Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein lists 21 GOP senators who have 'privately' expressed their 'extreme contempt' for Donald Trump
Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein has called out 21 Republican senators who he says have expressed 'extreme contempt' for President Trump in private - but have refused to air their grievances in public.
Bernstein accused the senators - including the likes of Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Chuck Grassley and Susan Collins - of a 'craven silence' that has 'enabled Trump's most grievous conduct'.
That includes 'undermining and discrediting the US electoral system' Bernstein said, taking aim at Trump's refusal to concede to Joe Biden while claiming 'massive fraud' - a claim that his legal team has failed to substantiate in court.
'Many if not most of these individuals, from what I have been told, were happy to see Donald Trump defeated in this election as long as the Senate could be controlled by the Republicans,' Bernstein said during an appearance on CNN.
Carl Bernstein (pictured in 2018), the former Washington Post journalist who reported alongside Bob Woodward, called out Trump on Sunday night and named the 21 GOP senators who have expressed disdain for 'his fitness to be President of the United States'
The tweet, which garnered 37,600 likes, read: 'I'm not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens–in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyists, W. House aides–have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump and his fitness to be POTUS. (1/3)'
He continued: 'The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: Portman, Alexander, Sasse, Blunt, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Thune, Romney, Braun, Young, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rubio, Grassley, Burr, Toomey, McSally, Moran, Roberts, Shelby.
'With few exceptions, their craven public silence has helped enable Trump’s most grievous conduct—including undermining and discrediting the US the electoral system.'
Bernstein is the the former Washington Post journalist who reported alongside Bob Woodward to expose the Watergate scandal which led to former President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 before he could be impeached.
The tweet, which garnered 37,600 likes, read: 'I'm not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially in reporting this'
Speaking on CNN he said: 'Let me name 15 or so Republican senators and what I am doing is not violating journalistic principle because they have told me what I am about to say.
'But for two or three years I have talked to members of staff of the senators, members of committees, staff people, aides, assistants, people who have worked for these people - let's look at 15 or so of these Republican senators who really disdain and even despise Donald Trump, have said so to each other.'
It comes after Bernstein accused Donald Trump of creating 'the first grifter presidency' in US history after the New York Times lifted the lid on the president's years of alleged tax avoidance and extensive debt.
Bernstein called the bombshell Times report 'the smoking gun of a pervasively criminal presidency' in an interview with CNN.
'Donald Trump and his family are grifters,' he said. 'He has created the first grifter presidency in the history of the United States in which his purpose in running for the presidency and exercising the powers of the presidency - the fundamental reason is to bail himself and his family out.'
Mitt Romney, a prominent Trump critic within the Republican party, and Marco Rubio, who ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential race, were named among the chief critics
The Times report, based on nearly two decades' worth of Trump's tax returns, asserted that the president paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 - and zero federal income taxes in 10 of the 15 years prior - because he reported losing more money than he made.
Bernstein also publicly attacked the president on CNN last month.
On September 14 he slammed Trump as a 'homicidal president' and said he was hosting 'homicidal assemblies' with his indoor campaign rallies during the coronavirus pandemic.
'You're witnessing a homicidal president convening, purposefully, a homicidal assembly to help him get reelected instead of protecting the health and welfare of the United States, including supporters whose lives he is willing to sacrifice,' Bernstein told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
'Here is this president, who has staked part of his presidency on the right to life, particularly of the unborn, and every day he has sacrificed the lives of thousands of Americans because he is unwilling to deal honestly, forthrightly, meaningfully, with the greatest domestic crisis in our post-war history in this country.
'Now we've seen in front of us, tonight, this homicidal assembly that the president of the United States has called his supporters to be sacrificial lambs. It's astonishing.'
Trump responded to that rebuke by calling Bernstein a 'total nut job'.
Donald Trump has refused to concede the November 3 election to Joe Biden - who won a majority of electoral college seats and the popular vote - alleging that there was 'massive voter fraud' in several states.
But his legal team - spearheaded by personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani - has yet to present any evidence of that in court instead relying on press conferences to make untested claims.
In the latest press conference, held Thursday last week, Giuliani appeared alongside former prosecutor Sidney Powell who alleged that a cabal of communist countries had conspired to steal the election from Trump.
Her 'evidence' was widely ridiculed, and on Sunday the Trump camp sought to distance themselves from her, saying she is 'not a member of the Trump Legal Team.'
Responding to her disavowing, Powell said in a statement to CBS News that she 'understands today's press release.'
'I will continue to represent #WeThePeople who had their votes for Trump and other Republicans stolen by massive fraud,' she continued.
'The chips will fall where they may, we will defend the foundations of this great Republic.'
It comes after a Pennsylvania judge shot down the Trump camp's lawsuit to try and overturn the result in the state, describing the suit as 'Frankenstein's monster'.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann wrote in his order that Trump had asked the court to disenfranchise almost 7 million voters.
In seeking such a 'startling outcome,' he said, a plaintiff could be expected to provide compelling legal arguments and 'factual proof of rampant corruption' - but 'That has not happened.'
Sidney Powell, right, speaks next to former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, as members of President Donald Trump's legal team, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Thursday November 19, 2020
Trump's legal team has so far failed to produce any meaningful legal wins
The Trump campaign had sought to prevent state officials from certifying the results of the election in the state.
Brann described the case as 'strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations.'
The judge said that he 'has no authority to take away the right to vote of even a single person, let alone millions of citizens.'
The lawsuit before Brann was filed on November 9 and had alleged inconsistent treatment by county election officials of mail-in ballots.
Some counties notified voters that they could fix minor defects such as missing 'secrecy envelopes' while others did not.
'This claim, like Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together,' wrote Brann.
The Trump campaign responded by issuing a statement blasting the 'Obama-appointed judge' while vowing to fight on all the way to the Supreme Court.
'Today's decision turns out to help us in our strategy to get expeditiously to the US Supreme Court,' Trump campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis wrote in their statement.
Brann, nominated by former President Barack Obama, is a Republican and, according to his biography, a member of the Federalist Society, a group of conservative and libertarian lawyers, law students and scholars.
Meanwhile, in an apparent attempt at revenge on the GOP-controlled senate, Trump's attorney Lin Wood suggested his supporters should vote against the two Republican senators involved in run-off elections in Georgia.
Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will go back on the ballot in January after failing to secure more than 50 per cent during the November vote.
Trump attorney Tweeted that the voters should withhold the backing for both candidates
That vote will decide which party controls the Republican-led senate. If both races go to the Democrats, they will take control - gifting Joe Biden the first all-blue Congress since Bill Clinton in 1994.
'Politicians love votes & money (not necessarily in that order). Want to get @SenLoeffler & @sendavidperdue out of their basements to demand that action must be taken to fix steal of the 11/3 GA election? Threaten to withhold your votes & money. Demand that they represent you,' Wood tweeted on Sunday.
Perdue and Loeffler have remained silent on the issue of voter fraud and have instead been focusing on their upcoming elections.
Both incumbents are in extremely tight races with neither able to secure more than 50% of the vote during November's election.
The state of Georgie requires the winner to have at least 50% in order to win.
Loeffler is facing Democrat Raphael Warnock in a January 5 runoff election - one of two races that will determine which party has control of the US Senate.
Sen Perdue is also facing a runoff in his race against Democrat Jon Ossoff in January.
Loeffler and Perdue have spent the past few weeks rallying support across the state, often at events together, as they seek to keep the Senate under Republican control.
21 GOP senators express 'extreme contempt for Trump': List in full
1. Mitt Romney
Romney, a senator for Utah, is a well-known Trump critic who was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of impeaching the President when it came before the senate last year.
Speaking after the election, Romney confirmed that he did not vote for Trump and has ripped Trump's attempts to overturn the result, saying: 'It's difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.'
2. Marco Rubio
Rubio, a senator for Florida, ran against Trump during the 2016 presidential primary and launched some personal attacks on him as his candidacy floundered in its later stages.
But since then, Rubio - like others in the Republican party including Ted Cruz - has pivoted to become a public supporter of the President
During the election, Trump appeared at a rally alongside Rubio and the senator aped the president's performances, referring to Biden as 'sleepy Joe' and applauding Trump supporters who tried to run a Biden campaign bus off the road in Texas
3. Susan Collins
Collins won reelection in Maine in November despite representing a blue state, but did so by avoiding the topic of Trump as much as possible.
A known Trump-skeptic, Collins voted against his move to confirm Amy Comey Barrett to the Supreme Court before the election.
That prompted multiple attacks by Trump, who said Collins was 'not worth the effort' of re-electing.
She pointedly refused to endorse Trump for president, and refused to say whether she voted for him. She did not vote for him in 2016, and instead wrote in another Republican candidate
4. Chuck Grassley
Grassley, the longest-serving Republican on Capitol Hill, has been a reluctant ally of Trump's - coming to the president's defense when his tax returns were leaked and offering token resistance to some of his bolder actions.
A lifelong advocate of government oversight, Grassley sent two letters to Trump attacking his decision to fire top watchdogs back in May, then refused to confirm any of Trump's nominees until he explained why
Trump did eventually explain, an explanation that Grassley said he didn't agree with - but he agreed to stop blocking nominees anyway
5. Rick Scott
A senator for Florida, Scott's private opposition to Trump would be surprising as he has backed the president publicly, especially around the election
His political action committee paid six figures for TV ads supporting Trump in Florida ahead of the election, and he has backed Trump's efforts to dispute the result - tweeting that 'Trump will and should use every avenue at his disposal to make sure every legal vote is counted'
6. Lisa Murkowski
Murkowski, a senator from Alaska, has been a vocal critic of Trump in recent weeks - and was one of only two senators to refuse to confirm Amy Comey Barrett to the Supreme Court, alongside Susan Collins
She has called on him to begin the transition process to Joe Biden, and attacked his legal efforts to overturn the result as being 'without merit'
7. Martha McSally
A senator for Arizona, McSally will have to give up her seat to astronaut Mark Kelly in January after losing the election to the Democrat
Despite records showing that she voted with Trump's agenda 95 per cent of the time while in office, she failed to win over the president, who gave her the short shrift at a rally in October
Hurrying her up to the stage to speak, Trump told the crowd: 'You got one minute! One minute, Martha! They don’t want to hear this.'
8. Ben Sasse
While on a call with constituents in his native Nebraska in October, Sasse launched a scathing attack on Trump - accusing him of 'kissing dictator's butts', 'spending like a drunken sailor', and 'flirting with White Supremacists'
'The United States now regularly sells out our allies under his leadership,' he said. 'The ways I criticized President Obama for that kind of spending I've criticized President Trump for as well'
'He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity,' he added.
9. Richard Burr
As head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr fell foul of Trump and his allies during the Russian election meddling investigation
He oversaw his panel's investigation, including issuing a subpoena against Trump's eldest son - Donald Trump Jr
He also approved a report that backed the intelligence community and found that Trump expected to benefit from Russian interference
10. Richard Shelby
A Trump ally, the senator from Alabama backed Trump during his impeachment trial, calling for an investigation into Joe Biden's dealings in Ukraine and China instead
He also praised Trump's 2020 State of the Union address, touting the president's record on the economy
11. Jerry Moran
Another reluctant Trump ally, Moran - a senator for Kansas - has occasionally spoken out against the President in public, including to denounce him when he told member of the Democrat 'Squad' to go back to their home countries
He also voted in favor of a resolution to limit actions Trump can take against Iran, and opposed Trump's withdrawal of US troops from Syria
However, he voted to acquit Trump during his impeachment trial and praised his Middle East peace efforts as a string of Arab countries agreed to recognize the state of Israel
12. John Cornyn
While the Texas senator has not been an outspoken critic of Trump, he has been far from the president's greatest ally
Speaking ahead of the election - and with Texas then looking like a battleground - Cornyn compared his relationship with Trump to a marriage
'I think what we found is that we’re not going to change President Trump. He is who he is. You either love him or hate him, and there’s not much in between.
'What I tried to do is not get into public confrontations and fights with him because, as I’ve observed, those usually don’t end too well.'
13. John Thune
An early opponent of Trump, Thune suggested the candidate should quit the Republican ticket after his now-infamous 'grab 'em by the p****' tape became public during the 2016 election
Representing South Dakota and the second-highest ranking GOP senator, Tune also warned Trump before the 2020 vote that he was heading for defeat, urging the President to 'change strategy' and moderate his 'tone'
14. Roy Blunt
A Trump loyalist, the Missuori senator has voted in-line with the President's wishes 93 per cent of the time, according to Senate records
He has also backed Trump's lawsuits following defeat on November 3, saying: 'The president wasn't defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all'
15. Pat Toomey
A Pennsylvania senator who now finds his state the target of Trump's post-election lawsuits, Toomey is among just a handful of senior Republicans to congratulate Biden on his win while asking Trump to concede
Speaking after Trump's Pennsylvania lawsuit was thrown out, Toomey said: 'I am deeply disappointed that President Trump and Vice President Pence were not re-elected. I endorsed the president and voted for him.
' to ensure he is remembered for outstanding accomplishments, and to help unify our country, President Trump should accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process'
16. Rob Portman
Another critic of Trump over his infamous 'p****' tape, Portman confirmed that he did not vote for the president in 2016
The Ohio senator has been a reluctant ally since then, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer that 'you've got to work with Trump.'
'I express myself as I think I should,' he said. 'But my job is not to take on Trump every day. My job is to represent Ohioans and get things done'
17. Todd Young
18. Tim Scott
19. Mike Braun
20. Pat Roberts
21. Lamar Alexander