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GOP-Majority Senate Confirms New Attorney General Who Refuses to Guarantee Mueller Report Will Be Released

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The Republican-led U.S. Senate has just confirmed William Barr to become President Trump’s Attorney General. Barr, considered highly controversial for his views thst the President should have nearly unlimited powers, refused to promise he will allow the Mueller report on Russia’s attack on U.S. elections to be released. The Attorney General decides if a special counsel’s report is released, and if so, to whom, and to what degree.

The final vote was 54-45. Three Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for Barr: Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote no.

Barr, who had served as AG under President George H.W. Bush, also refused to promise he would obey the advice of Justice Dept. ethics experts, specifically on whether or not he should recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation.

Barr is also highly controversial given his extremist religious and anti-LGBT positions.

LGBT civil rights organization Lambda Legal issued this statement:

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

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This article has been updated to reflect the final vote totals and breakdown.

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‘Incurable Conflict of Interest’: Kushner Under Sweeping Investigation by House Democrats

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Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and his Special Envoy for Peace, is being investigated by House Judiciary Democrats who allege a “glaring and incurable conflict of interest.” The probe is led by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, MS NOW reports.

In their six-page letter dated April 16, they charge that Kushner’s clients, Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “have unique and significant strategic, economic and political interests that are certain to diverge sharply from the strategic, economic and political interests of the American people.”

“To whom do your professional obligations and fiduciary duties belong?” asks the letter, signed by Ranking Member Raskin.

“You cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time; you cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own,” Raskin writes.

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

Calling it “an outrageous betrayal of the American people,” Raskin notes that were Kushner a government employee, “these conflicts of interest would be disqualifying, not only preventing you from conducting your current duties but from receiving security clearance.” He says that Kushner has “taken advantage” of his non-government position, “with all the trappings of government authority and power to insist that the normal rules do not apply to you.”

MS NOW reports that “Kushner, who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, founded the investment firm Affinity Partners in 2021 after serving as a senior adviser during Trump’s first administration,” and notes that “Affinity’s largest and earliest investor, according to The New York Times, is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

“The fund invested roughly $2 billion after the first Trump White House ended. Sovereign wealth funds tied to other Gulf nations, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have also invested.”

Raskin also included a fifteen-point list of requests for records from Kushner. Among them, “All communications with the White House and Trump campaign, including your father-in-law, regarding your role within the government from July 1, 2024, to the present day.”

Also, “All communications received or sent by you relating to the Board of Peace,” and, “All communications received or sent by you relating to financial investments or the economy in Gaza, Ukraine, Iran or any other area in which you have negotiated.”

READ MORE: Trump’s Coalition Is ‘Kaput’ — Midterms Threaten to Be ‘Brutal’: Columnists

 

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Trump’s Coalition Is ‘Kaput’ — Midterms Threaten to Be ‘Brutal’: Columnists

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The coalition that united to put Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024 is “kaput,” and with a president polling even worse than at this point in his first term, the November midterms are threatening to be “brutal” for Republicans, argue Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Elaine Godfrey at The Atlantic.

“A shocking number of the president’s supporters have turned against him,” the columnists write.

“When Trump opens his mouth, three-quarters of what he says is stories, lies,” Tomas Montoya, a Trump voter, told The Atlantic outside a popular Hispanic grocery store in Casa Grande, Arizona.

“Montoya voted for President Trump in 2024, but now, well, frustrated doesn’t begin to cover how he’s feeling. The president is bragging about the economy, even though everyone Montoya knows is hurting; he promised to stop wars, but started one in Iran,” The Atlantic notes. “He’s planning to vote in the midterm elections this fall. But he may not choose a Republican.”

Some Trump voters, like Montoya, the columnists explain, sound “anxious, and a little regretful about how they voted two Novembers ago.”

They describe some of Trump’s “fanboys in the libertarian-leaning manosphere” as “baffled by his actions on the Epstein files, immigration, and now Iran.”

Religious conservatives “have been criticizing their once-unassailable leader after he posted a photo on social media of himself as Jesus and attacked the pope, calling the first American pontiff ‘WEAK on Crime.'”

Some battleground Republican operatives would prefer the president not campaign “too hard” for their candidates.

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

How bad are the midterms expected to be for the GOP?

“Almost every new poll is a red flag for Republicans,” they write. “Independents, young voters, and Latinos—groups that were crucial to Trump’s win in 2024—aren’t in the bag anymore. Even non-college-educated white Americans, once the president’s strongest group, have turned on him, according to a CNN polling average.”

One 61-year-old Democrat who opted to vote for Trump in 2024 hoping he would bring down high prices says she is poorer today than she was two years ago.

“High gas prices mean that she is staying home more often—skipping Bible studies at her church, volunteering less, and even missing exercise classes. Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was her breaking point with the president. ‘I think that he just wants war,’ she said. ‘He’s made it plain that he’s adversarial with everybody.'”

Trump’s highly controversial AI post of himself “dressed in flowing robes, surrounded by a heavenly glow while healing a sick man … alienated the one group of Americans that has rarely left his side: Christian conservatives. The picture, declared the Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, was ‘OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy.'”

Far-right pastor Joel Webbon, who, The Atlantic noted, opposes women being allowed to vote, said that Trump is “currently demon possessed.”

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, whom the president has called a “tremendous athlete,” wrote that “God shall not be mocked.”

Some fundraising “plummeted” in early March after Trump launched his Iran war.

“If this is a two-week stretch, not a huge deal,” a GOP consultant told The Atlantic. “If we’re still bombing Iran in November? I mean …”

READ MORE: ‘I’m All About the Gospel’ Trump Says After Refusing to Meet With Pope Leo

 

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‘I’m All About the Gospel’ Trump Says After Refusing to Meet With Pope Leo

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Amid an escalating feud with President Donald Trump lashing out at the first American pope, Pope Leo XIV, and the pope promoting a pro-peace, anti-war message the president opposes, Trump is refusing to meet with the Vicar of Christ.

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump declared on Thursday afternoon, despite new poll numbers that show his support among Catholics slipping after his attacks on the pontiff.

Earlier on Thursday, Pope Leo had posted to social media a message some thought was meant for the president.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” he wrote.

Asked specifically about it, Trump did not answer directly, instead telling reporters that it’s “very important that the Pope understands, very, very important…Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump also told reporters, “I’m all about the Gospel. I’m all about it as much as anybody can be!”

READ MORE: Conservative Christian Broadcaster Slams Franklin Graham’s ‘Embarrassing’ Defense of Trump

 

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