WASHINGTON — The late Senator Harry Reid was remembered Wednesday at the US Capitol as a “legendary leader,” a hardscrabble Democrat who rose from poverty in a dusty Nevada mining town to deliver landmark legislation from the chamber’s most powerful position.
President Biden, who has called Reid a “great American,” paid silent tribute, stopping by briefly as Reid lay in state at the Capitol Rotunda. Biden made the sign of the cross and let his hand linger for a moment on the flag-draped casket.
Reid’s family and colleagues joined for an earlier ceremony that was almost as succinct as the senator’s own dry-humored style of hanging up the phone rather than engaging in lengthy goodbyes. He was recalled as one of the Senate’s more significant, and memorable, leaders and a soft-spoken ‘’force of thunder.’’ Reid, who had pancreatic cancer, died last month at age 82.
“Harry Reid made the world a better place,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California.
“To see him lead and legislate was to see a master at work,” said Pelosi, who worked side by side with him when they were the top two Democrats in Congress. She called Reid “a legendary leader of great integrity.”
Reid served longer in Congress than anyone from his Battle Born state and was the Senate majority leader alongside two presidents. He led the Senate during one of its more consequential legislative sessions, securing the economic recovery bill during the Great Recession and President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, spoke of having to explain Reid’s abrupt style to the new senators.
‘’Even though Harry talked softly, what he said carried the force of thunder,’’ Schumer said.
Schumer said Reid never forgot the struggles of families and places like the one he came from and believed government had a moral obligation to ensure Americans had opportunities to improve their lives.
“Few have shaped the workings of this building like our dear friend from Nevada,” he said. “Few have dedicated their lives to the work of the people quite like Harry did.”
The service was largely closed to the public under COVID-19 protocols, though former colleagues, staff, and others streamed in to visit during the day and most wore masks. He was only the 15th senator to have had the honor; his casket rested on the catafalque used for Abraham Lincoln.
Vice President Harris did not speak during the ceremony, but paused at the casket in tribute, as did the Republican leaders in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. Later, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan stopped by.
Associated Press
Trump ends NPR interview after election questions
Former president Donald Trump abruptly ended an interview with NPR on Tuesday after he was pressed on his false claim of a stolen election in 2020 and how he was using that assertion to put pressure on Republicans before the 2022 midterm elections.
In the interview with Steve Inskeep, a co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Trump discussed the coronavirus pandemic and his campaign to discredit results of the 2020 election, according to a transcript of the interview NPR posted on its website Wednesday morning.
At several points in the interview, Inskeep pushed back against false claims about the 2020 election, in one instance noting the failed lawsuits by Trump’s campaign and its allies. “Your own lawyers had no evidence of fraud, they said in court they had no evidence of fraud, and the judges ruled against you every time on the merits,” Inskeep said.
After a lengthy back-and-forth over the election results, Trump asked how he could have lost the presidential election to Joe Biden, who he falsely claimed did not attract crowds during the campaign.
Inskeep said: “If you’ll forgive me, maybe because the election was about you. If I can just move on to ask, are you telling Republicans in 2022 that they must press your case on the past election in order to get your endorsement? Is that an absolute?”
Trump responded: “They are going to do whatever they want to do — whatever they have to do, they’re going to do.”
He continued to speak about his false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” while Inskeep tried to interject.
Trump then abruptly ended the interview.
“So Steve, thank you very much,” he said. “I appreciate it.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I have one more question,” said Inskeep, who began to ask about a court hearing on Monday related to the Capitol riot by a pro-Trump mob last year. He then stopped himself, saying, “He’s gone. OK.”
At the Monday hearing in the US District Court for Washington, lawyers argued that Trump, by inspiring the riot, was liable for major financial damages.
It was not clear how much of the question Trump heard before ending the interview.
Early in the interview, Inskeep asked Trump about the coronavirus pandemic and what the former president would tell people who have not been vaccinated. Trump, who said in December that he had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, told Inskeep that he recommended that people take the vaccine but that he did not support vaccine mandates.
Inskeep then asked how useful it was for Republicans to talk about the 2020 election before this year’s midterms, noting that Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, told ABC over the weekend that the presidential election was not rigged.
“No, I think it’s an advantage, because otherwise they’re going to do it again in ‘22 and ‘24,” Trump said. “And Rounds is wrong on that, totally wrong.”
Inskeep then raised several instances in which Trump’s allies and election officials disputed his false claims of widespread election fraud. Trump repeated his claim and criticized Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, the minority leader.
The abrupt end of the interview recalled an episode in October 2020 when Trump, then the president, cut off an interview with “60 Minutes” at the White House and then taunted the interviewer, Lesley Stahl, on Twitter. Twitter permanently barred Trump from its site in the aftermath of the Capitol riot, saying it made the decision “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
New York Times
Jan. 6 panel wants McCarthy records
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the US Capitol insurrection requested an interview and records from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, shifting their investigation a top ally of former president Donald Trump in Congress.
Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, requested that McCarthy, Republican of California, provide information to the nine-member panel regarding the violence that took place last January and his communications with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the days prior to the attack.
“We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,’’ Thompson said in the letter. ‘’For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail.’”
The request seeks information about McCarthy’s conversations with Trump “before, during and after” the riot, with lawmakers seeking a window into Trump’s state of mind from an ally who has acknowledged repeated interactions with the then-president.
The committee also wants to question McCarthy about communications with Trump and White House staff in the week after the violence, including a conversation with Trump that was reportedly heated.
Associated Press