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Robert Costa
National political reporter covering the White House, Congress and Campaigns
November 7 at 7:30 pm
Washington sank in the political war on Wednesday as a result of a split decision by voters mid-term elections, with President Trump dismissing his attorney general and threatening to retaliate against the Democrats as they investigated his personal conduct and possible corruption in the administration.
The rapid shift to the combat posts marked the beginning of what may be two. years of incessant political battles to allow Trump to represent himself. For the first time, Trump will be forced to navigate a divided government as Democrats who have secured the House's commitment to control his power and to undergo pressure from their liberal base to block him every turn.
The acrimony was punctuated by the attack on Trump, while the president refused to show his contrition or badume responsibility for the mbadacre of his party in many suburbs where voters, who previously supported the Republicans, rejected the president's policy.
The ruling minority leader, Nancy Pelosi (California), who is ready to lead the new Democratic majority as president, said her caucus would use her power of summons to continue monitoring General Trump Administration.
"We will be responsible for honoring our oversight responsibilities, and this is the path we will follow down," she told reporters. But, she added, Democrats would do so in the interest of "trying to unify our country."
[Midterm elections: Democrats capture House as GOP holds Senate]
House of Commons Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Speaks with reporters in the Capitol's Rayburn Hall on November 7. 2018. (J. Lawler Duggan / For the Washington Post)
The leader of the Senate minority, Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.), whose party lost seats in the upper house, nevertheless applauded the triumph of the House and said: an audit on Donald Trump, and that is great news for America. "
As a result of Tuesday's mid-session, some allies said that Trump was both emboldened – because he thought he had helped to increase the Republican majority in the Senate – and fearful, because He would no longer be able to bend the entire Congress to his will.
But unlike his predecessors who recognized a "mocking" (Barack Obama in 2010) or a "thumpin" (George W. Bush in 2006) after midway through, Trump created his own reality by claiming that "very close to complete victory."
Trump said at a broad and often scathing press conference that all hope Bipartite agreements would disappear if the Democrats in the House used their new power to investigate himself or his administration.These efforts, he said bluntly, would precipitate "a bellicose posture." [19659013DemocratsintheHousehaveannouncedthatTheywereplanningtolaunchaseriesofinvestigationsonthepresidentincludingissuingasubpoenaforhistaxreturnswhichherefusedtodiscloseTrumpsaidhewouldreactbyusingtheRepublican-controlledSenateasaclubaskinghisalliesinthatcountrytoinvestigateallegationsofreprehensiblebehavioronthepartofDemocrats
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Addresses Capitol Media. November 7, 2018. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)
"They can play this game, but we can play it better because we have a thing called the United States Senate," said Trump. "They can look at us, then we can watch them and it will come and go. And it will probably be very good for me politically. . Because I think I'm better at this game than they are in reality. "
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Wednesday , the journalist dodged the reporter's question about what Senate Republicans would do if House Democrats tried to investigate Trump.
"Democrats in the House Will Have to Decide on the Degree of Presidential Harbadment That" 39 they consider it a good strategy, McConnell told reporters. "I'm not sure it works for them," he added, pointing out that Republican inquiries into President Bill Clinton at the end of The 1990s had had disastrous political effects.
McConnell attempts to position the Senate as a stable front for conservative governance and to stay out of the political brawl between Trump and Democrats. the House, according to his advisers. As the Senate's chief of reporters said, his number one priority will continue to confirm Conservative candidates in federal courts, which Republicans have done at a record pace in the last two years.
Trump told councilors that he was planning to exploit divisions between Democrats in the House. , according to a senior White House official. He thinks he can oppose Pelosi and others interested in policies such as infrastructure spending to those who came to power as part of the "resistance" movement and who intend to block his program and possibly to initiate a dismissal procedure.
The president's allies argued that the Democrats overestimated their mandate after Tuesday's elections and that they will appear as a useful political failure for Trump while he seeks re-election.
"I'm sorry for the Democrats because he's going to crush them," said the former president. Trump's deputy campaign manager, David N. Bossie, said. "These people hate him more than they want to do their job, and that will allow him to be reelected in 2020."
