Democrats wrestle with how to conduct oversight as Trump officials crack down
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just hours after she pleaded not guilty to federal charges brought by the Trump administration, New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was surrounded by dozens of supportive Democratic colleagues in the halls of the Capitol. The case, they argued, strikes at the heart of congressional power.
'If they can break LaMonica, they can break the House of Representatives,' said New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
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Toronto Sun
2 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
McCAUGHEY: Hypocrites suddenly claim 'constitutional scruples' about war-making
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a stop in the Fighting the Oligarchy tour at the McAllen Performing Arts Center on Friday, June, 20, 2025, in McAllen, Texas. Photo by Joel Martinez / The Monitor via AP Even Americans who loathe President Donald Trump should be capable of seeing that the U.S. and the world are safer without a nuclear-capable Iran. But Trump derangement is blinding them. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Trump and the U.S. military recently executed a 'spectacularly successful' precision bombing of Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities with no American casualties and minimal impact on Iran's people. Now, Trump is being bombarded with attacks here at home. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called Trump's strike 'grossly unconstitutional,' a claim repeated by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has sparred with Trump on other issues, and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.). New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a chorus of Democrats are calling for Trump's impeachment. Even New York City's Democratic mayoral candidates — for whom Trump hatred is a litmus test — are piling on. Zohran Mamdani blasted Trump's 'unconstitutional military action' and Brad Lander slammed the president's 'reckless & unconstitutional strikes.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. These claims are crazy. Prior presidents, including Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, struck foreign targets without consulting Congress first and even waged hostilities for months at a time without authorization from Congress. No one called for their impeachment. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who defended Obama's military operations in Libya without congressional authorization when she was House minority leader, slammed Trump, saying he 'ignored the Constitution.' Call her the queen of hypocrisy. As for 'ignoring the Constitution,' that's simply false. Article II states 'The President shall be Commander in Chief.' Trump clearly acted within his Article II powers. True, Article I gives Congress power to declare war, but war hasn't been declared since the Second World War. Yet, the U.S. has waged at least 125 military operations since then. Declarations of war are an anachronism. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Constitution contains a built-in tension between the branches over when to deploy the military. Congress can exert its authority by refusing to fund ongoing military operations it opposes. Congress limited and finally cut off funding for combat in Vietnam, effectively ending the war in response to rising public discontent. Similarly, Congress used its power of the purse to curtail military operations in Angola, Nicaragua and Somalia in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. War weariness during the prolonged but undeclared Vietnam War led Congress to try to devise another method — the War Powers Resolution of 1973, designed to put guardrails around the president's conduct of military operations and guarantee Congress' involvement short of an actual declaration of war. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But the War Powers Resolution was controversial and ineffective from the minute it was enacted. Invoking it now, after 50 years of failure, is mere political theatre. Richard Nixon opposed what he called its 'dangerous and unconstitutional restrictions' on presidential authority and vetoed it, though Congress overrode his veto. Ronald Reagan also insisted that no mere act of Congress could legitimately narrow the military powers the Constitution grants presidents. Clinton waived off War Powers Resolution concerns, launching cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998. The following year, he defied the resolution to continue bombing in Kosovo. No one talked of impeachment — at least not for that. He was impeached for lovemaking, not making war. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fast-forward to Midnight Hammer, the code name for the strike obliterating Iran's nuclear facilities early on Sunday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom Trump briefed about the strike before it occurred, responded to the barrage of criticism, saying 'tonight's necessary, limited and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.' All true. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Massie, a frequent Trump critic, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are pushing a new resolution that would bar any further action against Iran without Congressional approval. Now that the mission has succeeded, let the debate begin. But let's be clear about what the debate is about. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is slamming Trump's attack, insisting that 'no president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war.' Schumer's comment distorts reality. Iran has been waging war against the U.S. for decades. Iran's leaders chant 'death to America.' Iranian proxies have attacked American oil tankers on the high seas, assassinated American troops at a U.S. military post in Jordan and plotted the assassination of Trump. All with impunity. Trump's strike against Iran's nuclear capabilities took the cudgel out of the ayatollah's hands. No matter how Iran responds, the threat will be less now that the bully has been de-nuked. Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and founder of SAVENYC NHL Columnists Columnists Toronto Raptors Toronto Maple Leafs
