The Oklahoma GOP has censured Lankford for his work on the "compromise" border bill. Scroll down for details.
FRIDAY 2/9/24
Biden’s Age Trumps Docs Case – Special Counsel Robert K. Hur found that Joe Biden’s “willfull” retention and disclosure of classified documents doesn’t establish the president’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” but the other side of those findings sure does sting. Hur, a U.S. attorney during the Trump administration, found Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” and that part prompted Biden to hold a press conference Thursday to defend himself.
But in the presser, Biden referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the president of Mexico, NPR’s Morning Editionreports, and told a CNN reporter that the press does not agree with age/memory issues raised – apparently he meant “the public” does not agree.
Meanwhile: Hur’s report will trigger another round of hand wringing from supporters, including never-Trump conservatives, who want to see a younger Democratic candidate take on Donald J. Trump. Three years younger than Biden, Trump has exhibited plenty of memory lapses and name mix-ups himself, though his avid supporters expect no explanation.
Trumpdate: The former president easily won GOP caucuses Thursday in Nevada, as expected, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, AP reports.
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Zelenskyy Fires Military Commander – After weeks of speculation he would do so, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who had led the military since before Russia’s full-scale invasion, with Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi (The Kyiv Independent). The new commander previously served as commander of Ukraine’s Grand Forces and the Khortysia Operational and Strategic Group fighting in Ukraine’s east.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate: After aid to Ukraine, Israel and to Indo-Pacifc allies went down with the border bill earlier this week, the Senate cleared an initial procedural hearing to move said aid along, The Hill reports, with several more procedural votes to come.
And in the House: The Senate’s determination to pass above aid, with help from non-MAGA Republicans including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is placing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in an especially sticky space. If and when the full Senate passes an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Johnson will be forced to bring the bill to the House’s floor, where a majority of Democrats plus non-MAGA Republicans will very likely pass it. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA) already has said she would pull a Kevin McCarthy on the current speaker.
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Pardon the Interruption, Mr. Putin – Ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlton struggled to get a word in during the first half-hour of a two-hour-plus interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Washington Post’s account. As expected, Putin defended his invasion of Ukraine and claimed to have no interest in attacking Poland or any other NATO countries unless attacked by them first.
“Carlson spent most of the interview in silence, or looking confounded,” WaPo says in its report.
--TL
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THURSDAY 2/8/24
No Charges in Biden Docs Case – Special Counsel Robert K. Hur found evidence President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” The Washington Post reports, but the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” The long-awaited 345-page Justice Department filing comes after 173 interviews with 145 witnesses, including Biden. To secure a conviction, DOJ officials would need to prove to a jury that Biden retained the information willfully, according to the report.
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SCOTUS Hears Colorado Ballot Case -- Hearing legal arguments in Trump v. Anderson the U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely to overturn a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that ordered former President Trump from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot. Liberal as well as conservative justices were skeptical in their questioning of whether a ruling upholding the Colorado court would prompt other states from removing a Democratic candidate from their ballots.
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MAGA Rules – Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who negotiated the failed bipartisan border bill with Sens. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) took to the Senate floor Wednesday and said a right-wing media personality weeks ago vowed to do “whatever I can to destroy you” if he tried to “move a bill that solves the border crisis during this presidential year…” (The New York Times). “By the way. They have been faithful to their promise and have done everything they can to destroy me.”
The Daily Beast has identified that media personality as radio host Jesse Kelly, who broadcasts on iHeartRadio’s Premiere Networks.
Sinking aid for Ukraine: The Senate’s failure to pass cloture on the border bill has, among other effects, sunk $60 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. Donald Tusk, prime minister of neighboring Poland said that Ronald Reagan would be “turning in his grave” over U.S. Congress’ failure to pass the aid package (per BBC) and effectively hand victory to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Single-party Congress?: Has indicted GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump already taken over Congress? Is it essentially a single-(MAGA) party, authoritarian entity that can effectively rule without compromise? Email your comments to editora@thehustings.news.
