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February 2, 2023
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THE TOP
Happy Thursday morning.
The struggle to cobble together a bipartisan immigration and border security bill – already one of the toughest challenges facing Congress – is slowly morphing into a proxy battle over who could lead the Senate GOP conference in a post-Mitch McConnell world.
On one side is Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a McConnell ally and his former No. 2, who recently led a bipartisan CODEL to the border. Cornyn has taken heat from the right over his role in helping craft the gun safety bill last year. And he’s been vocal about the need for Republicans to compromise on immigration reform if they want to secure the border.
On the other end is Sen. John Thune, the minority whip, and Sen. John Barrasso, the GOP conference chair who’s also among the most conservative members of the Republican leadership.
Cornyn’s concern is to avoid a replay of 2013, when the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill that never even received a vote in the House. Cornyn opposed that legislation.
We caught up with Cornyn about the immigration push and what it might mean for his leadership ambitions. He acknowledged that leaning in on immigration is a political risk.
Yet Cornyn said it would be worth it if “you’re able to achieve an outcome.” As of now, however, that doesn’t seem possible on immigration.
“The only path that I think I see is if the House passes a border security bill and then we take it up over here and do whatever we need to do to get to 60 votes. And then send it back,” Cornyn said. That would mean adding provisions such as DREAMer protections, which would be a non-starter for the House GOP.
At the same time, Cornyn continues to make the case to his fellow Republicans that they need to accept concessions in order to actually get real border security measures signed into law.
Cornyn told us he’s not worried about where Thune or Barrasso might land on the issue. The Texas Republican said this is a “number-one issue” for his border-state constituents and suggested he’s going to keep pushing on it.
“I didn’t come here to sit on the sidelines or to do nothing. So if there’s an opportunity, I’m going to go for it,” he said. “In this context, I don’t think about [the leadership role]. If you want to become leader, you’ve got to show some leadership. So I’m not worried about that.”
Cornyn has demonstrated that he doesn’t care about the blowback he might receive from the right. The Texas Republican Party, for example, formally rebuked Cornyn over his efforts on the gun bill.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has been similarly active on the immigration and border security front, defended Cornyn’s approach while also seeking to reassure conservatives. Here’s what Tillis — who was just added to McConnell’s leadership team and the Finance Committee — told us:
Thune, who has traditionally taken a hard line line on immigration, isn’t sure any legislation can be approved by either chamber.
“If [the House] is going to pass anything over there, they can probably do a purely border-security bill and maybe get Republican votes, although that’s not a given either,” Thune said in an interview.
Barrasso declined to comment about the ongoing negotiations. Like Thune, Barrasso opposed some proposals on DREAMers floated by former President Donald Trump.
Barrasso has been to the border region several times with Cornyn. And they both have called for more funding for border security repeatedly, particularly since President Joe Biden came into office.
Barrasso and Thune voted against the bipartisan gun deal Cornyn crafted. And the pair opposed the CHIPS and Science Act, which Cornyn was instrumental in helping push through the Senate.
The 2024 Senate map, House GOP political attacks on Biden over the border and the fight for the GOP presidential nomination play into the already enormously complex immigration debate as well.
All four border states that touch Mexico – Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas – have Senate races next year. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is up for reelection, has broken with Cornyn on guns, CHIPS and even whether to back McConnell as leader.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who recently left the Democratic Party, has been working with Cornyn and Tillis on immigration, including joining the high-profile border trip. Border state governors have been sending migrants to blue states, as has Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is Trump’s biggest threat for the GOP presidential nod.
Also: Speaker Kevin McCarthy had dinner with Sinema last night at Chloe in Navy Yard. Here’s a photo of the pair.
— Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan
TODAY: There’s still time to RSVP for our virtual conversation at 9 a.m. ET with Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg! We’ll discuss how the recent investment in infrastructure will impact communities for decades.
INVESTIGATION WATCH
House Judiciary brings in former top FBI official for transcribed interview
News: The House Judiciary Committee conducted a transcribed interview Wednesday morning with former top FBI official Jill Sanborn, a veteran counterterrorism expert who conservatives have accused of improperly influencing the classification of domestic extremism investigations.
The sit-down with Sanborn — a major right-wing target — marks one of Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) first steps in investigating whether the federal government has been “weaponized” against conservatives.
FBI whistleblowers have levied accusations that Sanborn “cooked the books on domestic violent extremism cases when she was at the FBI,” according to Jordan. Republicans have been seeking answers from Sanborn over whether she pressured agents to classify cases as domestic terrorism to back up claims from the Biden administration.
Republicans were incensed when Sanborn didn’t show up for a transcribed interview late last year. Jordan even threatened to subpoena Sanborn.
Sanborn specialized in counterterrorism during her 24 years at the FBI and retired last year as the executive assistant director for the FBI’s National Security Branch.
