice despite rumors he was considering running for his old Senate seat in 2020. "I've been clearing my brain. I think that's a fair statement,” told Politico Wednesday. “I’ll go to Alabama, do some things and then that will clarify things a little more before I worry about making a statement.” “No. I mean, no,” he added when asked if he misses the Senate. “I could go back and spend time in the woods. I’ve got...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee staff about whether his infamous firm continued to investigate Donald Trump after the 2016 election.In a letter to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Grassley stated that Simpson told committee staff in 2017 that he stopped probing now-President Trump and his associates’ connections to Russian officials after the 2016 presidential election because he “had no client after the election.”Here’s what committee staff asked Simpson and what the Fusion GPS founder had to say in return last August: When the Committee staff interviewed Glenn Simpson...

A man who served Congress for more than 59 years says he could fix its broken systems by completely abolishing the Senate. John D. Dingell, who represented Michigan from 1955 to 2015 ― the longest anyone has ever served in Congress in America ― said in The Atlantic that he can’t stand watching good bills pass a “hyper-partisan House” and then be stymied by the Senate, which is disproportionately weighted by congresspeople in small states. “With my own eyes, I’ve watched in horror and increasing anger as that imbalance in power has become the primary cause of our national legislative...