I can’t tell you exactly why Kyrsten Sinema is leaving Congress.

But I can tell you that @sambrodey’s coverage of her was genuinely exceptional and some of the most revealing reporting about Sinema or any other politician.

Small thread: In Oct. 2021, Sam reported on how Sinema’s bizarre transformation into a centrist troll had burned some of her personal friendships.

thedailybeast.com/kyrsten-sinema…

New details about what the Ethics Committee has in its possession.

We saw the text messages between Gaetz and a woman who had sex at parties that she was paid to attend, including with Gaetz.

The woman also says a Gaetz associate intimidated her after.

thedailybeast.com/witness-told-f… Gaetz is claiming he “does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing.”

But here he is, at 10:53 pm on May 19, 2017, taking a selfie with her.

Once again, Matt Gaetz’s story doesn’t add up.

thedailybeast.com/witness-told-f…

A story behind the story thread:

@SollenbergerRC took a look at how Dem candidate Joanna Weiss is funding her congressional campaign. She’s loaned the campaign about $230,000 thus far, and doesn’t seem to make much money. ($2,500 in the last 18 months.)

thedailybeast.com/the-weird-mone… The answer appears to be that her husband is the primary breadwinner in the family. Fair enough!

But how does her husband make the money fueling her campaign? He’s a lawyer representing the Catholic Church in lawsuits from sex abuse survivors.

thedailybeast.com/the-weird-mone…

There’s a lot to unpack in this story. So I’m gonna try to do some of that here, but I would urge you to read the actual piece, because there’s even more there:

thedailybeast.com/kevin-mccarthy… First, the job of being Speaker in a majority this thin and unhinged is almost impossible. McCarthy actually navigated it better than I expected.

But the motion to vacate makes the job almost impossible. Ryan knew it, and made neutering it a condition.

thedailybeast.com/kevin-mccarthy…

Hey, this continues to look worse and worse.

Rep. Marie Newman didn’t just agree to give a political rival a cushy job so he wouldn’t run. They negotiated over her political positions—specifically, her positions on Israel.

Totally crazy stuff.

thedailybeast.com/new-twist-in-d… This is from the email Iymen Chehade sent Marie Newman about what he wanted in a contract.

Marie Newman’s response was not outrage, or shock, or disgust. It was this:

“Most of it looks good. Couple of concerns -mostly phraseology.”

thedailybeast.com/new-twist-in-d…

This is embarrassing stenography that, at times, enters hagiography for insurrectionists…in the New York Times. nytimes.com/2022/01/23/us/… I also have a news flash for the writers: Just because you didn’t enter the building doesn’t mean you were some peaceful protester or didn’t break the law.

The guy who is your lede anecdote was pictured on the Capitol grounds. Not exactly the peaceful patriot you describe.

Joe Manchin: Deeply Disappointed in the GOP and Prepared to Do Absolutely Nothing

I’m biased, but I think this @sambrodey piece is fantastic.

thedailybeast.com/joe-manchin-de… What we’re seeing on the state level is that Republicans are prepared to restrict voting access to retain power.

What we’re seeing on the national level is that Joe Manchin is living in an alternate reality.

thedailybeast.com/joe-manchin-de…

Lauren Boebert has unfurled a space blanket. Alright, so Lauren Boebert just sort of loudly opened a space blanket—like shook it free so that everyone could hear it in the chamber—and then just draped it on her lap.

I honestly don't know what it means.

As the Robinhood hearing starts, the real action — apparently — is at the Natural Resources organizing meeting, where Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is roasting Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for the gun shrine she’s constructed as a Zoom background. Jared Huffman on Lauren Boebert: “If somebody wants to have a shrine to their gun fetish as a Zoom backdrop in their private life, they can do that. But this is our hearing room and at some point we will get past the Covid epidemic and we’ll all start showing up in person...”

So Capitol Police called me today to come in for an interview.

