Category Archives: Republican

The top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday expressed an openness to scrapping the Veterans Affairs Departments multi-billion dollar Oracle-Cerner Millennium electronic health record system, if serious deficiencies in the rollout of the new software are not addressed by the end of the year.

Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., ranking member of the full committee, said that Congress has to set a deadline for the EHR system rollout, and if there isnt major progress by early next year, we will have to seriously consider pulling the plug. Bost added that he "will be writing legislation to do just that."

Bosts comments came during a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing examining patient safety concerns that have been raised during the initial rollouts of the new EHR system at VA medical centers across the country. Members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee also grilled VA officials last week about delays and technical issues with the rollout of the new software.

Samantha Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Bost, said after the hearing that the ranking member intends to introduce a bill before the end of the year.

The bill is in the drafting stage and the final product will depend on the initial progress, if any, that VA and Cerner make over the next few months addressing the serious problems at the initial rollout sites, Gonzalez told Nextgov. At this point, the Ranking Member is considering all legislative options, including reorienting or completely halting the project.

The VA signed a $10 billion contract with Cerner in 2018 to implement the new EHR system over a 10-year period, to replace its prior customized health information system, the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA. The new EHR software is currently in use at five VA medical sites, but software outages, logistical delays and technical issues have hampered the rollout.

Earlier this month, the VA Inspector Generals office also issued a highly critical watchdog report, which found that the software implemented at the first site of EHR system rolloutthe Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washingtonimproperly routed more than 11,000 clinical orders for veterans to an unknown queue without the knowledge of clinicians. That glitch, according to the OIG report, resulted in direct harm to at least 149 veterans.

In addition to concerns about patient care, cost overruns have also raised additional questions about the deployment of the Oracle-Cerner EHR system. The cost of the softwares implementation has already grown to $16 billion over the course of the 10-year contract, and a new cost estimate provided to Congress by the Institute for Defense Analyses found that the EHR softwares implementation and maintenance expenses would be $50.8 billion over 28 years.

VA announced last week that it would be postponing future rollouts of the Oracle-Cerner software at new medical sites until January 2023 as it works to address concerns about the EHR systems deployment.

Bost said the EHR system as it exists now is already a bad investment at $16 billion, noting that the Oracle-Cerner effort is already 10 times more expensive than the VAs previously abandoned effort to modernize VistA.

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, echoed Bosts sentiment and said that the legacy VistA system still works and is much less expensive than any of the alternatives.

Im not hearing a credible argument for continuing this effort other than bureaucratic inertia and profit, Rosendale said, adding that the responsible thing to do is to stop throwing money at Oracle-Cerner and make targeted investments to shore up VistA.

Mike Sicilia, executive vice president for industries at Oracle, told the committee that addressing issues with the EHR system was the companys top priority. He said that Oracle, which acquired Cerner seven weeks ago, has set up a dedicated war room of its senior engineers to make needed improvements to the software.

After reviewing all of the engineering issues, I have concluded that there is nothing here that cant be materially improved in reasonably short order, Sicilia said.

Democratic leaders on the committee, meanwhile, seemed to agree that VAs health system is in need of modernization, but they also expressed serious concerns about the ways in which both VA and Oracle-Cerner have addressedand been transparent aboutdeficiencies within the EHR software rollout.

Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., said that VA needs a modernized EHR system and that continuing with VistA is not sustainable in the long-term, but added that he will not sit idly by and allow this program to endanger veterans.

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Top Republican to 'Seriously Consider Pulling the Plug' on VA's New EHR System - Nextgov

Just 10 days into his congressional career, Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer broke with his party and voted with nine other Republicans and every Democrat in the House to impeach President Donald Trump over the Capitol riot.

Now, just days before his primary, Meijer is under pressure from a major Democratic group, which is spending $500,000 to spotlight John Gibbs, his pro-Trump, election-denying opponent.

Airing in Western Michigan this week, the 30-second ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Democrats' campaign wing, describes Gibbs, who worked in the Trump administration, as "too conservative" for the region and Trump's "hand-picked" candidate.

While the DCCC's messaging is negative, the ad pulls focus from Meijer and underscores Gibbs' conservative credentials shortly before voters have their say.

At a time when Democrats are warning voters that election-denying Republicans pose an existential threat to democracy, the party's role in a messy GOP primary has left multiple Democratic lawmakers angry and frustrated.

"There's always a danger of unintended consequences, and I certainly would have taken a different approach," Colorado Rep. Jason Crow told ABC News on Wednesday. "We should play our game on our terms, and I don't think approaches like that are usually productive."

"I thought it was a strange choice, and I called [the DCCC] and let them know," Michigan Rep. Elisa Slotkin told ABC News.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., a retiring moderate who also voted to impeach Trump, called the Democratic strategy "outrageous" and pointed to Meijer's votes across party lines on impeachment and to protect same-sex marriage rights.

"Peter's been a strong independent voice, and he's put the country first on a number of issues," Upton told ABC News. "He's not a rubber stamp."