On Wednesday, Sanborn sat down for a voluntary interview for a little over an hour with GOP and Democratic committee lawyers in a Rayburn hearing room. Toward the end of the interview, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) stepped into the hearing room.
One party not present? Any counsel from the FBI.
Committee Republican staffers blocked Sanborn from appearing with both her personal lawyer and FBI counsel at the interview, a move that a bureau official said violated “longstanding department policy.”
In an email exchange obtained by Punchbowl News, Megan Greer — the acting unit chief and assistant general counsel of the FBI’s Congressional Oversight & Investigations Unit — wrote to Judiciary staff on Tuesday “object[ing] to the Committee’s apparent decision to exclude agency counsel from the interview.”
“Witnesses appearing for transcribed interviews can attend with personal or agency counsel, but not both. It’s up to the witness,” Judiciary GOP General Counsel Steve Castor wrote back.
“Respectfully, the FBI does not agree that a former public servant is required to choose between personal counsel (to represent his or her own personal interests), and agency counsel (who represents the interests of the Executive Branch) — particularly for a voluntary interview,” Greer replied.
From the GOP perspective, it makes sense that the majority wouldn’t want an FBI attorney in the room whole committee lawyers try to get a witness to present damaging information on the bureau. For what it’s worth, during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment — which involved the Intelligence Committee — Democrats didn’t allow agency counsel to be present during transcribed interviews.
But the very nature of transcribed interviews means there are few rules and regulations. And on past Judiciary committees, there has been no policy preventing a witness from having both personal and agency counsel present.
Carlos Uriarte, DOJ’s legislative affairs chief, wrote in a letter to Jordan on Jan. 20 that the DOJ expects to have their officials appear before the Judiciary panel “accompanied by agency counsel.”
— Max Cohen
INSIDE THE HOUSE
Schweikert, a Freedom Caucus original, drops out of the group
News: Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), one of the founding members of the House Freedom Caucus, is leaving the conservative group, he told us on Wednesday.
In an interview, Schweikert told us he was leaving the HFC because he doesn’t want to be tied to the Arizona Freedom Caucus, the group in the Arizona legislature, which he described as “much more populist.”
To be fair, Schweikert had the toughest re-election of his career in 2022, beating his Democratic opponent by less than one point. Schweikert has also been dogged by ethics concerns. He once represented a safe, red district. His seat now includes the wealthy areas in Phoenix and Scottsdale. The far-right Freedom Caucus clearly doesn’t play well with this set. We asked him if that factored into in his decision, and here’s what he said:
This is a significant moment for the HFC for many reasons. First of all, the right has more power than ever before. In a 222-seat majority, the HFC and other conservatives have been successful in flexing their muscles against Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The Freedom Caucus was founded in 2015. But it has its roots in conservatives’ frustration with former Speaker John Boehner. One of Boehner’s first acts of retribution against the right was in 2012, when he kicked Schweikert off of the House Financial Services Committee for voting too often against the leadership.
In recent years, the HFC has morphed into a cult of personality that simply did former President Donald Trump’s bidding and opposed the House Republican leader – whoever it may be.
Schweikert said he joined the HFC because he wanted the “right to legislate.” In other words, Schweikert wanted individual lawmakers to have the power to move legislation.
“Culturally, that seems to have changed,” Schweikert said of the top-down management of the House.
– Jake Sherman
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THE CAMPAIGN
Banks nabs Senate leadership endorsement from Barrasso
News: Sen. John Barrasso is the first member of the Senate GOP leadership to endorse Rep. Jim Banks’ (R-Ind.) candidacy for Senate.
Here’s the statement from Barrasso, who is the chair of the Senate Republican Conference.
The NRSC has all but endorsed Banks’ candidacy. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said Banks was one of the committee’s top recruits.
With Mitch Daniels out of the race, it’s clear that Banks is the prohibitive favorite in the deep red Hoosier State.
– Jake Sherman
SOUTH CAPITOL ST
The DCCC’s senior leadership team
News: DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene is set to announce the campaign arm’s senior leadership team later today. Here’s a sneak peek at the DCCC’s new top officials, all who worked for the DCCC last cycle:
| → | Missayr Boker, deputy executive director for campaigns. Boker previously served as executive Director of the DCCC’s Independent Expenditure program. |
| → | Tasha Cole, deputy executive director for stakeholder engagement. Last cycle, Cole was the DCCC’s deputy executive director and chief diversity officer. |
| → | Michelle Tovar, national finance director. Tovar was recently the DCCC’s deputy national finance director. |
| → | Jackie Forte-Mackay, chief financial officer, staying on from last cycle. |
| → | Elizabeth Ericson, chief analytics officer. Ericson was the DCCC’s campaigns targeting director in 2022. |
| → | Erik Ruselowski, chief operating officer, continuing on from last cycle. |
| → | Catherine Wall, chief of staff. Last cycle, Wall was the DCCC’s deputy chief of staff and chief speechwriter. |
— Max Cohen
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