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GOP scrambles to kill Venezuela war powers resolution

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Senate GOP leaders are working overtime to quash a resolution requiring President Donald Trump to come to Congress before taking additional military action in Venezuela. They don’t yet know if they have the votes.

Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday they are in conversations with rank-and-file GOP members, five of whom voted with Democrats to advance the measure last week. The administration has offered “assurances,” he said, including by stating there are no U.S. troops currently in Venezuela and no plan to send them in.

“These are consequential, big decisions and people want to feel like they’re honoring their obligations to the people that they represent and their own views on some of these issues,” Thune said..

Senate Republicans are discussing a procedural off-ramp by turning off the “privilege” of the resolution. Under that strategy, senators would be asked to concur in a point of order that the resolution should not be subject to a simple-majority vote since there are no ongoing hostilities.

One of the five, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, told reporters Wednesday that he would support that proposal if it is offered, pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s pledge to abide by notification procedures if the administration sends in troops.

Besides Hawley, GOP leaders would need to win one more of the four remaining Republicans who previously voted to advance the resolution.

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Congress

Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler called to testify in House Oversight’s Epstein investigation

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is requesting that Kathryn Ruemmler, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama and the exiting top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, speak with investigators about her relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Ruemmler will soon resign from Goldman Sachs amid the mounting scrutiny over her close relationship with Epstein. Material released by the Justice Department revealed that Epstein called her when he was arrested for sex crimes.

“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” said Oversight Chair James Comer in a letter to Ruemmler obtained by Blue Light News.

He requested that she appear for a transcribed interview on the morning of April 21, but that date could be subject to change.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler, through a spokesperson, has said she regrets knowing Epstein. She has not been charged with any misconduct.

The letter was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Ruemmler is one of a number of powerful public figures in the U.S. who has faced consequences for their relationships with Epstein.

Brad Karp, the former chair of the legal giant Paul Weiss, left his post atop the firm amid the fallout over his communications with Epstein.

Earlier Tuesday, Comer announced Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to speak with his panel after correspondence released by DOJ showed that Lutnick maintained ties to Epstein following the disgraced financier’s 2008 sex crime conviction.

Lutnick has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

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Trump takes aim at banks over crypto bill talks

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the banking industry of holding up landmark cryptocurrency legislation, writing on social media that Wall Street firms “need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry” to unstick a pending digital asset bill in the Senate.

His post comes as White House officials are working to resolve a lobbying spat between the banking and crypto sectors over whether digital asset exchanges should be able to offer rewards programs that pay yield to users who hold dollar-pegged digital tokens known as stablecoins. The dispute has stalled pending crypto market structure legislation in the Senate.

“The Banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda that will end up going to China, and other Countries if we don’t get The Clarity Act taken care of,” he said, referring to the market structure bill, which would establish a new regulatory framework favorable to crypto companies.

Trump’s post is a win for the crypto industry, which is fighting against a lobbying effort by the banking industry to bar any type of yield payments on stablecoins. He effectively sided with the crypto industry’s position, writing that “Americans should earn more money on their money” — a line that crypto executives have used to argue in favor of their rewards programs. Banks warn that allowing consumers to earn yield on stablecoins could spark deposit flight from traditional financial institutions and threaten lending.

Despite Trump’s new position, the stalled market structure bill likely still does not have the votes to advance in the Senate without a resolution to the stablecoin yield fight that banks are satisfied with.

The talks over the issue, which are being mediated by White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, have dragged on past an unofficial March 1 deadline by which administration officials hoped to resolve the dispute. The White House convened a series of meetings featuring representatives from the two industries, but an agreement has remained elusive.

“The U.S. needs to get Market Structure done, ASAP,” Trump wrote.

He also said a previously signed law dubbed the GENIUS Act, which created new rules for how stablecoins are regulated, “is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable — We are not going to allow it.”

The crypto industry “cannot be taken from the People of America when it is so close to becoming truly successful,” he wrote.

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House Ethics trial for Cherflius-McCormick postponed as lawmaker seeks new lawyer

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The House Ethics Committee has postponed its planned public trial for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — the Florida Democrat facing accusations that she stole millions in FEMA funding — to later this month.

A hearing of an adjudicatory subcommittee of the Ethics panel was pushed from this Thursday to March 26 after the lawmaker’s “counsel in the matter withdrew from representing her before the adjudicatory subcommittee,” according to a committee press release.

“Representative Cherfilus-McCormick asked for a brief continuance to allow her to retain new counsel,” the statement continued.

Lawmakers on the Ethics Committee, which adjudicates allegations of misconduct against House members and staff, were poised to meet to determine whether the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick have been proven by “clear and convincing evidence.” There, the committee’s counsel and Cherfilus-McCormick’s counsel could have made their respective cases.

It’s highly unusual for the panel to operate in the open, let alone convene a trial. The last time House Ethics met in such a capacity was in 2010 to consider the case of late-Rep. Charlie Rangel, a New York Democrat accused of a number of charges, including inappropriately soliciting funds and financial disclosure violations.

Rangel’s situation had parallels to that of Cherfilus-McCormick. At the time, Rangel was irate over the Ethics Committee’s handling of the matter, claiming he was denied due process because he could not hire a lawyer in time for the hearing. At one point, he threatened to exit the room and left.

“I don’t think it’s fair that I participate in any type of proceeding if in fact what you are basically telling me that the political calendar will not allow you enough … time to allow me to get a lawyer at this crucial point in my life,” Rangel said, alluding to the fact that the Ethics Committee was rushing to conclude its business before the end of the legislative session.

The panel nearly unanimously voted to censure Rangel for his conduct, which the House approved shortly afterward.

Cherfilus-McCormick, like Rangel, had previously asked for the proceedings against her to be delayed. Her then-lawyer argued that the Justice Department’s criminal proceedings necessitated a stay in the Ethics Committee’s work. The Florida Democrat cited, among other examples, former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose own case pending before House Ethics case was paused after a request from DOJ.

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