Rep. Peter Meijer arrives at the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 4, 2021.

CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, FILE

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of the DCCC, defended the party's efforts on Wednesday. He argued that the ad was "telling the truth about John Gibbs being a dangerous extremist" and that Democratic candidate Hillary Scholten -- who will face either Gibbs or Meijer -- would "put people over politics" if elected to serve in the House.

In a brief interview in Washington on Wednesday, Meijer accused Democrats of putting "party interest" first.

"Everything they're saying in the Jan. 6 committee, everything about how my party is a threat to democracy -- and they are investing a half-million dollars to elevate and boost exactly the same thing that they're railing against?" he said.

It's pretty galling in the hypocrisy of it all. And just shameless given their high-minded rhetoric about how they are the party of democracy. Spare me that bull---," Meijer said.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a retiring member of the House Jan. 6 committee, called the strategy "disgusting" in an interview with CNN, warning that it would help election deniers win.

Gibbs, who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Trump, was unsuccessfully nominated to lead the Office of Personnel Management but faced criticism in the Senate over past comments and tweets, including speaking dismissively of Islam and promoting a conspiracy theory involving Democrats. (Gibbs said at the time that "I dont really see anything to apologize for. I was a commentator." At his confirmation hearing, he insisted, "In my service in the government ... Ive always treated people fairly.")

Democrats aren't just focusing on the right-wing candidate in Meijer's race. The party has tried to influence GOP primaries across the country -- where nominating more conservative options could create more favorable matchups in November and maintain their slim House and Senate majorities.

In California, an outside political group affiliated with House Democratic leaders tried spotlighting a pro-Trump Republican running against Rep. David Valadao, another one of the 10 GOP members who voted to impeach Trump. (Valadao survived his primary two weeks ago and advanced to the general election through Californias top-two system.)

In Colorado, the Democratic leadership-aligned Senate Majority PAC spent millions ahead of the primary last month to portray Joe ODea, a Republican seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, as a moderate compared to the more conservative Ron Hanks -- which was ultimately unsuccessful. O'Dea said Democrats were "propping up Ron Hanks in a desperate attempt to save" Bennet in November.

And Democrats in Pennsylvania, ahead of the states GOP primary in early June, elevated Doug Mastriano, who was linked to Trumps effort to challenge the 2020 election and the Capitol attack. (Mastriano was at the Capitol that day but insists he left because of the violence.) He will face Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in November.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney speaks during a news conference in the Capitol, Feb. 8, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, FILE

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., tweeted this week that he was disgusted that the DCCC has been using its funds -- including membership dues paid by lawmakers -- to boost Trump-endorsed candidates, particularly the far-right opponent of one of the most honorable Republicans in Congress.

Helen Kalla, a spokesperson for the DCCC, told ABC News the group was laser focused on holding the House majority, which we will accomplish by fighting for every competitive seat.

[Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy is an anti-choice insurrectionist coddler and conspiracy enabler, and we will do what it takes to keep the speakers gavel out of his hands, Kalla said.

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Democrats blast the party for spotlighting challenger to Republican who voted to impeach Trump - ABC News

This past weekend, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio, both of whom are up for reelection this fall, headlined the Republican Party of Floridas annual Sunshine Summit. Other high-profile Florida Republicans were also in attendance at the Hardrock Hotel & Casino event, which this year tried something new: after seven years of being open to the press, it limited which media could attend, giving inside-the-room access to right-wing outlets that give the governor positive coverage, Politico reports, adding that traditional GOP figures were largely replaced by the conservative social media influencers with massive followings who have recently moved to Florida and become some of DeSantis most vocal backers.

Many local and national mainstream outlets were unable to get press credentials, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, including the Miami Herald, Politico, Florida Politics, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. A Florida wire service, the Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider were among the few mainstream outlets allowed to cover at least some parts of the weekend:

"It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren't allowed into #SunshineSummit this weekend, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw tweeted Friday. "My message to them is to try crying about it," she continued, Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit piece you were gonna write anyway." As the Tallahassee Democrat notes, Republicans continued to bash mainstream publications at the event itself, with DeSantis telling the Daily Wire that he wanted to avoid "a bunch of left-wing media asking our primary candidates a bunch of gotcha questions and his campaign spokesman, Dave Abrams, claiming the media tantrums about press credentials validates our presumption that fair coverage was never a thought for them.

Recent comments from DeSantis and others in the GOP speak to an emerging strategy, one that New Yorks David Freedlander defined Monday as actively courting the medias scorn while avoiding anything that may be viewed as consorting with the enemy. As Freedlander notes, Republicans for decades, going back to the Nixon years, have taken aim at the mainstream press, but the dynamic has ratcheted up since Donald Trumps political rise, evidenced by a lack of participation by Republicans in everything from political profiles to daily news storiesas well as comments from those advising them. I just dont even see what the point is anymore, an adviser to one likely GOP presidential aspirant told Freedlander. We know reporters always disagreed with the Republican Party, but it used to be you thought you could get a fair shake. Now every reporter, and every outlet, is just chasing resistance rage-clicks. Some, such as the Times Jeremy Peters, suggest that Republicans are dodging press scrutiny because they dont want to have to defend Donald Trump and his falsehoods about the election. Which could explain why one aide to a potential 2024 candidate told Freedlander that booking Steve Bannons podcast is more attractive than a sit-down with a mainstream outlet.

