Post Politics Now Raskin expects ‘crimes that have not yet been alleged’ in Jan. 6 report
Meanwhile, President Biden announced a new batch of federal judicial nominees, bringing the total for his tenure to 90. Biden has maintained a remarkable pace, securing Senate confirmation in his first year of more district court and court of appeals judges than any president since John F. Kennedy, even as several of Biden’s high-profile legislative initiatives remain stalled.
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The latest: White House points to Russian ‘atrocities’ to explain Biden’s use of ‘genocide’
Return to menuBiden’s criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine escalated markedly Tuesday when he described President Vladimir Putin’s actions as “genocide” — rhetoric that some worried could spark further tension with Russia.
But the White House on Wednesday seemed undeterred to use the descriptor, with press secretary Jen Psaki saying the president called Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine a “genocide” because of the “atrocities” at the hands of the Russian military.
From our colleague Eugene Scott:
“The president was speaking to what we all see,” Psaki said Wednesday. “What he feels is clear as day in terms of the atrocities happening on the ground.”“As he also noted yesterday, of course, there will be a legal process that plays out in the courtroom," she added. "But he was speaking to what he has seen on the ground, what we’ve all seen in terms of the atrocities on the ground.”While in Bucha for a month, Russian soldiers killed hundreds of Ukrainians in the city about 37 miles from Kyiv. After Ukrainian forces recaptured the city last week, investigators from across the country have spent days searching neighborhoods for the dead. ...“I don’t think anyone is confused by the horrors on the ground,” Psaki said, adding that Biden is “calling it like he sees it.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, declined on Wednesday to call the actions of Russian troops “genocide,” saying that “an escalation of rhetoric” would not help stop the war.
Psaki had no comment on Macron’s response, per Eugene.
Noted: Grassley, a vote to repeal Affordable Care Act, says no more
Return to menuRepublicans won’t repeal the Affordable Care Act if they retake the Senate this November, according to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). The longtime senator, who is running for reelection, made the comments this week during a town hall in Waukon, Iowa.
Grassley, who was among the most vocal opponents of Obamacare when it was first debated by Congress over a decade ago, said Republicans “are not going to repeal” the law, our colleague Felicia Sonmez reports.
A town hall attendee asked Grassley if the ACA was “going to come up to be repealed.”
Grassley responded: “It’s not repealing the Affordable Care Act, if that’s your question.”
His words are the latest signal that the GOP is abandoning its long-running effort to scrap the widely popular health-care measure, which was signed into law in 2010 and is viewed favorably by 55 percent of Americans, according to Kaiser Family Foundation polling.
The suggestion, however, may come as a surprise to his fellow Republican senators, among them Ron Johnson (Wis.), who last month said that repealing the law is still on the table for the party.
The last major attempt by congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA came in 2017, when the party controlled the House and the Senate. In July that year, the Senate voted on three proposals that would have repealed the law, but all three failed.
A few months later, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a bill that wouldn’t have completely ended the law but instead would have repurposed the money collected by its taxes by sending it directly to states so they could fund their own health-care systems. That bill was pulled before it got to a vote in the Senate.
The liberal news site Iowa Starting Line shared video of Monday’s interaction, which you can watch here:
Video thread of interesting moments from Chuck Grassley’s town halls in Eastern Iowa this week.
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) April 13, 2022
First, a newsy one from Waukon on Monday of Grassley saying he’ll no longer push to repeal the ACA pic.twitter.com/gHVgH189lk
This just in: Biden okays Jan. 6 panel’s request for more Trump records from National Archives
Return to menuBiden authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to hand over more Trump White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, declining once again to assert executive privilege over the documents.
This is the latest tranche of Trump White House documents to be sent to the committee after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by the former president to block these releases.
It is worth remembering that some of the Trump records the committee received this year were ripped up and taped back together. The state of this new set of documents remains to be seen, but Trump is known for shredding.
Here is what else we can expect from this move, from our colleague Jacqueline Alemany:
In a letter transmitting notice of the White House’s decision to Trump, Archivist David Ferriero writes that the archives will deliver the records to the committee on April 28.It’s unclear what documents exactly will be included in the latest batch but Trump previously — and unsuccessfully — asserted privilege over daily presidential diaries, schedules, drafts of speeches, remarks, and correspondence concerning the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as well as the files of his top advisers and lawyers, and talking points on the issue of overturning the results of the 2020 election, according to a review of court documents.
