Now that Kevin McCarthy has said he'll push the contested House committee leadership elections until after the Speakers vote on 1/3

Here, from Politico, is a little bit of what the (serious) fallout will be for the 118th Congress: 👇 “days, if not weeks, of uncertainty for GOP committees as they begin their stint in the majority. Some of the most important panels, including those charged with tax-writing and border security, won’t be able to prepare bills, tee up hearings, or even hire staff. 👇

And Dems have a new House Minority Leader!
Hakeem Jeffries
Last night he said:
"Leadership is incredibly important. When we get an opportunity as diverse leaders to serve in positions of consequence, the most meaningful thing we can do in that space is do an incredibly good job." Hakeem Jeffries on the House GOP:
"Moving forward, it’s my hope that House Democrats can find common ground with Republicans to get things done that would make life better for everyday Americans whenever possible. We are also prepared to oppose their extremism when we must.."

Manchin & Schumer made a 'deal' to include a "permitting" bill in the CR when Manchin helped pass the IRA
So far Manchin hasn't released the text
Hearing today that he won't do so until after the CR plan is made public next wk
Says he needs 20 GOP to counter Dem opposition
👇 Also hearing Manchin is pressuring the GOP WV Senator Shelley Moore-Capito to whip GOP support on it
But no one understands Manchin's bill
Not even Moore-Capito
Her remarks 👇

How badly does Rick Scott want to be SML?
Guess we'll see
Per @PunchbowlNews
Now that the NRSC (which Scott chairs) coffers are dry
GOP Senate want him to cough up a portion of the $1.4M in his own reelect fund
(Senate-2025, but the pres run in 24..)
He's dodging
This is fun! .@PunchbowlNews :
"Key GOP senators are now willing to say it publicly. If Scott wants to revive Republican prospects in 2022, he can do what he always does to win — use his personal fortune to close the yawning cash gap between the GOP and Senate Democrats
👇

Biden gave 2 more spectacular, high energy speeches yesterday
During the Milwaukee speech I kept thinking about how Trump kept saying Biden was "hiding in his basement" bc he was "sleepy"
Trump should be grateful Biden wasn't out there
And I'm grateful he is now
He's GOOD AT IT! PA: “[D]emocracy is really at stake. You can’t be a democracy when you support violence when you don’t like the outcome of an election. You can’t call yourself a democracy when you don’t, in fact, count the votes that people legitimately cast. …

Why Trump will almost certainly declare his 2024 candidacy on 11/9:
🧵
Per Bloomberg sources 'familiar":
DOJ “likely to wait until after [11/8] to announce any charges against Trump"
bloomberg.com/news/articles/… “Under long-standing department policy, prosecutors are barred from taking investigative steps or filing charges for the purpose of affecting an election or helping a candidate or party, traditionally 60 days before an election. This year, that would be by Sept. 10.”

🧵
WH COS Ron Klain on how the WH is branding the GOP in this election cycle (something all Dem candidates should follow):
“We have an extreme MAGA group in the [GOP] that has no real plan to bring down inflation. They obviously want to pass a nationwide ban on abortion.
👇 "They sided with Big Pharma. They sided with the climate deniers. They sided with-most of them sided with..the gun lobby. And so I think that choice [is] between a party that’s standing up to the special interests and delivering change, and an extreme party,
👇

WSJ timeline:
6/3 DOJ counterintel chief Jay Bratt visits Mar-a-Lago
He inspects the so-called "unclassified" docs Trump took from WH
Trump tells him all classified docs have been returned
6/8 Bratt sends Trump lawyers an email telling them to "secure" the room docs are in
👇 6/22 Feds subpoena Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage
8/8 FBI conducts a surprise search on Mar-a-Lago
WSJ: an informant at Mar-a-Lago "told FBI that Trump was lying"
& knew *exactly* where the docs in ? were
An INFORMANT?
A GOV'T informant at Mar-a-Lago
INSIDE the Trump camp?
👇

Changes to IRA that got Sinema onboard:
Add 1% excise tax on stock buybacks
Language narrowing the carried interest loophole is out
Paring back parts of a 15% minimum corporate wealth tax
Add $5 billion in drought resiliency investments
Still no word from Parliamentarian
👇 Senate Parliamentarian decision on Rx drug pricing could come as soon as today
Their ruling on tax provisions expected to take a bit longer
Senate staffers will present arguments on taxation
-including the electric vehicle tax credits
behind closed doors today
👇

Oh. God.
If you think Trump won't be worse in 24 READ THIS!!!
"Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the fed govt if he is re-elected purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists .."
axios.com/2022/07/22/tru… 2/"Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon .."

