April 20, 2023

It appears GOP will allow Schumer to replace Feinstein on Judicary if she resigns.

“It’s the temporary substitution which is the unprecedented ask,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a GOP member of the Judiciary Committee, told HuffPost. “If she were no longer a senator, yes.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dianne-feinstein-democrats-gerontocracy_n_64408a35e4b0d84038864bc9

April 19, 2023

Fox Host Calls The Claims Aired By His Network 'Obviously False' Amid Settlement News

Source: Huffington Post

Reporting on breaking news that Dominion Voting Systems had settled its landmark defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Howard Kurtz said some of the claims his own network aired about the 2020 presidential election were “obviously false.”

Kurtz joined fellow Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on “Your World” on Tuesday to cover the news. After reading the right-wing network’s statement on the matter, noting that the statement acknowledged Fox News had broadcast false claims about Dominion, Kurtz explained that the case centered on the false claims that Dominion’s voting machines were rigged.

“Former President Trump and his allies made this case on Fox and elsewhere, that somehow they were stealing votes from Donald Trump and flipping them for Joe Biden. That’s obviously false. Those were conspiracy theories,” he said.

“But the case would have revolved around whether Fox had done due diligence, whether it was reckless, whether it was simply reporting, as the network contends, on an extremely newsworthy matter argued by the then-president of the United States himself.”

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-howard-kurtz-settlement-obviously-false_n_643f3067e4b03c1b88c3712a

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Here's the video:
https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1648433404524867584

As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out tonight, this was the first time anyone at Fox talked about the case on air. Fox had their so-called "media reporter," Howard Kurtz, speed talk his way through a brief statement. And it's notable that he referred to TFG as "former President Trump" (yes, he used the word "former"!).

Granted it was at mid-afternoon at one of the lower viewership hours, but getting any Fox personality to say "that's obviously false, those were conspiracy theories" is helpful, even if it didn't come with an apology. I guess getting $787.5M was enough of an apology for Dominion.

April 14, 2023

GOP won't let Schumer replace Feinstein on Judicary unless it's with Sinema

Replacing Feinstein on the panel, even on a short-term basis, would require approval from the full Senate. Schumer could ask for unanimous consent on a resolution to make that happen, but any one Republican member could object and block it.

In that case, Democrats would have to go through a lengthy process to garner the 60 votes required to break a filibuster — meaning 10 Republicans would have to join the other 50 Democratic members to allow Feinstein's replacement.

Five Republican aides involved in the process say GOP senators have not formalized a plan to address the Democratic request. But there appears to be broad consensus that Schumer and his colleagues will need to negotiate some sort of deal that Republicans would be willing to go along with, according to the aides.

Republicans have expressed more willingness to support a centrist candidate. Some have said a good fit would be Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat-turned-independent who has warm relationships with many in the GOP.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-want-make-difficult-senate-replace-feinstein-key-panel-rcna79592