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☆ Texas Governor Names Interim Attorney General After Paxton Impeachment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( David Montgomery | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Why It MattersIn announcing his choice, Mr. Abbott cited Mr. Scott’s past experience as a former deputy attorney general who “knows how the Office of Attorney General operates.”Mr. Scott served as Mr. Abbott’s top deputy for civil litigation when the Republican governor served as attorney general before becoming the state’s chief executive in 2015. Mr. Scott also served on an interim basis as Texas secretary of state, the chief elections officer appointed by the governor, for just over a year before stepping down in December 2022. During the political turbulence following Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Donald Trump, Mr. Scott briefly represented the former president in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the certification of Pennsylvania’s vote after other attorneys quit. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and the litigation chief Chris Hilton, who has made news recently by denouncing lawmakers’ moves toward impeachment. “That was true regardless of who the secretary was, including John Scott,” Mr. Taylor said.

Persons: Abbott, “, Mr, Scott, Abbott’s, ” Mr, Joe Biden’s, Donald Trump, Paxton, Judd Stone, Antonin Scalia, Ted Cruz, Chris Hilton, Sam Taylor, John Scott, Taylor, Gov, Dan Patrick Organizations: Republican, Human Services, Daily, The Texas Tribune, U.S, Supreme, The Texas Senate, Senate Locations: Texas, Ted Cruz of Texas

☆ Ron Johnson insists he won't pocket $8.4 million from donors. But thanks to Ted Cruz, he could legally do exactly that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

That's due to a Supreme Court case won last year by Ted Cruz, who defended Johnson repaying himself. In October quarterly filings, Johnson's campaign declared that it was reinstating $8.4 million in loans, citing Ted Cruz vs. FEC. Furthermore, the door is now open for other self-funding candidates to demand payback of campaign loans that they had previously forgiven. And prior to Johnson telling Insider that he wouldn't seek a loan repayment, Cruz vociferously defended the hypothetical repayment. "It is perfectly reasonable that Ron Johnson, after 10 years of making an interest-free loan to the American people, can pay back his own money," Cruz added.

☆ Trump's candidate for Kentucky governor trounced DeSantis' last-minute endorsement, so Trump gloated 'Ron's magic is GONE!'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Katie Balevic | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis' endorsement came in third. Kentucky Attorney General secured a comfortable win in the Republican primary on Tuesday, far outpacing a competitor endorsed by Florida Gov. "Congratulations to a 'star' in Kentucky, Daniel Cameron, who easily won the Republican Nomination for Governor. He had my Complete and Total Endorsement," Trump posted on Truth Social. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks to supporters following his victory in the Republican primary in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

☆ Bernie Sanders doubled his income last year by writing a best-selling book that condemns capitalism
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote a book called "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism." Per new disclosures, he made $170,000 in book royalties in 2022, nearly as much as his $174,000 salary. Coupled with another $170,000 royalties payment from publisher Penguin Random House in 2020, Sanders has so far made $340,000 from the book. Sanders, a two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination and a proponent of Democratic Socialism, has long drawn scrutiny for the wealth he's managed to amass while in office. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a fellow progressive and 2020 presidential candidate, made even more than Sanders in book royalties in 2022, according to her own recently-filed financial disclosures.

Florida lawmakers sent DeSantis a bill that would let him stay governor while running for president. "I don't think we have seen a six-month stretch that has ever been this productive in the history of our state," DeSantis said at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee on Friday. Should DeSantis be successful in a presidential run, he would follow in the footsteps of Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush. Ron DeSantis speaks during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, on November 8, 2022. During a press conference in Panama City, Florida, on Thursday, DeSantis continued to play coy about his intentions.

☆ Trump's Senate backers are fine with him skipping 2024 primary debates: 'Most of it's for entertainment anyway'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump is threatening to skip 2024 primary debates, and his Senate backers are just fine with that. In brief interviews with Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday, some of the 11 Republican senators who've endorsed Trump backed him up on those arguments. He famously skipped a primary debate before the 2016 Iowa caucus, allowing other candidates to criticize him without him being able to respond. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced in April that the first GOP primary debate would be held in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Sunday, when asked about Trump's threat to skip the debates, she said simply that it was "his choice."

☆ Justice Alito says he has a 'pretty good idea' who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade but doesn't have the proof to name them publicly
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Justice Alito claims to have a "good idea" who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. He went on to argue that the leak made the justices who had signed onto the draft opinion "targets of assassination." The leak of the draft opinion — besides infuriating those who favor abortion rights — caused a political firestorm of its own at the time. Furthermore, Justice Alito has himself been accused of leaking the outcome of Supreme Court deliberations before. But when asked about the theory that someone on the right leaked the draft, Alito strongly rejected that notion.

