The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

The backstory on Johnson’s Intel shakeup

Hegseth heads to the Hill

Main Street Republicans fight to be Trump’s new confidantes

The Banking chair arrives

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The backstory on Johnson’s Intel shakeup

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week. Here, we share a roundup of all our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

For the past few weeks, we’ve heard a persistent rumor on Capitol Hill and in MAGA world that Speaker Mike Johnson was planning to dump Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) as the House Intelligence Committee chair.

We knew the conservative House Freedom Caucus had been pushing for his ouster since last year. Turner and the HFC were on opposite ends of a Republican fight over reauthorizing section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Turner has been supportive of Ukraine aid and NATO, which also put him at odds with the MAGA wing.

And Turner angered his colleagues last year when he blasted out a cryptic statement – and created a brief panic – warning of an unspecified national security threat, which turned out to just be about Russia’s nuclear capabilities in space.

But we had also been told that since then, Turner worked to smooth things over with Johnson and the right wing. Turner publicly endorsed Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former HFC chair who was in a competitive reelection race. Turner also defended Perry being named to the House Intelligence Committee.

And just recently, Turner joined a group of committee chairs for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. So Turner’s allies were feeling increasingly confident that his chairmanship was safe.

Yet we continued to hear that Johnson was seriously considering a shakeup. Notably, Johnson was non-committal when we asked him in the hallway about this. The speaker continued to drag his feet in announcing his highly-anticipated selections for the committee.

On Wednesday, Johnson finally dropped the bomb on Turner. As my colleague Jake Sherman and I scooped, the speaker informed Turner during a private meeting in his office that he was no longer keeping the Ohio Republican on as chair. Notably, Johnson named Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) — who voted against Ukraine aid — to replace Turner as chair.

The conversation between Johnson and Turner was tense, we’re told, although recollections differ about what Johnson cited as his reasoning for the move.

Turner told CBS’ Margaret Brennan that Johnson named “concerns from Mar-a-Lago” as the reason for his removal. Johnson, however, insisted that Trump had nothing to do with his decision, telling reporters it was just time for a new direction.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Trump may not have directed Johnson to remove Turner, but there were undoubtedly concerns about Turner percolating in MAGA world. Some worried Turner was too close to the intelligence agencies Trump has vowed to overhaul. Johnson didn’t make this decision in a vacuum.

Turner’s allies, including some on the Intel panel, were upset and blindsided. Several of them had one-on-one meetings with Johnson Wednesday evening, where the speaker explained his rationale for the move. But while Johnson received some backlash for Turner’s ouster, plenty of Republicans supported his decision.

Overall, the swap of Turner for Crawford certainly reflects how the GOP has evolved under Trump, especially on national security and foreign policy issues.

What I’m watching: A new docuseries on Peacock about “Saturday Night Live.” I grew up watching SNL, so I found it particularly funny, informative and heartwarming.

– Melanie Zanona

You can find The Readback in your inbox every Saturday at 8 a.m. And don’t hesitate to reach out to readback@punchbowl.news with feedback. Enjoy The Readback.

Hegseth heads to the Hill

Confirmation hearings are underway now on the Hill and naturally, there were some sparks to be expected.

Pete Hegseth’s appearance in front of the Senate Armed Services on Tuesday was a rare instance where a committee hearing lived up to the hype.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department entered his hearing facing allegations of sexual assault, financial mismanagement and alcohol abuse. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and his hearing provided him the most high-profile venue yet to combat the claims.

I was lucky enough to score a seat inside the hearing room on Tuesday. Arriving an hour before the testimony kicked off, the room was already packed with Hegseth supporters wearing red buttons reading, “Vets for Pete.” Members of the public were lining up for a shot to get in the room.

The tables reserved for media were inches away from another row of seats containing Hegseth’s top backers. I spotted conservative media personality Megyn Kelly in the crowd.

I’ve sat through countless high-profile grillings in Congress, but this encounter was different. Democrats pressed Hegseth on intensely personal matters, broaching topics that are rarely discussed in hearing rooms on national television.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), in one of the most notable exchanges of the day, repeatedly confronted Hegseth on his infidelity.

“Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child who had been born two months before and tell us you’re completely cleared?” Kaine pressed Hegseth.

The room fell into a stunned silence. Hegseth appeared shaken, before returning to invoking his religion.

“I have failed at things in my life and I’ve been redeemed by my lord and savior Jesus Christ,” Hegseth said. It was an unprecedented moment for the normally staid Armed Services panel.

The bigger picture was more nuanced for Hegseth. Even though there were embarrassing moments during the hearing, Hegseth actually emerged stronger than ever in terms of the one metric that counts: His confirmation math.

At one time in the process, the allegations appeared likely to sink Hegseth’s chances. But Trump stuck by Hegseth, key Republicans didn’t publicly oppose him and Hegseth entered the hearing in decent shape.

