Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, and More: News and Notes from the Presidential Campaign Trail

A glitchy start to the Ron DeSantis campaign, Tim Scott fires back at “The View,” Vivek Ramaswamy takes on Target, and Nikki Haley gets a CNN Town Hall.

There’s no rest for the weary on the expanded presidential campaign trail.

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Minneapolis Police Scrambling for Staff After Riots, ‘Defund Police’ Campaign

Minneapolis Police Department

The Minneapolis Police Department is in dire straights as it prepares for possible violence during the trial of one of its former officers.

“Minneapolis has about 200 fewer police officers available to work as the city tries to rebound from a violent year and prepare for more potential unrest,” The Star-Tribune reported. “In the short term, the city is seeking aid from other law enforcement agencies as it plans for the March trial for former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with killing George Floyd.”

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Durbin Says Members ‘Have to Follow Their Own Conscience’ on Trump Impeachment

Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Sunday that Senate members “have to follow their own conscience” on President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Durbin told Tapper on CNN’s “State of The Union” that he doesn’t know how members of his own caucus will vote to convict Trump.

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Jake Tapper on White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: She ‘Lies the Way that Most People Breathe’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Sunday that he wouldn’t put White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on air because she “lies the way that most people breathe.”

Tapper told CNN’s Brian Stelter that throughout President Donald Trump’s term, “you had to steel yourself for interviews with people that might misrepresent the facts.” The CNN anchor said that “once somebody proved themselves to be a liar, I just stopped booking them.”

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Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar: Trump Shouldn’t Pick the New SCOTUS Justice

Senators Tina Smith (DFL-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) stated that President Trump shouldn’t pick the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) nominee. Instead, Smith and Klobuchar say that the newly-elected president should, and the Senate should wait to vote until then.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday from cancer complications. The SCOTUS vacancy is now the epicenter of political leaders’ attention.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls Minneapolis Police ‘Rotten,’ Can’t Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Them

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was unable to provide details on who will respond to violent crimes in her city without a police force, but said the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” during a Sunday interview.

“What takes its place?” CNN host Jake Tapper asked the congresswoman. “Who investigates crimes? Who arrests criminals? What happens?”

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Jake Tapper’s Attempt to Blame ‘Far Right Groups’ for Protest Violence Fizzles with Trump’s National Security Advisor

On CNN Sunday morning, after several nights of antifa and Black Lives Matter-fueled violence in multiple American cities, anchor Jake Tapper asked President Trump’s national security advisor if white supremacists were using the unrest to start a race war.

“What can you tell us about any of the far-right groups that might be trying to use this as a predicate to prompt a race war as Vice News reported?” Tapper asked NSC advisor Robert O’Brien.

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Commentary: The Military-Intelligence Complex

Much has been written about the so-called Resistance of disgruntled Clinton, Obama, and progressive activists who have pledged to stop Donald Trump’s agenda. The choice of the noun “Resistance,” of course, conjures up not mere “opposition,” but is meant to evoke the French “resistance” of World War II – in the melodramatic sense of current loyal progressive patriots doing their best to thwart by almost any means necessary the Nazi-like Trump.

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Third-Ranking Democrat Says House Will ‘Eventually Impeach’ Trump

by Chuck Ross   South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, said Sunday he believes President Donald Trump will eventually be impeached. “But it sounds like you’re — you think that the president will be impeached, or at least proceedings will begin in the House at…

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Dean Phillips Agrees With Jake Tapper That Trump Is ‘Daring’ Dems to Impeach

  During an appearance on CNN last week, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) said President Trump’s impromptu Rose Garden speech showed a “woeful lack of leadership.” Trump apparently left a meeting with Democratic leadership after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said he was engaging in a “cover-up,” and instead went to the…

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Jake Tapper: CNN Didn’t Get ‘Anything’ Wrong in Russiagate Reporting

by Chuck Ross   Jake Tapper said Sunday that CNN has not gotten “anything” wrong during the course of reporting on Russiagate, even though his network has bungled numerous stories over the past two years. “I’m not sure what you’re saying the media got wrong. The media reported the investigation…

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Emails: Jake Tapper Tore Into ‘Irresponsible’ BuzzFeed Editor for Publishing the ‘Steele Dossier’

by Chuck Ross   After BuzzFeed published the infamous Steele dossier, CNN anchor Jake Tapper lit into BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith for the decision, calling it “irresponsible” and “uncollegial,” according to emails released Friday. “I think your move makes the story less serious and credible[.] I think you damaged its…

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Schiff Will Subpoena Mueller Report if White House Tries to Block its Release

by Chuck Ross   California Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday that he is prepared to subpoena a report from the special counsel’s Russia investigation should the White House try to block its release. “At the end of the day, this is just — this case is just too important to…

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