☆ Enraged congressional Republicans call Biden's reelection bid a sign of the apocalypse. But some of his former GOP colleagues say America can simply do better.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

incumbent President Joe Biden is officially running for reelection in 2024 to "finish the job." Some House and Senate Republicans cast a second Biden term as certain doom. "Finishing the job would be truly catastrophic," Ted Cruz said, riffing on Biden's reelection theme. Cruz delved even deeper into the bleakness, predicting that a second Biden administration would usher in more inflation, crime, illegal crossings at the southern border and embolden global adversaries including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. And surely, we can do better than that," Wicker told Insider at the US Capitol.

☆ Ted Cruz ridiculed for saying smoking is a person's 'own damn choice' while celebrating abortion restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Saturday that smoking is a person's "own damn choice." Twitter pointed out Cruz's hypocrisy, noting that he is against choice when it comes to abortion. "Personally, I don't smoke cigarettes, but if you choose to do so, it's your damn choice!" "Now do uteruses," Brian Taylor Cohen, a political commentator who hosts the "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen" podcast, responded to the tweet. "When it comes to rape, rape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person, and needs to be punished and punished severely," he said at the time, according to MSNBC.

☆ Senate Republicans who backed Trump's election fraud claims say Fox News settling Dominion case leaves things 'a little murky'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Several Senate Republicans predicted the settlement wouldn't change much at Fox or in journalism. "A bad settlement is a lot better than going to court," one Trump backer told Insider. "I think that it leaves a few things a little murky," Braun said while walking through the Senate subway. "The trial was likely to be pretty ugly," Cruz told Insider. "It's no problem — if you don't lie," Romney told Insider between votes.

☆ GOP's early 2024 pickle: Support 1 of 3 minority candidates for president or stick with the aggrieved white guy who could be a convicted felon by Election Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Republican Sen. Tim Scott has inched closer to challenging Donald Trump in 2024. Current polling casts Trump, who is battling multiple investigations, as the odds-on favorite. Market research firm Morning Consult shows both Scott and Ramaswamy polling at only 1%, and Haley polling at 4%. And that's after he was arraigned on 34 counts of falsifying business records, charges Trump and his House GOP defenders assert are politically motivated. "Our divisions run deep, and the threat to our future is real," Scott said of the existential crisis at hand.

☆ Texas will play an outsized role in selecting the next GOP presidential nominee. So Trump isn't leaving anything to chance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump has previously indicated that he wouldn't leave the 2024 presidential race if he was indicted. Among the bold-named Texas figures who have signed on to Trump's 2024 campaign are Lt. Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been floated as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, was also not on the list. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won his home state in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Cruz took home the lion's share of Texas' GOP delegates in what is a winner-takes-most system.

☆ Trump's GOP allies rally to his defense, blasting indictment as a 'catastrophic escalation' and a 'politically motivated prosecution'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday. "A majority of Americans know Alvin Bragg's witch hunt is a politically motivated prosecution," Gaetz continued, referring to the Manhattan district attorney. "I continue to stand with President Trump as he has always stood with us." The Manhattan grand jury has been investigating Trump's connection to a $130,000 payment made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. The criminal charges come as Trump pursues a 2024 presidential campaign and is widely considered the GOP frontrunner.

☆ Republicans are starting to split over exactly how — and whether — to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Republicans generally support banning TikTok, but they're beginning to disagree on how. Sen. Rand Paul has also come out against a TikTok ban, blocking a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley. But even among Republicans who favor a TikTok ban, there are growing concerns about the RESTRICT Act — arguably the most prominent proposal put forward to deal with the issue. "So, I think we should ban TikTok. "It's worse than banning TikTok, because it can be applied to lots of other companies," said Paul.

☆ Trump faces a potential indictment by the Manhattan DA's office. His GOP opponents are far behind him in the 2024 presidential race, and falling further.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Former President Trump remains at the top of the 2024 GOP pack as he faces several criminal probes. Trump decried a potential indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney's office during a rally in Waco, Texas, on March 25, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesTrump versus the worldDuring the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, Trump's political brand was built on rejecting the political establishment. Ron DeSantis of Florida is among several high-profile Republicans who may challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. In 2020, Trump faced near-unanimous support for a second term, with the campaigns of former Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, former Gov.

☆ Senate GOP populists push Republican colleagues to back railway regulations, arguing 'their voters' are the most affected by disasters
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Vance, Hawley, and Rubio are touting a bill to enact new regulations on the rail industry. They're trying out a new argument for their Republican colleagues: these are your voters. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Marco Rubio of Florida, are touting the Railway Safety Act of 2023. "When derailments occur, it is predominantly Republican voters—their voters—who bear the brunt and who rush to put out the fires." "Look, I think if the vote were held today, we'd get 65 votes in the Senate," he told Insider.

