(Political animals eagerly await Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in bookstores next week. Spoiler alert: the warning has to do with Donald J. Trump’s third run for president. Scroll down for details.)]
FRIDAY 12/8/23
Hunter Biden Indicted – A grand jury for the Central District of California has indicted the president’s son, Hunter Biden, on nine federal counts of evading taxes on millions of dollars he was paid for his work for foreign countries. Special counsel David C. Weiss, who first began investigating the younger Biden five years ago as the Trump administration-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware, accuses Biden of engaging “in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed” between 2016 and 2019, The New York Times reports.
In the 56-page indictment, Hunter Biden is charged with three counts each of:
•Evasion of tax assessment.
•Failure to file and pay taxes.
•Filing a fake or fraudulent tax return.
The indictment accuses the president’s son of spending money on sex clubs, escorts, a rented Lamborghini and other extravagances rather than pay federal taxes (per CNN).
Last August, Biden was “on the verge” of a plea deal over separate charges stemming from his failure to report his drug use when he purchased a handgun in 2018.
About Weiss: Despite Weiss' Republican bone fides as a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, pundits and commentators from Fox News to its right have tried to paint the special counsel as member of a “weaponized” Justice Department that tried to cover up Hunter Biden’s alleged misdeeds.
Upshot: Of course, Trump supporters see these accusations as a diversion from the former president’s civil and three criminal ongoing cases. As charges against Hunter Biden fester through the presidential election season (and as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) threatens an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden) Democratic Party leaders could see this as an opportunity to move on to other potential presidential candidates.
--TL
____________________________________________
THURSDAY 12/7/23
Unfunding Ukraine? – There is growing concern that Congress could break for the holidays without an agreement over funding for Ukraine, which Republicans want to tie to U.S. border security. Senate Republicans “insist” their decision Wednesday to block Biden’s massive foreign aid package will force a “reset” of the slow-moving negotiations, and are “openly deriding” House colleagues’ posture on the package, Punchbowl News reports.
Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT), lead Democratic negotiator: “They have to figure out whether they want to negotiate or whether they want to make ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ demands.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), said it was a “positive sign” that Biden is willing to make “significant compromises” in order to get approval for funding for Ukraine’s fight to push out Russia.
--TL
____________________________________________
WEDNESDAY 12/6/23
McCarthy Out of the House -- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), speaker of the House from January to October, announced Wednesday in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal he will retire his seat at the end of this year. "I'm leaving the House but not the fight," he writes. With George Santos out, this whittles down the Republican House majority to just two members.
•••
Peril Over Ukraine – Republican Senators are about to block $110.5 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine unless Democrats agree to a strict clampdown on migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The threat came Tuesday after a classified Senate briefing that devolved into a shouting match that “severely dimmed prospects for a bipartisan agreement,” The New York Times reports.
“We are about to abandon Ukraine,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT). “When Vladimir Putin marches into NATO territory, they will rue the day they decided to play politics with the future of Ukraine’s security.”
Then there’s this from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): “They want tens of billions of dollars to help our friends and allies overseas, but they’re not willing to prevent a potential crisis at the border. The Biden administration just does not seem to care.”
•••
Tuberville Relents, Mostly – Promotions of four-star generals are still out, as far as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is concerned. But under threat of a Senate rule change backed by most Republicans as well as Democrats, Tuberville said he is “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer,” (The Guardian), And so the Senate on Tuesday approved about 425 military promotions Trump acolyte Tuberville had held up for most of the year, over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.
--TL
____________________________________________
TUESDAY 12/5/23
SCOTUS Divided Over Purdue? – Supreme Court justices appeared divided over the question of whether Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy proceedings should be halted in order to expose the Sackler family to civil liability for marketing OxyContin, according to SCOTUSblog. As its bankruptcy agreement stands, the Sacklers are shielded from liability pending $6 billion in payment to creditors and victims of the opioid epidemic. Plaintiffs in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma believe the Sackler family would get off to easily if the bankruptcy is allowed to proceed, though many advocates for the victims fear revocation of the bankruptcy proceeding would drag out compensation far too long.
--TL
____________________________________________
MONDAY 12/4/23
Cheney’s Warning – Washington has been obsessed with former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney’s book due for release next week, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning since CNN reported excerpts last week. In it, Cheney accuses Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) of “cowardice” in his unwillingness to stand up to ex-President Trump, according to the excerpts. She outlines current Speaker Mike Johson’s (R-LA) role in filing an amicus brief in Texas urging the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside the Electoral College in several states Biden won.
This was when Johnson was “aggressively” gathering signatures from his Republican colleagues, and Cheney overheard a congressman say, in exasperation, “The things we do for the ‘Orange Jesus.’”
“Mike played a particularly destructive role,” Cheney told NPR’s Leila Fadel on Morning Edition Monday. She disputes those who say our institutions, traditions and separation of powers could control Donald J. Trump if he wins the 2024 election, noting a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. “No, you can’t count on those institutions to restrict him,” she said.
Cheney questioned Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) destructive holds on key Pentagon promotions.
Is he “holding the positions open so Donald Trump can fill them? What’s he doing?”
Fadel asked about the future of the Republican Party and American conservatism.
“I think the Republican Party as it exists today is dangerous to the country,” Cheney said. She does not believe the GOP, or a new truly conservative party, can be built in time for the 2024 elections.
“The most important thing to do now is stop Donald Trump,” she said. Would the vice chair of last year’s House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol run for president in 2024?
“I haven’t … ruled it out. I look at it very much through the lens of stopping Donald Trump. It needs to be everybody’s priority.”
•••
Christie Out? – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as of Sunday did not know whether he would qualify for Wednesday’s GOP presidential candidate debate, 8 p.m. Eastern on News Nation, but he does plan to stay in the race to defeat Donald J. Trump, at least through next summer’s Republican Party convention in Milwaukee. CBS News’ Margaret Brennan asked Christie on Face the Nation Sunday whether he should step down from the primary race to consolidate the opposition.
“This field is already consolidated,” he replied, “more than any non-incumbent field in this century.”
•••
Also on Sunday – Last Friday, The New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence officials were warned of a Hamas attack on the country about a year before October 7. On Sunday, NBC News’ Kristin Welker asked White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Meet the Press Sunday whether U.S. intelligence also was tipped off.
“The intelligence community has indicated that they did not have access to this document,” Kirby responded.
“Should they have?” Welker asked.
“Intelligence is a mosaic,” Kirby replied. “Sometimes you can piece these together. Sometimes pieces of the puzzle are missing.”
No confidence in Austin: Meanwhile, on CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Dana Bash he has lost all confidence in Lloyd Austin over remarks made by the defense secretary that Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip would inflame more Palestinians.
“He’s naïve. I’ve just lost all confidence in this guy.” Graham said. “They’re already inflamed … Israel is not just fighting Hamas, but all infrastructure around Hamas.”
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa