GOP Senator Sasse Calls Whistleblower Report "Troubling"

[angelatc]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-senators/republican-senator-sasse-calls-details-in-whistleblower-complaint-troubling-idUSKBN1WB040


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday said there are “real troubling things here” in a whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump’s conversation with Ukraine’s leader.

Senator Ben Sasse, speaking to reporters upon leaving a secure room for senators to read the complaint, added that “Republicans ought not just circle the wagons” to protect Trump.

[UWDude]

Yes!

Finally!

Trump is gonna get impeached!

Err, I mean, uh, I don't care one way or the other.

[angelatc]

Yes!

Finally!

Trump is gonna get impeached!

Err, I mean, uh, I don't care one way or the other.

Don't misunderstand my joy in seeing the GOP in-fighting combined with a chance to troll the Trump-humpers here.

[Swordsmyth]

LOL
Another great patriot heard from, Romney and Kristol shouldn't be ignored either.

[Swordsmyth]

Don't misunderstand my joy in seeing the GOP in-fighting combined with a chance to troll the Trump-humpers here.
You are only making a fool of yourself and failing but if you did succeed you would be helping the Neocons and the communists.

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgflip.com%2F1ezijj.jpg&f=1

[UWDude]

You are only making a fool of yourself and failing but if you did succeed you would be helping the Neocons and the communists.


Her life will be so much better, and happier, when all the trump-humpers get really, really, really pissed off.

[Swordsmyth]

https://www.thenewamerican.com/freedom-index

Sen. Benjamin Sasse (https://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=828&nameid=S001197) - 69%





On the Motion to Discharge S.J.Res. 54: Yemen (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00250)


Vote Date: November 28, 2018
Vote: NAY (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00250)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


This resolution (Senate Joint Res. 54) would “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.”

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made a motion on November 28, 2018 to discharge the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from further consideration of Senate Joint Res. 54, so that it could be voted on by the full Senate. In his effort to advance the bill, Sanders was supported not only by all Democrat senators who voted but also by constitutional-minded Republicans. Sanders’ motion was agreed to by a vote of 63 to 37 (Roll Call 250). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because only Congress is vested with the power to declare war. A foreign military intervention is an act of war, and Congress has not authorized any intervention or war in Yemen. Nor should Congress do so, since the civil war in Yemen does not threaten the United States.











On the Motion (Reed Motion to Instruct Conferees Re: H.R. 5515): NATO (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00149)


Vote Date: July 10, 2018
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00149)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


During consideration of the Defense authorization bill (H.R. 5515), Senator Jack Reed (DR.I.) moved that Senate members in the House-Senate conference committee insist that the final version of the bill reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance. Under the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO, member nations “agree that an armed attack against one or more of them … shall be considered an attack against them all.”

The Senate agreed to Reed’s motion on July 10, 2018 by a vote of 97 to 2 (Roll Call 149). We have assigned pluses to the nays not only because the United States should stay clear of entangling alliances such as NATO, but also because the NATO provision that obligates the United States to go to war if any member of NATO is attacked undermines the provision in the U.S. Constitution that assigns to Congress the power to declare war.











On the Motion to Table S.Amdt. 2366 to H.R. 5515 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019): Indefinite Detention (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00122)


Vote Date: June 13, 2018
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00122)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


During consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5515), Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Due Process Guarantee Act amendment to uphold the right to due process for U.S. citizens and permanent residents on American soil. “This amendment … simply says that if you are a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident, you may not be indefinitely detained on U.S. soil without trial, without charge, without access to a jury or to counsel,” Lee said on the Senate floor. His amendment would negate language in the fiscal year 2012 NDAA that purportedly authorizes the U.S. military to indefinitely detain American citizens accused of being terrorists, without habeas corpus and without being tried and found guilty in a court of law.

The Senate rejected a motion to table (kill) Lee’s amendment on June 13, 2018 by a vote of 30 to 68 (Roll Call 122). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the war on terror must not be allowed to destroy constitutionally guaranteed legal protections.