Trump also privately declared that he did not believe that his administration should necessarily cooperate with the Democratic investigations, and that he would be willing to fight if necessary against the subpoenas to appear before the Supreme Court according to a senior White House official and an outside advisor to the president, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to be able to participate in internal discussions.
According to the external advisor, White House lawyer Emmet Flood oversees the conduct of the investigation into Russia. The latter has shown interest in the defense of the subpoena.
[Sessions’s ouster throws future of special counsel probe into question]
But Trump's confidence in his own ability to navigate the thicket The obstacles he faces will soon be put to the test, according to Republicans of previous administrations who remember being humiliated by the conquest of power by congressional Democrats. The deluge of legal controls and subpoenas to appear before Congress could overwhelm the president's agenda.
"One of the things that the White House must understand is that we doubled the size of the Attorney General's office and that was not enough" George W. Bush's adviser, Karl Rove said about sweeping Democrats in mid-term elections in 2006. "We quickly found that we had not enough lawyers."
Trump's attorney's office at the White House is going through a period of transition. It is only recently that Pat A. Cipollone has succeeded Donald F. McGahn II as a White House counsel and has a number of positions to fill. The advisor described the office as "in desperate need" of recruiting more lawyers. Many experienced lawyers in Washington's big law firms have long been reluctant to join the White House, both because they should suffer a reduction in pay and because of the chronic turmoil that reigns in the interior.
At his remarkably combative press conference in Wednesday's East Room on Wednesday, Trump lost his temper by answering journalists' questions for 86 minutes. He described CNN's Jim Acosta as "a rude and terrible person," NBC News's Peter Alexander questioned and asked American Urban Radio's April Ryan to "sit down." And when Yamiche Alcindor of "PBS NewsHour" asked the president if "nationalist", he also adopted the label "white nationalist", he repeated to him repeatedly: "It is a such a racist question. "
" To say what you just said is so insulting, "Trump told Alcindor. who is black.
Trump also criticized some Republicans in the House who had lost their re-election, naming them individually and attributing their losses to their decision to distance themselves from him.
"Mia Love did not give me love, and she lost," said Trump, referring to the defeated congressional wife of Utah.In a mocking tone, he continued, "Too bad. Sorry, Mia. "
Trump also told reporters that he believed his chances of contracting – for example to fund construction projects, reduce prescription drug prices and reshape trade policies – would be larger with a divided Congress. "He said he was eager to work with Pelosi on" a beautiful bipartite situation. "
[Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigns at Trump’s request]
Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Who was re-elected Tuesday in a Trump State adopted in 2016, said: "It is in his interest, even if he is concerned about the investigations or the back and forth, to show that he can move the country forward.The people are pretty exhausted with the back and forth. "
Rep. Mark Meadows (CR), a Trump confidant and leader of the House Freedom Caucus, said, "The President has always been on the point of reaching an agreement. I think you will see many more commitments with Congress. "
Still, Meadows said that he had" not heard the dismay or concern expressed by my colleagues that the president would govern in a non-conservative manner. "
After demonizing democrats in apocalyptic terms and attacking Pelosi in the election campaign, Trump said Wednesday," The elections are over. Now everyone is in love.
But Trump responds in a few hours to his own call for unity by announcing via Twitter the sudden overthrow of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who indicates in his resignation letter that the president has ordered him to resign.
Both parties argued fiercely over whether the president was obstructing justice, replacing Sessions of Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker, who took immediate control of the Special Adjudicator's investigation. Robert S. Mueller III on Russia's interferences at the 2016 election.
Democrats said dismissing sessions would be one of their main targets of investigation – and warned of a possible constitutional crisis. Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Who will badume the duties of Chairman of the House's Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the investigation into Mueller was "new and immediate danger".
The investigation of the lawyer would provoke a constitutional crisis and would undermine the rule of law, "said Schiff. "If the president seeks to interfere in the impartial administration of justice, the Congress must stop him. Nobody is above the law. "
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