Sen. Dean Heller is distancing himself from Trump's recent controversial decisions
As one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the Senate, Nevada's Dean Heller is trying to sidle away from President Trump when it comes to such issues as Trump's pardoning of former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff Joe Arpaio and his threat to shut down the government in order to fund his wall between the U.S. and Mexico border.
"I don't like shutting down the government," Heller said Monday during an interview with NBC News. "There will be no excuses and nobody else's fault but the Republican Party if this government does shut down." Heller said he is a strong supporter of border security, but argued that it doesn't make sense for there to be a physical wall along the entire border and it should be up to the Department of Homeland Security to decide what works best. On Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt after disregarding a judge's order to stop detaining people on suspicion of being undocumented, Heller said he doesn't believe "anybody's above the law. I do believe the courts ought to run its course and let the system work its way through this. But I just don't believe anybody's above the law."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why is the Pentagon taking over the military’s independent newspaper?Today’s Big Question Stars and Stripes is published by the Defense Department but is editorially independent
-
How Mars influences Earth’s climateThe explainer A pull in the right direction
-
‘The science is clear’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
