ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Awaiting @SenGillibrand, who will be headlining a town hall on reproductive rights here in about an hour, tied to the recent abortion controversies in Missouri.
Fun fact: Gillibrand is the first 2020 candidate to visit St. Louis, which this is the first event of the election cycle I’ll be covering! Not the last, I’m sure...
Campaign playlist watch: @Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" is playing as @SenGillibrand prepares to take the stage before this mostly female audience in St. Louis.
Gillibrand has taken the stage, along with St. Louis Treasurer @tishaura Jones, who is speaking about the 8-week abortion ban passed in Missouri in May.
Gillibrand: “We need the next president to be unabashedly pro-choice.” Pledges as president she would repeal Hyde Amendment and appoint judges who will uphold Roe v. Wade.
.@SenGillibrand — after consulting with @tishaura on the correct pronunciation of “Missouri” — says she is here to be at “the frontlines of where these battles [on abortion] are being waged.” She also visited Georgia, where a similar ban was passed.
VIDEO: Gillibrand gets choked up as she speaks about institutional racism, and the challenges @tishaura’s son will face that her own son will not.
Gillibrand in blunt closing plea: “I want to be on the next presidential debate stage but I don’t have enough supporters.” Asks attendees to donate, says she still needs “several thousand” more donors to qualify for the next debate.
In a gaggle after the town hall, @SenGillibrand told Wake Up To Politics that she is “very confident” that she will qualify for the next Democratic debate. (She still needs to reach 2% in three more polls, and meet the 130,000 donor requirement.)
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Unclear why @POTUS is visiting Georgetown. He is at Wolfington Jesuit Residence Hall, where he visited about two weeks into his presidency to receive his ashes for Ash Wednesday.
This! Every piece of legislation or court ruling that’s mentioned in Wake Up To Politics includes a link to the full text so my subscribers can read for themselves and take a look at the documents that are being passed around the halls of power.
Plus: Every day, I include links to every bill being considered in Congress that day. Not many other sources put them all in one place — and it can get lengthy — but I get emails all the time from readers who appreciate being able to actually see what our leaders are voting on.
Anyways, if you’re a fan of transparency or if you’re curious what the President, members of Congress, and judges are doing and working on each day — subscribe to Wake Up To Politics: bit.ly/3otWkXq
Welcome to DC: It turns out Kamala Harris’ condo is not too far from my new apartment for the semester. The street is blocked off and there’s a small security presence (note the “VPPD” plates), although she will now reside at the Naval Observatory like past VPs.
UPDATE: Apparently the Vice President will be actively living down the street from me? If anyone’s looking for me, I might just be staking it out at all times trying to confirm.
Some news from the home front: The colorful St. Louis attorney Albert Watkins — last seen representing the McCloskeys — has now taken on the “QAnon Shaman” as a client
Watkins’s defense of Chansley is that he only “accepted President Trump’s invitation to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
“The words and invitation of a president are supposed to mean something,” Watkins says. He’s asking Trump to give Chansley a pardon.
I guess this is answers the question @RepBrianMast dramatically asked on the House floor yesterday, about whether any of the rioters had said they came to the Capitol because of Trump. (Chansley’s defense is that Trump “invited” him there.)
THE LATEST: Rep. Jody Hice attempts to object to the Georgia results, but says the senators who were planning to join him withdrew "following the events of today."
Some members in the chamber applaud. Pence nods and moves on to the next state.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to object to Michigan's electoral votes just now, but no senators joined for that either. Some members applauded once again.
Rep. Mo Brooks just rose to object to Nevada. "Unfortunately no United States senator has joined in this effort," he says.