On the Nomination PN1857: Haspel Nomination (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00101)


Vote Date: May 17, 2018
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00101)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


In March 2018, President Trump nominated Gina Haspel to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who opposed Haspel’s nomination, explained why in a Politico Magazine article: “Haspel ran a secret [CIA ‘black site’] center in Thailand where prisoners were tortured”; “Haspel participated in and helped develop the program that our own government has labeled torture”; and “she helped destroy the very evidence of this program.” Regarding the latter, Haspel ordered the destruction of videos documenting the torture.

The Senate confirmed Trump’s nomination of Haspel on May 17, 2018 by a vote of 54 to 45 (Roll Call 101). We have assigned pluses to the nays because of Haspel’s complicity in the use of torture, including waterboarding, a violation of U.S. law as well as the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments.”











On the Motion to Table S.J.Res. 54: U.S. Military Intervention in Yemen (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00058)


Vote Date: March 20, 2018
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00058)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


This resolution (Senate Joint Res. 54), according to the text, would “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.”

The Senate agreed to table (kill) a motion to discharge this resolution from the Foreign Relations Committee (so that it could be considered by the full Senate) on March 20, 2018 by vote of 55 to 44 (Roll Call 58). We have assigned pluses to the nays because only Congress is vested with the power to declare war. A foreign military intervention is an act of war, and Congress has not authorized any intervention or war in Yemen. Nor should Congress do so, since the civil war in Yemen does not threaten the United States.










On the Motion (Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to S. 139): Warrantless Surveillance (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00012)


Vote Date: January 18, 2018
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00012)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


This bill (S. 139) would reauthorize for six years, through 2023, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which governs electronic surveillance of foreign terrorism suspects. The bill would require the development of procedures for searching the NSA database that would protect the Fourth Amendment-guaranteed rights of U.S. citizens, while allowing the FBI to access information with an order from the secret FISA Court, in certain cases.

The Senate passed S. 139 on January 18, 2018 by a vote of 65 to 34 (Roll Call 12). We have assigned pluses to the nays because FISA, while supposedly put in place to gather intelligence on foreign targets, has been used to spy on U.S. citizens. While the bill does provide provisions to, ostensibly, protect the privacy of U.S. citizens, given the track record of intelligence agencies, it is unlikely that they would actually follow these rules. The FISA Court gives a green light to just about any surveillance request that comes its way, and FISA-approved NSA warrantless surveillance of American citizens has become common knowledge.











S.Amdt. 871 to S.Amdt. 1003 to H.R. 2810: War Authorization (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00195)


Vote Date: September 13, 2017
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00195)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


During consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810), Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment to repeal, six months after the bill’s enactment, the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). Enacted in the wake of 9/11, the AUMF authorized the president to use military force against the terrorists involved, including those who aided and harbored them, and was used as the legal authority for U.S. military entry into Afghanistan. Paul’s amendment would also have ended, six months after the bill’s enactment, the 2002 AUMF for the invasion of Iraq to disarm Saddam Hussein of his reputed weapons of mass destruction.

The Senate agreed to a motion to table (kill) Paul’s amendment on September 13, 2017 by a vote of 61 to 36 (Roll Call 195). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the 2001 AUMF in particular has been used by presidents ever since as a blank check not only for continued U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan, but for new military interventions elsewhere, including Libya, Syria, and Yemen — despite the fact that constitutionally authorized power to declare war belongs to Congress, not the president. “This is your constitutional role,” Paul said on the Senate floor prior to the vote on his amendment. “Let’s let these [AUMFs] expire, and over the next six months, let’s debate whether we should be at war and where.”










On Passage of the Bill H.R. 3364: Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00175)


Vote Date: July 27, 2017
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00175)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


This bill (H.R. 3364) would establish new sanctions, and codify certain existing sanctions, on Russia. The bill cites an intelligence community assessment saying that “Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the United States presidential election.” It also expresses the sense of Congress that President Trump call on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, and it states that “it is the policy of the United States … to support the Government of Ukraine in restoring its sovereign and territorial integrity.” In addition to Russia, H.R. 3364 also establishes and expands sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

The Senate passed H.R. 3364 on July 27, 2017 by a vote of 98 to 2 (Roll Call 175). We have assigned pluses to the nays because imposing new sanctions in the name of punishing the regimes’ provocations and aggression could itself be viewed as provocative and could result in push-back further involving the United States in the affairs of other countries and regions. Instead of acting as a global cop, America would be best served by returning to our traditional and constitutionally sound foreign policy of staying clear of foreign quarrels.