Read more on these records here.
Your questions, answered: Whatever happened to IRS audit of Trump’s tax returns?
Return to menuWhatever happened to the Internal Revenue Service audit of former president Donald Trump’s tax returns? asks a reader from Bartow, Fla.
Trump’s history as a taxpayer is under investigation by multiple organizations, including the IRS. This we know because the former president repeatedly said before, during and after his administration that he was being audited by the agency.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of public information on the IRS audit of Trump’s finances. Per our colleague Spencer S. Hsu, nothing public has been released on that years-long audit other than Trump’s comments about it.
What we do know is that the House Ways and Means Committee has requested the Treasury Department turn over Trump’s tax returns, saying it wanted to review the effectiveness of the presidential audit program. Trump sued to block the release of the records, saying the request is an attempt to harass him and dig up political dirt.
In December, a federal judge rejected Trump’s efforts, a decision the former president is appealing.
While that appeal is pending, our colleague Rachel Weiner reported last month that a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit suggested that sharing these documents could raise concerns about the balance of power between Congress and the White House.
While some of Trump’s tax returns were turned over last year to the Manhattan district attorney, the accounting firm that prepared them said in February that the records could not be relied upon as accurate.
This just in: Biden tells Zelensky $800 million more in military aid is on the way
Return to menuBiden on Wednesday confirmed reports that his administration was about to significantly expand the scope of weapons it is providing Ukraine, saying in a statement that he had relayed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that an additional $800 million worth of weapons and other security assistance has been authorized.
“This new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement. “These new capabilities include artillery systems, artillery rounds, and armored personnel carriers. I have also approved the transfer of additional helicopters. In addition, we continue to facilitate the transfer of significant capabilities from our Allies and partners around the world.”
The increased investment comes a day after Biden first used the term “genocide” to describe what Russia is doing in Ukraine and signals a new phase of U.S. involvement in the war.
You can read more here about the call from The Post’s Felicia Sonmez in our live update file devoted to Ukraine.
Noted: In GOP stronghold of The Villages, two Florida men admit to voter fraud
Return to menuFormer president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him hinges on his allegation of widespread voter fraud, which has been widely debunked by numerous courts and state reviews.
Florida has two men who have admitted to committing the crime — in the Republican stronghold of The Villages.
And one was a vocal supporter of the former president before he was charged.
As our colleague Eugene Scott reports, the two men, Charles F. Barnes and Jay Ketcik, reside in the large retirement enclave in Sumter County, Fla. They pleaded guilty to submitting ballots in two states.
While voter fraud is a third-degree felony that can result in a maximum five-year prison sentence, Barnes, 64, and Ketcik, 63, can avoid punishment if, among other requirements set by a state attorney, they complete 50 hours of community service, attend an adult civics class (which they must pass with a C grade or above) and meet with a supervising officer.
Florida, Trump’s latest home state, may find more instances of voter fraud. Per Eugene:
According to the Florida Secretary of State’s office, Florida election officials referred 75 individuals to law enforcement agencies due to potential voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Read more about the case here.
Analysis: New York has had 12 new lieutenant governors in 20 years
Return to menuMuch has been said this week about the tradition of corruption in New York government since Brian Benjamin, New York’s lieutenant governor, was indicted on federal criminal charges, including bribery and fraud.
But The Post’s Philip Bump offers a metric that captures the dynamic tidily:
For the 12th time in the past 20 years, New York this week got a new lieutenant governor. Acting lieutenant governor, yes — but: still.Perhaps you were under the impression that the position came with a four-year term in office. Well, you are correct! But, since the beginning of 2003, only two lieutenant governors have actually served a full, January-to-January-four-years-later term. On average, the state’s second-highest ranking executives have lasted only about 500 days on average, almost always either because they were caught up in nefarious activity or because the governor was, meaning that they were tapped for the top job.
You can read Philip’s full piece on what he dubs “an embarrassing mess” here.
One on one: Raskin expects ‘crimes that have not yet been alleged’ in committee’s Jan. 6 report
Return to menuEvery week, Post Politics Now will publish a conversation with a newsmaker on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. Eastern. Our first guest is Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
PPN: The Jan. 6 committee hearings are happening soon, can you give us a sense of what to expect?