Freedlander cited Fox News host Tucker Carlsons recent remarks in Iowa as further evidence of the GOPs overarching view that approval from the mainstream press isnt just unnecessary but actually suspect. (A data-backed notion, apparently: GOP strategist Dave Carney said his teams research has found getting endorsed by a newspaper editorial board, even a local one, hurts Republicans in primaries rather than helps them, according to Freedlander.)

In a speech at the Family Leadership Summit last week, Carlsonwho, in what feels like a lifetime ago, once urged conservative media to be more like the Times when it comes to accuracyadvised Republican voters to be really wary of candidates who care about what the New York Times think and pay very close attention to how people react when things get out of control unexpectedly. Former South Carolina governor and likely 2024 presidential contender Nikki Haley tweeting that the murder of George Floyd was personal and painful for her, Carlson said, was case in point. You have no idea what you're talking about. You're trying to please the people whose opinions you actually care about at the New York Times, he said of Haley. I want a leader who can still think clearly when the other side really unleashes.

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Will Republicans Shut Out the Press in 2024? - Vanity Fair

Note: The Daily News invited each of the Republican primary candidates for the 35th District State Senate seat to submit a 500-word statement about their candidacies.

Im honored to represent Bay and Midland counties as your state representative.

COVID started after my first year in Lansing, during which I helped over 800 constituents get their unemployment, and Dr. John Pfenninger wrote my leadership may have saved many lives.

In May 2020, our lives became defined by how we responded to catastrophic dam failures.

As chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, I secured $256 million for recovery and reconstruction, hand-delivered a letter to Vice President Pence urging a federal disaster declaration, and a state Capitol news service nominated me for House Member of the Year.

After digging mud out of dozens of basements, Im committed to making our community whole, a major reason Im running for the Senate.

Now, record-high inflation, gas, and groceries are piled on top of COVID and flooding, making it impossible for many to make ends meet.

Thats why I voted to suspend the gas tax for six months, cut the income tax, exempt $40,000 of retirement income from taxation, and introduced legislation to repeal the annual gas tax increase that started this year -- part of a tax hike passed in 2015! I also voted to reduce prescription drug costs.

As senator, Ill work to protect families from Bidens open borders disaster letting dangerous gangs and fentanyl flow into America. Sadly, we set a state record last year for drug overdose deaths.

Ive worked to restore voter confidence in our elections, voting to require a photo I.D. to vote, prohibit connecting voting machines to the Internet, and make it a felony to falsify an absentee application.

With violent crime skyrocketing, your right to defend yourself and your family has never been more important.

Im the only candidate endorsed by the NRA, and I oppose restrictions on the rights of law-abiding citizens which have no impact on criminals who break existing laws. Democrat-controlled cities with the strictest gun laws have the highest gun violence.

As chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military and Veterans Affairs and State Police, I strongly advocated for veterans and secured more funding for law enforcement. Im the only candidate endorsed by Fraternal Order of Police.

Ive also voted for record-high school funding, auto insurance reform thats saved drivers hundreds of dollars per vehicle, and secured $11.5 million for Midland Center for the Arts and the new Midland Community Center.

Im also the only candidate endorsed by Associated Builders and Contractors, Michigan Retailers, and Roads+, which represents county road commissioners who know my commitment to repairing our infrastructure. Im also endorsed by Right to Life of Michigan.

Thanks to Midland County campaign chairs Jon and Tina Lynch and to Amy, Laura, and Bob Moolenaar for their support -- plus County Treasurer Kathy Lunsford and Commissioners Eric Dorrien, Jim Geisler, Steve Glaser, Jeanette Snyder, and Gaye Terwillegar.

As a strong conservative with a proven record, Im the strongest, best-positioned Republican to defeat the Democratic woman running in November. I ask for your vote.

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Annette Glenn: I'm the strongest, best-positioned Republican to win in November - Midland Daily News

The book tour is now an obligatory ritual for authors looking to shift copies. Domestic life must be upended and families appeased as they set off on a grand tour of bookshops, literary festivals and TV studios hoping to prove they can talk as well as they write.

Malcolm Nance is different. He was in Ukraine, fighting a war against Russia, when his publisher told him to head home to America to help sell his latest book, They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency.

I didnt want to but I found out that live appearances were contractual, he says ruefully via Skype from San Francisco, his voice sounding a little croaky.

Nance, a career counter-terrorism intelligence officer and pugnacious media pundit, joined the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine in March. He explains that, having spent the previous month there as a military analyst, he felt compelled to defend democracy and could not stand by as innocent civilians faced slaughter.

