Trump attacks Justice Department on charges against Republican congressmen

Trump thinks winning elections is more important than punishing crime. He really doesn’t understand that the Attorney General is loyal to the law, not to him and his party.

The President of the United States criticizing his own Attorney General for obtaining felony indictments against two sitting Republican congressmen—not because the charges aren’t serious or thoroughly substantiated, but because of the potential _electoral_ ramifications.

Yuck… https://t.co/K2x0RSCGEj

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) September 3, 2018

The implication being that Justice Dept officials should have delayed or thrown out charges for political reasons, because of the midterms. Notice he does not weigh in on the charges themselves, which are in each case based on long lists of serious allegations. https://t.co/NrsbUi4fut

— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) September 3, 2018

The president is now arguing that the Justice Department should make its justice decisions based on what’s best for the Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/RgcUQbRAak

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 3, 2018

The President believes it’s the Attorney General’s job to cover up crimes that are committed by elected Republicans. https://t.co/AeqV9EQAqZ

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) September 3, 2018

Authoritarian despots are able to dictate who gets prosecuted and who does not based on political calculations. President Trump is signaling that’s precisely how he wants to run the Department of Justice. This isn’t a drill. It’s an attack on our basic democratic institutions. https://t.co/i8HpCpDjm0

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 3, 2018

The president complains that the first two congressmen to endorse him were indicted by the third. https://t.co/I2mKiUWapB

— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) September 3, 2018

This is the most insightful official statement yet on the current approach to the justice system: Cry foul about politics infecting DOJ and then ponder aloud why DOJ isn’t considering the political ramifications of prosecutorial decisions. https://t.co/PyKvin2b3Y

— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) September 3, 2018

Perhaps the leaders and the Judiciary Committee chairs in both Houses should say something to make clear that Trump speaks only for himself and not for the Republican Party? https://t.co/gRuXdEuKBa

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) September 3, 2018

Dear @realDonaldTrump: No one is above the law. Not you, not your associates, and not Members of Congress. That's one reason America is great. https://t.co/P68706QU44

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 3, 2018

There’s been a lot of Twitter invective directed against Bush and some against Obama, but here’s what I’ll say for them: the idea of them acting like this never would have occurred to me. https://t.co/EnR0oJQXIx

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 3, 2018

This makes no sense. Collins’s insider-trading allegation is from 2017, when he was at *Trump’s* White House event. https://t.co/8KhOO3daKX

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 3, 2018

POTUS lays it on the line again: the job of the Justice Department in his view is to protect his friends and punish his enemies. https://t.co/MUH9McUoZe

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 3, 2018

When Trump says something like this it is quite apparent that we are already past the rule of law. https://t.co/p97sXra7ML

— John Markoff (@markoff) September 3, 2018

It is not hard to see Trump's argument here – people accused of breaking the law should not get in legal trouble if such trouble would hurt the Republicans – eventually being applied to himself.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 3, 2018

This is in keeping with what he frequently tells people privately. He alleges Holder “protected” Obama. https://t.co/3FM75Mc4kr

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 3, 2018

Law and Order President, my ass. https://t.co/kAxYMvG0B1

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 3, 2018

LABOR DAY TWEETS: Trump attacks AG Jeff Sessions for indicting two Republicans for corruption, saying it could hurt Trump and the GOP. My story: https://t.co/bZhyGwMk0q

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 3, 2018

In saner times pressuring the attorney general to quash criminal investigations of political allies might have been considered an impeachable offense. How many GOP elected officials will raise an objection to this? https://t.co/RWf8rI1pij

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) September 3, 2018

The "Obama era" reference in Trump's tweets about Collins' and Hunter's indictments is bizarre. The Collins indictment, from actions taken in summer 2017, was brought by Trump's own handpicked US atty from Manhattan.

— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) September 3, 2018

Millennials disillusioned about the midterm elections

Millennials disillusioned about midterm elections (NBC News) details: https://t.co/Qed28RMWdE pic.twitter.com/moNa6pw7eM

— OpinionToday.com (@OpinionToday) August 29, 2018

North Carolina Republicans abandon effort to rig a state Supreme Court race

North Carolina Republicans abandon attempt to rig state supreme court race: https://t.co/xA8H2AZb8j pic.twitter.com/N00wZgdwdd

— Slate (@Slate) August 29, 2018

2018 elections update September 4, 2018

Projections on the House

Republicans have a 1 in 5 chance of keeping control of the House, while Democrats have about a 4 in 5 chance of winning control of the House. https://t.co/lyNh30TEIw pic.twitter.com/fq6g6kanCj

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) September 4, 2018

One sentence from @SteveSchmidtSES captures the #midterms:

"If you want to live in Trumpistan, vote for the Republicans, if you want to continue to live in America, a nation where rule of law, decency, civility matter, your only choice is to vote for the Democrats."

— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) September 4, 2018

Is a so-called "blue wave" really coming for Democrats in the midterms? @SteveKornacki joined @NBCLeftField for a VR break-down of the data. https://t.co/9FUerfcdAc

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 4, 2018

Two polls released Tuesday show Democrats with a double-digit advantage over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot two months ahead of the midterm elections https://t.co/b1NuwlZqaT pic.twitter.com/E9ClC8SOCo

— CNN (@CNN) September 4, 2018

Ahead of the 2018 midterms, there's been massive increases in Democratic primary turnout while often a minimal uptick — or even noticeable dip — in turnout among Republican voters. https://t.co/oPHttRkQl9

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) September 4, 2018

Donald Trump’s approval rating has plunged and so have Republicans’ midterm chances, new poll indicates https://t.co/g9HoMMe2Ep pic.twitter.com/VFkUtrEjsk

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 4, 2018

Have you ever wanted to break down the numbers like @SteveKornacki?

Try out some #TrackingKornacki analysis yourself with this new interactive map in the midterms race for the House –> https://t.co/XXI2FS7SPl pic.twitter.com/jkKNG6WQkI

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 4, 2018

Facebook's ex-security chief Alex Ramos says the election hacking threat has not improved and has, in fact, "intensified" going into the 2018 midterms. @LaurieSegallCNN spoke to him.

"We have the risk of turning our elections into the World Cup of information warfare…" pic.twitter.com/loDRUhU0Fz

— New Day (@NewDay) September 4, 2018

JUST IN: Democratic House candidates lead their Republican opponents nationally by 14 points among registered voters in a new @ABC News/Washington Post poll—their widest advantage in midterm election vote preferences since 2006. https://t.co/gW3J2BtAfG

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 4, 2018

I keep warning you about the 2018 elections

I’ll say it again.

The 2018 elections will be a disaster. The hostility will be much worse than the 2016 elections and Trump will cause harm to the country with his divisive white supremacist rhetoric. He’s already doing it by saying the left could get violent.

If the Democrats don’t take the House, they’ll blame Russian meddling and voter suppression.

If the Republicans don’t keep the House, they’ll blame the deep state and illegal voters and warn of violence.

Exclusive: In private meeting, Trump warns Christian leaders of violence if GOP loses https://t.co/bWGQGVYASm via @nbcnews

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) August 28, 2018

Trump says the Democrats will be violent. This is an irresponsible lie. It will encourage his own supporters to be violent. Remember, Trump encouraged violence at his campaign rallies.

In Charlottesville, it was one of his “very fine people” who killed someone with a car; it wasn’t a liberal.

From the article “If the GOP loses, he said, “they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently, and violently. There’s violence. When you look at Antifa and you look at some of these groups — these are violent people.””

Dangerous rhetoric further encouraging supporters to violate democratic norms to hold and maintain power https://t.co/fgysKu3cOj

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) August 28, 2018

Trump asked evangelical ministers to help Republicans from the pulpit by pushing their flock to vote Republican. If they do so, they jeopardize their church’s non-profit status according to current IRS guidance. https://t.co/JQNtOCbew3

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 28, 2018

Facing scrutiny for hush money payments to a porn star and a former Playboy model, Trump pleaded with evangelical leaders for political help during closed-door remarks — warning of dire consequences to congregations should the GOP lose in the midterms https://t.co/gO08QIL3eK

— CNN (@CNN) August 28, 2018

Mark this date. The President of the United States inciting violence if an opposing political party wins an election. This is a blatant call for violence. https://t.co/hva6CEm7k2

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) August 28, 2018

Well that’s incredibly irresponsible https://t.co/Pk51en1KTH

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 29, 2018

North Carolina court strikes down map again

Opinion: Fair elections just won a victory in the courts. Now the Republican assault begins. https://t.co/LjXlRCxde3

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 28, 2018

Federal judges have affirmed their earlier decision striking North Carolina's congressional districts as unconstitutional because Republicans drew them with excessive partisanship. https://t.co/waDdB7ISlo

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 28, 2018

Here's how gerrymandered North Carolina's congressional map is. Republicans won 10 of 13 seats in 2016 despite Trump's narrow win statewide. A nonpartisan map like the one below could have seen Dems win 2-5 more districts had it been in effect this decade https://t.co/bjwahIZyEZ pic.twitter.com/yI2LczFwpx

— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) August 27, 2018

If North Carolina were required to redistrict, would be worth another ~2 seats or so for Democrats. Although with a high margin for error because of all of this happening at such a late date. https://t.co/uSQZ9IsPyX

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 27, 2018

Under somewhat similar circumstances in 1996 in Texas, the state held nonpartisan blanket primaries (basically what they do in Louisiana) on the November election date and then runoffs in December in cases where no candidate won a majority.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 27, 2018

BREAKING: Federal court rules that plaintiffs in North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case have standing to pursue claims (with one exception) and affirms earlier ruling that congressional map is unconstitutional. https://t.co/kHGyAQUnds #fairmaps 1/

— Michael Li (@mcpli) August 27, 2018

The federal court is not ruling out throwing out North Carolina's current congressional plan for the 2018 election. Raises possibility of having a primary in November, followed by a general election before the new congress is seated.

— Sam Levine (@srl) August 27, 2018

Since Republicans took over North Carolina's legislature in 2010 & began their all-out assault on democracy, they have gerrymandered:
Congress
State legislature
County commissions
City councils
School boards
District courts
All but the last have gotten struck down at least once

— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) August 27, 2018

Court says it has not yet decided whether to give the North Carolina legislature the opportunity to attempt to redraw congressional map, but says that if the NC lege wants to redraw map it needs to finish process by 9/17 at 5 p.m. #fairmaps 3/ pic.twitter.com/Jq2r8uWk5a

— Michael Li (@mcpli) August 27, 2018

North Carolina Republicans literally admitted to partisan gerrymandering to defend themselves from racial gerrymandering claims. They stated loudly that they drew a 10R-3D gerrymander because they (rightly) thought 11R-2D was impossible https://t.co/7X1KVOMaX2

— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) August 27, 2018

BREAKING: Federal court strikes down North Carolina's congressional districts due to partisan gerrymandering.

See how NC's districts have changed over time ↓https://t.co/WP4uz9QgiI pic.twitter.com/V056oyglHW

— ACLU (@ACLU) August 27, 2018

Trump primary endorsements

"Mr. Lewandowski was even blunter, recalling a Las Vegas dinner he attended in 2017 with Mr. Heller, in which he bluntly told the senator that if he did not fall in line with Mr. Trump, the president’s allies would aggressively target him." Cause/effect:https://t.co/WwSfvHpIMO

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) August 27, 2018

The @jmartnyt/@maggienyt duo have quite a good story on Trump and endorsements today: https://t.co/fUJdOFVYjh @wpjenna and I explored the process a few weeks ago as well. https://t.co/v1JXA9sE8O

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 27, 2018

Will anything change Trump’s poll ratings?

It doesn’t look like having felons work for him will do it.

Following an extraordinary, brutal week of headlines & headwinds, a new NBC/WSJ poll finds President Trump's approval rating…absolutely unchanged: https://t.co/NVtt3v2qgC

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 26, 2018

Lots of investigations if Democrats win the House

update 10/23/18

Democrats eye revival of Russia probe if they win House https://t.co/WS5aVaPc6H

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 22, 2018

Adam Schiff tells @CNNSitRoom if Dems take majority, a "high priority" for House Intel Committee will be to determine whether Russians were laundering money through the Trump Organization. Also wants Don Jr phone records to see if he talked to his dad about 2016 mtg with Russians

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 23, 2018

Trump can expect tax, conflict probes if Democrats take House: Hoyer https://t.co/uz6bQS1ZHp pic.twitter.com/sM5QX7SGW0

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 4, 2018

The most amazing part of this @jonathanvswan scoop about investigations Republicans fear if Dems take over the House is that Republicans don’t consider any of these issues worthy of investigation https://t.co/pWJEFaQF8Z pic.twitter.com/TLSYmAaFKH

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) August 27, 2018

Axios has obtained a spreadsheet cataloguing more than 100 formal requests from House Dems to investigate various Trump entanglements.

If they win back the House, it would essentially turn the Trump White House into a 24/7 legal defense operation. https://t.co/dI3rqz6JKQ

— Axios (@axios) August 26, 2018

Let me get this right: @HouseGOP went so far to make a list of objectionable conduct by @realDonaldTrump, are telling themselves this will be investigated
by @HouseDemocrats, and that’s why GOP must stay in charge? Umm, so if they know, why won’t they investigate this shit? https://t.co/KjicmLlsyi

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) August 28, 2018

Fox poll has Democrats ahead 49%-38%

ICYMI
If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for the Democratic candidate in your district or the Republican candidate in your district?
Republican 38%
Democrat 49%
(Fox News Poll, RV, 8/19-21/18)
trend: https://t.co/dCvybnlqmF

— PollingReport.com (@pollreport) August 25, 2018