The House Freedom Caucus on Monday night formally condemned one of its founding members for declaring that President Trump committed impeachable offenses, but stopped short of kicking Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) out of the hard-line conservative group.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee and a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said that every single member in attendance during a weekly caucus meeting was unified in their opposition toward Amash’s comments. The group, which took a show of hands,needs the support of 80 percent of its members to take a formal position on an issue.
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“It was every single person who totally disagrees with what he says,” Jordan said after the meeting.
Amash did not attend the meeting, but Jordan said he spoke to Amash Saturday night to ask, “What are you doing?”
GOP lawmakers who attended Monday night’s meeting said lawmakers vented their frustrations with Amash, who made waves over the weekend for becoming the first Republican to say that Trump could be impeached for his conduct during special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and that Attorney General William Barr “deliberately misrepresented” the report.
Amash, a 39-year-old libertarian, has long been a lone wolf in Congress, routinely bucking GOP leadership and defying Trump on a number of issues throughout the past two years.
But fellow Freedom Caucus members said his latest comments were “dead wrong”, “shocking” and went too far, even as they simultaneously called Amash a friend and emphasized that he has the right to his own opinion.
Some lawmakers even complained during the private meeting that he still technically belongs to the group — and has been cited as a Freedom Caucus member in the press — despite not showing up for meetings nearly the entire year, according to sources.
And Amash threatened to quit the group last year after the caucus did not stand up for former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who lost his primary race after being attacked by Trump.
But the Freedom Caucus did not vote on whether Amash should keep his membership in the group, according to Jordan. It’s also unlikely Amash will lose his seat on the House Oversight Committee.
“He can keep his spot on committees,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “But in the committee its always been a challenge, because he won’t ask questions.”
Amash, however, could be in jeopardy back home, with Michigan state Rep. Jim Lower announcing a primary challenge against Amash on Monday.
The conservative Club for Growth also put out a statement criticizing Amash, though did not indicate whether they would back his primary challenger.
Yet Amash appears to be unfazed by all the backlash, doubling down on his comments in a string of Monday tweets.
“People who say there were no underlying crimes and therefore the president could not have intended to illegally obstruct the investigation—and therefore cannot be impeached—are resting their argument on several falsehoods,” Amash said.
McCarthy said Amash was just seeking “attention” and would find few, if any, defenders in the GOP conference.
“The only people who I saw come up and congratulate him were Democrats,” McCarthy told reporters.
Indeed, pro-impeachment Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) was seen shaking Amash’s hand on the House floor Monday night.
But McCarthy said Amash’s standing in the GOP conference wouldn’t be impacted because he doesn’t “participate much as is.”
“If you see a ‘no’ or ‘present’ vote, it’s a very good chance that it’s him,” McCarthy said.
Trump, who discussed Amash’s comments with McCarthy, also slammed the Michigan lawmaker on Twitter, calling him a “lightweight” and “loser.”
“Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy,” the president wrote.
The Trump administration is temporarily easing its ban on Huawei.
In an announcement on Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce said it would be giving the Chinese tech giant a 90-day exemption from trade restrictions, thanks to a Temporary General License (TGL).
Last week, Huawei was added to the department’s entity list, which bars the company from buying U.S. parts and components without U.S. government approval, citing national security concerns regarding its telecommunications equipment.
The TGL, effective Monday, will allow Huawei users to continue receiving software updates on their phones, while the company can continue to purchase parts from U.S. suppliers.
“The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
“In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks.”
The ban prompted Google to revoke Huawei’s Android license, while chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm reportedly froze supply of its products to the Chinese tech giant. In a statement, Huawei reassured customers it would continue to receive support — despite the row.
“Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally,” the statement reads.
“We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”
Indonesia‘s President Joko Widodo has beaten rival Prabowo Subianto to win a second term in office, the country’s elections commission has said, in an announcement that came hours before opposition protesters were set to protest against the final results of last month’s vote.
The commission was expected to announce the official results on Wednesday but, in a surprise move, it released the final tally early on Tuesday amid fears of unrest after Prabowo vowed to challenge any victory for the incumbent leader.
Widodo – widely known as Jokowi – and his vice-presidential running mate, Ma’ruf Amin, won the April 17 election by a 55.5 percent to 44.5 percent margin over Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno, the commission said.
Indonesia’s opposition candidate alleges cheating ahead of polls (2:34)
“This ruling was announced on May 21 … and will be effectively immediately,” the commission’s chair Arief Budiman said in a live streamed announcement that was broadcast on major media.
But a witness for Prabowo’s campaign team and the leading opposition party refused to sign and validate the official results, which were announced with little advance notice.
“We won’t give up in the face of this injustice, cheating, lies, and these actions against democracy,” Azis Subekti, a witness from Prabowo’s campaign team, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
It was not immediately clear if Prabowo would mount a legal challenge to the official result.
Arief Budiman talks to reporters after the announcement of the results [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]
Widodo, 57, had been widely predicted to win, according to unofficial results.
But Prabowo, a 67-year-old retired general, alleged widespread voter fraud, and warned that it could spark street demonstrations across the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation.
Some 32,000 security personnel were being deployed across the capital, Jakarta, including in front of the General Elections Commission’s central office which has been barricaded with razor wire.
Last month, Indonesia held its biggest-ever election, a massive one day poll featuring more than 190 million registered voters and a record 245,000 candidates vying for the presidency, parliamentary seats and local legislator positions.
The campaign was characterised by bitter mudslinging and a slew of fake news online – much of it directed at the presidential contenders.
Widodo held off declaring victory after the unofficial results last month as Prabowo insisted he was the winner.
Prabowo lost a 2014 presidential bid to Widodo which he unsuccessfully challenged in court.
“The president is trying to get us out of every armed conflict we’re in. I can’t imagine him escalating into a new one,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
Senate Republicans say the president — and many in their caucus — wants to avoid a conflict.
Senate Republicans say that for all his bellicose rhetoric, President Donald Trump doesn’t want a war — and neither do they.
Some Republican hawks are pushing for an aggressive approach with Iran, arguing that military conflict may be unavoidable. Yet their vocal warnings are obscuring the fact that many in the GOP don’t want to fight and that Trump himself is deeply reluctant to entangle the United States in foreign interventions.
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Entering a critical day of briefings on Capitol Hill, Trump has broad support in the Republican Party for a show of strength in the Middle East. They’re standing behind his multiple threats that any provocation by Iran would essentially be the end of the country.
“They’ve been very hostile,” Trump told reporters on Monday evening. “We have no indication that anything has happened or will happen, but if it does, it will be met obviously with great force. We’ll have no choice.”
But there are limits to how much support Trump could count on from his own party should military action be seriously considered.
Some libertarian-minded Republicans like Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) would require a congressional authorization to support any strike on Iran, something that GOP leaders have typically ignored. But more mainstream members of the GOP like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah have also expressed skepticism with action against Tehran.
Many in the GOP are therefore putting considerable faith in Trump’s past remarks distancing himself from the Iraq War and his moves to wind down the U.S. presence in both Syria and Afghanistan. Indeed, Republicans said on Monday that Trump’s provocative language and military movements likely mask a reluctance to strike Iran.
“You’re always concerned about it if it escalates. But I really don’t see that. The president is trying to get us out of every armed conflict we’re in. I can’t imagine him escalating into a new one,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
Congress is filled with Iran hawks, mostly Republican but some in the Democratic Party. The partisan divide on national security has accelerated in recent years: Every Senate Democrat, other than Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and three of his colleagues, supported President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. The GOP uniformly opposed it, and most in the party have supported the Trump administration’s crushing sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic.
The president has fashioned himself far more in the mold of Paul than the hawkish Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was shocked by Trump’s plans to pull out of Syria and only was able to convince Trump to leave a small force in the country.
Trump’s hiring of John Bolton as national security adviser may have changed the approach inside the White House, but Trump’s dovish core hasn’t changed, senators said. Perhaps that can’t prevent conflict with Iran if it strikes first, but they said they were confident that Trump’s aggressive posture is far more about a Trumpian brand of diplomacy than it is about marching to war.
“Every president in their right mind tries to avoid a military conflict,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “Iran doesn’t to go to war with the United States. We don’t want to go to war with Iran. But we’re simply not going to let them rule the roost.”
Yet Democrats are warning that the Trump administration’s rhetoric and military positioning has emboldened the party’s hawkish wing and sparked a series of escalations. After speaking with Bolton, Graham warned of an “overwhelming military response” if Iran follows through on threats to the United States.
“We’re dangerously close to this place where each of us think the other is the aggressor. And that’s how really dumb wars start,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “It’s typical that the hawks in the Republican Party are always the dominant voices here. And hopefully they’re masking some quieter disagreement.”
A small slice of the party, including senators like Lee and Paul, as well as Todd Young (R-Ind.), the party’s campaign chairman, are warning that they will demand Congress take a vote to underpin any military strike. Romney has warned that Trump’s previous reluctance to military conflicts should be viewed as instructive as to how he’s viewing Iran, deeming it “close to inconceivable” that Trump would enter into a new armed conflict.
Party leaders are taking a deliberative stance heading into the briefings, saying the administration can and should present a menu of options to potential responses. The Senate and House will each hold separate briefings on Tuesday afternoon with Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and representatives of the intelligence community. Bolton is not expected to attend.
“First and foremost, this is not anything we’re initiating. This is simply a response to anything that Iran might attempt to do. The question then is, what’s the proportional response and how much,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). “We want to hear about what the options are.”
Yet to hear more hawkish Republicans tell it, the intelligence of Iran’s movements and actions will be far more revealing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he hopes he emerges from the briefing flanked by members of both parties who agreed with him that there’s a “potentially imminent threat” in Tehran.
Still, he was also eager to downplay all the comparisons to the disastrous Iraq War that have been made in recent days.
“This is very different. No one is proposing a unilateral U.S. offensive against Iran,” Rubio said. “If Iran attacks, there’s going to be a response. If they don’t attack, there will be no more war. It’s not like people are making a case of an invasion.”
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