Ringside Politics – January 27, 2021

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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere

Today’s Hot Topics:

1) U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Commerce Committee, participated in a full committee hearing to consider President Biden’s nomination of Pete Buttigieg to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In the hearing, Sen. Cruz questioned Mr. Buttigieg on the Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline permit, saying:

“I will say it was disconcerting to see yesterday – the first day of the Biden administration – straight out of the gate, President Biden announced that he was canceling the Keystone Pipeline. That is a major infrastructure project. That is a project that right now today has 1,200 good paying union jobs. And in 2021, the Keystone Pipeline was scheduled to have more than 11,000 jobs, including 8,000 union jobs, for contracts worth $1.6 billion.

“And with the stroke of a pen, President Biden has told those 11,000 workers –those union workers – ‘your jobs are gone.’ Mr. Buttigieg, what do you say to those workers whose jobs have just been eliminated by presidential edict?”

2) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Rand Paul in a Tuesday vote challenging the constitutionality of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

Paul, R-Ky., forced the vote, but his motion was struck down.

However, McConnell and most other Republican senators sided with Paul on the vote, signaling they see the trial as unconstitutional and casting doubt on the likelihood there will be enough votes to convict Trump.

“This impeachment is nothing more than a partisan exercise designed to further divide the country,” said Paul, who falsely claimed last month the presidential election “in many ways was stolen.”

The U.S. House of Representatives recently impeached Trump, charging him with inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

3) The acting chief of the United States Capitol Police apologized to members of Congress for her agency’s failures during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying it was not prepared for the “terrorist attack,”according to a copy of her prepared remarks to a key House panel obtained by USA TODAY.

“I am here to offer my sincerest apologies on behalf of the Department,” acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the agency’s funding.

Her department should have been more prepared for the “terrorist attack,” she told lawmakers. The agency was aware that militia groups and white supremacists, some of whom would be armed, would be at the protests in Washington, she said, and her agency knew there was “a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.”

“The agency prepared, but “we did not do enough,” she told lawmakers.

4) A federal judge in Texas blocked President Biden’s 100-day deportation “pause” on Tuesday in a ruling that may point to a new phase of conservative legal challenges to his administration’s immigration agenda.

Today’s Guests:

1)  Kimberly Hermann, General Counsel, Southeastern Legal Foundation – skypes into the show in the first hour to discuss the legal aspects of this month’s myriad of events.

2)  Steve Milloy, Fmr. Trump EPA Transition Member & Founder of JunkScience.com – calls in to discuss climate change and examine Biden’s environmental approach.

3) Mimi Owens, Ringside All-Star – rendezvous with Jeff to opine and take callers.