☆ Trump's looming indictment causes his feud with DeSantis to boil over into insults and insinuations about a 'porn star' and 'underage' classmates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Trump indictment news put DeSantis on the spot, given he's expected to run for president. "I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair," DeSantis said. "But when he can actually make a positive difference — whether that's the Silicon Valley bailout or the Trump indictment — he shuts up for political convenience. Asked about the battle, DeSantis' political team pointed to the governor's comments Monday saying that he would not participate in helping Bragg with an extradition. Ron DeSantis' interview with the New York Post.

☆ Ted Cruz's publisher shaved off his mullet on the cover of his new book about 'cultural Marxism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ted Cruz's infamous mullet was edited out of a photo on the cover of his new book by the publisher. The Texas Republican announced last week that he's writing his third book, titled "Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America." A person familiar with the matter told Insider that the decision to edit Cruz's mullet out of the picture was made by his publisher, the conservative outfit Regnery Publishing, and not the senator himself. "Is the routine touching up of a photo for a book cover considered newsworthy?" Cruz later began sporting a mullet fade as the Senate began debating impeachment charges against former President Donald Trump for incitement of an insurrection, prompting the Houston Chronicle to ask "What the hell is going on with Ted Cruz's hair?"

☆ DeSantis and other prominent Republicans blame 'woke' politics for Silicon Valley Bank's collapse instead of bankers miscalibrating risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Nicole Gaudiano | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some Republicans blamed "woke" investment strategies for Silicon Valley Bank's downfall. Economists and banking experts so far have chalked up Silicon Valley Bank's failure to much more apolitical circumstances. Silicon Valley Bank then had to sell its assets at a loss to fork over cash it didn't have, an increasingly untenable chain reaction that ended only when regulators shut the institution down. Regulators closed the Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, a stunning break to a period of relative banking stability in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. "I don't know if making money's now woke," Baker said.

☆ The Justice Department investigated Jeffrey Epstein's death. Then it went silent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail was seen as a shocking Justice Department failure. But more than three years later, the office still hasn't released its report into the circumstances of Epstein's death. "We all took it by surprise," Mark Epstein told Insider. Barr tasked the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, and the FBI with investigating "the circumstances of Mr. Epstein's death." Mark Epstein told Insider that he spoke to his brother about once a month in the years before his death.

☆ Ted Cruz keeps dodging on whether he agrees with his former podcast co-host's call to eradicate 'transgenderism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Conservative personality Michael Knowles called for the eradication of "transgenderism" in a CPAC speech. "I think the extreme left's ideology has been very harmful," Cruz initially told Insider on Tuesday before boarding an elevator in the Capitol building. "I get that you have a story you want to write," Cruz told Insider. "The press is being silly and deliberately taking him out of context," Cruz told Insider when first asked about the issue on Tuesday. But even so, Knowles' comments go well beyond what most Republican lawmakers have articulated.

☆ They've seen enough: Trump-backing CPAC attendees want to freeze the 2024 field before things get any messier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump fans told Insider no one else should jump in because things are already too mixed up. "What I'm most looking forward to, obviously, is President Trump," she said, noting that she planned to be front and center for his keynote address on Saturday evening. "I think that's a good group," he said, adding, "That's enough." But President Trump is the one that we need," Le told Insider. CPAC attendee Thao Le shows off the Donald Trump pin on her American flag-themed hat on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

☆ Several big-name GOP lawmakers won't go to CPAC this year amid chairman Matt Schlapp's sexual assault scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CPAC is typically a major opportunity for GOP politicians to boost their profile and give red-meat speeches. But many aren't going this year as chairman Matt Schlapp faces a $9.4 million sexual assault lawsuit. Nikki Haley, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida — are still scheduled to speak later this week. Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, also not attending, visibly cringed when asked about CPAC.

☆ Railroad workers union says workplace conditions such as long hours and lack of sick days will only lead to more tragedies like the Ohio derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Various rail workers unions blame working conditions for the Ohio derailment, per The Guardian. Staff shortages and no paid sick days will lead to more disasters, union leaders said. This comes two months after Congress halted a railroad workers strike. Railroad Workers United, and others claim companies get away with short staffing, long hours and no paid sick days, jeopardizing safety protocol in the name of profit, the Guardian reported. Corners get cut and safety is compromised," Ron Kaminkow, Railroad Workers United secretary and Amtrak engineer told The Guardian.

☆ A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Nikki Haley is embarking on a trailblazing bid as she seeks the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. However, GOP voters might not be receptive to accusations of sexism in political attacks. A New Hampshire GOP committeewoman said some in the party wanted "to put women back into the 1960s." Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Kim Reynolds of Iowa, only a few Republican women have sought the presidency. If Haley were to win the GOP presidential nomination, she'd be the first female in party history to do so.

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