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Again on the Path, Sanders Campaigns for a Legislative Legacy

Back on the Trail, Sanders Campaigns for a Legislative Legacy

“Pelosi and Schumer have enormously difficult jobs – they really do – and it’s easy to denigrate, criticize, but they have no leeway to deal with,” Sanders said in an interview. “It’s not a job that I envy, a job that I could do for three minutes.”

Mr. Sanders has decided that the best way to advance his vision is to reach Republican voters, including face-to-face meetings in Republican counties in Indiana and Iowa. After enjoying his previous campaign interactions with voters, he was back in his element, far from the staid corridors of Capitol Hill.

Updated

Aug. 24, 2021, 4:52 p.m. ET

“This is way outside of what normal household committees do, but then again, I feel very lucky to be in this position right now,” said Sanders, drinking iced tea on the terrace of Midtown Station, a restaurant near the fire station. after his question-and-answer session. “Indeed, if I weren’t so busy with the reconciliation package and dealing with congressmen, etc., etc.”

“We should do that,” he added. “We have to explain to the Americans what we’re doing for them here, and it can’t just be a process within the Belt.”

But whether in Washington or Iowa, Sanders has little patience to discuss the procedural details of the reconciliation package and instead focuses on the political ideas, which he writes in large italics. In an opening speech in a nearby park to a crowd of hundreds spreading on lounge chairs and picnic blankets, Mr. Sanders warned shortly that Senate rules “could get you to sleep in about three seconds.”

“It’s complicated, it’s boring, and so on,” he told them.

But these numbing details will be crucial. The need for Democrats to be virtually unanimous in support will drive the process forward and determine which policies can be included and which must be thrown overboard. And the Senate MP as arbitrator of the Chamber’s rules may advise dropping certain provisions as they do not directly affect taxes and expenses, a requirement for items included in voting bills.

Mr. Sanders glossed over these details and assured the crowd – largely a gathering of his acolytes from across the state – that his vision would become law despite opposition from the likes of Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema.

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Business

Court docket Dismisses Trump Marketing campaign’s Defamation Swimsuit In opposition to New York Instances

Court Dismisses Trump Campaign’s Defamation Suit Against New York Times

A New York state court on Tuesday dismissed a defamation suit filed in Donald J. Trump’s re-election campaign against the New York Times Company and ruled that an opinion piece argued that there was “consideration” between The candidate and he gave Russian officials before the 2016 presidential election were speech protected.

The Times published in March 2019 the op-ed of Max Frankel, a former Times editor-in-chief who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, under the headline “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.” Mr. Frankel alleged that in an “overarching deal” ahead of the 2016 election, Russian officials would help Mr. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in exchange for turning US foreign policy in a pro-Russian direction.

Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, Donald J. Trump for President Inc., filed the lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court in February 2020. He alleged defamation and accused The Times of “extreme bias and hostility” towards the campaign.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge James E. d’Auguste gave three reasons for the dismissal. He wrote that Mr. Frankel’s comment was an “unworkable opinion,” meaning that it was a constitutionally protected speech. that the Trump campaign was not entitled to slander charges; and that the campaign had failed to show that The Times had published the essay with “actual malice”.

“The court today clarified a fundamental point about press freedom: we should not tolerate defamation lawsuits filed by those in power to silence and intimidate those who are investigating them,” David McCraw, the Times’ deputy general counsel, said in one Explanation .

A spokesman for Mr Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Times had filed a motion to dismiss the case and impose sanctions on the campaign. The judge refused to impose sanctions.

The Times was a frequent target of Mr. Trump’s attacks on the press during his four-year tenure. Prior to the lawsuit, he accused the newspaper of “treason” and often threatened to take news organizations to justice. Last year the Trump campaign did well the threats, filing defamation lawsuits against The Times, CNN and The Washington Post. In November, a federal judge dismissed CNN’s lawsuit. The postal lawsuit is still pending.

In all three actions was Trump campaign attorney Charles J. Harder, who represented Terry G. Bollea, the former professional wrestler named Hulk Hogan, when he sued Gawker Media in 2012 for posting a sex video. That lawsuit, secretly funded by conservative tech investor Peter Thiel, resulted in a $ 140 million decision that resulted in the bankruptcy and sale of Gawker Media.

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Politics

Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a rally in support of Democratic Senate candidates in Atlanta, Georgia, December 15, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – A triumphant president-elect, Joe Biden, went to Georgia on Tuesday to lead an election rally for two Democratic Senate candidates in the state that earned him his biggest disgruntled win in the 2020 presidential contest.

The drive-in rally in Atlanta was intended to benefit Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of whom will run run-off against incumbent Republican senators on Jan. 5. It was Biden’s first campaign event as president-elect, held just a day after the election campaign. The electoral college confirmed its victory over President Donald Trump.

The two runoff elections are about control of the U.S. Senate, and thus the power to either give the green light to Biden’s candidates and his ambitious (and expensive) domestic agenda, or vice versa, to block them.

If either of the two Republican Senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, win their races, the GOP will retain its current control of the Chamber, and Biden can expect fights for every candidate and every bill.

Biden had no illusions on Tuesday about the importance of these races. “I need two senators from this state who want to get something done, not two senators who are just getting in each other’s way,” he said. “Send me these two men and we’ll control the Senate and change the lives of the Georgia people.”

After the angry November victory fueled by suburban and black voters, Democrats rely almost entirely on replicating the record turnout they saw last month. It’s a major challenge – special elections traditionally attract far fewer voters than presidential elections – but Biden urged his supporters to buck the trends.

“Will Georgia break the record for voting in these Senate elections? I think so,” he said. “But there are a lot of people who bet you won’t. There are a lot of people who think, ‘Georgia broke the record for votes cast in the presidential election, there is no way you can do it again.'”

“Are you ready to prove them wrong? I think you are. I think Georgia is going to shock the nation with the number of people voting on January 5th,” Biden said.

In a state with a long history of racial voter suppression, Biden reminded people that Loeffler and Perdue supported a recent lawsuit launched by the Texas Attorney General that sought to disqualify millions of Georgia votes in election results.

“Your two Republican senators fully embraced what Texas told the Supreme Court,” he said. “You were fully in favor of nullifying nearly 5 million votes in Georgia. You may want to remember that January 5th is coming.”

Poll averages currently show both Senate races neck to neck, although historical trends favor incumbent senators.

Biden also drew a sharp contrast between the two Democrats in the race and their Republican opponents when it comes to much-needed funding for coronavirus aid.

“We need funding for testing and vaccine distribution. We need to get money into people’s pockets right now,” he said. “We can do so much to make the lives of the people of Georgia and the country so much better, and we need senators who are ready.”

After Biden’s trip, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also expected to visit Georgia to bolster Ossoff and Warnock, although concrete plans have not yet been released.