HOLIDAY RECESS 2023-24

Rocky Mountain Bye – Now the presidential race is getting interesting. All those pundits who say Donald J. Trump has all but won the GOP presidential primary will have to discount Colorado, where the state’s supreme court has ruled 4-3 to remove the former president from its March 5 primary under an 1868 provision of the Fourteenth Amendment preventing insurrectionists for running for the office (The Washington Post). Next and final stop for the case is the U.S. Supreme Court, though many scholars say SCOTUS can only resolve the insurrection issue for all states. 

Of course, Trump already has ridden his 91 indictment counts to new highs in the polls, but Colorado may have done nothing less than lead other states with similar cases pending in their courts. 

Other voices: Republican challengers Nikki Haley and Chris Christie already have criticized Colorado’s supreme court for weighing in on a decision they say belongs only to the voters, according to MSNBC’s The Eleventh Hour.

--TL

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UPDATE: "Lots of talk, but no border deal," Punchbowl News says regarding Senate border control talks this past weekend. Sources told the newsletter that James Lankford, who is leading the GOP side of negotiations called up fellow Republican senators to tell them the talks likely won't be resolved until January. The full Senate is scheduled to return Monday, January 8, with the House returning that Tuesday.

Still Time for Ukraine? – The ups and downs of the $110-billion aid package to Ukraine are on the upswing again, sort of. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has kept the Senate in town through the weekend, blowing past its scheduled holiday break scheduled to begin Friday evening (the House left Washington a day earlier). Sens. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and James Lankford (R-OK) are leading negotiations with Biden administration officials, including Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, to trade aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in exchange for a strict border control package (per Politico). The level of progress in the talks seems to vary from news report to news report.

•••

Trump Goes All-In on Authoritarianism – At the beginning of his first presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump infamously said, “I could stand in the middle of 5^th  Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” At his rally in Durham, New Hampshire last weekend, he proved he could go all-in on authoritarianism and racism without losing his core support (the rally crowd was big), repeating the Hitlerian phrase; “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all around the world…” 

Piling on to the racism, he added, “Not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world they’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia.” (per Politico). 

Quotes Putin: In psychology, it’s called transference. Works in politics, too. Trump said “even Putin” sees President Biden as a threat to democracy, quoting the Russian dictator’s four-hour “interview” last week. Our former president also repeated Putin’s criticism of Trump’s prosecution: “It shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach ethics about democracy.” 

Trump added, “They’re all laughing at us.” (per The Washington Post). 

Trump also aligned himself with Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, who is single-handedly quashing the European Union’s 50-billion euro aid package to Ukraine.  

Christie reacts: “He’s becoming crazier,” GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said of Trump on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. 

White House reacts: “Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and our public safety,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said of Trump’s comments (per The Guardian).

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Citing such "recent indicators" as slowing economic activity growth, "moderating" job gains and "eased" inflation, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee Wednesday chose to hold interest rates to 5¼%-5½%, a “soft landing” indeed. This after Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November, for a year-over-year inflation rate of 3.1%, down 0.1% from October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The Federal Reserve is expected to hold its interest rate steady when it holds its last meeting of 2023 later this week, though the big question is whether it will start lowering rates in 2024. All items less food and energy were up 0.3% last month, for a 4% annual CPI, twice the Fed’s target level.

FRIDAY 12/15/23

Push for ‘More Targeted Operations’ in Gaza – U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said he agrees with Israel that its war with Hamas “is going to take months,” he said in Tel Aviv Friday (per The Washington Post), where he discussed with the nation’s leaders a planned transition from the “high-intensity phase” of the war to “more targeted operations.” On Thursday, Sullivan asked Israeli officials to lower the intensity of their attacks on Gaza in the “near future.” 

This follows President Biden’s remarks earlier in the week that the IDF’s “indiscriminate bombing” was eroding support for Israel.

The Israeli Defense Forces also announced Friday it had recovered the bodies of three hostages, but did not say how the Israelis died, NPR reports.

•••

Report: Comer Has His Own Shell – Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is leading the House probe of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, for allegedly using shell companies designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests. Now an investigative report by The Associated Press says Comer himself has his own shell company with “complicated” friends.

According to the AP, multi-millionaire Comer lists roughly 1,600 acres of land in Kentucky on his congressional financial disclosure statement, but not including the five acres he purchased in 2015 with a longtime campaign contributor as co-owner. Comer has transferred his ownership of the parcel to Farm Team Properties, a shell company co-owned with his wife, the report says.

•••

Automatic Voter Registration for Ex-Felons – Michigan has become the first state in the nation to expand automatic voting to ex-felons the moment they’re released from prison, according to a report by member station WKAR on NPR’s Morning Edition. Michigan already was among the handful of states that gave ex-felons the right to register to vote upon release from prison.

--TL

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THURSDAY 12/14/23

UPDATE: Leaders of the 28 member countries meeting in Brussels agreed to begin negotiations to let Ukraine into the European Union, The Washington Post reports. Instead of his threatened veto, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban abstained from the vote.

