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‘Decision Time’: Dem Challenges GOP With Release Date of Bipartisan Border and Ukraine Bill

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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appeared to issue a challenge to far-right Senate Republicans and most of the House GOP conference Friday as he announced the text of the Senate’s bipartisan border and Ukraine aid bill has been finalized and will be released by Sunday night, if not earlier.

“Republicans said the border is a priority and we should craft a bipartisan bill to help control the border,” Sen. Murphy, the Democrats’ lead negotiator on the legislation declared, throwing down the gauntlet. “We did that. We have a deal.”

“This weekend we will release the bill and vote next week,” Murphy said, although some reports state it could come as soon as Friday evening. “It’s decision time.”

The majority of the U.S. Senate had been strongly behind the border bill and funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan – all of which is covered in the legislation. But increasingly Senate Republicans have been taking their cue from far-right House Republicans, and more recently directly from Donald Trump, leading to some GOP Senators peeling away.

READ MORE: ‘Mea Culpa’: Top Trump Economic Advisor Admits on Fox News ‘I Was Wrong’ About Biden Economy

Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, once a stalwart supporter of aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, last week told his members the “Politics on this have changed,” and he no longer thought passing the legislation he publicly supported — jointly with Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – would be possible.

“We don’t want to do anything to undermine” Donald Trump, McConnell told his members.

“This is a big about-face for McConnell,” Punchbowl News had reprinted, noting the Minority Leader had “said Congress needs to pass the border security bill and unlock billions of dollars in new Ukraine aid.”

“In effectively backing away from the border-security-for-Ukraine construct that Hill Republicans clung to for the last few months, McConnell is acknowledging Trump’s continued stranglehold on the GOP. He referred to Trump as ‘the nominee’ during the closed-door session,” Punchbowl added.

Trump has repeatedly and very publicly denounced any border legislation that is not “perfect,” because he wants to have the issue of the border, illegal immigration, and immigrants to run on, just as he did when he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015.

This week, after noting the text of the bill had not been released, Trump then went on to tell Fox News Business’ Maria Bartiromo that any Republican who votes for the bill “should be ashamed” because “it’s a very weak deal,” without the text of the bill having been released.

U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) a hard core conservative, was the Republican lead on the bill.

READ MORE: ‘You Bend the Knee to the Orange Jesus’: Democrat Blasts House Republicans in Fiery Takedown

David Rothkopf, the noted foreign policy, national security and political affairs analyst and commentator made clear the stakes.

“This border bill will be a real moment of truth for the party that doesn’t know the meaning of the word,” he wrote, referring to Republicans. “Do they step up and take action to help solve what they have long said is America’s number one crisis or do they cynically punt to ‘help’ Trump politically?”

Last month Sen. Murphy laid out the stakes of the crisis in Ukraine and at the border.

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King Charles Discreetly Rebukes Trump in Historic Address to Congress: Report

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Britain’s King Charles III delivered a “carefully targeted rebuff” of President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies during his historic address before Congress, Politico reports, as he lauded NATO and called for “unyielding resolve” to defend Ukraine against Russia.

“British monarchs deliver their political messages in code,” Politico noted, adding that “contrary to the president’s repeated claims over recent weeks, NATO was in fact there to help in America’s hour of need.”

Charles told members of Congress that in “the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so, for more than a century.”

“Shoulder to shoulder,” he declared, “through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that have defined our shared security. Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.”

His Ukraine entreaty received bipartisan applause and a standing ovation.

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Charles praised the United States’ armed forces’ “commitment and expertise,” and that of its allies, that “lie at the heart of NATO.”

Calling it “a direct plea to Trump and Hill Republicans to maintain American support against the Russian invasion,” Politico stated that Charles “is striking a very different tone from Trump’s incessant criticisms of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”

READ MORE: FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

 

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Trump White House Blames Democrats’ ‘Unhinged Rhetoric’ for Inciting WHCD Attack

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The White House is alleging that “unhinged” and “sick rhetoric” from Democrats is to blame for inciting the alleged assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and members of his administration by “another Radical Left lunatic.”

On Saturday, at the hotel hosting the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, a heavily armed man broke through a security checkpoint on the floor above the event and was taken down by Secret Service agents. In his manifesto, the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly named “Administration officials ” as his primary “targets.”

On Tuesday, in a press release titled “Democrats’ Unhinged Rhetoric Incites Third Assassination Attempt on President Trump,” the Trump White House charged that the “attack was not random; it was the predictable result of years of reckless, inflammatory, and escalating rhetoric from Democrats” who “have created a toxic environment that incites their supporters to violence again and again.”

The White House listed over a dozen prominent Democrats and their remarks.

For example, it cited House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who said that Democrats “are in an era of maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” against Republicans. Jeffries’ remarks were initially taken from a direct quote attributed to a “person close to the White House,” as The New York Times reported last year.

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In August, The Times reported: “One person close to the president, who insisted on anonymity to describe the White House’s political strategy candidly, summed it up succinctly: ‘Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.'”

The White House did not mention the connection.

In its press release, the White House also quoted Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who “called on his supporters to ‘be forcefully rising up against’ President Trump.” Senator Schumer did not say, against President Trump. He said, “against this,” referring to the Trump Justice Department’s prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The White House also cited Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for saying that “heads do need to roll” inside the Trump Administration, and California Governor Gavin Newsom for urging supporters to “punch these sons of b —— in the mouth.”

In total, the White House cited eighteen Democrats and their statements.

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FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report

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The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to review Disney’s broadcast licenses, according to an exclusive report by Semafor.

According to Semafor, a person familiar with the FCC’s thinking said the review is not directly tied to a monologue delivered last week by ABC’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel, which targeted President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

But NBC News, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported later on Tuesday that the FCC is expected to order Disney’s eight broadcast stations to file their broadcast license reviews early.

A source told NBC News the move was “unprecedented” and directly tied to Kimmel’s comments.

On Monday, First Lady Melania Trump blasted ABC, demanding the broadcast network hold Kimmel to account.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Frustrated’ by Ballroom Legal Battles — So GOP Wants You to Pay for It: Report

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” the First Lady said on social media. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” she continued, calling the late night host a “coward” who “hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

Later on Monday, President Trump went even further than the First Lady, demanding Kimmel “be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Days earlier, on Thursday night, in a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel delivered several jokes, including saying: “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

Kimmel delivered his monologue two days before an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump and top administration officials at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.

READ MORE: Coming Price Spike Made Worse by Trump Could Deal ‘Fatal Blow’ to GOP: Report

 

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