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Spicer: 'Rude, inappropriate' CNN reporter owes Trump an apology

CNN reporter Jim Acosta

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that CNN reporter Jim Acosta should apologize to President-elect Trump after Spicer said Acosta was "rude, inappropriate and disrespectful" during Trump's press conference earlier Wednesday.
"I think Mr. Acosta owes the president-elect and frankly the entire press corps an apology for his childish and inappropriate behavior," Spicer told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
TRUMP SPARS WITH REPORTER FOLLOWING RUSSIA CLAIMS
Acosta repeatedly called on Trump to let him ask a question after the president-elect disparaged reports by CNN and BuzzFeed that Russian spies have collected compromising information about him. Trump refused to call on Acosta, at one point telling him "Don't be rude" before finally blasting CNN's report as "fake news."
After the press conference, Spicer said he approached Acosta and "I informed him that I thought that no one should be treated that ... disrespectfully, and that if he did it again in the future, I would have him removed."
"No one needs to be treated with that level of disrespect and rudeness," Spicer later added.
The former Republican National Committee spokesman added that the contentious nature of Wednesday's presser could be a preview of future briefings under a Trump administration.
"If you want to have a conversation and engage in a polite and respectful manner with the president-elect, he’s gonna treat you in kind," Spicer said. "But if you come in hot and want to be disrespectful and rude, as Jim Acosta was today, he’s not gonna sit back and take it. This is a man who fights and wins."

Republican-led Senate takes first step to repeal Obamacare

Trump: You're going to be proud of plan to replace ObamaCare

The Senate early Thursday passed a measure to take the first step forward on dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law, responding to pressure to move quickly even as Republicans and President-elect Trump grapple with what the replace it with.
The nearly party-line 51-48 vote came on a nonbinding Republican-backed procedural budget vote. Committee action to write repeal legislation could come to a vote next month. A full replacement would follow sometime after that, presuming Republicans can come up with one, the Associated Press reported.
"We must act quickly to bring relief to the American people," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The House is slated to vote on the measure on Friday, though some Republicans there have misgivings about setting the repeal effort in motion without a better idea of the replacement plan.
Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday that his incoming administration would soon reveal a plan to both repeal so-called Obamacare and replace it with legislation to "get health care taken care of in this country."

Tillerson, during confirmation hearing, says Russia poses 'danger' but refuses to call Putin 'war criminal'

Rubio grills Tillerson on if Putin is a war criminal

Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson and Sen. Marco Rubio clashed during a pair of contentious exchanges Wednesday, with an incredulous Rubio pressing the prospective diplomat to brand Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and Tillerson coolly blunting Rubio's broadsides by explaining his more deliberative vision.

During the tense back-and-forths at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing, Rubio, R-Fla., cross-examined Tillerson on policy regarding Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. At the end of Rubio's second questioning period, Tillerson sought to allay any concerns the aggressive Rubio may have had.

"There seems to be some misunderstanding that I see the world through a different lens, and I do not," Tillerson said. "...But I'm also clear-eyed and realistic about dealing with cultures."
Tillerson's statement followed a heated initial session during which the ExxonMobil CEO refused to specifically call Putin a "war criminal."
"I find it discouraging your ability to cite that, which I think is globally accepted," Rubio said.
That exchange mirrored later questions by Rubio, who tried getting Tillerson to categorize Saudi Arabia as a "human rights violator" and denounce the practices of controversial Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Tillerson also wouldn't bite when Rubio, a former opponent of President-elect Donald Trump during the Republican presidential primary, tried to get Tillerson to say Putin murdered political foes.
Still, Tillerson took a noticeably harder line toward Putin and Russia than Trump has done during the transition period and prior to it.

Booker breaks with precedent to testify against Sessions – and earns Republican rebuke

Another Snowflake.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker cast aside long-standing precedent Wednesday and testified against a sitting Senate colleague, as he urged the chamber not to confirm Jeff Sessions for attorney general – a move that earned him a rebuke from Republicans.
Critics charged the New Jersey senator was merely burnishing his credentials for a presidential run, with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., writing on Facebook he was “disappointed” Booker “has chosen to start his 2020 presidential campaign by testifying against Senator Sessions.”
According to the Senate historian, no sitting senator has ever testified against a colleague at a Cabinet nomination hearing. Cotton said Booker “knows better” than to use the hearing as a “platform for his presidential aspirations.”
The first-term senator countered in his testimony that Senate traditions were not the priority here.
"I believe, like perhaps all of my colleagues, that in the choice between standing with Senate norms or standing up for what my conscience tells me is best for our country, I will always choose conscience and country," Booker told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Testifying during the second day of Sessions’ confirmation hearing, Booker charged that his colleague is incapable of fulfilling the responsibilities of the office of attorney general.
“Senator Sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requisite of the job [of attorney general] -- to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights and justice for all of our citizens,” Booker said.
The senator asserted that at times during his career Sessions has “demonstrated a hostility toward these convictions.”
Ever since President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to the AG post, Sessions has been battling efforts to revive allegations of past racist comments which helped derail his failed 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship.
Wednesday’s testimony coincided with other civil-rights figures testifying against Sessions including NAACP head Cornell Brooks and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights icon who marched with Martin Luther King Jr.
Sessions, however, adamantly denied claims of harboring racial animus during the opening day of the hearing Tuesday. He decried the “false charges” and said critics were painting a “caricature” of him.
Jeff Giertz, Booker’s communications director, confirmed to FoxNews.com that the senator “attended parts of yesterday’s Judiciary hearing in-person and watched the hearing throughout the day when he wasn’t able to be in the room.”
Though Booker, a former Newark mayor, came out against a Senate colleague just three-plus years into his term, Democrats came to Booker’s defense -- suggesting his break with tradition pales in comparison to Republican tactics.
“He is taking a stand and is doing so fully recognizing that a lot of his Republican colleagues will be upset. Republicans did not think much of discretion and deference when they refused to give [Obama Supreme Court nominee] Merrick Garland a hearing,” Jim Manley, a former spokesman for ex-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, told FoxNews.com.
Cotton answered Booker’s testimony on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, by joking that his “attacks on Jeff Sessions are so far-fetched I half-expected his make-believe friend T-Bone to be next witness.”
T-Bone is a reference to an individual Booker frequently claimed over the years had threatened his life when he was mayor of Newark. It came to light during his campaign for the Senate that T-Bone was not an actual person.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the only other black member of the Senate, gently chided Booker for his appearance Wednesday.
“I have always respected Senator Booker as a colleague. This is not a decision I would have made,” he said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
Booker’s comments Wednesday stand in contrast to remarks he made less than a year ago.
“I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions in being the Senate sponsors of this important award,” Booker said of his collaboration with Sessions on a bill honoring participants of the Selma civil rights marches with the Congressional Gold Medal.