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Just when you thought the White House's messaging on the devastating Maui fire couldn't get any worse, Karine Jean-Pierre comes busting through the wall like the Kool-Aid man. Joe Biden had already made a mess of things multiple times by the time the press secretary took the podium. As RedState reported, when asked by reporters on Sunday about the situation in Maui, including the federal government's response, Biden gleefully kept riding his bike while simply saying "We're looking at it." On Monday, he made matters even worse by smiling and shouting "No comment" at reporters when asked about the rising...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are "praying" for the victims of the Maui wildfires a day after the president declined to comment on the tragedy. During Monday's press briefing, Jean-Pierre said the president and his wife were sending prayers to the victims of the Maui wildfires that leveled the town of Lahaina. "As the president said last week that he and the first lady are praying for families who are grieving their loved ones and for everyone who has suffered devastating losses of land and property as a result of the...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre both mispronounced the names of Hawaii’s two Democratic senators and misgendered one of them at a Monday press conference after the island suffered the most devastating US wildfire in more than a century. “Senator Harino [sic], who I said the president spoke to just last night, he thanked the president for the immediate support of federal agencies have delivered for residents of Hawaii,” the Biden administration’s chief spokesperson told reporters, “and so does, has, so has Senator Shorts, Sharts — Schatz.” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), the first female senator from the Aloha State, is...

A group of 15 Democratic senators wrote to 11 major banks last week asking them to ban funding oil and gas drilling or exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "The scale of your banks’ assets individually, let alone together, give you the ability to drive change in protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in shifting towards a U.S. financial sector that effectively analyzes and plans for climate risks," the senators wrote. "We respectfully urge you to reassess your current environmental and climate policies and update them to include a prohibition on funding for oil and gas drilling or...

U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Tim Kaine have introduced a War Powers Resolution in an attempt to force a debate and vote in Congress to prevent further escalation of hostilities with Iran, Schatz said. “Congress, not the president, has the constitutional authority to declare war, and I oppose a war with Iran,” Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Monday in a release. “No one mourns the death of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a ruthless terrorist responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans.” But Trump’s decision to have him killed him near Baghdad airport “carries serious strategic consequences for which...

Roger Simon thinks Congressional Dems might want to treat William Barr a little more respectfully in future faceoffs as he may well hold their party’s future in his hands. The big story from Barr's testimony then before the subcommittee was not that the AG plans to release a redacted version of the Mueller report within a week or even that those redactions will be color-coded four ways and annotated to explain the reasons for the edits. Or that Democrats like Nita Lowey whined about transparency with all the hypocrisy only a politician can muster. This is all pro forma and...

Democrat Brian Schatz easily won Hawaii's U.S. Senate race Tuesday, holding on to the seat he was appointed to after the 2012 death of longtime Sen. Daniel Inouye. Schatz was widely favored to win in heavily Democratic Hawaii against Republican Cam Cavasso in a special election to finish the two remaining years of Inouye's term. Polls ahead of Election Day showed Schatz ahead by a wide margin. Schatz was not immediately available for comment, and Cavasso declined to immediately comment, saying he was still optimistic.

Lawsuit Challenges Legality of Senate Special Election From Text of Lawsuit filed October 31, 2014 ...Plaintiffs bring this action challenging the election being conducted by Defendant Nago and the State of Hawaii Office of Elections in relation to filling the vacancy caused by Senator Daniel K. Inouye's death as unconstitutional under the Seventeenth Amendment because the election is not pursuant to a writ of election issued by the Governor and because Defendant Nago's proclamation states that the candidate elected at the special general election to fill the vacancy shall not take office until January 3, 2015. Despite the passage of...

HONOLULU (AP) -- In a stunning defeat for an incumbent, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie was unseated by a fellow Democrat in Saturday's primary election, as voters chose state Sen. David Ige as their nominee in one of two marquee races that have divided the party. Abercrombie had tried to hold onto his seat while disgruntled voters turned their allegiance to Ige, who promised to bring a less confrontational political style. Voters rewarded Ige with a decisive victory....

President Barack Obama on Monday threw his support to Sen. Brian Schatz over Colleen Hanabusa in Hawaii’s Senate race, stepping into a primary that has been divisive for voters in the state where Obama was born. Obama’s backing could give a critical boost to Schatz in Hawaii, where Obama remains more popular than in most other parts of the U.S. Seven in 10 Hawaii voters chose Obama in 2012. Polls this year show Schatz and Hanabusa are in a competitive race. “Sen. Schatz is protecting Hawaii’s values and fighting every day on behalf of middle-class families,” Obama said in a...

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced tonight Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz will replace the late Sen. Daniel Inouye as the U.S. senator from Hawaii -- not Sen. Inouye's first choice. On the day he died, the late senator wrote a letter to Abercrombie asking that he pick Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, to replace him. Hanabusa made it to the final round of consideration, but she did not win the nomination. "The charge of the central committee was to take all points of view into account, from Sen. Inouye and from the rank and file -- the Democratic grass roots," Abercrombie said...