Nance confidently reels off the names of Ukrainian generals, key battlegrounds and pieces of military hardware. He is a former navy senior chief petty officer who knew what it was like to be under fire in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he is also a 60-year-old grandfather. Has life on the eastern front been scary?

He says: The thing that is hairiest of all is artillery. One incident we had at three in the morning I was tweeting and I guess the Russians didnt like what I was tweeting when they hit us with extremely large calibre weapons, long range too, fired from southern Russia into the north-east. They didnt kill any of us but they missed us by a hundred metres.

Thats a dangerously close hit. The building shook, the ceiling started to collapse. There was a skyscraper nearby and glass was falling everywhere from 10 storeys down. We were trying to get everybody to the bunker. Our little war puppies, our little battle dogs, were panicking its the biggest fireworks you have but your job is to remain calm.

The international legion is a combat force of three battalions and several hundred personnel. It is defending a significant portion of the frontline and has suffered casualties. When Nances presence was made public in April, he was told that the Kremlin had denounced him as a mercenary, soldier of fortune and legionnaire enemy number one.

When a head of Ukrainian intelligence informed him, Vladimir Putin knows your name now, Nance responded: Cool!

Having given up a five-figure-a-month salary as a pundit on the liberal MSNBC cable news network, he is earning the same wage as other Ukrainian soldiers: $630 a month. So I am definitely not a mercenary. If anything, Im paying them. Ive bought so much gear, trucks.

I have wonderful donors who have helped us out greatly and we get what we need because its faster than the logistics pipeline. In a year, well get what we need if were waiting on the Ukrainian army and the US government, but now we need things now, so we just buy them.

Nance is also donating $100,000 from the advance for his book to ensure the legionnaires have the equipment they need. The volumes cover an ersatz gallows erected outside the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, with a skull and crossbones flag and Trump flag nearby makes clear that the existential threat to democracy is not confined to eastern Europe.

I call Ukraine the eastern model in the battle for the defense of democracy and the United States is the western wall, he reflects. The western wall is crumbling.

In They Want to Kill Americans, Nance argues that the threat from domestic terrorists, the Republican party and former president Donald Trump is even worse than you already think. He suggests that an insurgency was under way well before January 6 and that the 74 million people who voted for Trump were by definition expressing hostility towards American democracy.

In his introduction, Nance describes the book as a warning: the US may again come under a wave of terrorist attacks but this time from within its own borders. Significant numbers of Americans, he argues, are radicalizing, arming and planning to kill their compatriots to install a dictatorship.

To some it will sound like hyperbole. But dozens of Trump acolytes who promote his lies about the 2020 election and themselves winning Republican primaries are hoping to take control of election machinery in key states. Trump himself recently said he had made up his mind about whether to run for president again in 2024 (take that as a yes).

And this week a survey by medical and public health scientists at the University of California found that one in five adults in the US, equivalent to about 50 million people, believe that political violence is justified at least in some circumstances.

They are our neighbors and they are collectively called the Titus, which stands for the Trump Insurgency in the United States, Nance says.

The Republican party is an insurgent party, no longer interested in government but using the levers of power to damage government and destabilize government and reflect the wishes of the armed insurgents, the militias, even the terrorists. They themselves are the knife at the throat of American democracy.

Then, he says, there is the average Trump voter. In the insurrection at the Capitol, the actual militiamen were a fraction of the people that were there. Forty thousand people showed up at the Mall, 10,000 laid siege to the Capitol and fought the police, and 2,000 entered the building in force. Maybe 10% of them were militiamen.

That means that there was an entire insurgent wing of average Americans that want to take part in the violence and are intimidating people with their firearms at these rallies and protests.

Americas diversifying demographics, highlighted in bold by the election of Barack Obama, the first Black president, have fanned flames of white supremacy and grievance that never went away. Trump took away the shackles of civility and decency and offered the thrill of saying the unsayable.

He removed all of the restraints and said its OK to be racist openly, its OK to hurt people, its OK to get in their face. Its OK to call an average person just walking down the street or doing their job in elections anti-American, not American.

Nance, whose previous books include Defeating Isis, An End to al-Qaeda and The Terrorists of Iraq, draws a provocative comparison. Isis has this ideological belief that was quite simple: unless you are in our group, you are no longer a Muslim and we can kill you. Youre all infidels until you re-pledge yourself to our variation of Islam: join us, pray the way we pray, behave the way we behave, support our operations.

The same thing with the Republican party behaving very much like Isis: ideological purity and creating a terror state or an insurgency where the country now is used for what they want. They dont care about the other 65%.

Joe Biden has said he was motivated to run for president by the sight of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. He has given speeches vowing to shore up democracy against existential threats from China, Russia and domestic extremists. But Nance does not think the president and his allies are rising to the occasion.

They have no urgency right now, he warns. This is a firehouse on fire and youre sitting in the truck waiting for the call. Get out and fight the fire. The entire structure can collapse around you.

They need to be screaming as loud as I am and they need to be speaking in stark terms like I am. Joe Biden needs to say to the attorney general or fire the attorney general and get somebody there I will not tell him what to do but by God he will defend American democracy. You will hold people to account and this administration will hold people to account and we wont let this heinous attack on democracy take hold.