NEW!
Per a DOJ court filing this am:
Trump attorney Justin Clark interviewed with fed prosecutors on 6/29
One big reveal: that Trump had never invoked executive privilege to block Bannon from testifying
This "interview" could be bad for all of them
Here:
politico.com/news/2022/07/1… “The Defendant’s timing suggests that the only thing that has really changed since he refused to comply with the subpoena in October 2021 is that he is finally about to face the consequences of his decision to default,” Vaughn wrote.

Breyer, Sotomayor & Kagan's dissent:
"As of today, this Court holds, a State can always force a woman to give birth, prohibiting even the earliest abortions. A State can thus transform what, when freely undertaken, is a wonder into what, when forced, may be a nightmare .."
#VOTE AND:
“No one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation"

TX GOP on the Senate gun bill:
(nb: they booed Cornyn like crazy this w/e)
“We reject the so called ‘bipartisan gun agreement and we rebuke Senators John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, Roy Blunt, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney & Pat Toomey.."
👇 ALSO TX GOP this w/e:
“we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States,” asserted that “Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,”
👇

Word this am that staffers have been working all w/e to carve out the Senate gun deal
Cornyn walked out Fri over boyfriend loophole & some red flag issues
Hearing Dems "appear to have made some concessions" on both
no details on that yet
Talks moving fwd
👇 Boyfriend loophole: refers to prohibiting domestic abusers from buying guns
-but only if they’re married or have a longtime relationship with the victim, including having a child
Dems wanted this to cover dating partners
(many don't marry these days)
GOP said NO GO
👇

Interesting note re #January6thCommitteeHearings today:
Per NYT:
Eastman “claimed in an email after Election Day 2020 to have insight into a ‘heated fight’ among [SCOTUS] justices over whether to hear arguments about the president’s efforts to overturn his defeat at the polls
⤵️ Eastman reportedly made the comment as part of an exchange with another lawyer & “Trump campaign officials” over whether to file an appeal to the high court in support of a Wis election case
#January6thCommittee has this email
And there is heavy inference to Ginni Thomas
⤵️

HOLY smokes:
Hearing this am:
@January6thCmte has docu footage showing a man who took part in a 1/5 tour of the Capitol complex with GOP Rep Barry Loudermilk outside the Capitol the following day
Yelling threats at members of Congress
– including Pelosi
⤵️ Cmte has video of this person taking part in the Loudermilk tour on 1/5
And documentary footage of the same man outside the Capitol on 1/6
This person has given testimony to the cmte
They're in deep consult re how to release this
May do so publicly (like Cheney last night)
⤵️

Hearing today's #January6thCommitteeHearings will focus on "the Big Lie"
2 witness panels
First: Stirewalt & Stepien
Dunno if Stepien will be a "friendly" witness
Second: Ginsburg, Schmidt & Pak
-the lawyers ..
Brief witness rundown follows
⤵️ Trump fmr Campaign Mgr Bill Stepien is appearing under subpoena
He helped craft a strategy to legally challenge the results (even tho he knew they'd lost)
He resigned when Giuliani/Ellis et all started taking control of the effort
Stepien was the adult in the campaign
#s guy
⤵️

Fmr Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson
-who told Jan 6th Cmte Trump supported "Hang Mike Pence"
Is likely to testify in public hearings
& may be "the next John Dean"

What to expect from the hearings 👇
Gifted, no paywall

Read here: wapo.st/3xccIkG Also: "Hutchinson is likely to testify live before the committee, complemented by video footage of previous interviews before investigators, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
👇

Remember Trump lawyer/election denier Cleta Mitchell who tried to help Trump overturn 2020?
Welp now she's working with RNC & recruiting election conspiracists "into an organized cavalry of activists monitoring elections"
This isn't going away ..
🧵:
nytimes.com/2022/05/30/us/… 2/"In seminars around the country, Ms. Mitchell is marshaling volunteers to stake out election offices, file information requests, monitor voting, work at polling places and keep detailed records of their work.

It's important to note that as President, Biden's role in forcing legislative action on #GunControl is pretty limited
With a have a hyper-partisan 50/50 Senate
Last night Schumer took a procedural step to move the Background Check & the Enhanced Background Checks acts fwd
⤵️ They are HR8 & HR 1446
Both passed the House in March '21
Placing them on the legislative calendar means Schumer can file cloture & move for a vote asap
He can force 50 GOP Senators on the record
But don't hold your breath
⤵️

SCOTUS Justices will hold a "private, closed-door conference" tomorrow
To date "none of the conservative justices who initially sided with Alito have switched their votes. No dissenting draft opinions have circulated from any justice"
Short thread:
politico.com/news/2022/05/1… 2/"“That could explain why no second draft of Alito’s majority opinion has been distributed, as typically the two sides react to one another’s written arguments and recast their own.