All posts tagged "john thune"

'Incredibly hostile' GOP senators hammer Todd Blanche in closed-door meeting: report

A meeting between Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Senate Republicans Thursday went disastrously, according to reports.

The meeting was held to discuss Trump's $1.7 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. People familiar with what happened behind closed doors called it a "s---show", according to a Semafor reporter.

Mediaite noted that Republican lawmakers have been worried "as administration officials refuse to promise that the cash will be withheld from violent rioters who assaulted law enforcement officers on January 6."

According to a post by Andrew Desiderio, a senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, the meeting with Blanche lasted nearly two hours, and "was incredibly hostile, per multiple attendees."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) "confronted Acting AG Blanche about the weaponization fund at the Senate GOP meeting today," Semafor's Burgess Everett wrote on X. "Being described as a 's---show' per people familiar."

In a post by Spectrum News' Reuben Jones, Tillis described the fund as "stupid on stilts" and "tyranny."

CNN's Manu Raju reported that "Blanche is facing stiff resistance" and Republicans "also warn that a major immigration enforcement/reconcilation [sic] bill they want to pass could be derailed with the issue hovering."

"Am told most senators voiced opposition to the fund," Raju added. "Hardly any came to its defense. Lot of unhappy Rs about the $1.8B fund."

According to Desiderio, "all" GOP senators spoke "in opposition to weaponization fund."

GOP senator admits Trump's new scheme 'doesn't pass the smell test'

A GOP senator said on Wednesday that Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund "doesn't pass the smell test."

Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) appeared on CNN to react to Trump's fund, created as part of a lawsuit settlement with the IRS. Anchor Dana Bash noted that Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he's "not a big fan" of the $1.8 billion fund, which critics expect will benefit Trump allies.

"My first reaction was, 'This doesn't pass the smell test,'" Curtis said. "That said, I'm willing to learn more about it and its intent."

Curtis said he expects to see "a lot of bipartisan questioning of whether this is a good idea," but he refused to say whether he would block it.

"I have to know more about what it is," Curtis repeated. "But my initial reaction is, look, from all outward appearances, this doesn't pass the smell test."

Blindsided Republicans panic that Trump just cost them the Senate: report

Republicans are worried that Trump's latest endorsement will cost them control of the Senate, according to a new report.

A Republican familiar with Texas politics told NOTUS that Trump's endorsement of the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton could cost the GOP its Senate majority in the upcoming midterms, according to a report.

Trump endorsed Paxton on Tuesday instead of Sen. John Cornyn ahead of the Texas runoff for the Republican Senate nomination.

"As late as Monday afternoon, Senate leaders believed Trump was going to stay out of the race," a source told NOTUS. "Especially with the runoff just a week away."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Tuesday it would be harder to win the Senate seat with Paxton as the nominee, according to NOTUS.

"I think Paxton can win, yeah, but I think it'd be three times more expensive," Graham said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) agreed, telling reporters, "We've got to raise a lot more money now," and that the endorsement "complicates" the GOP's effort to keep its Senate majority.

"The fact that the president would choose to endorse not Sen. Cornyn, but a candidate who probably is going to struggle mightily in the general, is a problem," Murkowski added, according to NOTUS.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had been trying "to sway Trump toward endorsing Cornyn or, at the very least, staying out of the race," an aide told NOTUS.

Trump told Thune in a phone call on Monday that "he was planning on endorsing Paxton but stopped short of saying it outright," a senior Republican aide said to NOTUS. "Thune left the conversation with little clarity about what Trump would do."

'Take the hint': Senate GOP leaders openly hope Trump shuts up about vulnerable Republican

Senate GOP leaders are hoping that Trump will stop badmouthing a Republican they need to keep a majority, according to a new report.

Punchbowl News reported on Friday that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) had kind words for Vice President JD Vance, and GOP leaders hope it's a sign the White House won't attack her.

"Collins is the only Republican who can win in a state as unique as Maine," Punchbowl News noted. "A Democratic victory here in November would bring Republicans dangerously close to losing the majority."

Trump has raged against Collins for breaking with her party. Still, GOP leaders continue to see her as "largely a team player," and are hoping "the president would take the hint and resist his urge to slam Collins," Punchbowl News added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has also "given wide latitude" to Collins to break from the party.

Collins, 73, is seeking a sixth term in November and faces a competitive race that could determine which party controls the Senate. Maine is the only state with a Republican incumbent that Vice President Kamala Harris carried in 2024, and Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-up" in October.

Collins is now expected to face Graham Platner, a combat veteran turned oyster farmer endorsed by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, after Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign on April 30, citing fundraising shortfalls. Recent polls had shown Platner leading Mills by double digits before her exit.