They were pretty cryptic on what it was about, but it turns out they have two ongoing investigations that I was witness to: one, the potential assault of an officer by a Member of Congress, the other, Andy Harris. The first investigation is about Rep. Russ Fulcher manhandling an officer who was at the metal detectors outside the House floor.

I saw him very aggressively brush a female officer aside after he set the magnetometer off the night of 1/12.

The back-and-forth between Cruz and AOC today has been revealing about how much Cruz thinks it’s all a game and how much AOC doesn’t.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1354879766843830272

Still thinking about Rep. Kelly Armstrong’s floor speech on 1/13, where he said voting against impeachment would give him credibility with his base and voting for impeachment would give Dems credibility with their base.

This is basically how GOP lawmakers think about things.

Reading “Inside the NRA,” and the author — formerly the No. 2-ish person at the NRA — talks a lot about how fear and anger were primary fundraising mechanisms for them and other conservative causes. And he notes how Trump was a master at it.

Who could’ve predicted January 6th?? “Selling the fear — real or imagined — never gets old.”

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) had something on him. I believe it was a gun because a cop made a side holster motion to another cop. They refuse to let him in.

He goes toward the elevators, asks a member to take something from him, the member says he doesn’t have a license. I also heard Andy Harris say he told his staff to remind him.

This was entirely predictable, because the House GOP’s fealty to Trump is completely genuine at this point, and honestly, good on Liz Cheney for voting her conscience.

https://twitter.com/juliegraceb/status/1351644289978290179

Like, voters aren’t *calling out* for Liz Cheney to be removed as the House Republican Conference Chair.

This is just a bunch of aggrieved men going ‘HOW DARE SHE???!?!??’

Rep. Virginia Foxx absolutely walked through the metal detector, set it off, and kept walking.

I’m not going to make up a story.

https://twitter.com/virginiafoxx/status/1349484460249673729

The most charitable explanation I can offer is that she didn’t realize she set off the magnetometer.

The most likely explanation I can offer is that she’s just straight up lying.

Kevin Brady says he opposes $2,000 checks because it would go toward people paying down credit card debt or making “new purchases online at Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Amazon.”

Funny, how people spent money didn't seem to be a huge concern when Republicans passed their tax cut bill. You know, I just remembered that the day House Republicans passed their tax bill — a bill that Brady was instrumental in writing — he was one of the many Republicans who couldn’t name the tax brackets.

Listen to interview. Read the story.

google.com/amp/s/m.huffpo…

I just went through the Twitters of all 126 House Republicans who signed on to that Texas lawsuit petition.

A few thoughts: [Thread] The first takeaway is that the vast majority of these members — probably close to 100 — seem to have said nothing at all about the petition.

They didn’t note that they signed on, and they haven’t noted that the Supreme Court quickly rejected the case.

A Thom Tillis staffer told a a 3-time cancer survivor that buying health insurance is the same as buying a dress shirt.

The woman, Bev Veals, asked him to imagine his parents in her and her husband’s situation.

He told her his parents would “gladly die.” m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5f… This whole exchange is pretty informative, because the reality is this is the GOP position on health care: If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t get it.

It really is just like a dress shirt to them. And some staffer got in trouble for telling the truth.

m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5f…

I got a Coronavirus test just now. And I learned a few things.

A short thread: To start, one of the reasons it takes so long to get the results back is because we have to send the swabs to testing centers.

For DC, that means freezing your swab and sending it to North Carolina, where they’re already backed up.

Here’s what you need to know when someone claims the GOP health care bill — the AHCA — covered people with pre-existing conditions:

(Thread) The AHCA allowed insurers to take into account “health status” when setting premiums. That means they could charge more for pre-existing conditions.

So while insurers couldn’t *deny* sick people, they absolutely could charge them more — an unaffordable amount more.

I don't want to turn this horrible shooting into a finger-pointing game, but I was struck by similarities between what the New Zealand shooter wrote and some of the things current Members of Congress say about immigration.

So, a thread: Here's the shooter talking about the "invasion" of immigration.