But a lot of people there are institutionalists and they want to come back and try to reach out and show comity with their peers. These people are sharpening knives in their House and Senate office groups. They dont care about civil discourse. They are planning to seize power or be elected into power and then never relinquish it again.

The congressional committee investigating January 6 has pointed the finger firmly at Trump and given plenty of hints about premeditation and culpability to nudge the attorney general, Merrick Garland, towards a criminal prosecution.

Nance, who is Black, continues: This was a seditious conspiracy. Theres an entire article in the constitution about this. They could close and engage upon the Capitol and beat cops because their skin was their camouflage. Now the whiteness of their skin is the excuse that you cant hold them to account but you can shoot Black men with no weapon 90 times in the back.

So no, the justice department should make it clear: equal under the law. This whole Oh, well, we cant do this in the election season bullshit? They did it for years in the election season. Breaking the law is breaking the law so we hold people to account.

At the start of this year the Washington commentariat overflowed with speculation that America, bitterly polarised, awash with guns and steeped in a history of violence, could even plunge into a second civil war. Since the supreme court decision overturning a womans constitutional rights to abortion has made the division between blue and red states even more concrete.

What does Nance think? If it happens, it wont be a second civil war. Itll be an insurgency, which is a series of incidents, and those incidents will look like attacks: people seizing governors mansions but this time the governors are on their side, or taking statehouses and the state uses the national guard to support them.

Therell be a challenge between federalism and states rights and theyll point to the supreme court that says we have states rights. The supreme court practically ruled that the supremacy clause [giving federal laws priority over state laws] doesnt exist and, even if it does, theyre going to argue it doesnt and back it up with guns. Thats where youre going to see what appears to be a simmering civil war but it will really be an insurgency.

With that, Nance has to go and catch a Wednesday flight. He leaves on Saturday night for Warsaw, Poland, and expects to be in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, by Monday before heading back to the eastern front. His 30-year-old daughter, with whom he lives, did not like the idea; his wife of 15 years, Maryse Beliveau-Nance, died from complications of ovarian cancer in 2019.

Someone asked, what would your wife say? And I say, my wife talks to me all the time and this is the one subject that Ive received no negative feedback about. But I also know if Im in the middle of an attack and I see my wife say, Hey, its time to go, buddy, Ill just turn around, turn in my kit and go home.

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Malcolm Nance: The Republican party is an insurgent party - The Guardian

MADISON, Wis. A Wisconsin judge said Thursday that a Republican-ordered, taxpayer-funded investigation into the 2020 election found absolutely no evidence of election fraud, but did reveal contempt for the states open records law by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and a former state Supreme Court justice he hired.

Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn awarded about $98,000 in attorneys fees to the liberal watchdog group American Oversight, bringing an end in circuit court to one of four lawsuits the group filed. Voss attorney, Ron Stadler, said he was recommending that Vos appeal the ruling.

The fees will be paid by taxpayers, which is why the judge said she was not also awarding additional punitive damages against Vos. Costs to taxpayers for the investigation, including ongoing legal fees, have exceeded $1 million.

I think the people of the state of Wisconsin have been punished enough for this case, Bailey-Rihn said. I dont think it does anyone any good to have punitive damages placed on the innocent people of this state.

All of American Oversights lawsuits stem from records requests it made to Vos and Michael Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice hired by Vos in June 2021 to investigate the 2020 presidential election won by President Joe Biden. Vos ordered the investigation under pressure from election loser Donald Trump, who continues to falsely claim there was widespread fraud in Wisconsin and that Bidens win should be decertified, which is impossible and which Vos has repeatedly refused to support.

Even Gablemans attorney said decertification was pointless.

Bidens victory by nearly 21,000 votes has withstood recounts, multiple state and federal lawsuits, an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau and a review by a conservative activist law firm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. An Associated Press review of Wisconsin and other battleground states also found far too little fraud to have tipped the election for Trump.

Vos and Gableman have suffered a series of defeats at the circuit court level in the American Oversight lawsuits. Along the way, both were found to be in contempt for refusing to comply with court orders to turn over records. Bailey-Rihn, presiding over her last hearing before retiring, expressed frustration Thursday.

This has been a long and torturous process to get here, she said. The reality is, whatever records there were, they were either destroyed or they werent kept. The problem for this court is no one knows when those records were destroyed.

State law requires lawmakers like Vos to retain records after an open records request for them has been filed. They can, and do, delete records if there is no pending open records request.

Gableman testified in another case that he routinely deleted records that he thought were not a part of the investigation. That resulted in American Oversight filing a fourth lawsuit alleging those deletions were against the law. That case, along with two others, is still pending.

A judge next month was to consider whether Gableman had fulfilled requirements to vacate an earlier contempt order for not turning over records. And in another case, Vos faced an Aug. 4 deadline to turn over additional records requested by American Oversight.

