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April 10, 2023
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THE TOP
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The House and Senate are out this week. President Joe Biden heads to Ireland and the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
During the last few days, Democrats have gotten three potent issues to press Republicans on when Congress returns.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ longtime habit of accepting gifts from a billionaire friend in Texas; the expulsion of two Black lawmakers from the Tennessee General Assembly; and a federal judge’s ruling suspending the use of an abortion pill taken by millions of women during the last two decades.
None of these issues by itself will drastically change the political landscape for either party. But they’re vitally important to huge swathes of the American public, and you’ll hear a lot more on these topics when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week.
First, let’s review Thomas. ProPublica reported last week that Thomas, who’s been on the high court for 32 years, had accepted luxury vacations and private jet travel from Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and GOP mega donor.
In a subsequent statement, Thomas said that he’d been friends with Crow for 25 years — meaning he and Crow became close following Thomas’ confirmation to the Supreme Court. Thomas didn’t disclose the gifts, saying he believed that he was following the high court’s rules.
Public scrutiny of the unusual relationship between Thomas and Crow isn’t new. The Los Angeles Times reported on Crow giving Thomas expensive gifts back in 2004. After that, according to the newspaper, “Thomas stopped disclosing them.” Which he could under the Supreme Court’s notoriously lax rules.
Yet the sheer scale of Thomas’ interactions with Crow raises serious questions about their relationship.
There are a couple of legislative options that we think Democrats can try to exploit.
No. 1: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that Thomas should be impeached. AOC said she wants to hear from Chief Justice John Roberts as to whether this behavior is permissible:
Impeaching Thomas, of course, isn’t going to happen, not in a GOP-run House. But AOC could try to argue that impeachment articles for Thomas are privileged, forcing a vote by Republicans on tabling them. This would put everyone on the record. We’re a long way from that point, but it’s worth considering if you’re on the Hill.
No. 2: Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said his panel will look into the issue. “This behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court,” Durbin said in a statement. Other Democrats on the committee, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), have been particularly worked up about the Supreme Court’s ethics.
No. 3: Congress passed legislation tightening disclosure rules on stock trading and personal finances for federal judges — including the Supreme Court — in 2022. The judicial branch has also adopted new rules on reporting free travel.
But the Supreme Court still isn’t covered by the same ethics code as Congress and the executive branch, and some Democrats want to change that with new legislation. Durbin said his panel would look at the matter again.
We noted on Friday how the White House had quickly jumped on the Tennessee controversy. With Vice President Kamala Harris traveling to the Volunteer State to meet with the ousted Democratic lawmakers, former state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
It was one of Harris’ best moments in a while. And it demonstrated that while the VP gets whacked in the national press — sometimes with good reason — she’s still valuable to Biden.
Jones could be reappointed by the Nashville metro council as early as today, with Pearson returning on Wednesday. The young Black pols have become national icons for the party in the meantime.
On the FDA and Friday’s contradictory mifepristone court rulings, this is a very confusing situation. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “every option on the table” after a federal judge in Texas suspended FDA approval of mifepristone, which has been allowed for 23 years. Becerra said the Biden administration may just ignore the ruling while the appeals process plays out.
But on the same show, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said House Republicans could push to defund FDA programs if that occurred.
Breaking: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) formally announced that’s running for reelection this morning.The 62-year-old Casey is being treated for prostate cancer but expects to make a full recovery. This is a must-win seat for Democratic hopes of keeping their slim Senate majority. Watch for Republicans Doug Mastriano and David McCormick giving this seat a look.
Also: Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be fundraising in Texas this week.
– Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan
New next month: Ready. Set. RSVP! Punchbowl News Founder and CEO Anna Palmer and Senior Congressional Reporter Andrew Desiderio will interview Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) on Thursday, May 11 at 9 a.m. ET at Hawk ‘N’ Dove. This conversation, presented by CTIA, will focus on the importance of licensed spectrum to national security.
TRUMP DRAMA
McConnell’s told-ya-so moment
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was harshly criticized by Democrats for voting to acquit former President Donald Trump at his 2021 Senate impeachment trial, which came just weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Senate Democrats noted the GOP pair had cooperated extensively while Trump was in office — especially in cementing a conservative super-majority on the Supreme Court for years or even decades to come.
After voting to acquit, McConnell acknowledged that Trump was to blame for the insurrection. The Kentucky Republican left no doubt about that in a Feb. 13, 2021, Senate floor speech.
Calling Trump’s actions leading up to the insurrection “a disgraceful — disgraceful — dereliction of duty,” McConnell said the former president was the driving force behind the events of that fateful day:
Yet McConnell argued that Congress didn’t have the right to impeach Trump because he’d already left office. And that’s why he voted to acquit, McConnell said.
Democrats countered that it was vital to keep Trump from running for office again, which a Senate conviction would do.
But there’s one paragraph from McConnell’s speech that’s now more apropos than ever following Trump’s indictment last Tuesday in New York City on 34 felony charges.
Two years ago, McConnell noted that while in his view Trump couldn’t be impeached after leaving office, the former president could be charged with crimes.
Here’s McConnell:
Now, McConnell didn’t specify which criminal acts he was referring to at that time. Yet the alleged felonies that Trump was charged with took place while he was president.
Trump is alleged to have violated New York law by personally reimbursing his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 hush-money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Daniels was paid off so she’d keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump. Cohen’s payment to Daniels came right before the 2016 election.
According to the indictment, Trump’s reimbursement checks to Cohen stretched from February 2017 to December 2017 — Trump’s first year in the Oval Office. Trump improperly claimed the payments to Cohen were for legal fees, Manhattan prosecutors allege.
