All posts tagged "andy harris"

'Can I answer the question?' Tempers flare during far-right lawmakers' presser

Tempers flared during an impromptu press conference held by House Freedom Caucus members as they refused to answer how they'll vote if President Donald Trump's mega spending bill reaches the House floor Wednesday.

"It is not ready yet, but we've got to see the language," said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).

CNN's Manu Raju drew the ire of caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) when he asked, "Specifically, what are you asking for?"

"Waste, fraud, and abuse! I don't understand —" Harris began, and Raju repeated his question asking for specifics.

"We're demanding that waste, fraud and abuse be addressed in Medicaid. It's inadequately addressed in the current bill. And we believe that as much of the 'Green New Scam' should be eliminated as is possible," Harris said, referring to the "Green New Deal" programs designed to address climate change.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

"Let me address the goalpost nonsense," Harris said, referencing a reporter's assertion that Freedom Caucus members approved a version of the bill months ago and were "moving the goalpost" regarding their demands.

"We are working within the goalposts!" Harris asserted, as the reporter repeated that the caucus recently voted in favor.

"Excuse me, can I answer the question?" Harris interrupted the reporter. "Or you just want to filibuster?"

"You can talk. You can talk. I'm just asking," the reporter said.

"No, no, no, you're filibustering! We're working within the goalposts. We're not saying we need to move the amount of cuts up — because, goodness knows, we moved the amount of spending yesterday with the SALT agreement," Harris said regarding the State and Local Tax agreement.

"We're saying, 'Work within the goalposts, rearrange it within the goalposts, in accordance with what the president wants. End waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, which is wasting dollars that should be spent on the truly vulnerable, and then end as much of the Green New Scam as possible."

Harris did not go into detail on what he defined as "waste, fraud, and abuse" in Medicaid.

Watch the clip below via CNN or click here.

Republican yells at Raw Story when asked about clash between ex-Gov. Larry Hogan and Trump

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan has drawn ire from former President Donald Trump's campaign after he said Americans should respect the guilty verdict against the former president.

But one lawmaker is calling any hints of a feud between Hogan and Trump fake news, despite the fact that Trump's allies have been openly attacking Hogan for days.

Among the critics have been the former president's own daughter-in-law.

"He doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point and, quite frankly, anybody in America," Lara Trump said on CNN.

“I think it’s ridiculous and I think anybody who’s not speaking up in the face of really something that should never again have seen the light of day at trial, that would never have been brought against any other person aside from Donald Trump, doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone,” she said.

Yet, when Raw Story pressed the only Republican in the Maryland delegation about the intra-party feud, he delivered a strong response.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) yelled when Raw Story mentioned the Trump team going after Hogan: "Trump did not go after Hogan!"

Raw Story explained again, "It was Lara Trump!"

"That's bulls--t!" Harris told Raw Story.

Harris alleged the story was "fake news." Ultimately, he proclaimed, the Republican Party and Lara Trump don't speak for Donald Trump.

However, it wasn't just Lara Trump who bashed Hogan, as Trump adviser Chris LaCivita called Hogan's comments campaign ending.

The conservative Washington Times has also revealed how "miffed" Senate Republicans were by Hogan's comments.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who is under consideration for Trump's vice presidential running mate, called Hogan's comments a "huge mistake" because GOP voters believe the charges against Trump are political.

“Larry’s running in a blue state. He obviously is going to run a different campaign than I would run or other folks run,” Vance told the Times. “But look, when he says things that alienate the majority of Republicans and the gross majority of Republicans, I think it’s totally reasonable to criticize him. I still hope he wins.”

Vance also said it was politically foolish.

“I don’t know what person in the state of Maryland is open to voting for Larry Hogan but is really going to be persuaded because he endorsed what I think is frankly a sham prosecution,” he said. “I don’t think anybody. I think a lot of Republicans are going to be turned off by that.”

Montana Republican Steve Daines implied Hogan was only taking the position for political reasons to get elected.

“President Trump has his race to run,” Daines told the Times. “Larry Hogan has his race to run.”

Maryland colleague Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) told Raw Story that he remembered telling Hogan he would support him in a presidential run against Trump.

"But look, Trump has turned the party of President Lincoln into a cult of authoritarian personality," Raskin explained. "And Hogan should have nothing to do with them, but if he were to be elected as a Republican, which is how he's running of course, then he'd be another brick in the wall of GOP support for the MAGA leadership."

Raskin told Raw Story that the Republican Party now demands "absolute conformity and obedience to the cult of Trump. And that's why they had to smack him down after making the very simple and uncontroversial point that people should respect the law. And Hogan has gone quiet since then."

"If he really wants to take on Trump, he should be saying, 'There's no reason he should be leading the Republican Party. And that the Republican Party should be working to remove a convicted felon as their perspective nominee,'" Raskin proposed.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, another Maryland Democrat, said that Hogan is trying to use this kind of strategy to pivot to the center after winning a Republican primary.

"The problem he's got, though, is he really can't do it at this point," Ivey told Raw Story.

"He's chosen to be on that team," he added of Hogan and the GOP. "That team is dominated by Donald Trump. And all the chaos that goes with that — he's stuck with it.

Hogan will face Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in November.

House Republican giggles over Hitler praise — and admits he never listens to Trump

WASHINGTON — A Republican House representative burst into laughter Tuesday when a Raw Story reporter asked him to comment on former President Donald Trump's remarks praising autocrats that included Adolf Hitler.

"You guys still paying attention to what Trump says?" Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said with a giggle. "Oh my God ... journalists never learn."

Harris, a Freedom Caucus member whose ties to Trump include attendance at a meeting in 2020 to discuss keeping the former president in the White House, admitted that he does not listen to the words that come out of the leading Republican presidential candidate's mouth.

"You guys don't listen to Trump?" Raw Story asked.

"No, of course not!" Harris said. "You look at what he does, not what he says."

Harris' assertion comes as the release of a new book — "The Return of Great Powers" by CNN's John Sciutto — details warnings from former Trump advisers over their onetime boss' admiration for autocrats.

“He likes dealing with other big guys, and big guys like Erdogan in Turkey get to put people in jail and you don’t have to ask anybody’s permission,” John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under Trump, told Sciutto. "He kind of likes that.”

Retired Marines General John Kelly told Sciutto he convinced Trump to stop praising the Nazi leader who masterminded the Holocaust by arguing Italian's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was "a great guy in comparison.”

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"Hitler did some good things," Trump said, according to Kelly. "[Hitler] rebuilt the economy."

This prompted Kelly to note what Hitler did with that thriving economy: "He turned it against his own people and against the world.

"I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.'"

News of this exchange came as a surprise to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who told Raw Story he "didn't know anything about" Trump's professed admiration for strong men leaders and added, "That's crazy."

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) came to Trump's defense, telling Raw Story he believed Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin was simply respect for an intelligent adversary.

"Somebody could be dastardly ... but they could still be smart," Meuser said. But he added, "I'm not going to get into Hitler."

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) echoed Meuser's adversary argument and accused Kelly of stirring up a fuss because he did not have a war to fight.

"All these old generals, retire, go home, enough is enough," Nehls said. "Oh come on. Praising Hitler? They take that all out of context."

All posts tagged "andy harris"

'Can I answer the question?' Tempers flare during far-right lawmakers' presser

Republican yells at Raw Story when asked about clash between ex-Gov. Larry Hogan and Trump

House Republican giggles over Hitler praise — and admits he never listens to Trump

GOP rep.: Slashing food stamps by $40 billion means 'more money' for the hungry

'Gasland' filmmaker accuses House panel of 'thuggery'