Republican, 91, feebly fires back after being 'offended' by Trump's deeply personal attacks on his character
Trump, 79, called Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, 91, 'weak and ineffective' in a post on his Truth Social media site Tuesday.
Trump laid out his frustrations in his Tuesday night post, writing that 'because of an ancient, and probably Unconstitutional, 'Custom,' that if you have, even one person in the opposite Party serving in the U.S. Senate, he/she must give consent, thereby completely stopping the opposite Party's Nomination.'
'The only way to beat this Hoax is to appoint a Democrat or, a weak and ineffective Republican,' Trump added.
The attack on Grassley was over an age-old custom of letting senators object to judicial nominees from their home jurisdictions using the 'blue slip.'
The president also argued that 'Senator Grassley must step up, like Crooked Joe Biden did, when he openly broke, at least two times, the 'Blue Slip' Scam, and like others have done over the years, and let our Great Republican Judges and U.S. Attorneys Be Confirmed.'
Grassley responded on at a Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday.
'Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the 'blue slip,' the Iowa Republican said.
'I was offended by what the President said, and I'm disappointed that it would result in personal insult,' Grassley continued.
Trump apparently saw the move by Grassley as an affront to his agenda.
Emphasizing how bad this made the GOP look in Trump's eyes, the president said that Grassley should give consent 'Immediately, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective.'
Nearly 150 of Trump's nominees have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, including the president's picks for diplomatic and judicial posts.
Trump has urged the Senate to finish the confirmations before they head back to their states for the month-long August recess break from business in Washington, D.C.
Earlier this week, Grassley posted on X that he was willing to stay in session in the Senate to move Trump's agenda along by getting the picks confirmed.
Known for his unique use of shorthand in social media posts, Grassley wrote on July 27th that, 'If Pres Trump asks us to not take august recess im w him. Democrats hv been slow walking nominations We hv to make up for their wasted time Trump needs his administration in place.'
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21 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
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Daily Mirror
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
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The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Texas redistricting standoff escalates with threat to arrest absent Democrats
Update: Date: 2025-08-05T12:13:13.000Z Title: Texas governor Greg Abbott has escalated the standoff over redrawing the state's congressional districts by threatening to arrest Democratic lawmakers who are', 'using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the move Content: Civil warrants issued in state's House to bring back lawmakers cannot be enforced outside Texas Texas House pushes forward on redistricting as Democrats vow to fight Shrai Popat (now) and Tom Ambrose (earlier) Tue 5 Aug 2025 13.13 BST First published on Tue 5 Aug 2025 10.53 BST From 10.53am BST 10:53 Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours. We start with news that Texas governor Greg Abbott has escalated the standoff over redrawing the state's congressional districts by threatening to arrest Democratic lawmakers who are using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the move. 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Updated at 1.13pm BST 1.09pm BST 13:09 It's a quiet August Tuesday on the president's schedule today. The only listed item on his agenda is an executive order signing at 4pm EDT. We don't know the details of that just yet. Trump is also speaking on CNBC now, and we'll bring you the latest from that interview. 12.51pm BST 12:51 Nina Lakhani The Trump administration's decision to abruptly terminate a $3bn program helping hundreds of communities prepare for climate disasters and environmental hazards is unconstitutional and should be overturned, a court will hear on Tuesday. A coalition of non-profits, tribes and local governments is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the agency's administrator Lee Zeldin for terminating the entire Environmental and Climate Justice (ECJ) block grant program – despite a legally binding mandate from Congress to fund the Biden-era initiative. It's the first-of-a-kind proposed class action lawsuit that would force the EPA and Zeldin to reinstate the program and each individual grant, rather than forcing the recipients to sue individually. The $3bn ECJ program was created by Congress through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a long standing source for ire for Trump and his polluting industry allies – to help historically disadvantaged communities come up with local solutions to improve resilience in the face of worsening climate shocks and environmental degradation. It was intended by Congress to fund community-based projects across the country to tackle longstanding and pressing environmental harms that cause death and ill health from hazards including industrial pollution, lead pipes, flooding and urban heat islands. Almost 350 rural and urban groups, towns and tribes were selected by the EPA from 2,700 applicants, through a rigorous process that included longterm accountability and oversight over the funds. 12.36pm BST 12:36 Anna Betts More than 40 people protesting the war and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening. The protest, organized by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, had begun earlier in the evening at Columbus Circle. Hundreds gathered under the banner 'Trump: Jews Say No More' to demand an end to the war in Gaza and that the Trump administration pressure Israel to allow greater humanitarian aid to enter into territory, as health officials there continue to report deaths from starvation and malnutrition. 'Let's not mince words, the Israeli government's blockade of Gaza is a policy of ethnic cleansing by way of forced mass starvation,' said Morriah Kaplan, IfNotNow's interim executive director, during her speech to the crowd. 'It is an unbearable, unspeakable, unfathomable affront to our shared humanity and those who are carrying it out and are deploying our Jewish symbols, language and traditions to defend and justify it, which is why I'm heartened to see such a range of Jews and Jewish organizations coming together today to say with one voice that we oppose these atrocities, not in spite of our Judaism, but for many of us, because of it.' 'We need the US government to use its considerable leverage to end these horrors,' she added. Protesters held signs that read 'stop ethnic cleansing', 'never again is now' 'stop starving Gaza' and 'not in our name' and speakers included Ruth Messinger, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the T'ruah CEO, and Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller. 