On Passage of the Bill S. 722: Iranian and Russian Sanctions (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00147)


Vote Date: June 15, 2017
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00147)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


The Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act (S. 722) would impose new sanctions on Iran and Russia, and codify sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on Russia. The bill enjoyed strong bipartisan support. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor that "we must take a stronger stance in deterring Iran and holding its regime accountable for its actions and addressing Russia's years-long pattern of provocations." Those provocations, according to supporters of the bill, included Russia's military action in Ukraine, its intervention in Syria, and its alleged hacking of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the bill "stands up to the aggression of Russia and Iran."

The Senate passed S. 722 on June 15, 2017 by a vote of 98 to 2 (Roll Call 147). We have assigned pluses to the nays because imposing new sanctions on Iran and Russia in the name of punishing the regimes' provocations and aggression could itself be viewed as provocative and could result in push-back further involving the United States in the affairs of other countries and regions. Instead of acting as a global cop, America would be best served by returning to our traditional and constitutionally sound foreign policy of staying clear of foreign quarrels.










Amendment S.Amdt. 240 to S. 722: NATO (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00146)


Vote Date: June 15, 2017
Vote: AYE (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00146)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


During consideration of the Iranian and Russian sanctions bill (S. 722), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced an amendment to “affirm that the United States remains fully committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and will honor its obligations enshrined in Article 5.” Under Article 5, the member nations of the NATO military alliance “agree that an armed attack against one or more of them ... shall be considered an attack against
them all.”

The Senate adopted Graham’s amendment on June 15, 2017 by a unanimous vote of 100 to 0 (Roll Call 146). That not a single senator voted nay is appalling, since that is the constitutionally sound position. The reason: Not only should the United States stay clear of entangling alliances such as NATO, but the NATO provision that obligates the United States to go to war if any member of NATO is attacked undermines the provision in the U.S. Constitution that assigns to Congress the power to declare war. Moreover, the number of nations that the United States has pledged to defend under NATO has grown from 11 to 28 over the years, as the alliance itself has grown from 12 member nations (including the United States) when NATO was created in 1949 to 29 today. Although NATO was ostensibly formed to counter the threat from the Soviet bloc of nations, some of the nations the United States is now pledged to defend under NATO were once part of that bloc, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic (as part of Czechoslovakia), Hungary, Poland, and Romania.











Motion: Blocking U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00143)


Vote Date: June 13, 2017
Vote: NAY (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00143)
http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/0.jpg
Bad Vote.


Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced this bill (Senate Joint Resolution 42) to block the sale of "certain defense articles" to Saudi Arabia, including laser-guided weapons systems and fighter aircraft. Paul has opposed selling arms to Saudi Arabia because the regime oppresses its own people, is engaged militarily in the civil war in Yemen, and has supported ISIS. "Who in their right mind would give money, arms, or share our technology with a country that has been supporting ISIS?" Paul asked on the Senate floor.

The Senate did not vote directly on S. J. Res. 42 but on a motion to discharge the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (where the resolution was pending) from further consideration of the resolution so that it could be considered by the full Senate. The discharge motion, which was made by Paul, was rejected on June 13, 2017 by a vote of 47 to 53 (Roll Call 143). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the United States should not interject itself in foreign conflicts such as the civil war in Yemen (via arms sales to one of the combatants in that conflict -- Saudi Arabia), and should not take steps tantamount to going to war without a declaration of war by Congress.







SASSE FOR POTUS!

[UWDude]

I can't wait to join the President Pence Police force, and report all the coup collaborators on this forum.

[timosman]

I can't wait to join the President Pence Police force, and report all the coup collaborators on this forum.

Dude, that'd be awesome. :tears:

[donnay]

This about sums it up...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpIOyydYSlQ

[gaazn]

"Troubling" must the not so secret word of the Trump Resistance.

[jon4liberty]

TDS runs deep here! Now libertarians are uniting with neocons? Swordsymth and I are bots to help convince the 4 active members here at RPF to support trump lol