On Tuesday, all eyes were on Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), an Armed Services member who was once a top Hegseth skeptic. She had indicated she would back Hegseth before the hearing and all but confirmed her support when she began her questioning by reading a constituent letter backing Hegseth’s character.

So although there were major fireworks at the hearing, Hegseth’s nomination itself actually got a boost. Ernst officially said she’d vote to confirm Hegseth after the hearing and was joined by potential swing vote Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah).

It was another sign that Senate Republicans appear set to confirm Trump’s team, largely falling in line after the early revolt against former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) selection for attorney general.

What I’m reading: Kara Voght’s captivating interview with First Lady Jill Biden for the Washington Post.

— Max Cohen

You can find The Readback in your inbox every Saturday at 8 a.m. And don’t hesitate to reach out to readback@punchbowl.news with feedback. Enjoy The Readback.

Main Street Republicans fight to be Trump’s new confidantes

The roughly 80-member Main Street Republican Caucus is trying to give the House Freedom Caucus a run for its money when it comes to Donald Trump.

Main Street, which has been viewed as the serious governing wing of the GOP conference, has slowly been making inroads within Trump World since the start of the 2024 election cycle. This week, my colleague Mel Zanona and I decided to look at this trend in the group.

I sat down with the three leaders of Main Street — Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Mike Flood (R-Neb.) — to talk about the group’s plan to expand its influence this Congress and grow its relationship with Trump. The three just met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.

“I would say the relationship is really strong,” Johnson said, describing Trump and Main Street. “He was mentioning a number of us by name as he walked in. He’s been in a lot of these states and he’s campaigned with these people. He’s endorsed a lot of these members.”

I’ve covered the House Freedom Caucus for a long time, so it’s interesting to see another group kind of compete against the HFC to be the top conservatives on the Hill.

We wrote about some of the tensions between HFC and Trump World, though some seemed to have tampered down after a successful meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

Still, Main Street includes some of the more pragmatic members of Congress and those in purple districts like Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and New York GOP Reps. Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota.

But members were adamant that they’re shedding any label of being known as “moderate.”

Flood, who called that label “absolutely terribly wrong,” said the misconception of the group being middle-of-the-road is what gave him hesitation to join when he was first elected to Congress in 2022. Flood now serves as vice-chair of the group.

“As I sat back and watched who was making the House of Representatives run and (who was) delivering conservative wins, I saw that we were not only at the table but leading in a lot of ways to accomplish good things for the American people,” Flood told us. “You can’t do a deal or be successful in this conference without the buy-in of Main Street.”

There’s bound to be a lot of jockeying to get in Trump’s ear the next two years. We’ll see how this all plays out.

What I’m reading: I’m currently reading “Survival in Auschwitz” by Holocaust survivor Primo Levi.

— Mica Soellner

The Banking chair arrives

I was listening to Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) speak to the Exchequer Club of Washington this week when I felt a twinge on the back of my ears and neck. It’s the feeling I get when I think I hear someone making news.

That happens a lot on the Hill. But it was a first in the time I’ve spent covering the new chair of the Senate Banking Committee.

Scott does not do a ton of media. He doesn’t often take questions in the hallways of the Capitol either. I haven’t done a sit-down interview with him since arriving on the congressional beat in 2022. And his remarks on banking, even in private meetings, have sometimes left industry players wanting more.

That changed this week, at least for the day. Scott let loose in a wide-ranging discussion with more than a hundred folks representing Washington’s financial policy elite, and he did so with an ease that took some participants by surprise. Exchequer lunches are often sleepy affairs.

It wasn’t just that Scott appeared comfortable. (He wandered between tables with his microphone, joked frequently and gently heckled anyone who left the room while he was speaking, sometimes addressing them by name in the middle of his remarks).

Scott held court on financial policy to an extent I simply haven’t heard before. He discussed his plans and preferences in depth, engaging with hefty questions like insurance reform amid the California wildfires and agency consolidation. He even had a bit of an edge if you listened closely.

Scott said early in his remarks his “goal is to make sure that this economy actually produces positive results for people who can’t really hire anyone in this room” — a nod to the dozens of bank lobbyists he was addressing.

There was also a level of political canniness while Scott talked about his committee counterpart Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), acknowledging her as both a formidable Democratic messenger and potential subject of Republican fundraising efforts in the same breath. It was a nod to his other job chairing the NRSC.

The people closest to Scott weren’t surprised by the performance, to be clear. But the display was a reminder to everyone else that Scott’s policy chops and communication prowess shouldn’t be underestimated by Hill watchers.

If he wants to show off outside the Senate chamber or in a Dirksen hallway or Senate subway car or just outside the carriage door sometime soon, I’ll be ready with my voice recording app.

What I’m reading: It’s a good moment to check out this 74-page report from the Treasury Department about the rising costs of homeowners insurance, published this week. Natural disasters are getting worse, and a lack of homeowners insurance can be economically crippling for folks chasing the American dream with a mortgage. (I’m still reading “The Ambition and the Power,” but I think I’m ahead of Max Cohen.)

— Brendan Pedersen