Post Politics Now Bucking Trump, Pence to rally with Georgia Gov. Kemp this month
We’re also watching fallout from the decision by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol to subpoena five House Republican lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). President Biden, meanwhile, has a full day of events in Washington, focused on both foreign and domestic affairs. His schedule includes a meeting with local leaders and law enforcement officials.
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Take a look: In new ad, Scott Pruitt seeks to blame media for his ethics scandals
Return to menuScott Pruitt, who led the Environmental Protection Agency until resigning amid a series of ethics scandals in 2018, has launched a Senate bid in Oklahoma, and in his first ad, titled “I’m Back,” he tries to blame the scandals on the media. Pruitt is seen throwing copies of the New York Times and The Washington Post into a trash can.
By way of a reminder, as The Post’s Felicia Sonmez reported when Pruitt entered the race, he resigned amid controversies over his lavish spending, ethical lapses and management decisions. During his time leading the agency, Pruitt faced questions about taxpayer-funded first-class travel, a discounted condominium rental from the wife of a D.C. lobbyist, and the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office.
He also faced allegations that he repeatedly enlisted subordinates to help him look for housing, book personal travel and help search for a six-figure job for his wife.
Noted: Undermining election security in the name of protecting it
Return to menuIn the year and a half since the 2020 election, there has been a steady drumbeat of revelations about alleged security breaches in local election offices — and a growing concern among experts that officials who are sympathetic to claims of vote-rigging might be persuaded to undermine election security in the name of protecting it.
The Post’s Emma Brown and Amy Gardner share the story of a case in which a former elections supervisor in rural Coffee County, Ga., said she opened her offices to a businessman active in the election-denier movement to help investigate results she did not trust in the weeks after President Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat.
Emma and Amy write:
Trump had carried the conservative county by 40 points, but elections supervisor Misty Hampton said she remained suspicious of Joe Biden’s win in Georgia.Hampton made a video that went viral soon after the election, claiming to show that Dominion Voting System machines, the ones used in her county, could be manipulated.She said in interviews that she hoped the Georgia businessman who visited later, Scott Hall, and others who accompanied him could help identify vulnerabilities and prove “that this election was not done true and correct.”
You can read the full story by Emma and Amy here.
Analysis: The future of social media could be decided by the Supreme Court
Return to menuAbortion, of course, has been grabbing all the headlines from the Supreme Court of late, but here’s another big issue that ultimately could land in front of the justices: the future of social media.
Writing in The Technology 202, The Post’s Will Oremus and Naomi Nix note that leaders in Texas, Florida and other states have been busy drafting and passing state laws that, if upheld and enforced, would upend the entire industry.
Will and Naomi write:
The Texas law, for instance, would bar companies like Facebook and Twitter from banning users or limiting their posts based on “viewpoint” — a standard so ill-defined, industry and legal experts say it would make content moderation at scale almost impossible.First Amendment experts widely panned both Florida's and Texas's laws as unconstitutional, while tech giants assumed courts would strike them down before they took effect.Those hopes were dashed late Wednesday, when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a temporary injunction on the Texas law, allowing it to go into effect while its substance continues to be litigated in a lower court.
The law, signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in September, allows individuals and the state attorney general to file lawsuits against social media companies with more than 50 million monthly active users in the United States, such as Facebook and Google’s YouTube, if they believe they were wrongfully banned or censored.
You can read the full analysis here.
Analysis: Will McCarthy ever testify about Jan. 6?
Return to menuHow likely is it that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will comply with the subpoena he received from the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection led by supporters of President Donald Trump?
Writing for The Fix, The Post’s Aaron Blake says that’s anyone’s guess due to the lack of precedent. As Aaron puts it:
The Trump presidency and its aftermath have led our politics to yet another apparently unprecedented place: A House committee subpoenaing its own colleagues for testimony.
Aaron notes that the closest comparison to this situation came in the early 1990s, when the Senate Ethics Committee subpoenaed Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) for his personal diaries amid a sexual harassment inquiry. Packwood fought the subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court but lost. He ultimately resigned after the committee issued its report and he faced expulsion.
You can read Aaron’s full analysis here.
