Page 1473 - Threshold News Today

Performance in confirmation hearings may earn support to clear the 60 vote threshold and put him on the bench. npr legal affairs correspondent joins me now. such a pleasure to have you and i want to get right into the questions here. as we talk about the democrats who are already publically against him, what are they taking from the hearings to try to sell on the senate floor? >> well, their argument is essentially you denied our nominee to the supreme court who president obama picked for almost...

There are other things you are going to hear about. the president likes to talk about jobs where he wants to get the supreme court bill. keep an eye on the confirmation battle for judge neil gorsuch and democrats threatening to even filibuster the confirmation and thats leaving some to wonder about the so-called nuclear option. hear what president trump said about that back in february. >> we had the same gridlock we have had in washington for longer than eight years a lot longer than eight year...

Court. and i want you to listen to chuck schumer, the democratic leader there in the senate. >> i say if this nominee cannot earn 60 votes, a bar met by each of president obamas nominees and george bushs last two nominees, the answer is not to change the rules. its to change the nominee. >> when you lower that threshold from 60 members to 51 members, what is your assessment of the type of nominees we will see after that change comes along? >> i dont know the nominees will be different. its obvio...

Columnist at the hil and wll go lads first with you, caitlin. why didnt they do that before the bill failed? why didnt they get the democrats onboard, the moderate ones? >> right. its important to note that republicans planned to do it this way in order not to have to reach out to democrats. they wanted to do obamacare repeal and replace through this reconciliation process which means they wouldnt have to have that 60-vote threshold ultimately in the senate, so they never planned to reach out to...

The possible unmasking of trumpp transition team members by u.s. intelligence agencies. >> these reports that he read,p for the most part, are valuable intelligence. however, i think there are questions in those reports that i wonder if it does reach that threshold of foreign intelligence, and then you a hae to wonder, why were names unmasked? >> not a full validation or vindication of the president. not a partial validation of the president. a zero validation of the president.. even if you acce...

Baseball stuff, what that would do is ultimately reduce the threshold to move forward on confirmation vote from 60 to 51. it is fair to say that would be a risky proposition for both parties because while the gop is in control now, what happens if the democrats wrest control of the senate in a couple years? and that is what makes it risky. >> just because the healthcare bill didnt go through doesnt mean there is not a shortage of news. thank you so much. after a chaotic week on capitol hill, at ...

Within the house intelligence committee. today, chairman definiteness and ranking member adam schiff escalated the war of words over the possible unmasking of trump transition team members by u.s. intelligence agencies. >> these reports that he read, for the most part, our valuable intelligence. however, i think there are questions in those reports that i wonder if it does reach that threshold of foreign intelligence, and then you have to wonder, why were names unmasked? not a full validation or...

There are other things you are going to hear about. the president likes to talk about jobs where he wants to get the supreme court bill. keep an eye on the confirmation battle for judge neil gorsuch and democrats threatening to even filibuster the confirmation and thats leaving some to wonder about the so-called nuclear option. hear what president trump said about that back in february. >> we had the same gridlock we have had in washington for longer than eight years a lot longer than eight year...

Or the president who put his name forward. >> so the nuclear option has been mentioned. how likely is it that senator mcconnell is going to invoke it and will they just get the dems back for harry reids nuclear option back in 2013? >> i think there are a lot of wad abbad feelings on both side after what the republicans did to merrick garland who didnt get as much as a hearing. whether or not mitch mcconnell decides to blow up the fi filibust filibuster, which is different than the lower federal ...

Occasion. just because they ahead meelgts doesnt mean its illegal. >> so its possible for what youre saying is its possible for members of donald trumps campaign team to have had meetings to have interacted with russians they know if you like and for that not have been illegal? where is the threshold in your view? >> that is a great question. look, i can speak for myself. in my case, it took the russians almost two two years syears to they specifically asked knee colleme to collect information o...