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Colorado or Bust?: The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday will consider whether Donald J. Trump can be removed from Colorado’s primary ballot, under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. SCOTUS’ decision will have implications for Trump’s campaign in the rest of the nation (NPR).
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WEDNESDAY 2/7/24
NOTC Beats Haley in Nevada – None of These Candidates won the Nevada GOP presidential primary Tuesday, handily beating the only other candidate on the ballot, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (Associated Press). That makes Haley the first candidate for either party to lose a race to NOTC since offered as an option in 1975. Haley did not campaign in Nevada, where citizen Donald J. Trump is certain to win Thursday’s GOP caucus.
“Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!” Trump posted on his Truth Social site.
Haley has been campaigning for the February 24 GOP primary in her home state of South Carolina. Her chances of nabbing the nomination now depend on how, and how soon, the Supreme Court rules on Tuesday’s federal appeals court ruling against Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his January 6 insurrection case.
Meanwhile: The AP called Nevada’s Democratic primary for President Biden, based on the vote from Washoe County, second most populous in the state. Biden had 89%, NOTC got 6% and Marianne Williamson scored 3%.
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McDaniel to Step Down – Ronna McDaniel will step down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee after the South Carolina GOP primary, sources have told The New York Times. Citizen Trump is likely to back North Carolina GOP head Michael Whatley, a supporter of the former president’s false claims of election fraud, according to the report.
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No Impeachment for Mayorkas -- Four House Republicans joined all Democrats to defeat a motion to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, 216-214, The New York Times reports.
As the Border Bill Churns ...
TUESDAY 2/6/24
Meanwhile … House Republicans have been proceeding with potential impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for “failing” to control the border, as the pro-Trump faction of the caucus vows to block the Senate’s border bill proposal. Now The Hill reports that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has but one Republican to spare to vote for Mayorkas’ impeachment, as Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have announced they will vote “nay.” Buck and McClintock argue that a cabinet secretary should not be removed for carrying out administration policy on immigration and border control.
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Border Bill Response -- "All indications are this bill won't even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it's bad for him politically." -- President Biden speaking from the White House Tuesday (per The Hill).
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Trump Can Face Trial -- A federal appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesday morning that Donald J. Trump can be put on trial for trying to remain in power after the 2020 election (The Washington Post), rejecting the former president's sweeping claim of immunity. One judge on the appeals court had feared during the hearing that a ruling for Trump could allow for political assassinations. Trump already has plans to appeal first to the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on up to the U.S. Supreme Court, to delay well past the original March 4 trial date, and through the November elections.
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There’s Got to be a Morning After—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will bring the $118 border security/Ukraine aid bill to the floor for a procedural vote Wednesday, but Republicans already are declaring it doomed to fail.
Semafor is staging a “deathwatch,” citing a Reuters report that the border bill is in trouble.
A House Democrat told Politico Playbook, on condition of anonymity; “I’m coming to the notion that everything is dead. All of it.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who spent the last four months negotiating the bill with Sens. Jim Lankford (R-OK) and Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), told NPR’s Morning Edition “it would be the most significant bipartisan border reform in 40 years. And it is what American people want. They don’t want this issue to be used as a permanent political cudgel. They want to solve the problem.”
But a “wave” of Republicans in the Senate, even the hawks who want to see continued aid to Ukraine, appear ready to put the brakes on the bill Wednesday by voting against cloture.
Wait, wait … Punchbowl News scoops that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told a closed-door meeting with his caucus that the problem “isn’t the bill itself but that the political mood has shifted” in those past four months. McConnell told fellow Republicans to vote against cloture this week and take more time to consider the bill and offer amendments. The message, according to a senator who spoke to the outlet about McConnell’s meeting on the condition of anonymity is; “we can’t rush this right now.”