'Significant blow': Senate rules referee blows up key piece of Trump's immigration plan

Republicans were dealt a severe setback as the top Senate rule keeper called foul on an immigration enforcement funding package.

Migrant Insider reported that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough "delivered a significant blow" by stopping the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol reconciliation package, which Republican senators have been pushing as the second step to fully fund immigration enforcement after the months-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown ended.

"MacDonough advised Wednesday that multiple sections of the package are subject to a sixty-vote point of order under the Byrd Rule," according to Migrant Insider, adding that the move is "effectively killing them under a process designed to require only a simple majority."

The parliamentarian wrote that the money for Border Patrol proposed in the reconciliation package "inappropriately funds" non-Homeland Security activities.

"Republicans tried to use the Homeland Security Committee's reconciliation lane to pay for programs that belong in other committees," Migrant Insider explained. "The parliamentarian called the bluff."

According to Migrant Insider, MacDonough also determined that rather than a simple majority, a sixty-vote threshold will be needed to pass $71.7 billion in proposed new spending, which was "the core architecture" of funding for Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of Border Patrol.

Another $2.5 billion meant for the Department of Homeland Security was also found to conflict with legal frameworks for dealing with migrant children.

Migrant Insider noted that now Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the Budget Committee chair, will have to "redraft and abandon the stripped provisions" before going to a floor vote.

Turning Point USA puts John Thune on notice after red state primary purge

Turning Point USA, the conservative political group, is threatening to deploy its campaign tactics against Trump's GOP enemies in other red states after a recent victory.

“[A lot of Republicans] will lose their jobs if they don’t get on board, they don’t listen to their voters, if they don’t do the right thing and fight the manipulation of the Democrats,” Tyler Bowyer, the Chief Operating Officer of TPUSA Action, told the Daily Caller in a Wednesday article.

Bowyer's warning comes after an election on Tuesday where TPUSA Action helped Trump oust five Indiana GOP lawmakers who opposed his demand to redistrict the state, the Caller noted.

"Now, TPUSA Action tells the Daily Caller that their work isn't done," according to the article. In particular, TPUSA and Trump have Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in their crosshairs.

"Guys like Thune should be on watch, that aren’t getting the will of the people done with the SAVE America Act," Bowyer told the Caller, referring to the bill Republicans are pushing in the Senate to require proof of U.S. citizenship and a photo ID to vote in federal elections.

Bowyer added that red states not willing to get on board with the Trump agenda, " particularly in the South after the Supreme Court ruling, should be on watch." Along with Thune, “those are the two biggest targets here on who might be next."

According to the Caller, “dozens and dozens” of TPUSA staff were deployed to Indiana ahead of the primaries. "The organization worked with Scott Presler, a popular conservative influencer known for chasing ballots, to barnstorm the state and get Republican voters out to the polls," the Caller added, bringing up that Trump and his allies spent $10 million to boot the Indiana lawmakers who rejected his redistricting demands.

'Nuclear' scenario looms as 'cataclysmic' change to Senate rules mulled: report

Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-SD) resistance to eliminating the filibuster is eroding as prominent Republicans who once defended the 60-vote threshold reverse course, signaling deepening fractures within GOP ranks over the Senate's most consequential procedural rule.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who warned in 2021 that scrapping the filibuster "would be bad for the Senate and bad for the country," reversed his position last month after the Republicans' voting bill stalled in the chamber, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), another former filibuster defender, now supports ending it.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured Thune to eliminate the rule that currently allows Democrats to block much of his legislative agenda, reported the Washington Post.

"Changing Senate rules without the consent of the minority party is considered so cataclysmal that it is known as the 'nuclear option,' although both parties have done it," the Post reported. "Democrats scrapped the filibuster for confirming most presidential nominees in 2013; Republicans did the same for nominees to the Supreme Court four years later, allowing Trump to put three justices on the court even though none of them won 60 votes."

"The consequences of doing away with the filibuster entirely would be enormous," the report added.

But Democrats have also reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with the 60-vote requirement.

"The Senate has reached the point that the 60-vote requirement has really shut down most of our legislative activity," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

A recent Republican maneuver to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without Democratic support using budget reconciliation has accelerated concerns about the rule's future.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned that Republican tactics are "just putting us on a path to 50 votes." If Democrats regain Senate control, they could pursue voting rights legislation, restore abortion access or pursue other priorities currently blocked by the filibuster.

Thune has pledged to preserve the filibuster while serving as majority leader, and dismantling it would require broad GOP consensus that currently doesn't exist. However, Republicans have already begun eroding the threshold through alternative methods, including aggressive use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn agency actions.

Some Republicans expressed concern about the trajectory. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) warned that circumventing the appropriations process "erodes what's been successful for 250 years."