Analysis: What’s behind the PAC money flowing in to defeat liberal Democrats
Return to menuA tidal wave of political action committee money is transforming Democratic primaries, blindsiding left-wing candidates who went into the cycle targeting a handful of safe seats.
Writing in The Trailer, The Post’s David Weigel assesses the phenomenon, in which candidates for Congress in the mold of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have seen sizable PAC money flowing to more moderate Democratic opponents. Jeff Weaver, a former Sanders presidential campaign manager, has described the dynamic as “The Empire Strikes Back.”
In some cases, the money is coming from pro-Israel PACs. But in other cases, PACs with no particular focus on Israel have been spending to defeat left-wing candidates, often by portraying centrist candidates as more effective liberal legislators.
Dave writes:
Left-wing groups have not been able to match the PAC spending, and in some races, they haven’t even tried. Their first response has been condemnation, with supporters of their candidates, and sometimes other Democrats in the primary, denouncing the money flowing in to their races.
You can read Dave’s full analysis, which cites multiple examples, here.
Analysis: Why Rep. Emmer doesn’t think abortion will be a major issue in November
Return to menuWhile Democrats are hopeful a looming Supreme Court ruling on abortion will scramble the politics of the midterm elections, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, says he’s convinced it won’t be a major issue in November.
Speaking with our colleagues Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell from The Early 202, Emmer explains his thinking:
I trust the voters are gonna make up their mind based on the candidates that they’re presented with and the primary issues. It’s gonna be inflation, the economy. It’s gonna be the crime wave that the Democrats, frankly, are responsible for with their “defund the police” nonsense. It’s gonna be the border. It’s gonna be education. It’s gonna be the instability that this administration has created around the globe. Do I suspect [abortion] could affect some voters? Sure.
Elsewhere in the interview, Emmer predicts November will bring “the greatest political realignment of our time.”
You can read the rest of the interview and the full Early 202 here.
On our radar: Biden to promote public safety spending at White House event
Return to menuFrom the time of his candidacy, President Biden pushed back strongly on the “Defund the Police” movement as it gained some traction among those in the left wing of his party.
On Friday, he’ll showcase his desire to invest more in public safety with a White House event featuring local leaders and law enforcement officers. Those being highlighted have spent funds from the American Rescue Plan — the law passed to stabilize the country amid the pandemic — on policing and other public safety measures.
According to the White House, Biden will announce that $10 billion in American Rescue Plan funds have been committed to public safety, including at least $6.5 billion in state and local funds.
And, per a White House fact sheet, Biden plans to renew his call for communities “to invest more American Rescue Plan funding in strategies to make our communities safer and to deploy as many dollars as possible before the summer months, when many communities historically experience a seasonal increase in violent crime.”
As with most events in election years, this one also has political overtones. In its fact sheet, the White House notes that every Republican in Congress voted against the American Rescue Plan.
On our radar: Pence calls Georgia Gov. Kemp ‘one of the most successful’
Return to menuFormer vice president Mike Pence on Friday called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) “one of the most successful conservative governors in America” as he announced plans to appear with him at a rally on the eve of Georgia’s May 24 contested gubernatorial primary.
The move puts Pence at odds with former president Donald Trump, who is backing former U.S. senator David Perdue against Kemp in the GOP primary. Trump pushed Perdue to challenge Kemp, whom Trump has lambasted for not doing enough to overturn the 2020 presidential elections results in Georgia.
The decision to rally with Kemp is among the biggest breaks Pence has made with Trump as Pence positions himself for a potential 2024 White House bid of his own. Pence has said Trump is wrong to remain as focused on the 2020 election as he has been.
Kemp, who has been leading Perdue in polling, has also drawn the support of some of the nation’s most prominent GOP governors, who have also demonstrated a willingness to break with Trump.
In his statement, Pence praised Kemp’s dedication to “the people of Georgia.”
“He built a safer and stronger Georgia by cutting taxes, empowering parents and investing in teachers, funding law enforcement, and standing strong for the right to life,” Pence said.
The latest: Five subpoenaed GOP lawmakers offer no assurances they’ll comply
Return to menuThe five Republican lawmakers subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection have not committed to complying, setting a potential showdown at the end of the month.
