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‘Extreme position’: Democrats hit back as MTG blasts alliance with Mike Johnson



WASHINGTON — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Tom Massie (R-KY) announced on Wednesday from the U.S. Capitol that they will continue to file a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from his post.

Massie told reporters that Johnson aligned himself with Democratic votes on the omnibus spending bill, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization, and the national security bill that funded Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan military aid.

He and Greene characterized them as the three "betrayals" to the GOP.

The votes passed with overwhelming support from Democrats along with several Republicans.

"He is a lost ball in tall weeds. ... He's in over his head," Massie said about Johnson, according to Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News.

Johnson was voted in after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed by members of his own party. Before Johnson was chosen, nearly 20 votes were cast for other candidates for the new speaker.

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA) told Raw Story she wasn't aware of the know what the intention of the far-right flank of the House Republicans.

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She disputed Greene's claim that the Democrats were a "uniparty" united with Johnson after her party's leaders declared Tuesday that they would vote to table any motion to remove him from Greene.

"We are not a party that is endorsing Donald Trump; that is moved to the most extreme position in opposition to what the American people want us to do here," said Clark. "So, our goal here is to get back to governing. And this particular motion to vacate — we will table. But that is not a statement of unity with anything this House GOP is doing."

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) agreed, saying that Democrats were certainly not aligned with the MAGA Republicans.

"Donald Trump Republicans campaign on overturning Roe v. Wade. Republicans overturn Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump bragged about it," Lieu told Raw Story as a way of contrasting the two parties.

He explained that if the Democrats flip the House and keep the Senate, they will pass legislation that would codify reproductive healthcare rights in American law.

"So, the two parties are clearly not the same," Lieu continued. "Marjorie Taylor Greene can make up whatever she wants. But to say that somehow the two parties are the same is factually wrong."

He agreed with Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), who said that the caucus would vote to table the motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) confirmed that it likely "won't take that many Democrats" to table the motion and ultimately save Johnson.

"Do we want to wait another three weeks, maybe a month, to find another speaker? Who the hell is that going to be?" she said to Raw Story.

"I don't think anyone wants it. I don't think there are the votes for it," she continued. "So, we'll have another period of completely dysfunctional government."

‘Can’t look weak’: Expert says Trump lawyer stuck between a ‘crazy’ rock and a hard place



Former president Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche is stuck between a rock and a hard place in the form of a "crazy, unreasonable client," according to former federal prosecutor Harry Litman.

Litman's analysis Tuesday came on the heels of proceedings in the criminal hush money trial that saw Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Trump's lawyers debating whether the former president had violated his gag order.

Trump's lawyer, Blanche, was ridiculed by legal experts who said he failed to craft an argument without case law to back it up.

"I don't have any cases," Blanche said in court. "It's just common sense."

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"You're losing all credibility," Judge Juan Merchan replied.

"Hard to maintain with a straight face," former prosecutor Joyce Vance said of the battle between Blanche and the judge.

CNN's legal analyst called it an outright "disaster," because it went so poorly for Trump.

According to Litman, this exchange put Trump's lawyer in difficult position.

"Blanche needs badly to work hard to regain Merchan's trust, but he's between a rock and a hard place," Litman said. "He can't look weak in front of his crazy, unreasonable client."

Trump's former impeachment attorney, Robert Ray, tried to downplay the exchange, saying he's had judges say things like that to him before.

Speaking to MSNBC Tuesday, Ray explained that Blanche likely conveyed "he wouldn't be so easily intimidated."

Former Brooklyn prosecutor Charles Coleman disagreed, saying that running afoul of the judge this early in the trial was a problem.

"That was the most explosive," he told Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday afternoon. "That is — for as accomplished an attorney as Todd Blanche is, I don't understand the argument he made. To have a judge tell you that you are losing credibility this early in a trial is really, really dangerous ground to operate on."

Even teenagers were ridiculing Blanche. Two students came to court to observe the trial, including one 14-year-old who thought the exchange between Merchan and Blanche was "funny."

"When the defense attorney was basically annihilated by the judge," said Hope Harrington outside the courthouse. "It was — it really made my day. It was really funny. He had no evidence whatsoever."