Congress
‘Dodging your question’: Bennet stops short of calling on Schumer to resign — but invokes the Biden fight
Michael Bennet stopped short of calling for Chuck Schumer to step aside as Senate Democrats’ leader — though he pointedly compared the situation to the party’s internal strife over then-President Joe Biden serving as the party’s nominee last summer.
“On the leadership question, it’s always better to examine whether folks are in the right place, and we’re certainly going to have that conversation,” the Coloradoan said in a town hall in Golden, Colorado, Wednesday evening.
Bennet sidestepped a question about whether he would call for Schumer to step down, referencing the end of Biden’s disastrous 2024 election bid where the president ultimately stepped aside after growing agitation from other elected Democrats.
“In dodging your question, let me just say: It’s important for people to know when it’s time to go, and I think in the case of Joe Biden, and we’re going to have conversations I’m sure in the foreseeable future, about all the Democratic leadership,” he said.
Bennet’s statement comes almost a week after Schumer backed a GOP funding bill that most of his caucus voted against.
Bennet — a one-time 2020 presidential candidate — was one of the earliest Senate Democrats to publicly grapple with Biden’s position at the top of the ticket in 2024. He has publicly expressed interest in a potential run for Colorado governor next year.
Schumer has since faced intense scrutiny from his party — and particularly members of the House — but has repeatedly contended the move was necessary to stave off a government shutdown that he believes would have allowed President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to accelerate their crusade to hollow out federal agencies.
That, he has said, could also shunt critical public services like food benefits or mass transit funding.
“I’m a smart politician, I can read what people want,” Schumer told BLN’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday night. But Republicans, he continued, put forward a “terrible, terrible, bill,” and a shutdown would have been “so much worse.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said at a town hall earlier this week that Schumer “was wrong,” WBUR reported, but otherwise did not address if he should remain leader.
Much of this resentment is concentrated among House Democrats, who were largely united in voting against the GOP bill. Senate Democrats have largely held their tongues.
Earlier this week, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a longtime partner of Schumer’s — added to the fire, saying, “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing. … I think that’s what happened the other day.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expected choice for Army chief of staff faces resistance that could imperil his confirmation, according to the chair of the panel that needs to approve it.
Senate Armed Services head Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Wednesday that he was aware of “some opposition within the committee” to acting Army chief of staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve taking the job on a permanent basis.
LaNeve, previously Hegseth’s senior military aide, was confirmed as Army vice chief of staff in January. But he has also served as acting chief of staff since April when Hegseth forced out popular Gen. Randy George, a move that drew widespread criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
Wicker said he was “not able to predict right now” if lawmakers could address concerns about LaNeve. He did not specify whether the concerns were raised by Republicans, but GOP resistance is likely given that nominees could advance through the committee on a party-line vote.
LaNeve has only held the position of four-star general for six months, an anomaly for the the senior most Army officer.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about Republican opposition to LaNeve, citing Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) concerns about his lack of experience at the four-star rank.
Ernst, in an interview, did not dispute that she was the source of the holdup. But she called it a moot point as President Donald Trump has not yet formally nominated LaNeve to the position. And she disputed reports that LaNeve’s lack of experience was the sticking point.
“I don’t think that time and grade has anything to do with leadership ability, so I don’t know how that came about, honestly.” she said. “That’s not what I’ve told anyone.”
If the opposition continues, Trump could decide to leave LeNeve in the acting position indefinitely.
Rep. Max Miller’s Democratic opponent doesn’t want to make his campaign about Miller, even as attention grows on the abuse allegations against the Ohio congressman.
“I’m not necessarily running against Max Miller,” ironworker Brian Poindexter said in a Wednesday phone interview. “I’m running for working families.”
“Are there more eyes on our campaign because of Max Miller? Sure,” he said. “But we’re welcoming people in. Republicans, Democrats, independents are all uniting around the fact that working families are just not making it, and they want to see real change.”
Miller is facing claims of abuse from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. Miller has denied any wrongdoing, including accusations that he poured hot water on Emily Moreno and held a gun to her head.
While it might be obvious for a challenger to amplify those claims, which have generated a media firestorm around Miller and his flagging campaign, Poindexter said he isn’t interested in doing so.
He insists that the allegations have not “changed the thing that we’re doing — we’re continuing to build bridges with people who have abandoned the Democratic Party.”
“Our message stays the same,” he said. “Obviously the allegations against Max Miller are very credible and very outrageous. … If they prove to be true, he should be in jail.”
But rather than continue to hammer Miller over the claims, Poindexter hit the congressman for rarely showing up to community events. Miller’s constituents, he said, “are happy to see somebody actually putting in the work.”
A spokesperson for Miller did not respond to a request for comment.
Pressed whether Miller should resign or drop out of the race absent a clear verdict from the courts or House Ethics Committee, which opened an investigation into Miller on Tuesday, Poindexter said he would not “presume to say what he should do or shouldn’t do.”
“What I’m just going to do is continue to run for the hardworking people of District 7. They need somebody who’s willing to fight for them, and I’m willing to fight to make sure that their lives are improved.”
The White House is leaning on Miller to withdraw his reelection bid, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. Miller confirmed Tuesday on CNN that President Donald Trump called him this week to say he was facing a “tough race.”
Miller would have to withdraw by the end of the week to allow for party officials to put a new name on the ballot.
Asked whether he’d like to see Miller stay in the race so that he could face a weakened candidate — as opposed to whomever GOP party brass would seek to elevate — Poindexter said, “I didn’t get into this race for an easy path.”
“I got into this race to fight for working people, and I don’t care who is on the ballot,” he said, “whether it’s Max Miller or anybody else.”
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