Lawmakers appoint Human Rights Commission president
After weeks of negotiations, state lawmakers voted unanimously on a new president of the Human Rights Commission.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower’s complaint over President Donald Trump’s interactions with a foreign leader is testing the political and practical power Democrats can use against a Republican in the White House who so brazenly ignores protocol and presidential norms.
Democrats were unanimous in their condemnation of Trump for going to extraordinary lengths to tear down a chief political rival by asking the new leader of Ukraine to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. But even as calls for impeachment amplified — Elizabeth Warren blasted Congress as “complicit” in Trump’s transgressions — there were no signs that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would move quickly to try to remove the president.
Allies of Biden, the early front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary, seized on the developments to portray him as the candidate Trump least wants to face next fall.
But the controversy could just as easily revive interest in the business activities of Biden’s son, which would do little to further his campaign. Taken together, the developments bear a striking resemblance to the tumult of the 2016 campaign, in which Trump was accused of enlisting a foreign power to help him win an election.
The president on Saturday denied any wrongdoing, and his most vocal allies and critics were energized. Political operatives in both parties suggested that for many increasingly numb to a constant sense of crisis, the fresh explosion of political drama may not seem so alarming.
One thing is becoming clear: Trump is more than willing to cast aside norms to gain a political advantage.
Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former top aide to Hillary Clinton, said the country “has to be ready for the president to try to weaponize the government against them in a way we’ve never seen before in American history.”
The president on Saturday embraced the parallels to the 2016 campaign and predicted he would prevail again in 2020.