Et tu, EU? – Viktor Orban, leader of European Union member Hungary and the Kremlin’s closest ally in the region has threatened to block opening negotiations to make Ukraine a member, The Guardian reports. Orban also plans to veto 50 billion euros in EU aid to Ukraine, a day after U.S. Congress refused to vote on a $110-billion aid package to the country. The EU already has granted Ukraine candidate status and wants to move into formal negotiations.

Meanwhile: Senate negotiators are moving closer to a deal for on a southern border clampdown after the White House offered “significant” concessions, The Wall Street Journal reports. But even if it’s not too little, it may be too late for the House to go along with a deal that could replenish aid to Ukraine in exchange before Congress adjourns for the year Friday.

•••

Biden Impeachment Inquiry Advances – With no evidence of misconduct by Joe Biden, the House voted 221-212 along party lines to open an impeachment inquiry on the president Wednesday in connection with his son, Hunter’s, business dealings (AP). 

Meanwhile, Hunter: The president’s son defied a congressional subpoena Wednesday for a closed-door deposition over his business dealings and instead took his case just outside the Capitol. Hunter Biden argued that pieces of the deposition can be selectively leaked and manipulated, according to the AP.

“Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say,” Hunter Biden said. “What are they afraid of? I am here.” 

He now faces possible contempt charges by House Republicans.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 12/13/23

Merry Christmas, Mr. Putin -- A full day spent lobbying Congress for a $110-billion aid package Tuesday did not move Republicans. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will return to Ukraine with pretty much no chance of receiving that aid before the end of the year.

President Biden had indicated he was willing to make further concessions in negotiations tied to southern border security, and demanded Republicans pass the aid package for Ukraine “before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him.”

“Russian loyalists in Moscow celebrated when Republicans voted to block Ukraine’s aid last week,” Biden said (per Axios). “If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing.”

What the GOP is doing:

•Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said it would be “practically impossible for Congress to resolve the standoff before the holidays.

•Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): “I told President Zelenskyy, ‘Here’s the problem: It’s got nothing to do with you.’”

•House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he told Zelenskyy, “we stand with him and against Putin’s brutal invasion … Our first condition on any national security supplemental spending package is about our own national security.”

Zelenskyy refused in that private Senate meeting to make any comment on the U.S. border issue, Politico reports.

•••

Nice New Democracy You Have There … Would be a Shame if Something Happened to it – Polish Parliament’s Sejm elected Donald Tusk prime minister of the country 248-201 Monday. This ends leadership of the authoritarian Law and Justice party, which under former Prime Minister Andrzej Duda drew warnings from the European Union, of which Poland is a member, after gutting power from the nation’s judiciary and seizing control of state media.

Law and Justice lost last October’s election to more moderate/liberal parties including Tusk’s Civic Platform party. Duda’s right-wing government resigned after the elections, but his party tried to hold on to power when Duda asked Mateusz Morawiecki to stay on as caretaker and try to form a new government, according to The New York Times.

Tusk had served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014, and was president of the EU’s European Council from 2014 to 2019.

Now, as Ukraine faces the likelihood U.S. military aid will end, at least into early 2024, Duda’s most potent adversary will be Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

--TL

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‘Life and Death’ for Ukraine – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Biden at the White House Tuesday after making a “life and death” plea to Congress for more military aid for its fight with Russia, The Washington Post reports. Zelenskyy was to hold a private meeting with members of the Senate at 9 a.m., followed by a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Ukraine runs out of money for arms if Congress fails to approve more aid before it leaves Washington for its holiday break on Friday.

Border security negotiations: White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has entered negotiations with Sens. Christopher Murphy (D-CT), James Lankford (R-OK) and Krysten Sinema (I-AZ)  to reach a U.S.-Mexico border security plan that would appease non-MAGA congressional Republicans who are balking over passing additional aid to Ukraine, according to a scoop by Semafor. Lankford has previously said he doesn’t expect the Senate to pass a Ukraine aid/border security bill before recess.

--TL

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MONDAY 12/11/23

Would Trump Abandon NATO?

As former Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) media book tour for Oath and Honor: A Memoir and Warning culminates in an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday, it seems far from certain that her message warning a second Trump term would be anti-democratic – outright dictatorial -- is getting across to American voters. A new Wall Street Journal poll says Donald J. Trump leads President Biden, 47% to 43% on a hypothetical two-candidate ballot. 

Throw in five potential third-party and independent candidates, and Trump leads Biden 37% to 31%, with anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grabbing 8%. 

Trump already is winning on international relations and foreign aid issues after the Senate voted last week to block $110.6 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s Russian army is taking a break for the rest of the year and will step up its invasion as Ukraine faces the beginning of 2024 its U.S. military aid depleted. Although continued aid is expected from the U.K., Germany and the rest of NATO, it is no substitute for the U.S. aid, which came to about 5% of the Pentagon budget. There’s also a potential hit to our economy, as 90% of that aid to Ukraine reportedly came back to American military contractors. 

Beyond Trump’s threat to serve as a dictator – even if only for his first day, as he told Sean Hannity – he clearly has no plans to continue, or revive, military aid to Ukraine. Trump would pick up where he left off after his first administration in removing the U.S. from NATO altogether. 