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Jannik Sinner won't say why he fired two team members right before Wimbledon
LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner confirmed that he recently fired two members of his team — fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio, who themselves were replacements for people involved in the player's doping case — but declined Saturday to explain the reason for the change ahead of Wimbledon. Sinner, who has been ranked No. 1 for more than a year, said that he decided shortly after losing in the second round of the grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, this month to make the change. Sinner has not yet found substitutes for Panichi and Badio, who both used to work with Novak Djokovic. 'Nothing seriously bad happened. They did great work for (the past) three months. Sometimes, things happen,' Sinner said at his pre-tournament news conference. 'The timing obviously isn't the best, but having done a lot of work (together) before, it won't affect this Grand Slam a lot. I feel well physically and mentally and ready to compete.' Play begins Monday at the All England Club, where Sinner was a quarterfinalist in 2024. He will play Luca Nardi in an all-Italian matchup on Tuesday. Last year, Sinner tested positive twice for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid in March; the case wasn't made public until August, shortly before the U.S. Open, which he ended up winning for the second of his three Grand Slam titles. He initially was completely cleared, based on the defense that he accidentally was exposed to the banned substance, Clostebol, via a massage from his then-physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. Sinner said his fitness trainer at the time, Umberto Ferrara, purchased a product in Italy and gave it to Naldi for a cut on Naldi's finger. Naldi then treated Sinner while not wearing gloves. The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the exoneration, and Sinner agreed to serve a three-month ban that ended right before the Italian Open in May. On Saturday, Sinner was asked repeatedly in English and Italian what led him to part ways with Panichi and Badio. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'There's not one specific thing,' Sinner said. He was the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open three weeks ago, wasting a two-set lead and three match points in a final that lasted 5 1/2 hours. As for adding new team members, Sinner said Saturday: 'I haven't thought about replacements. It's not the time to think about my options. But there are a lot of options.' ___ Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: More AP tennis:
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A hard-liner follows a fellow right-winger as head of Greece's migration and asylum ministry
Athens, Greece (AP) — A hard-right lawmaker has replaced a fellow right-winger and political heavyweight accused of fraud as migration and asylum minister in Greece's government, a government spokesman announced Saturday. Thanos Plevris, 48, is succeeding Makis Voridis, 60, who resigned Friday to defend himself against allegations that he was possibly involved in an organized fraud scheme to provide farm subsidies to undeserving recipients. The European Public Prosecutor's Office, which has investigated the case, passed on a hefty file to the Greek Parliament that includes allegations of possible involvement of government ministers. Members of Parliament enjoy immunity from prosecution in Greece that can only be lifted by parliamentary vote. In his resignation letter, Voridis denied acting illegally and said he is resigning to clear his name. He noted that during his tenure as agricultural development and foods minister from July 2019 and January 2021, he capped individual subsidies and launched a record number of investigations. His detractors say those very actions are proof that he was aware of the corrupt subsidies system and did nothing to reform it. On Friday, four other lawmakers, three of whom had formerly served as deputy ministers in the Agricultural Policy Ministry, as well as a current deputy minister, also resigned. Their replacements were also announced Saturday by government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, who added they will be sworn in Monday. No changes are expected to be seen in Greece's tough migration policy under Plevris who, like Voridis and current health minister Adonis Georgiadis, joined the conservative New Democracy in 2012, leaving the right-populist Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS. Before LAOS, Voridis had been the leader of the youth wing of the far-right National Political Union, appointed to the post by jailed former dictator George Papadopoulos. He had replaced Nikos Michaloliakos, who went on to found the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party and who is currently serving a prison term for leading what courts termed a 'criminal gang.' Voridis founded his own far-right party, Hellenic Front, and took part in several municipal and national elections between 1994 and 2004. In 2000, he allied himself with Plevris' father Konstantinos, a lawyer, far-right activist and self-styled 'proud fascist.' Voridis joined LAOS in 2006 and has been a lawmaker since 2007. Voridis is considered a political heavyweight and, if not for his far-right and sometimes violent past, he would have been considered a possible conservative leader, politicians and pundits agree. He now describes himself as an economic liberal and a 'non-extreme' nationalist.
