Senator Elizabeth Warren lambasted Republicans for focusing on repealing Obamacare with no plan to replace it.

“For eight years, Republicans have complained about health care in America,” Warren opened. “They have blamed everything in the world on President Obama. They’ve hung out on the sidelines, name-calling, making doomsday predictions, and cheering.”

“What’s the first thing on the Republican agenda now that they are in control?” Warren asked.

“The first thing: massively raise the costs of health insurance for everyone who has it. The first thing: create chaos for hospitals, clinics, and insurance. The first thing: abandon the people they were elected to represent. The first thing: repeal and run away,” she warned.

Just two weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Mike Pence rallied Republican members of Congress to at least look like they are planning an alternative to Obamacare, which they are intent on repealing.

“And they are shocked—shocked—to discover that guaranteeing Americans access to health care is a complex business and they don’t have any good ideas,” Warren added.”

Some 20 million Americans will lose their health care if Obamacare is repealed. It took two years to hammer out the details of Obamacare yet Trump wants a replacement plan immediately.

Dana Milbank has a disturbing column about Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for Secretary of State.

He says Tillerson’s foreign policy is “Russia First.”

As CEO of ExxonMobil (where he worked for 41 years and will get a retirement package of $181 million), Tillerson negotiated a huge oil exploration deal with Russia. It’s value is estimated at $500 Billion. No misprint. Half a trillion.

Tillerson showed little interest in human rights abuses. Couldn’t condemn Putin for leveling the city of Grozny, with 300,000 civilian deaths. Could not condemn Russian bombing of schools, hospitals, and shopping markets in Syria.

The senator who earned great distinction in the questioning was Marco Rubio. He was incisive, informed, and relentless. If he votes against Tillerson, Trump will have to find another appointee.

Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, said today that Trump’s plan to turn his business empire to his two adult sons is “wholly inadequate.”

Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Walter M. Shaub said Trump’s plan to separate himself from his business interests doesn’t follow the tradition of presidents from the past four decades.
“This is not a blind trust,” he said. “It’s not even close.”
Shaub’s office is not an enforcement agency, but it advises executive branch officials about how to avoid conflicts. It’s the office combing through the financial holdings of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to look for problems.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced that he would place his vast business holdings in a trust controlled by his adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, and that he would relinquish his leadership of the Trump Organization.

Trump will not sell his stake in the business, however. Under a blind trust, Trump would sell his holdings and let an independent manager invest the proceeds. That way, he could not profit directly from decisions he makes as president….
Shaub said the Trump plan “adds nothing to the equation.”
“We can’t risk creating the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for profit,” he said….
Shaub said there was “still time” for Trump to build on what he has announced so far to resolve potential conflicts. He said he’s previously had to ask nominees and appointees to take “painful steps” to avoid problems.

“I don’t think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the president of the United States of America,” he said.

Thanks to reader Joel Herman for bringing this article in “The Nation” to my attention.

It discusses the latest charges against Trump and his curious and deferential relationship with Putin. Trump has no hesitation slamming the American media, but he can say nothing critical about Putin.

Journalist D.D. Guttenplan says that Trump has to clear the air.

“Although he’s never made this claim—and indeed often forced us to think about it more than we want to—Trump’s sex life is his own affair. But his personal and family business ties to foreign autocrats—whether Russian, Chinese, or Emirati—should have been fully aired long before now. Today’s Twitterstorm doesn’t change that. Nor should it deny even Donald Trump the same presumption of innocence any American would be entitled to (though I wouldn’t want to argue the point with any of the Central Park Five).

“And if the most serious charge proves true? If Trump or one of his employees did knowingly conspire with the agents of a hostile power to influence the American election in exchange for promises regarding US foreign policy? Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn sent the Rosenbergs to the electric chair for a lot less.”