This whole case has been about trying to shine a light on government, Bailey-Rihn said. What it revealed, she said, was that in the early days of Gablemans probe, he was being paid $11,000 a month by taxpayers to sit in the New Berlin library to learn about election law because he knows nothing about election law.

Were all citizens of this state and this country, and we want our elections to be fair and not tainted by any sort of election fraud, the judge said. We have absolutely found out from this case there was absolutely no evidence of election fraud.

She said Vos and others have shown they believe they have no obligation to comply with the state open records law, they dont understand it, they dont follow the attorney generals guidance and they leave it to people who arent trained on the law to deal with it.

Thats one thing the citizens of this state have learned to their detriment, Bailey-Rihn said.

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Republican-ordered probe found 'absolutely no' election fraud in Wisconsin - Press Herald

As Big Oil rakes in record profits on the backs of struggling Americans, lets not forget thatevery single House Republican voted against legislation to crack down on gas price gouging. While Democrats remain laser-focused on bringing down costs for families, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly failed to deliver for the American people.

CBS News: The House of Representatives passed a bill along party lines that seeks to lower gas prices by cracking down on alleged price gouging by energy companies. The House vote was 217-207:no Republican supported the bill.

This comes as a majority of House Republicans 187 to be exact voted to hold American jobs hostage because they areangrythat Democrats are actually working to lower prescription drug costs. Thats right: 187 MAGA Republicans opposed a bipartisan bill that would bring thousands of manufacturing jobs back home and lower costs because they are so beholden to China and Big Pharma.The GOP has made clear that they are all talk, no action: While President Biden and the Democrats take real steps to bring down prices and tackle inflation, Republicans have voted against lowering costs at every turn.

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REMINDER: Every Single House Republican Voted Against Efforts to Lower Gas Prices - Democrats.org

I try to focus on those things that are important today and the issues in my district. If it comes up, I dont shy away from it, Newhouse said of his impeachment vote. But theres a lot of things that are going on. People are trying to tear down our dams; our agricultural industry has a lot of challenges; Inflation prices of everything has gone through the roof.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) faces a primary on Aug. 2.|Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Another four of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump retired rather than face the voters again, and two had primaries earlier this year. Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) lost, but Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) prevailed.

Rice belongs in one camp of the impeachment-backing Republicans, Valadao in the other. Rice, along with Cheney and Meijer, have all at least somewhat embraced their role as Trump antagonists, hitting the Sunday morning talk shows, participating in long profiles with magazines or taking to Twitter to rehash and relitigate the events of Jan. 6.

Valadaos group, which includes Herrera Beutler and Newhouse, have tried to avoid the spotlight or excessive talk about their vote.

I think she is afraid, Republican Joe Kent said of Herrera Beutler, whom he is challenging in Washingtons all-party primary. She doesnt want to talk about impeachment. She does not.

Cheney is the most stark example of someone who did not shy away from the vote. As the vice chair of the Jan. 6 investigative committee, she has made her support for impeaching Trump a core part of her political identity. She has appeared at least once on all five of the major Sunday talk shows over the past year and a half (including some more than once), and shes also been on 60 Minutes.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) delivers closing remarks during a hearing for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.|Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

As her primary looms, polling has become so bleak that her campaign has begun courting Democratic voters. But Cheney insists she is comfortable with the political ramifications of her outspokenness.

If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives, or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, Im going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day, she said in a Sunday interview on CNNs State of the Union.

Meijer, a freshman from Western Michigan, had the largest media presence after Cheney, joining the talk show circuit throughout 2021 and participating in a long profile in The Atlantic.

But he has grown quieter on impeachment in recent months, and he is facing a surprisingly strong threat from John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who received an endorsement from the former president. The incumbent outspent Gibbs by a 6-to-1 ratio as of mid-July, but Republicans have grown increasingly worried about Meijers fate in recent weeks.

While Gibbs has barely aired TV ads, a deluge of pro-Meijer spending flooded the district over the past week. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a pro-Meijer super PAC dumped a collective $1.1 million into boosting the incumbent, joining another veterans group that had already spent some $300,000.

Meijers Grand Rapids-based seat tilted to the left when it was redrawn in redistricting last year, and national Democrats hope their candidate will get to run against Gibbs, a staunch Trump supporter who is a fierce proponent of election fraud theories. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the unusual step of meddling in the primary, placing a $425,000 ad buy meant to lure GOP voters toward Gibbs on Aug. 2 a move that angered some in the party.

Republicans have grown increasingly worried about Rep. Peter Meijers fate in recent weeks.|Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Washington State, home to two of the Republicans who voted to impeach, will also host primaries next Tuesday. But unlike Meijer, Newhouse and Herrera Beutler will each face a slew of challengers in an all-party contest. Trump has endorsed in each race.

Neither incumbent has meaningfully courted any national media. Though Herrera Beutler spoke publicly in early 2021 about a conversation she had with House Minority Kevin McCarthy, in which he told about a phone call he had with Trump on Jan. 6, she has since been quieter.