Raskin: We are hoping that hearings will be in May and June, and they will be scheduled in a way that the big majority of the population will be able to tune in live. Certainly, they will be available for everyone to experience.
We have not been shy about criminal evidence we encounter, and our report will be profuse in setting forth crimes that have not yet been alleged. But, having said that, we are not a prosecutorial entity. Our job is to make a report to Congress and the American people about what happened on Jan. 6 and what needs to be done to prevent coups and insurrections going forward.
PPN: Can we expect consequences for those behind the insurrection?
Raskin: As in most mob-style investigations, the Department of Justice seems to be working its way up from the bottom to the top. They have charged a lot of people with violent assault, destruction of federal property, interference with a federal proceeding and now, increasingly, seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to overthrow the government. So that’s why I’m telling the people who are despairing over the fact that the people at the top always seem to get away with it to be patient because I do think they are working their way up.
This just in: Mark Meadows removed from N.C. voter rolls amid investigation
Return to menuMark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff who’s been under investigation for possible voter fraud in the 2020 election, has been removed from North Carolina’s voter rolls, state officials announced Wednesday.
Officials in Macon County, N.C., removed Meadows, a former congressman from the area, “after documentation indicated he lived in Virginia and last voted in the 2021 election there,” a spokesman for the N.C. Board of Elections said in a statement Monday.
While it’s too early to draw conclusions, the story is potentially highly embarrassing for a loyalist to Trump, who has made repeated baseless claims of voter fraud in both the 2016 election (which he won) and the 2020 election (which he lost).
The Post’s Amy B Wang has details on the emerging story:
A representative for Meadows declined to comment Wednesday.State investigators in North Carolina launched a probe into Meadows’s voter registration last month after news organizations reported he had registered to vote in 2020 using the address of a mobile home in Scaly Mountain, N.C. The former owner of the mobile home claimed Meadows never stayed there, prompting the state attorney general to request an investigation.
You can read the full story here.
On our radar: In S.D., a GOP-led Senate weighs removal of a Republican attorney general
Return to menuA fascinating impeachment battle is underway in South Dakota, where both legislative chambers are controlled by Republicans and the target is the Republican attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg.
Ravnsborg faces a trial in state Senate after House members voted to impeach him Tuesday over a September 2020 incident in which Ravnsborg left the scene of a fatal collision, later claiming he thought he had hit a deer.
The Post’s Julian Mark has details:
At issue is whether the attorney general was responsible for the death of 55-year-old pedestrian Joseph Boever and whether Ravnsborg misled law enforcement officers immediately after the incident. In August, Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor traffic charges in connection to the accident and avoided jail time.
A day before the House vote, Ravnsborg sent a letter urging members to vote against his impeachment, saying it could “overturn an election and set forth a dangerous precedent for all South Dakota elected officials.”
But the House voted 36 to 31 in favor of impeachment. The vote went against the recommendation of a special committee’s findings that Ravnsborg did not commit an impeachable offense.
You can read Julian’s full story here.
The latest: White House takes aim at Texas Gov. Abbott for ‘unnecessary’ truck inspection policy
Return to menuThe White House took aim Wednesday at Gov. Gregg Abbott (R), calling a new policy to have state officials inspect every truck entering Texas from Mexico “unnecessary and redundant.”
In a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the policy is causing “significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country.”
The Post’s Laura Reiley reports that Abbott last week moved to impose the new border restrictions, alleging that the Biden administration had “open-border policies” that “paved the way for dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to pour into the United States.”
But the inspections have prompted a massive protest among drivers, backing up cargo for miles and leaving loads of fruit, vegetables and other material sitting idle for days.
Wednesday’s statement was hardly the first time the Biden White House publicly aired criticism of policies of Republican governors, including those of Abbott.
Last month, Biden issued a statement in response to a directive from Abbott that called for abuse investigations into the use of gender-affirming care for transgender children. Biden called the effort “cynical and dangerous” and “government overreach at its worst.”
As for truck inspections, Democrats have been quick to point out that Republicans, who are criticizing Biden for inflation, are running the administration in Texas that is now contributing to it.
You can read Laura’s full story here.
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