Both parties have previously invoked the "nuclear option" in the recent past. Democrats eliminated the filibuster for most presidential nominees in 2013; Republicans did the same for Supreme Court nominees in 2017.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, argued the filibuster's preservation prevented worse outcomes. "If we didn't have the 60-vote requirement, we'd have the Save Act or something worse," he said, referencing Republican voting legislation and potential abortion restrictions.

MAGA loyalists tear into 'loser' GOP Sen. for press gala shooting remarks: 'A disgrace'

MAGA slammed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Monday over his remarks after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding standoff in Congress.

GOP leaders were under pressure to end the ongoing stalemate as DHS employees, including Secret Service members who protected Trump, his cabinet, and the hundreds of politicians, diplomats, and journalists, on Saturday night, prepared to go without a paycheck, CNN reported.

"It is difficult to believe that this is the third time, the third time, President Trump has faced an assassination attempt... I am thankful for the many law enforcement officers who responded, in particular those who secured the shooter before he could harm the president or anyone else at the event," Thune said. "Incredibly, some of the law enforcement officers who responded are working for a department that is currently completely unfunded thanks to Democrats' refusal to negotiate on an Appropriations Bill."

MAGA loyalists started to turn on Thune via social media:

"Why have you allowed the good men and women of the Secret Service—who put their lives on the line for the President, his family, and his staff—to go without a paycheck for more than 70 days? This is inexcusable," attorney and former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Mike Davis, wrote on X.

"Someone came out of his coma," wrote user TamAZ, who self-describes as "America First," wrote on X.

"It is past time for you to be removed as leader. You are part of the resistance, working against the American people. What a disgrace," user Richard Turner, who shares MAGA and right-wing content, wrote on X.

"Thune was too busy sabotaging President Trump and the American people to address another assassination attempt? Thune is not a 'leader' he is a loser. Thune can f--- all the way off," user CC, who self-describes as "original MAGA," wrote on X.

"You did this!" Dr. J Brown, who self-describes as an farmer "behind the blue curtain" and "ultra MAGA," wrote on X.

Why have you allowed the good men and women of the Secret Service—who put their lives on the line for the President, his family, and his staff—to go without a paycheck for more than 70 days?

This is inexcusable. https://t.co/g7Mitqym8E
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) April 27, 2026

Senate Republican holds Coast Guard promotions hostage to force Trump admin's hand

A Senate Republican refused to get on board with a vote to approve hundreds of Coast Guard promotions as a way to force the Trump administration to resolve an issue with an anonymous Florida shipbuilder.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida blocked a vote on Tuesday that would immediately approve the promotion of a tranche of Coast Guard personnel, Politico reported. Votes on a package of personnel promotions usually pass with little fuss or opposition, Politico noted. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters a day earlier that the promotions were a priority for the Trump administration.

“Since Trump came into office [I've been talking] about trying to resolve an issue they have with a boat builder in Florida. And they … won’t put the time in to get a result,” Scott said in an interview. "You have to get this resolved."

Scott, a Navy veteran, avoided specifics about the issue or which shipbuilder was in question. Politico reported Scott has had friendly connections to the Eastern Shipbuilding Group, based in Panama City, Florida, going back to his days as the governor of the Sunshine State.

The Eastern Shipbuilding Group had a $10 billion contract to build cutters, or fast patrol boats, for the Coast Guard dating back to 2016. ESG stopped work on those cutters in November because it was losing money, U.S. Naval Institute News reported. The Department of Homeland Security sank plans to build two of those cutters in July, calling the company "slow to deliver" and the contract "wasteful." In 2016, Scott congratulated the company as an "underdog shipbuilder" that would "grow jobs," local media reported at the time.

According to Politico, an anonymous source said that Scott's decision to block the promotions was related to the stalled cooperation with ESG.

Trump claims GOP 'unified' on plan to bypass Dems on ICE funding: 'I will sign an order'

President Donald Trump thanked Republican congressional leaders for standing down on the funding bill that would have ended the partial government shutdown — instead moving away from the bipartisan legislation and extending the ongoing stalemate.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune had agreed on Wednesday to move forward with the bill but had reversed their decision by early Thursday. Now, Republicans have rejected the Senate’s bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, according to The New York Times.

He wrote the following on his Truth Social platform:

"Thank you to all of our Great Congressional Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Leader John Thune, for their work this week. Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers. Because the Democrats are fully and 100% committed to the Radical Left Policy of Open Borders and Zero Immigration Enforcement (which will hopefully cost them dearly in the Midterms!), allowing Murderers and Criminals of all types into our Country, totally unchecked and unvetted, I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long at the hands of the Extreme Liberal 'Leaders,' Cryin’ Chuck Schumer and Hakeem 'High Tax' Jeffries. Nevertheless, help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"