Shes not a national attention seeker, not running to be a talking head on any cable news network, Herrera Beutler campaign spokesman Craig Wheeler told POLITICO last week.

Her Trump-endorsed opponent, Joe Kent, framed it differently, accusing her of hiding from constituents, refusing to debate him and declining to hold in-person townhalls. The 2020 election, impeachment and Jan. 6 are still very hot button issues with a conservative base, he said. Its not going away. People want these issues dealt with.

Trump won her district by less than 5 points, meaning a Democrat is likely to snag one spot in the general election. But Herrera Beutler is competing with several Republicans who could split the anti-incumbent vote against her. Winning for Women Action Fund, a group that backs GOP women, has spent more than $1.5 million to aid her.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) speaks at an event in Vancouver, Wash.|Taylor Balkom/The Columbian via AP

To the east, Newhouse is competing in a much more Trump-friendly district against several Republicans, including Loren Culp, the 2020 GOP governor nominee who nabbed Trumps backing.

GOP operatives are feeling more confident about Newhouse after a sustained $1.2 million ad blitz from the Republican Main Street Partnerships super PAC. Polling the group commissioned last week indicated the hits were working and that Culp dropped significantly from a previous survey. The group is airing three spots this week.

Newhouse himself has aired nearly $500,000 in ads, and his recent spots went negative on Culp, who has not run any TV ads of his own, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking firm.

I follow the race and I have not heard once that hes mentioned impeachment, said Sarah Chamberlain, the president of the Republican Main Street Partnership. Inflation, gas prices and food shortages are top of mind for most voters, she noted.

Its one thing to take the vote, its another to keep talking about it, she said. Talk about what youre doing. That vote was a long time ago. Youve got a lot of votes between now and that. What are you doing lately?

That was the tactic adopted by Valadao, who narrowly advanced from his all-party primary in June over a far-right challenger. He kept his focus on water and broadband issues plaguing his rural Central Valley district and he managed to avoid Trump parachuting into his district to back a challenger before finishing in second place and securing a general election spot against Democrat Rudy Salas.

We knew what the most important issues to voters were, and thats what we talked about, said Robert Jones, a GOP operative and adviser to Valadao. The things that matter in D.C. and on cable news are not what matters in the Central Valley all the time usually never.

Valadao, Newhouse and Herrera Beutler also had all party-primaries which could offer more wiggle room to build a winning coalition.

In contrast, Mejier is set to face a chiefly GOP electorate, like Rice did in South Carolina in June. Rices opponent, Russell Fry, cleared 50 percent in the primary, clinching the nomination outright over Rice, without a runoff, in an embarrassing loss for the incumbent.

But Rice remained extremely outspoken about Trump and the perils of Jan. 6, particularly in the final weeks of the race. He sat for an interview with ABCs This Week, called Trump a bully and a tyrant and brought former House Speaker Paul Ryan and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie two Republicans who have also been critical of Trump to the district to campaign with him.

He kept doubling down on it, said Jerry Rovner, the GOP chairman for Rices 7th Congressional District. He started bringing down people that South Carolina people believe are not Republicans.

That was like a slap in the face, he said.

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4 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump face their moment of reckoning - POLITICO

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for New York governor, seen here speaking at the 2022 New York GOP Convention in March, was attacked on Thursday by man with a pointed weapon at an upstate event but was uninjured, his campaign said. John Minchillo/AP hide caption

U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for New York governor, seen here speaking at the 2022 New York GOP Convention in March, was attacked on Thursday by man with a pointed weapon at an upstate event but was uninjured, his campaign said.

NEW YORK U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for New York governor, was assaulted by a man who apparently tried to stab him at an upstate event Thursday but the congressman escaped serious injury.

"I'm OK," Zeldin said in a statement. "Fortunately, I was able to grab his wrist and stop him for a few moments until others tackled him."

Zeldin's campaign said the attacker was taken into custody and the congressman continued his speech. He is challenging incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul this November.

The attacker climbed onto a low stage where the congressman spoke to a crowd of dozens outside Rochester, flanked by bales of hay and American flags. A video posted on Twitter shows the two falling to the ground as other people try to intervene.

Among those who helped to subdue the attacker was Zeldin's running mate, former New York Police Department Deputy Inspector Alison Esposito, said state GOP Chair Nick Langworthy.

Langworthy told The Associated Press that he didn't have any details on the attacker or his weapon but exchanged text messages with Zeldin afterward while the congressman was speaking to police.

"He is fine. He's not seriously injured. It's just a chaotic scene there," Langworthy said. He said Zeldin had "just a little scrape" but it wasn't what anyone would consider an injury.

In a statement, Hochul condemned the attack and said she was "relieved to hear that Congressman Zeldin was not injured and that the suspect is in custody."

Deputy Brendan Hurley, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, gave a statement to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that said the office "is aware of an incident at the speech of gubernatorial candidate Zeldin this evening. A suspect is in custody and Major Crimes is investigating."

Messages seeking information from the Monroe County District Attorney's Office were not immediately returned, and phone messages were left with the county's emergency dispatch.