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'The aim is to make the US a more attractive offer in order to reduce the level of additional tariffs on Swiss exports, while taking US concerns into account,' the government said in a statement. Switzerland, home to some of the world's best-known luxury brands, was left stunned after the US president on Friday imposed one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset. Industry associations said tens of thousands of jobs were at risk. Local media had reported that after three months of talks, negotiators believed they had secured a 10% tariff on exports to the US, a key market for Swiss products such as luxury watches, jewellery and chocolate but also machinery and pharmaceuticals. But after a 30-minute call with Keller-Sutter on Thursday evening variously described as 'bad-tempered', 'disastrous' and 'badly misjudged', Trump imposed a levy even higher than the 31% he had announced on his so-called 'liberation day' in April. 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Updated at 12.01pm BST 11.37am BST 11:37 Richard Luscombe Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza. The excursion followed Johnson's arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar. Johnson's visit to the West Bank is the highest profile by a senior US political figure since then secretary of state Mike Pompeo went to Psogat in November 2020 during the final months of Donald Trump's first presidency. It is a private trip hosted by a pro-Israel advocacy group, an Axios report said, and not an official congressional delegation. The outlet said Johnson traveled with fellow Republican representatives Michael McCaul, Nathaniel Moran and Michael Cloud of Texas, and Claudia Tenney of New York. Johnson told Israeli settlers on Monday that Israel was the 'rightful owner' of the contested Palestinian territory, according to a report published on the pro-Palestinian website Common Dreams, and separately, Marc Zell, the chair of Republicans Overseas Israel. 11.20am BST 11:20 Michael Sainato The former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioners and non-partisan economic groups have criticized Donald Trump's shock firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July jobs report data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer. Trump, without any evidence to back his claims, alleged McEntarfer 'faked' employment numbers in the run-up to the 2024 election to boost Kamala Harris's chances and said that the recent data was 'rigged' to make Trump and Republicans look bad. The Trump administration has continued to repeat the allegations. The National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, a Trump appointee, has claimed 'all over the US government, there have been people who have been resisting Trump everywhere they can,' in justifying the firing. Friends of BLS, a group chaired by former BLS commissioners Erica Groshen, an Obama appointee, and William Beach, Trump's appointee during his first term, strongly criticized the firing of McEntarfer, Trump's allegations, and called on Congress to act. 'We call on Congress to respond immediately, to investigate the factors that led to Commissioner McEntarfer's removal, to strongly urge the Commissioner's continued service, and ensure that the nonpartisan integrity of the position is retained,' Friends of BLS wrote in a statement. 'This rationale for firing Dr McEntarfer is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers.' The Association of Public Data Users, the National Association for Business Economics and the American Economic Association also criticized the firing. 11.05am BST 11:05 US border agents were directed to stop deportations under President Donald Trump's asylum ban, CBS News reported Monday citing two unnamed Department of Homeland Security officials. The direction comes after a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit on Friday partially granted an order that limited the asylum ban, saying it cannot be used to entirely suspend humanitarian protections for asylum seekers, according to CBS. Officials at Customs and Border Protection were instructed this weekend to stop deportations Trump's asylum ban and process migrants under US immigration law, CBS said. Last month, a lower court judge blocked Trump's ban on asylum at the US-Mexico border, saying that Trump had exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes. The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge to Trump's asylum ban in February on behalf of three advocacy groups and migrants denied access to asylum, arguing the broad ban violated US laws and international treaties. 10.53am BST 10:53 Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours. We start with news that Texas governor Greg Abbott has escalated the standoff over redrawing the state's congressional districts by threatening to arrest Democratic lawmakers who are using their collective absence from the state capital to prevent the move. More than 50 Democrats have fled from Texas, staging a kind of temporary political exile in Democratic-led states, Reuters reports. It is intended to deny Republicans in Austin the quorum necessary to vote on their redistricting plan, championed by president Donald Trump. By redrawing lines in hopes of flipping some seats in the US House of Representatives currently held by Democrats, the Republican Party aims to protect its narrow majority in next year's congressional midterm elections. Trump has told reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans. During Monday's statehouse session in Austin, the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives issued civil warrants for the wayward Democrats – most of whom have gone to Illinois, New York or Massachusetts - to be brought back to Austin. 'To ensure compliance, I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans,' Abbott said in a statement. But the move seems largely symbolic. The warrants apply only within the state, and breaking quorum is not a crime that would allow Texas authorities to pursue extradition from other states. Read our latest story here: In other developments: The former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioners and non-partisan economic groups have criticized Donald Trump's shock firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July jobs report data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer. About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict. Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza. More than 40 people protesting the war in Gaza and worsening humanitarian crisis were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening. Donald Trump's special envoy is expected in Moscow days before the US president's deadline on Friday for Russia to make progress on ending the war in Ukraine or face increased US sanctions. The US state department has prepared plans to impose bonds as high as $15,000 for some tourism and business visas, according to a draft of a temporary final rule. The bonds would be issued to visitors from countries with significant overstay rates, under a 12-month pilot program. The Trump administration is seeking to block veterans from receiving abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran's pregnancy has imperiled their health, according to new paperwork filed by the administration. The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country's president has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff. News Corp, part of the Murdoch family media empire, has announced it will bring a version of the brash rightwing New York Post to California in early 2026. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she feels the Republican party has lost touch with its base – but she said she has no plans to leave the party. More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress signed a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian. Updated at 1.13pm BST
