Comment on McConnell, the Senate’s decider, discovers the limits of his control

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Reacting for the first time to Donald Trump’s vow to order the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents, FBI Director Christopher Wray said he would not allow his agents to conduct any investigation that doesn’t comply with “our rules, our procedures, our best practices, our core values,” NBC News reports.

Wisconsin U. S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde (R) missed a line in the Pledge of Allegiance at a recent appearance, skipping “one nation, under God” and going right to “indivisible,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Politico: “If the opening week of Trump’s hush-money trial laid bare the courtroom’s constraints on Trump, no single 24-hour stretch demonstrated the extreme asymmetry of the unfolding campaign more than Tuesday. There was Biden making campaign stops with fawning supporters of abortion rights in Tampa, Florida, while Trump was sitting in a “freezing” Manhattan courtroom, with barely any supporters in sight.” Said Trump: “He’s out campaigning, and I’m here in the courtroom, sitting here, sitting up as straight as I can all day long.” He added: “It’s a very unfair situation.

There is a lot to dislike about Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has consistently held a high disapproval rating in his home state. However, most people would agree with two things McConnell has said. One of them was his speech just after Donald Trump whipped his lint-licking base of supporters into a frenzy to attack the Capitol.

Day 2 of the Donald Trump Election Interference Criminal Trial was a rocky one - for Donald Trump and his lawyers. It started off with the long awaited Gag Order Hearing where Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, got the legal equivalent of a tongue lashing that surely left bruises. A bit of the highlights, from both sides: Out of the gate. "Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn't stopped," prosecutor says, adding that Trump even did it on Monday in the halls of the courtroom. — Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) April 23, 2024 Lots of back and forth about posts and statements, but the prosecutors make it clear that they have Trump's number.