His campaign website “contains a single cryptic sentence” about NATO, The New York Times reported Sunday: “We have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally re-evaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” 

That “vague” line “has generated enormous uncertainty and anxiety among European allies and American supporters of the country’s traditional foreign-policy role,” the NYT says.

There is nothing vague about the way a NATO withdrawal would be the natural next step after dropping aid to Ukraine, and how it would please Putin.

Russian media already have celebrated Senate Republican opposition to the Ukrainian aid package – the result of a combo of a few MAGA Trump supporters and more mainstream Republicans who want to see a new strict border policy before sending more aid. 

One of several examples reported by The Daily Beast: “Well done, Republicans! They’re standing firm! That’s good for us!” --“Grinning” propagandist Oleg Skabeeva on Russian state TV.

As a Trump White House aligns with fellow NATO member Hungary and its pro-Putin leader Viktor Orban, Russia will look to further conquests in the Baltic states and Poland, at least. And Russia’s closest current ally, China, will be further emboldened in going after Taiwan.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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The U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs in November, a number that supports current thinking that we are in for a ‘soft landing’ instead of a recession in early 2024. The unemployment rate slipped by 0.1% to 3.7%, and the Labor Department says the biggest job gains came in health care and government, with some upside to manufacturing after UAW workers signed a contract and returned to work for General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis. Employment in retail sales declined.

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Cameo is an online video platform with which you can pay a celebrity – “B”, “C”, “F” to “Z” – to send a video greeting to a friend or family. Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) already is drawing fees four times what he earned just after he was expelled last week, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is buying. Fetterman paid Santos $343 to punk Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), according to Business Insider.

“I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems,” Fetterman said of the U.S. senator charged with bribery, posting on X. “So I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give ‘Bobby from Jersey’ some advice.”

Santos’ Cameo greeting to Menendez: “Hey Bobby … Look, I don’t need to tell you, but these people want to kick you out and make you run away – you make them put up or shut up. You stand your ground, sir.”

The Hill figures Santos doesn’t know who Menendez is, from this correspondence back to Fetterman: “Bobby from Jersey. I love this! I wish I knew the Bobby in question! LOL.”

Biggest surprise is that the congressman who tried to make a fashion statement on Capitol Hill still uses “LOL.”

•••

Comment on the center section in this column or the one on the right. Or, email us at editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you lean left or right.

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(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

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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

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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

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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

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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 6^th 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

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

FRIDAY 12/1/23

(Nobel Peace Prize winner ... War criminal? Ultimate diplomat? Henry Kissinger, who consulted 12 Republican and Democratic presidents and was both national security advisor and secretary of state for Presidents Nixon and Ford, has died at 100. He was the model for the title character in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and is famous for saying, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”)

UPDATE: Santos Expelled -- On the third attempt in six months, Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was expelled from Congress by a vote of 311-114-2 (per The Hill). A two-thirds majority was required. Almost all House Democrats and 105 Republicans voted for Santos' removal.

•••

Cease-Fire Expires, War Restarts – After seven days, the truce between Israel and Hamas has expired, NPR’s Morning Editionreports, with both sides blaming each other for resuming attacks. The Qatari government, central to the ceasefire that commenced a week ago, is trying to negotiate another truce with little hope for success.

Israel was warned: The New York Times has reviewed a translated plan called “Jericho Wall” that outlines Hamas’ October 7 attack it reports Israeli officials saw a year ago. Israel concluded the plan, which detailed the attack point-by-point couldn’t be carried out. The document was circulated widely among Israeli military officials, but experts determined the attack as outlined “was beyond Hamas’ capabilities …” It was unclear, the NYT report says, whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top leaders saw the report.

•••

Santos Sunk? – The House on Friday will vote on whether to remove Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress, Roll Call reports. This will be the House’s third attempt for his expulsion. 

“I will be filing a slew of complaints in the coming hours of today and tomorrow to make sure that we are keeping the playing field even,” Santos said, in a Thursday press conference in front of the Capitol. 

Santos faces a slew of charges in a 23-count criminal indictment, including:

•A fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme.

•Unemployment insurance fraud.

•Filing false disclosure statements with the House.

•Filing fraudulent fundraising reports.

•Charging donors credit cards without permission.

In addition, a House ethics panel report says Santos used campaign funds on personal expenses.

--TL

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THURSDAY 11/30/23

Another Day of Cease Fire – Secretary of State Antony Blinken has returned to Tel Aviv to urge extension of the pause in fighting as Israel and Hamas extend their cease-fire for a seventh day, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Since Friday, 210 Palestinians, 73 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals have been released, according to The Washington Post, including an American-Israeli mother who was freed Wednesday. An estimated 159 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip.

So Long Santos, Today? – The “Mary Magdalen of the United States Congress,” Rep. George Santos (R-NY) faces a likely expulsion vote Thursday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), has “reservations” however, over removing a Congress member who has not yet been convicted of a crime, Roll Call notes.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news