Special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump over both the Jan. 6 insurrection and classified documents scandal. Fulton County DA Fani Willis is looking into whether Trump improperly pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a post-2020 election phone call. Most of what these prosecutors are pursuing involves actions Trump took while in office.
The 81-year-old McConnell, who’s still recovering from a serious fall last month, hasn’t commented on Trump’s indictment. Trump turned against McConnell in December 2020 after the Kentucky Republican said Joe Biden won the election.
– John Bresnahan
FROSH SPOTLIGHT
The freshman House Democrat making friends with Republicans
Rep. Nikki Budzinski (Ill.), one of the few House Democrats who represents a largely rural district, came to Congress this year with a peculiar goal — become friends with Republicans.
Budzinski fought to get on committees where she could work cooperatively with Republicans rather than panels known for their viral partisan squabbles. She secured spots on the Agriculture and Veterans’ Affairs committees, which fit that profile.
Just three months into her first term in Congress, Budzinski, a former labor rights advocate and Biden administration alum, has already co-sponsored several bills with GOP lawmakers.
“Bipartisanship is not just a talking point,” the 46-year-old Budzinski told us in an interview. “It’s something that I really work at.”
One of her closest friends in Congress is Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), whom she met at new member orientation late last year. Nunn acknowledged the two have policy differences, but they share a common desire to help their agricultural communities. He helped introduce Budzinski to other House Republicans, including fellow Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson.
“We may not agree on 10% of things, we may not agree on 90% of things on some days, but we agree on this — agriculture is very important to both of our states,” Nunn told us. “She’s made a commitment to it. I’ve made a commitment to it.”
Budzinski’s district comprises a stretch of central and southern Illinois, including the Springfield and St. Louis suburbs. The seat was previously held by former Republican Rep. Rodney Davis. But the district now leans more Democratic thanks to redistricting.
Still, Budzinski isn’t taking anything for granted.
When she won her election, Budzinski made it a priority to reach out to the representatives of all the surrounding districts, including House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), as well as Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.). Budzinski recently hosted a farm bill forum with Miller.
Budzinski argues the needs of her district are mired in economics and kitchen-table issues. Addressing such matters, she said, requires pragmatism. The lawmaker added that such a value is well-rooted in middle America, where members across the aisle often face similar challenges on agriculture and workforce development.
“The Midwest perspective is a really important one,” Budzinski said. “It’s a perspective of common sense, pragmatism and I think we’re collaborative.”
Budzinski has been well-received by her Democratic colleagues, especially Midwestern lawmakers excited to have another member from rural America in their caucus.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who chairs the Heartland Caucus, said Budzinski is among one of the “loudest” and “most effective” voices advocating for Midwestern representation. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), a longtime Midwestern lawmaker, called Budzinski “talented” and “serious.”
“She deserves to be successful in her legislative efforts. Our coastal leaders must pay attention to the Heartland, and we’re lucky we have someone of her caliber that’s been elected,” Kaptur said of Budzinski.
Nunn commended Budzinski’s willingness to reach across the aisle in a Congress known for its deep divisions.
“That says a lot about somebody,” Nunn said. “It’s a kind of old school politics that makes a place like D.C. work.”
– Mica Soellner
PRESENTED BY BAYER
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What you need to know about investigations this week
There has been a barrage of oversight news recently: Open feuding between the House Oversight Committee’s chair and ranking member, release of long-anticipated Afghanistan documents and an expansion of the House GOP investigation into the Manhattan DA’s office.
Let’s start with the probe into Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s investigation of former President Donald Trump. This is arguably the most important oversight action occurring right now, as House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) effort marks the main Republican response to Trump’s indictment.
Jordan issued his first subpoena in the investigation on April 6, demanding testimony from former special assistant district attorney Mark Pomerantz on April 20. Pomerantz resigned in February 2022 from his role investigating Trump because he felt Bragg wasn’t moving swiftly enough against the former president.
On April 7, Jordan sent a letter requesting documents from Matthew Colangelo, a senior counsel for the New York County District Attorney’s Office and a former DOJ official. The deadline for Colangelo to comply is April 21. Note: This isn’t a subpoena yet.
As we wrote on Friday, these initial moves signal that Jordan is looking to work around Bragg for now. We will closely monitor any updates to this investigation.
Over to the House Oversight Committee: The relationship between Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) rapidly deteriorated last week. The public learned about five new subpoenas Comer issued thanks to a memo Raskin sent to Democratic Oversight members.
Remember: This is a familiar move for Raskin, who also revealed Comer had subpoenaed Hunter Biden associate John R. Walker last month. The trend here: Comer hasn’t announced any of his committee’s subpoenas publicly.
Raskin sent a letter accusing Comer of withholding evidence from Democrats and violating committee principles of equal access to information. This infuriated Comer’s team, who fired off a lengthy Twitter thread on Friday evening labeling Raskin’s claims “DEM DISINFO.”
Simply, Comer and Raskin’s staffs are at each other’s throats. And as Comer’s probe into the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s family continues, this will only get worse.
Afghanistan update: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has pushed back his subpoena deadline to receive a key dissent cable from the State Department. The new deadline is April 19, a delay of 15 days from the initial date.
As part of McCaul’s oversight of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Texas Republican is demanding to receive a 2021 dissent cable authored by Kabul Embassy officials warning against the U.S. plan to pull out from Afghanistan.
McCaul and other Hill Republicans were upset with the White House’s unveiling of the withdrawal analysis last week. Biden officials squarely placed the blame on the Trump administration.
– Max Cohen
DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD
| → | AT&T has hired Baker & Hostetler to lobby on “[t]elecommunications policy issues, including the commercial wireless spectrum, internet and communications services, broadband availability and infrastructure deployment, cyber security and privacy.” |
– Jake Sherman
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