Tag: katie porter
House Democrats Demand Corruption Probe Of Former Trump Interior Chief

House Democrats Demand Corruption Probe Of Former Trump Interior Chief

Top Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee have taken former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to task for alleged corruption and called on the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into his alleged quid-pro-quo with an influential pro-Trump developer from Arizona for a housing permit.

In a 37-page letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), the committee chairman, and Katie Porter (D-CA), chair of the subcommittee on oversights and investigations, accused Bernhardt of misusing his office to effectuate “federal agency decision-making … in the interest of private gain rather than the American people.”

Bernhardt, the lawmakers said, pressed an official to approve a permit for developer Michael Ingram, a Republican donor, despite warnings from multiple officials that developments could harm endangered species.

From 2019 to 2021, Bernhardt led the U.S. Interior Department as its secretary. He was the department’s no-2 man in 2017 when a departmental agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), suddenly reversed its longtime demand for an environmental review of a proposed development of a 28,000-home residential area in Southern Arizona, known as Villages at Vigneto.

Grijalva and Porter said the committee opened an extensive investigation into the decision in 2017, after Steve Spangle, an FWS employee, complained to news outlets that he was politically pressured into approving the development when he was an Arizona Ecological Services Field Office supervisor.

Officials warned that issuing a Clean Water Act permit could threaten endangered species, such as the southwestern willow flycatcher and yellow-billed cuckoo, in the area, which is home to birds and the northern Mexican garter snake, according to the Associated Press.

Bernhardt, the Democrat lawmakers write in their letter, met Ingram in August 2017 but didn’t disclose it in his public calendar or travel documents. Two weeks after that meeting, a phone call was allegedly placed to the Interior Associate Solicitor Peg Romanik, ordering him to reverse the FWS’s decision to block the project.

Two months later, Ingram donated $10,000 to the Trump Victory Fund, which was reportedly used in a collective GOP effort to funnel millions of dollars to reelect Trump. The permit was approved later that month, the lawmakers’ letter alleged. In the days that followed, Ingram and his associates made “highly unusual out-of-cycle donations” of almost $242,000 to Trump’s fund, the lawmakers complained.

“Evidence strongly suggests the decision was the result of a quid pro quo between Vigneto’s developer, Michael Ingram, and senior level officials in the Trump administration, potentially including then–DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt,” the Democrat lawmakers wrote.

Ingram, the latter says, had “frequent access to high-ranking officials across the Trump administration,″including Bernhardt; Ryan Zinke, the Interior Secretary from 2017 to 2019; and Scott Pruitt, the 2017-2018 Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The findings of this investigation show us yet again that the previous administration cast career staff expertise aside while they handed out federal agency decisions to Trump’s buddies and big donors on a pay-to-play basis,” Grijalva said in a statement.

When reached for comment about the committee’s findings and letter, Bernhardt snapped, calling it “a pathetic attempt by career politicians to fabricate news.”

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Bernhardt’s company, El Dorado Holdings, called the committee’s findings “false, misleading, [and] unfair” and said it struck him “as reminiscent of McCarthyism’s use of innuendo as a surrogate for fact.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, left, and former President Trump.

Will Americans Go Backward Into Disease And Depression, With Trump?

In the professional stratum of politics, few verities are treated with more reverence than the outcome of next year's midterm, when the Republican Party is deemed certain to recapture majorities in the House and Senate. With weary wisdom, any pol or pundit will cite the long string of elections that buttress this prediction.

Political history also tells us that many factors can influence an electoral result, including a national crisis or a change in economic conditions — in other words, things can change and even midterm elections are not entirely foretold. There have been a few exceptions to this rule, too.

Such an exception ought to be possible in a country where, increasingly, the Democratic Party represents majority opinion on most salient issues, while the Republican Party wields power mainly because of rules, traditions, population imbalances and constitutional anomalies that thwart the majority. In no other democratic nation is the will of most citizens so systematically frustrated.

So the Democrats must fight their way uphill, and they would be wise to start now. The way to begin is to define the terms of battle with a message that reflects the lived experience as well as the hopes and expectations of voters in America after former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss — and draws a powerful contrast with the opposition.

That message begins with the behavior of the Republicans, who no longer even pretend to have policy solutions to the crises that America confronts. Instead, they function solely as sycophantic servants of Trump, whose synthetic grievances over his impeachments and defeat continue to be their shared obsession. The Grand Old Party is no longer grand and scarcely a party, but it is terribly "old" in the most insulting sense: an entity decrepit and stuck in the past.

In recent days, the Republican leadership and a few of its media minions have seemed to sense how badly and bloodily they botched the pandemic. Suddenly, after more than a year of pretending it would go away and months of undermining the vaccination campaign, some of them are urging Americans to get inoculated. But with so many loonies and cultists infesting their active base, the party can't dispel the aura of needless, stupid death that surrounds it. Geniuses that they are, the Republicans apparently noticed President Joe Biden's strong approval, which rests on his competent, compassionate, scientific response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile that awful negative aura extends over the Republican obstruction of Biden's investments in economic recovery and national infrastructure, which are favored by a big majority of voters — and even a plurality of their own party rank and file. As the benefits of the Democratic program reach more households, the inadequacy of the Republicans will only be underlined.

The last time Democrats defied the midterm curse was in 1998, when Newt Gingrich overplayed his hand by impeaching Bill Clinton — another Republican outrage against the popular will. Their paranoid and conspiratorial tendencies have only grown worse over the past two decades.

Today's Republicans can be relied upon to exhibit the same character deficit as the 2022 cycle unfolds. That process began earlier this month, when a mob of fascist thugs disrupted a town hall hosted by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in her Southern California district. While Porter spoke about solutions to climate change and the pandemic, they interrupted her with shouted slogans and tried to drown her out. The disturbance was planned, organized, and led by her Republican opponent, a white nationalist and anti-vaccination activist who disgracefully joined in physical attacks on her supporters.

The attack on Porter, so reminiscent of the worst Tea Party scenes in 2009, is a harbinger of things to come. It is a clear reminder to every voter of what the GOP now represents as an engine of authoritarian violence, big lies and bigotry — the continuation of January 6. They are nothing more than Trump, a hollow figure who returns endlessly to a past that reeks of depression, disease and deception. And they are willing to violate every democratic principle to drag the country backward with him.

But most Americans don't want to go backward with Trump and his goons. Now they must mobilize to defend democracy and keep moving forward.

To find out more about Joe Conason and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Nick Taurus

GOP Candidate Violently Disrupts Rep. Porter’s Town Hall

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Nick Taurus, a Republican running for the seat in California's 45th Congressional District currently held by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, was reportedly involved in what the Los Angeles Timescalled a "scuffle" at a town hall Porter held on Sunday in Irvine, California.

According to the Times' reporting, Taurus and a group of his supporters interrupted Porter with chants and shouting as she spoke, leading to physical confrontations between his supporters and hers that were broken up by police.

On July 8, Taurus had posted a call on his Instagram account for his supporters to cause disruption at the event. "CONFRONT KATIE PORTER!" Taurus wrote, adding, "Her America Last policies are awful for the 45th district and we intend to voice our displeasure."

"It is disappointing that a small but vocal group of attendees, who advertised a 'confrontation rally,' created unsafe conditions at a planned family-friendly event," Porter said in a statement after the event. "My team and I are evaluating next steps, but my promise to Orange County families is that I will continue to hold town halls and to be in conversation with them."

Porter won reelection in 2020 by seven percentage points over Republican Greg Raths.

Taurus, who filed official paperwork declaring his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on June 15, says on his official campaign website, "Our Movement of 'Christ, Country, Community,' Starts in Orange County!"

"I am an American nationalist and Roman Catholic who is most concerned with addressing the issues surrounding immigration, vaccination and Critical Race Theory," the site reads.