Nevertheless, it’s unclear, the report concludes, whether there is a future for the bill if it fails to advance this week, even as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warns of what happens to U.S. security if Vladimir Putin takes Ukraine.
Compromise … Murphy concedes there are a few senators in his party opposed to the bill (including Bob Menendez of New Jersey), but that a bipartisan majority would otherwise be ready to pass it.
“The problem is, right now, it looks as if most Republicans are going to vote against this as well,” he told Morning Edition. “And the only way you can get this passed in the Senate right now is if you have a majority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans supporting it. And right now, most Republicans are willing to listen to Donald Trump. He wants chaos to continue at the border because that will help him politically.”
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Speaking of Putin – Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s visit to Moscow over the weekend has sparked some buzz over whether he might interview Russian leader Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reports. After the Mash Telegram channel published a photo Saturday of Carlson attending the Bolshoi theater in Moscow, Russian state media outlet Isvestia interviewed him about his visit.
Carlson told Isvestia he “wanted to talk to people, look around, and see how it’s doing … and it’s doing very well.” Isvestia then asked whether Carlson was in Moscow to interview Putin.
“We’ll see,” Carlson responded, with a smile.
Watch for Carlson’s interview of dictator Putin, coming up on Elon Musk’s X-Twitter.
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Dearborn Ramps Up Security – Dearborn, Michigan has the highest concentration of Muslims in the United States. Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle Eastern Research Institute in which he called Dearborn “America’s jihad capital.” That prompted its mayor, Abdullah Hammoud to tweet that police have increased security at the city’s places of worship and at its major infrastructures.
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'DOA' Senate Border Bill Released
MONDAY 2/5/24
UPDATE -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is trying to "cobble together" Republican votes to pass the border/national security funding bill, The Hill reports. This alters the meaning of his first statement after the bipartisan bill was unveiled, but it also contradicts the expectation that the bill would have an easy time passing the full Senate.
Arrived – The Senate delivered text over the weekend of a $118.3-billion bipartisan bill containing emergency national security funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as the way the U.S. handles immigrants at the southwest border with Mexico. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week as a substitute amendment, according to CQ Roll Call’s report.
The bill provides:
•$60 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.
•$14.1 billion for emergency aid for Israel.
•$10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine and other conflicts.
•Nearly $5 billion to support U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region, including funds to replenish American weapons in Taiwan.
“What we have here is something that can pass the Senate and the House,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murphy (D-WA) said, according to the Roll Call report. “There is no reason for drama, delay or partisanship.”
But with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) opposition expressed before any language was released, in favor of maintaining the border crisis as Donald J. Trump’s main talking point in his election campaign, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is keeping his options open.
The Senate “must carefully consider the opportunity,” was all McConnell said in response to the bill.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a lead negotiator, said the bipartisan bill would:
•Empower President Biden to reduce the flow of migrants to the U.S.
•Speed up asylum applications.
•Expand legal pathways to immigrants.
More than $20 billion from the bill would expand operational needs and expand border control capabilities at the border.
Counter-bill: Johnson said he is preparing to bring a standalone, $17.6 billion supplemental funding package for Israel and U.S. troops in the Middle East to the House floor this week.
The takeaway: The two bills likely will die as each moves to the other chamber … though Murphy says overwhelming bipartisan support for the Senate’s bill would force it to the floor of the House, NPR reports.
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Blinken in Saudi Arabia – Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday for his fifth visit to the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Blinken hopes to negotiate a peace framework in Gaza (per The New York Times).
Hamas is still considering a proposal to stop fighting, according to the NYT.
Meanwhile … The Pentagon continues military retaliation over the killing of three U.S. soldiers last month by Iran-backed militias, following dozens of military strikes last week by U.S. forces on targets in Iraq and Syria.
Up on the Hill – The House is in session Monday, and the Senate is in session Thursday and Friday. Both chambers are in session Tuesday and Wednesday.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa