state attorney generals who could oppose trump

Why did Trump threaten the Insurrection Act?

Privately, Trump was threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to send thousands more active-duty troops onto the nation’s streets in a show of dominant military force, criticizing weak governors and mayors around the country for not doing more to forcefully stamp out the protests.

Who signed the letter to Biden?

Along with more than 780 retired high-ranking officers and former national security leaders — including 22 retired four-star generals and admirals and five former secretaries of defense — Chiarelli signed an “Open Letter to America” endorsing Joe Biden for president. “We love our country,” the signatories wrote.

Who is Peter Chiarelli?

Retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli. (Alastair Grant/AP) Even among the cascade of scandals and controversies that have characterized the Trump presidency, the use of excessive force against mostly peaceful protesters near Lafayette Square, and the involvement of the top ranks of the U.S. military, still stands out.

Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis

"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

Marine Corps. Gen. John Kelly

"I would've argued against it, recommended against it," Kelly said of Trump's photo-op. "I would argue that the end result of that was predictable."

Marine Corps Gen. John Allen

"Donald Trump isn't religious, has no need of religion, and doesn't care about the devout, except insofar as they serve his political needs...To even the casual observer, Monday was awful for the United States and its democracy.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen

"It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president's visit outside St. John's Church.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers

"The first thing was just absolute sadness that people aren't allowed to protest and that, as I understand it, that was a peaceful protest that was disturbed by force, and that's not right. That should not happen in America. And so I was sad. I mean, we should all shed tears over that, that particular act.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey

"The idea that the President would take charge of the situation using the military was troubling to me."

William Perry

"I am outraged at the deplorable behavior of our President and Defense Secretary Esper, threatening to use American military forces to suppress peaceful demonstrators exercising their constitutional rights. This is a deeply shameful moment for our nation."

Who is the Kansas Attorney General?

Derek Schmidt has been Kansas’s attorney general since 2011, following a decade in the Kansas Senate, including six years as majority leader. One of Schmidt’s first acts as attorney general was to join dozens of states in a lawsuit challenging the ACA. Schmidt joined the “birther” movement in 2012, supporting Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s demands that Obama provide additional evidence he was born in Hawaii in order to appear on the 2012 presidential ballot. He joined a number of other states challenging Obama-era regulatory actions, including protections proposed by the EPA. He was elected this year as president of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Who is the attorney general of West Virginia?

When Patrick Morrisey assumed office in 2013, he was the first Republican attorney general in West Virginia since 1933. He was re-elected in 2016 with 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Doug Reynolds’s 42 percent, and he is a 2018 candidate for the U.S. Senate. During his first campaign for attorney general, Morrisey supported the multi-state effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and he opposed the Obama administration’s rulings against West Virginia’s coal industry. As attorney general, he has filed more than a dozen lawsuits and amicus briefs challenging the EPA, with little success. He has also filed several amicus briefs in cases centered on the Second Amendment. During the Obama years, Morrissey made “fighting federal overreach” central to his job as state attorney general.

Who is Jeff Landry?

Jeff Landry was elected Louisiana’s attorney general in 2015, unseating fellow Republican Buddy Caldwell in a runoff election with 56 percent of the vote. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013, and a GovTrack analysis of his voting record described him as a “rank-and-file Republican.” As attorney general, Landry created a controversial task force to fight crime in New Orleans. In June, Landry, a former police officer, quietly disbanded the task force, citing opposition from New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who contested the authority of the attorney general’s agents to act as police officers in his city without permission. After the task force was disbanded, a federal judge agreed that Landry’s agents had no authority to make arrests in New Orleans. Landry is currently battling Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in court over whether Edwards can ban discrimination against LGBTQ people who work for the state government. Despite his relatively short tenure, Landry has gained influence among state attorneys general; in June, he was named president-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Who is Doug Peterson?

Doug Peterson was elected Nebraska’s attorney general in 2014, defeating Democrat Janet Stewart with 66 percent of the vote. He was an assistant attorney general from 1988 to 1990 and then spent nearly 15 years in private practice before running for attorney general. He has taken a strong position against the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. He has complained about marijuana from Colorado crossing the state line into Nebraska, and he has challenged Colorado’s approval of recreational marijuana use on the grounds that it violates the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Who was the first woman to be elected as Arkansas Attorney General?

Leslie Rutledge was the first Republican and woman to be elected Arkansas’ attorney general. She won the 2015 election with 52 percent of the vote to Democrat Nate Steel’s 43 percent. Since then, she has reliably taken up the national Republican agenda. A Washington County, Arkansas, judge in 2016 upheld a law that prohibits business owners and landlords from firing or evicting someone based on sexual orientation or gender identity. (Churches, religious schools, day care facilities, and religious organizations are exempt from the law.) Rutledge appealed the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which took her side and reversed the lower court’s decision. The state Supreme Court ruled that the ordinance violated a state law that bans cities from enacting protections not already covered by state law, since the Arkansas Civil Rights Act does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The justices did not rule on the constitutionality of the provision, despite Rutledge’s request that they do so.

Who is Lawrence Wasden?

Lawrence Wasden has served as Idaho’s attorney general since 2003, and he is a rumored 2018 gubernatorial candidate. Wasden was one of 14 state attorneys general who sued the Obama administration for its health care overhaul on the day Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act.

Who is Butch Otter?

Butch Otter was the sole governor to join the group of attorneys general pushing to end DACA. Otter has been active in Idaho’s Republican party since 1972, serving as a state representative, lieutenant governor, and in U.S. Congress. His anti-immigration stance is not limited to stripping DACA recipients of protection; following the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, he opposed the resettlement of Syrian refugees to Idaho. “It makes no sense under the best of circumstances for the United States to allow people into our country who have avowed the desire to harm our communities, our institutions, and our people,” he said at the time.