In a brief interview with reporters, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) declined to say whether he would comply with his subpoena while reiterating his criticism of the committee, report The Post’s Felicia Sonmez, Jacqueline Alemany, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor.
“My view on the committee has not changed,” McCarthy said. “They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation. It seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.”
Reps. Mo Brooks (Ala.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) also declined to say whether they would comply and said they hadn’t yet seen the subpoenas as of Thursday afternoon.
“This is all for headlines and sensationalization,” Perry told reporters.
In an interview on Fox News Channel, Biggs argued without evidence that the committee doesn’t “really have the authority to issue subpoenas” and that he doesn’t “want to dignify what they are doing.”
Brooks issued a lengthy statement in which he derided the panel as the “Witch Hunt Committee” and repeated Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
You can read more about the subpoenas here.
The latest: Sen. Paul stands by move to delay Ukraine aid bill
Return to menuSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is standing by his move to delay a Senate vote on assistance for Ukraine despite a backlash to his single-handed holdup of legislation that lawmakers in both parties were pressing to get to President Biden’s desk by the end of the week.
“My oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation,” Paul tweeted Thursday night, repeating remarks earlier on the Senate floor. While he said he sympathizes with the Ukrainian people, Paul added that the United States “cannot continue to spend money we don’t have” because doing so is “threatening our own national security.”
The Post’s Amy Cheng and Eugene Scott have details on the delay:
The bill — which would send $39.8 billion in economic, humanitarian and defense aid to Ukraine — passed in the House of Representatives this week with broad support.Biden said he wanted it on his desk by the end of this week, with Washington trying to head off a lapse in funding to Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces clash with the Russian military in the country’s east and south. In a letter to lawmakers this month urging Congress to approve the aid package, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the remaining authorized aid funds would run out by May 19.
Paul was able to block the package’s advancement because the Senate requires unanimous consent to quickly move such a bill to a final vote. Now, the chamber must jump through all the usual procedural hoops. Paul requested that an inspector general be appointed to oversee the funding but rejected an offer from Senate leaders to hold an amendment vote on his provision. Changing the bill would have forced it back to the House.
You can read more from Amy and Eugene here.
On our radar: Biden pivots to confronting China
Return to menuOn Thursday night, the White House hosted a dinner with eight leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a part of a major U.S.-led summit with the regional bloc. On Friday, the Southeast Asian delegations are slated to continue discussions at the State Department before a plenary session with Biden. Next week, Biden will embark on a five-day trip to South Korea and Japan, culminating in another meeting of the “Quad” grouping with Australia, Japan and India.
The focus, The Post’s Ishaan Tharoor says, is part of an effort to address a large elephant in the room: China. Ishaan writes:
New battles with the Kremlin have enervated the doyens of the city’s foreign policy establishment, many of whom cut their teeth during the Cold War. But the Biden administration is trying to show that it hasn’t lost sight of its key 21st century “strategic competitor.” And it recognizes that its contest with China requires closer partnerships well outside Europe.A new push started this week.
You can read the full analysis here.
The latest: Louisiana taps the brakes on its antiabortion bill
Return to menuIn Louisiana, which is among the many GOP-led states rushing to impose abortion restrictions, lawmakers stepped on the brakes Thursday night.
The Post’s Caroline Kitchener reports that the Louisiana House voted to remove some of the most contentious provisions of a controversial measure that would have classified abortion as homicide and allowed prosecutors to criminally charge women who undergo the medical procedure. Caroline writes:
The measure attracted national attention when it passed out of committee last Wednesday with a 7-to-2 vote, less than 48 hours after the leak of a draft opinion that showed the Supreme Court is potentially poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.The heated debate in the Louisiana House revealed stark divisions within the antiabortion movement, which could intensify in a post-Roe world. State Rep. Danny McCormick (R), the bill’s sponsor, argued that a fetus must be granted the same protections as a person, while other Republicans urged caution, emphasizing that the antiabortion movement does not support imposing criminal charges on pregnant women and other pregnant individuals.
You can read Caroline’s full story here.
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