Langworthy called on Hochul to issue a security detail for Zeldin to protect him on the campaign trail.

"This could have gone a lot worse. This could have really ended in a horrible way tonight and this is unacceptable," he said.

Hochul's press secretary Avi Small referred questions about providing Zeldin with a security detail to New York state police.

Zeldin, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who has represented eastern Long Island in Congress since 2015, is a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and was among the Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results.

He has focused his campaign on fighting crime but faces an uphill battle against Hochul. He'll need to persuade independent voters which outnumber Republicans in the state as well as Democrats in order to win the general election.

Democrats are expected to focus on Zeldin's vocal defense of Trump during both of his impeachments and objection to the election results.

The rest is here:

Republican N.Y. governor candidate Lee Zeldin was attacked at an event ...

Oregon Republicans have to like their chances to pick up a seat in Congress this November.

Theres every reason to think Democrats will have a tough year: President Joe Biden is unpopular. Inflation is high. COVID variants keep flaring up. The party in power generally loses seats in midterm elections.

This year is unusual in that Oregon has three open congressional seats. U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici, both incumbent Democrats, are expected to win easy races, as is the incumbent Republican, Rep. Cliff Bentz. But population gains meant Oregon gained an additional seat in Congressand different district boundaries.

Even after Democrats in the state moved aggressively to give themselves an edge in the new congressional maps, anything could happen come November. Primary voters chose weak Republican nominees for two of the three open seats. The third may provide an opportunity for Republicans this year; its considered a toss-up by prognosticators. Heres why.

4th District

Alek Skarlatos

Alek Skarlatos

Strengths: Hes an Army vet who helped prevent a terrorist attack on a French train in 2015. He even made a movie about it, directed by Clint Eastwood. Skarlatos played himself.

Weaknesses: He ran and lost to retiring Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio in 2020. DeFazio retired and Skarlatos jumped in again, this time for an open seat.

But Skarlatos has some odd campaign finance issues. Hes paying himself and his brother with campaign dollars. (That may be perfectly legal. Federal laws allow candidates to pay themselves a salary, even though state laws dont.) And, after an Associated Press story appeared in the primary, he faces a Federal Election Commission complaint for moving money from a charity he created after his last campaign to fund this campaign.

Primary: Despite virtually no opposition (the other candidates received just over 1,000 votes to his 58,000) and raising $2.5 million, he has just $650,000 on hand. Thats more than his opponent, but not much considering his weak GOP competition he faced.

Democratic opponent: Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Val Hoyle, an experienced politician and campaigner.

His campaign says: Campaign manager Ross Purgason calls the FEC complaint a political stunt and without merit, adding, Alek was never paid a dollar from the 15:17 Trust and never served on the board of directors.

Because Alek is a veteran who has dedicated his life to serving Oregon, he is not personally wealthy, Purgason says. Solon Skarlatos is the political director of our campaign, hes an important member of our team, and his compensation is at a rate similar to work on campaigns and Capitol Hill.

5th District

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Strengths: She may be Republicans best shot. Shes a moderate and businesswoman; she and her husband own medical practices. She also served as mayor of Happy Valley from 2010 to 2018.

Weaknesses: Shes lost two close state legislative races to Rep. Janelle Bynum.

Primary: Chavez-DeRemer beat well-funded, second-time congressional candidate Jimmy Crumpacker in a hard-fought race. He had Oregon Right to Lifes endorsement; she had to overcome an inconsistent position on abortion.

Democratic opponent: Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who accomplished the rare feat of taking out incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader from the left. But that gives Chavez-DeRemer an opportunity, too, to cast herself as the right fit for the new district.

Her campaign says: Lori Chavez-DeRemer wants to go to Congress to tackle the issues that are impacting Oregonians, like inflation, rising crime rates, and education, says campaign manager Jihun Han. Lori is the only common-sense candidate in this race who has a proven bipartisan track record as mayor of Happy Valley and will make a fantastic congresswoman.

6th District

Mike Erickson

Mike Erickson

Strengths: He can spend his own money on the campaign. Erickson has loaned or given himself $1.3 million so far. Hes a businessman who has run for Congress before.

Weaknesses: Plenty of Republicans have written off the district, which might otherwise be up for grabs given how close party registration numbers are. Their pessimism stems from a notable scandal Erickson faced in his last run for Congress, in 2008. The allegation: He drove a woman he dated to get an abortion and paid for it. The woman and her friends spoke to the media, and Erickson denied knowing anything about the abortion or the pregnancy. In 2008, Oregon Right to Life, his Republican opponent in the primary, and other Republicans refused to endorse him.

Primary: In theory, it was competitive. But he easily defeated moderate Ron Noble, who proved ill-suited to raising money.

Democratic opponent: State Rep. Andrea Salinas, who won a hotly contested primary against an opponent funded by a crypto billionaire.

His campaign says: The Erickson campaign did not respond to voicemail or email requests for comment.

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Oregon Has Just One Republican in Congress. Could One of These Three Candidates Become the Second? - Willamette Week