GOP Senator's Message to Trump: 'No One Is Above the Law'
The legal nuances of the President of the United States pardoning himself don't seem to rankle Republican Senator James Lankford as much as the fact that the administration is talking about it at all.
"It's really an odd conversation, quite frankly, out of the White House, to be talking about presidential pardons when the whole time you're saying 'I didn't do anything,'" Lankford, Oklahoma's junior senator, told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin on Tuesday.
In [a tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1003616210922147841) the day before, President Trump said, "I have the absolute right to pardon myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"
The statement touched off a constitutional debate over presidential powers.
"It seems weird to suddenly have this switch-up message coming from the White House," Lankford said, adding: "I think the White House should be focused on getting information out."
As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Lankford said that information should be included in a bipartisan report on exactly what happened during the 2016 presidential campaign, and put an end to the speculation over Russian involvement in the election. That includes concluding the work of the special counsel, Robert Mueller.
"At the end of the day, let's get the facts out there, because the nation has to move on," Lankford said.
For more, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/republican-senators-frustrated-by-budget-appropriations-process).
Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis are asking a federal judge on Tuesday to dismiss a free speech lawsuit filed by Disney after the Florida governor took over Walt Disney World's governing district in retaliation for the company opposing a state law that banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades.
Federal investigators have gained access to former president Donald Trump's phone records which could be used as evidence in his 2020 election interference trial.
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled against a woman seeking an abortion while in Arizona, the state Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in an abortion rights case.
Attorneys for a pregnant Texas woman who sought court permission for an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. say she has left the state to obtain the procedure.
A New Hampshire man has been accused of sending text messages threatening to kill a presidential candidate ahead of a scheduled campaign event Monday, federal prosecutors said.
Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up and rule quickly on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.
Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don't want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.