A review of Taurus' social media posts reveals a history of homophobic, racist, and conspiracy theory-related rants.

"No longer will AMERICANS bow to the billionaires, anti-White extremists and the GAY mafia," he wrote on June 19.

On June 1, Taurus called LGBTQ Pride month "#GROSS."

Taurus defended widely condemned anti-LGBTQ laws in Hungary, writing on July 8, "For the simple crime of merely refusing drag queens the right to read to their children, the Hungarian nation faces the full ire of the Globalist American Empire." In the same post, he referred to "the CULTURE OF DEATH associated with the LGBT movement."

Referencing Caitlin Jenner's campaign for governor of California, Taurus wroteon April 26, "How could anyone that identifies as Christian or Conservative, vote for a h0m0sexu@l or tr@nny? Their very lifestyle is an affront to God."

Taurus has also praised white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

In the caption of a selfie with Fuentes he posted on June 30, Taurus wrote, "This guy is the truth and it was an absolute honor to meet him! AMERICA FIRST IS INEVITABLE!" The slogan "America First is inevitable" has been usedby Fuentes and his white supremacist allies as a rallying cry.

After former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on April 20 in the murder of George Floyd, Taurus unleashed a barrage of posts, writing, "Current mood following the Chauvin verdict. #JOKECOUNTRY #DEATHTOAMERICA."

"White America: GUILTY AS CHARGED! The Derek Chauvin trial was a farce. A joke. An absolute charade. The 'justice' system in this country is concerned with persecuting the enemies of their preferred pawns rather than ensuring law & order," he wrote in another post.

In a post using the hashtag "#CHAUVINDIDNOTHINGWRONG," Taurus wrote, "Black people are so oppressed in America that their families receive millions in settlement money despite using counterfeit bills & resisting arrest (George Floyd) or selling drugs and hiding bodies in their car (Breonna Taylor)."

Attacking the NFL for a statement in support of Chauvin's conviction, Fuentes wrote, "If you're White I'd highly suggest that you stop contributing to backdoor reparations otherwise known as American sports leagues."

The Republican candidate attacked the decision to make Juneteenth, which celebrates Black liberation from slavery, describing it as "summer Kwanzaa." Taurus posted in June, "July 4th, 1776. Original White Boy Summer."

On Independence Day, Taurus wrote, "George Washington forever, George Floyd never!"

Taurus also claimed in another post, "The level of violence perpetrated by Blacks in our inner cities on a normal day exceeds anything done by supposed 'White Supremacists.'"

Taurus has repeatedly praised and supported the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

He called in May for the immediate release of everyone involved in the attack, and also said, "Everything about January 6th was a lie. Everyone that was arrested is a political prisoner." He also described Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she attempted to break into the Capitol, as a "great veteran."

Taurus has also promoted conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and vaccines against COVID-19.

"COVID is fake and g@y," Taurus claimed. "If you get the vaccine you are a slave."

He described the vaccine as "the Mark of the Beast" and wrote, "Welcome to California where you can spread AIDS without repercussions but if you refuse an experimental vaccine, you're barred from society."

Taurus has posted anti-vaccination misinformation and alleged that the vaccines were part of a plot by pharmaceutical companies to kill people. In a post on May 19, he falsely claimed that as many people have died from COVID vaccines as have Americans fighting in the Iraq War.

The candidate referred to Donald Trump as "the last legitimate American President" and described him as "a man in the mold of Washington & Jackson, a true American hero." He added, "Standing back, standing by sir!" referring to Trump's direction to the extremist Proud Boys movement after he was asked to condemn them during a 2020 presidential debate.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Louis deJoy

At Hearing, Rep. Porter Exposes DeJoy’s Ignorance Of Postal Service

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was forced to admit he does not know a great deal about the 245-year-old federal agency he was entrusted by Republicans to run – like who ordered the massive changes he is supporting, including cutting overtime, and removing hundreds of mail sorting machines and mailboxes.

Nor was he interested in finding out.

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