WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey said Sunday that while he voted to disapprove of President Trump's border emergency declaration, he's not convinced the controversial move to reauthorize dollars to pay for a border wall is unconstitutional.
“I’m not sure that is is straight up an illegal act. I think it’s a strained argument, but there is a plausible argument for the legality of what the president did. There’s a plausible argument for the constitutionality," he told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"What we voted on on Thursday was not a question of whether the president has broken the law, what we voted on was on whether we approve of what he did."
Toomey joined with 11 Republican colleagues and all Democratic senators to vote to revoke Trump's emergency declaration, sending the already House-passed legislation to the White House. But Trump vetoed the legislation over the weekend, calling it his "duty" to veto the "reckless" argument from Congress.
It appears unlikely that Congress will be able to secure enough votes to override the veto, which means the matter could ultimately be settled in court.
Toomey added that he does support the GOP-led plan to reign in future emergency declarations, a plan opposed by Democrats who argue Trump shouldn't be grandfathered into those changes.
“This is one area where we should simply reclaim the legislative responsibility that we have," he said.
“They’re happy to poke President Trump in the eye — will they join us in making sure this will never happen again?”
Watch the full interview with Toomey below.
WASHINGTON — Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar Sunday called for the federal government to treat the threat of terrorism from white supremacists the same as all other terrorist threats in the wake of last week's deadly attacks at two New Zealand mosques.
During an interview with "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd, Klobuchar said that the U.S. should put together a strategy to combat white supremacists being radicalized online, one similar to the approach used to counter radicalization in the Muslim community.
"Of course they should. You have a situation right now, where you look at what's happened in places like that synagogue in Pittsburgh, when you look at the bombing attempts on leaders, including President Obama, in our nation. We have white supremacists, a resurgence of this kind of anger and the Ku Klux Klan. And it just keeps getting worse," she said.
"And so I think that our country needs to take this just as seriously as we do other forms of terrorism. And if some of it needs to be in law enforcement, there is ways we can do this. And we can do better."
Klobuchar's comments come days after 50 people were killed in two New Zealand mosques. Officials say that the alleged shooter may have sent a white-supremacist manifesto to a variety of places ahead of the attack.
Watch Klobuchar's full interview with "Meet the Press" below.
WATERLOO — Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar told "Meet the Press" on Sunday that while she started thinking about running for president in college, that she doesn't believe she was "born to run."
Speaking to NBC's Chuck Todd during an interview in Waterloo, Iowa — where Klobuchar is campaigning — she reflected on her beginnings in politics and responded to former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke's recent comment to Vanity Fair that he's "just born to be in it" ahead of his presidential launch.
"I have a lot of respect for Beto. And it's great to have some Texas in this race. But no, I wasn't born to run for office, just because growing up in the '70s, in the middle of the country, I don't think many people thought a girl could be president," she said in an excerpt of her interview, which will be aired on Sunday's "Meet the Press."
"I wasn't born to run, but I am running."
Watch Klobuchar's full interview on Sunday's "Meet the Press." Click here to check what time the show airs in your market.
WASHINGTON — Former Maryland Democratic Congressman John Delaney has a novel idea to help him secure enough individual donations to qualify for the first Democratic presidential debate—he's giving money away.
In order to qualify for the debate stage, the Democratic National Committee says a candidate either needs to hit a polling requirement or raise money from 65,000 unique donors with a minimum of 200 unique donors across 20 states.
So Delaney unveiled a new plan on Thursday—he'll donate $2 dollars to charity for each of the next 100,000 new donors who give to his campaign.
The new donors can pick from 11 charities to direct Delaney's money toward—American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; ARA/Dilley Pro Bono Project; Environmental Defense Fund; Everytown for Gun Safety; Feeding America; The Fisher House Foundation; Human Rights Campaign; NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Planned Parenthood; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; or the Wounded Warrior Project.
Delaney has struggled to gain traction in public polling—he's only finished with at least 1 percent in one poll that qualifies under the DNC's debate qualifications, the Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll released last week.
While there's more than enough time for Delaney to qualify for the June debate through the poll criteria, qualifying under both the polling and fundraising criteria could help him in case more than 20 candidate qualify and trigger a tiebreaker.
WASHINGTON — Beyond whether he can maintain his fundraising and crowd-size advantages from 2018, there’s another question for the newest entrant in the 2020 presidential race: Why does Robert Francis O’Rourke go by “Beto”?
Well, it's a Spanish nickname for someone named Roberto – it’s like Bobby being short for Robert (it's pronounced BET-toe, not BAY-toe).
It's not unheard of for white Texas kids and adults on the border having Latino nicknames, especially those from more prominent families.
Perhaps the best example of this is King Ranch heir Stephen “Tio” Kleberg – “Tio” is uncle in Spanish.
The name “Beto” has been an issue before, coming up in O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate race against Ted Cruz, whose own given name is Rafael Edward Cruz.
In 2018, the Dallas Morning News reported that O’Rourke’s late father, Pat O’Rourke, called him Beto because he thought it would help his son if he ever wanted a political future in El Paso. Pat O'Rourke served as a local county commissioner before an unsuccessful congressional bid.
And, as it turned out, Beto defeated incumbent Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, in the 2012 Democratic primary.
When told of his father’s motivations, O’Rourke said, per the Dallas Morning News, “I believe it, I believe it,” adding: “He was farsighted in that way. ... He loved this community and imparted his love of this community to me. It’s helped shape who I am today.”
(Mark Murray was born and raised in McAllen, Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border).
WASHINGTON — Americans are just as likely as those in other nations to say that immigrants make their country stronger, but they're also notably more politically polarized over the merits of immigrants, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.
The survey of 18 countries — which together host half of the world’s migrants — found that 59 percent of Americans overall agree with the statement that immigrants made the country stronger — compared to 68 percent of Canadians, 64 percent of Australians, and 62 percent of those in the U.K.
The countries where immigrants are viewed less positively include South Africa (where 62 percent call immigrants a “burden”), Israel (where 60 percent say the same) and Russia (61 percent).
But out of those 18 nations, the United States recorded the highest differential between positive feelings about immigrants on the political right and the political left.
More than eight-in-ten Americans on the left side of the spectrum — 83 percent — view immigrants as a strength, while just 37 percent of those on the political right say the same. That’s a difference of 46 percentage points between the two sides.
France and the Netherlands are the next most politically polarized, with 76 percent of those on the left but just 39 percent of those on the right calling immigrants a source of strength. That’s a difference of 37 percentage points.
In the United Kingdom, which is currently in the throes of a painful Brexit debate fueled in part by a divide over migrant policy, 72 percent of those on the political left and 52 percent of those on the right say that immigrants make the country stronger.
WASHINGTON — Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke landed in Iowa hours after he launched his presidential race, making his first trip to the key caucus state in his life, let alone as a presidential candidate.
Watch the video below to see O'Rourke's appearance at a Keokuk coffee shop.
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended her economic outlook during a Wednesday morning conversation with "Morning Joe," arguing that while markets have been a force for good that "markets without rules are theft."
The presidential hopeful has long called for increased economic regulations, helping to spearhead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But she's distanced herself from the "Democratic socialist" label that other progressives, including Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, wear proudly.
Warren told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday that the development of the technology sector is proof of the "benefits that markets can produce." But pointing to the financial crisis, she argued that there have to be strong guard rails.
"Markets without rules are theft. And there's got to be rules and there's got to be a cop on the beat," she said.
The arguments are indicative of Warren's push to cast her presidential bid as fighting back against the elites that she says have tilted the system against middle-class Americans, a frame that has prompted Republicans to try to cast her as a socialist.
Watch her interview below.
WASHINGTON — Last cycle's buzziest Democratic candidates are back in the conversation this week, first with former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke's repeated flirtations with a presidential bid and now with former Georgia gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams jumping into the fray.
During a conversation at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Abrams said that a 2020 presidential bid is "definitely on the table."
Abrams rose onto the national scene last cycle when she ran a tight race for governor against the eventual winner, Brian Kemp.
Read more about her potential candidacy in this article by NBC's Alex Seitz-Wald here. And read on for more news from the 2020 trail.
- Former Vice President Joe Biden teased a presidential bid of his own on Tuesday when he spoke to an influential firefighters union that's long been an ally. "Be careful what you wish for," he joked with a crowd chanting "Run, Joe, Run."
- Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan heads to New Hampshire as he continues to keep the door ever-so-slightly open on challenging President Trump in a primary.
- California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell told "MTPDaily" on Monday that he's "getting close" to a presidential bid and will decide by the "end of the month."
- California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris is proposing a new bill that would require carbon monoxide detectors in public housing, a bill responding to a recent NBC News investigation into carbon monoxide poisoning deaths in public housing.
WASHINGTON — Beto O’Rourke is running ads on Facebook teasing an impending announcement about his 2020 plans days before he heads to Iowa.
It’s another sign the former Democratic congressman is preparing to launch a presidential campaign in coming days as his political machine whirs back to life after months of dormancy.
O’Rourke has not run a paid ad on the social media platform since Election Day 2018, when he narrowly lost a challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
O’Rourke is running about 330 variations of the ad, according to Facebook's ad tracker, exploiting a common tactic of digital marketers to run many slight permutations of similar messages to see which perform best. All essentially say the same thing: That O’Rourke is ready to announce his plans and that fans should sign up to be alerted when he does.
“People in communities across the country have been reaching out and asking me if I'm planning on running in 2020. Amy and I have made a decision on that. Sign up today to be first to know what's next,” one ad states, referring to his wife.
The ads are being paid for by O’Rourke’s Senate campaign, which could transfer whatever money it still has in the bank to a presidential campaign if he decides to launch one. He does not have a PAC or exploratory committee.
Let's block ads! (Why?)
0 Comment for "Klobuchar on running for president: 'I wasn't born to run, but I am running' - NBCNews.com"