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Tag: jen psaki
Bernie Sanders

Sanders Demands Justice Department Probe Of Clarence Thomas

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is urging the Department of Justice to begin investigating the numerous reports that Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose his monied dealings with billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. He made the remarks on Sunday's edition of MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki

"There were new revelations, Senator, this week about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his financial relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow. And just this morning there's even new reporting about some inaccuracies on his financial disclosure forms," Psaki pointed out.

"Your colleague, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Clarence Thomas for potential ethics violations. Do you back Senator Whitehouse's call?" Psaki asked.

"Well, I think, Senator Whitehouse is on the right track. The Supreme Court does not have to go along with the same type of ethics rules that members of Congress and other judges do, and it's time we ended that leniency for the Supreme Court," Sanders said.

"Some of what we're reading about in terms of Judge Thomas is really quite outrageous, and I think it needs to be investigated," he insisted.

"By the Department of Justice?" Psaki clarified.

"Yes. Right," Sanders confirmed.

Psaki then noted that "a number of colleagues of yours in the House, and in the Senate too, have call – have said he should be impeached. Do you think that if wrongdoing is found, he should be impeached?" she posited.

"Well, I think the first thing you wanna do before you impeach somebody is investigate the situation," Sanders replied. "And I think that is what the Department of Justice should be doing."

Watch below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Democrats Shatter Midterm Forecasts With Victories Across Country

Democrats Shatter Midterm Forecasts With Victories Across Country

Control of the House and Senate have not yet been determined but many political experts are now saying that supposed “red wave” Republicans have been projecting does not look like it will happen.

The New York Times’ chief political analyst Nate Cohn at 9:51 PM ET election night, tweeted: “So far, Democrats are running about a point ahead of our expectations outside of Florida, with the GOP lead in the House starting to come down a bit.”

“Not many signs of a red wave at this point,” Cohn said.

Historically the President’s party almost always loses seats in the House. In the last midterm elections, 2018, Donald Trump lost 40 House seats.

“Bill Clinton lost 54 House seats in 1994, Barack Obama lost 63 in 2010, and both went on to win re-election,” Jen Psaki, former Biden White House Press Secretary tweeted earlier Tuesday.

Just before 11 PM on MSNBC Psaki observed, “This was supposed to be an election where it would be embarrassing for Joe Biden to wake up in the morning. And it’s not going to be.”

Indeed, it does not currently appear Democrats will lose anywhere close to the number of seats that Trump, Clinton, or Obama lost in their first (or only) terms. The New York Timespredicted that Republicans are likely to take the House, but control of the Senate is still a tossup.

At 10:45 PM ET on Tuesday night, MSNBC analyst Steve Kornacki said it was still “conceivable” Democrats could keep control of the House, although he stressed he was not making a prediction.

NBC News Senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake pointed to a Democratic House seat that should have been won by the GOP had there been a “red wave,” but was held, as Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) kept her seat. Her Virginia Democratic colleague Rep. Abigail Spanberger also won her bellwether race.

Gen Z now has its first U.S. Congressman. And out of Florida, a state that appeared to be turning rapidly red on election night 2022 as GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis romped to an overwhelming victory in his re-election race.

Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25-years-old, has beaten the GOP candidate to take the House seat being vacated by Rep. Val Demings, PBS reports. Demings lost her bid to unseat Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

PBS calls Frost “a 25-year-old gun reform and social justice activist,” and reports he is “a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has stressed opposition to restrictions on abortion rights. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.”

In Vermont, Rep. Peter Welch will become U.S. Senator Peter Welch, replacing the retiring Democratic Senator Pat Leahy, the Associated Press reported. Also in Vermont, that state elected Democrat Becca Balint to the House of Representatives, NPR reported. She will become the state’s first out lesbian member of Congress.

“Good news for Democrats in flipping two governor races in Maryland and Massachusetts,” Bloomberg News tweets. “Republican moderates had held those seats, though neither was running for re-election. Democrats, taking on new challengers, won easily.”

Massachusetts has elected Democrat Maura Healey governor, NBC News reports. Healy, the current Attorney General, becomes the first out lesbian governor ever elected in the U.S., Massachusetts’ first woman governor, and move the state from Republican to Democratic control.

.In Maryland, Democrat Wes Moore becomes the state’s first Black governor and only the third Black governor in U.S. history. Like Healy in Massachusetts, Moore takes the state out of Republican hands after that states' GOP governor retired. he beat a far-right MAGA Republican endorsed by Donald Trump, NPR reports.

And in another bellwether race, incumbent Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan was reportedly re-elected. Last night MSNBC and NBC News projected Hassan will keep her seat.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet






Jen Psaki

Grace And Integrity: Jen Psaki's Last Day At White House Podium

Today was White House Secretary Jen Psaki’s final day. Karine Jean-Pierre will be taking Psaki’s place in front of the press during the daily briefings. Jen Psaki has been a steady and welcome fixture in an administration that has been tasked with cleaning up the catastrophic destruction of the previous administration. It was a sad day in some respects, as Psaki has been a highlight for many, offering up witty and solid rebuttals to the steady fact-free propaganda of the right-wing media sphere.

Psaki began her final briefing by thanking the Biden administration, the Biden family, the press, and her husband, saying that anyone with children knows that they cannot execute any of their professional work without the support of a spouse. It was an emotional thank you that Psaki handled with the same level of grace that she has been able to apply to her daily press briefings over the past 16 months. Psaki opened the floor to questions and answered questions about abortion, inflation, supply shortages, and COVID-19, and then she signed off.

Here is Psaki’s opening statement on her last day.


White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki delivers her final press briefingwww.youtube.com

After covering all kinds of questions about subjects domestic and global, Psaki showed some of the flair that made her a hero to many Americans. A reporter asked a leading question about how President Biden’s Department of the Interior had recently canceled three oil and gas leases, and how this might be a sign that the Biden administration wasn’t doing what was needed to be done to lower oil prices (forget about the fact that fossil fuel companies are very clearly gouging consumers), Psaki gave a fact-filled extravaganza of an answer, detailing how oil and gas companies are sitting on fallow leases already, doing nothing but asking for more cheap public land leases.

At one point someone in the press asked Jen what wisdom she has gained in her position over the last year and a half. She reiterated what the nature of her job was, that she needed to make sure she spoke as frequently as possible with President Biden to understand what he wanted to say and what his policy ideas were. She also gave an important note to the press that learning about the policies being talked about, knowing exactly what are in any given policy, what it is trying to accomplish, and how, is fundamental in being able to ask meaningful questions or even criticizing those policies (I’m looking at you, Peter Doocy).

She said she was confident that Karine Jean-Pierre had also internalized many of those lessons as Deputy Press Secretary and that in the weeks ahead, she “will bring her own magic,” and style of communication to the position. Karine also assuaged many in the press by saying the plan was to continue holding daily press briefings, as being a fascistic dictatorial propaganda machine like the last administration is not an option.

Jen Psaki talks about her advice to others after having been WH Press Sec. for over a yearwww.youtube.com

Finally, Jen Psaki said her very quick good bye.

Jen Psaki leaves the White House Press Briefing podium for the last timewww.youtube.com

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Biden Names First Black And LGBT White House Press Secretary

Biden Names First Black And LGBT White House Press Secretary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Thursday he has chosen Karine Jean-Pierre as White House press secretary to replace Jen Psaki, who leaves on May 13.

Jean-Pierre would be the first Black woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as press secretary, Psaki said on Twitter after the president issued his statement.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Tim Ahmann)