News: As many as 12 GOP votes to impeach

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

As many as 12 GOP votes to impeach

Jan 12, 2021

With help from Myah Ward

'NEVER BEEN A GREATER BETRAYAL' — Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, will vote to impeach President Donald Trump. "There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," Cheney said in a statement.

Vice President Mike Pence informed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tonight that he won't invoke the 25th Amendment. The House will move to impeach Trump on Wednesday. As many as a dozen Republicans are expected to support the impeachment effort, according to lawmakers and aides of both parties, Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and Kyle Cheney write.

FEARS HIGH ON HILL — Top lawmakers say they are increasingly alarmed by a rash of new threats that could once again endanger their lives on the job, Sarah and Marianne LeVine write. Senators received a briefing today from representatives of the Secret Service, and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and a key group of House Democratic chairs separately met with the FBI.

"Based on today's briefing, we have grave concerns about ongoing and violent threats to our democracy," that group of Democratic chairs said in a cryptic statement after the meeting today. The briefing included the chairs and other top members of the House Oversight, Judiciary, Homeland Security, Armed Services and Intelligence panels. "It is clear that more must be done to preempt, penetrate, and prevent deadly and seditious assaults by domestic violent extremists in the days ahead," the statement said.

The lawmakers voiced their concerns moments after a public FBI and Justice Department briefing revealed their belief that the Jan. 6 violence could be part of a much graver, well-organized "seditious conspiracy." A Justice Department "strike force" is seeking to assemble a sedition case against some of those involved in last week's riot at the Capitol, Josh Gerstein and Kyle write.

The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, Michael Sherwin, said a team of his colleagues was examining whether to file those serious charges, which carry a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison. "We are looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition and conspiracy," Sherwin said at the Justice Department's first televised news conference since the violent takeover of the Capitol last Wednesday.

Members of the U.S. National Guard arrive at the U.S. Capitol.

Members of the U.S. National Guard arrive at the U.S. Capitol. | Getty Images

JOINT CHIEFS SPEAK — All eight of the nation's top military officers sent an extraordinary message to the entire force today warning troops to follow the law, Lara Seligman writes. "Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values and oath; it is against the law," the four-star officers who make up the Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote in a memo to the force.

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A NEW YEAR, A NEW CONGRESS, A NEW HUDDLE: It was an ugly and heartbreaking week inside the Capitol, particularly for all of those who work on the Hill. How are lawmakers planning to move forward? How will security change? How will a new Senate majority impact the legislative agenda? With so much at stake, our new Huddle author Olivia Beavers brings you the most important news and critical insight from Capitol Hill with help from POLITICO's deeply sourced Congress team. Subscribe to Huddle, the essential guide to understanding Congress. It has never been more important. SUBSCRIBE NOW.

First In Nightly

MIDTERMS ALREADY? Democrats under Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden were so badly pummeled in their first midterm elections that Obama called it a "shellacking." Ten years later, now President-elect Biden is hellbent on avoiding a repeat, Natasha Korecki and Chris Cadelago write.

History isn't on his side. Allies are concerned about his political strategy. And the party is worried about fundraising in an era where Trump is not on the ballot.

In preparation for the 2022 midterms, the president-elect is fusing his political operation with the Democratic National Committee. He is also considering sending a top communications staffer — among those discussed are top campaign spokespeople Andrew Bates and T.J. Ducklo — to the DNC for the next several months as an embed before that person heads to the White House themselves. The idea is to help ensure the DNC is integral to the Biden operation, a source close to the campaign said in an interview.

Biden is also empowering his former campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, with his political portfolio in and out of the White House. Dillon, herself a former top national party staffer, is steering DNC meetings in the runup to the election of a new chair and officers later this month.

No modern president has had a successful first midterm except George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11.

K STREET

ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR KEVIN MCCARTHY — POLITICO Influence author Caitlin Oprysko emails us:

Earlier today yet another group added its name to the list of major corporate donors and business groups paring back their political donations: The highly influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which until this cycle had nearly always backed Republicans, said it would no longer back some members who voted against certification last week.

Those rethinking their donation policies include AT&T, whose PAC gave more to Republicans in the last cycle than any other corporate PAC, and Comcast, whose PAC was the third-biggest donor to Republicans among corporate PACs. Both telecom giants said they would "suspend" contributions to Republicans who voted against certifying the election. Others, like Dow Chemical, Airbnb and Marriott, have provided more specifics. Dow has said its ban on donations to election objectors will last for the length of each member's term.

Many other companies, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Mastercard, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, UPS, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Leidos and BAE Systems have said they're hitting pause on all donations from their political action committees, to Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of the companies have put timelines on the donation freeze, but others have left it open-ended.

Other standouts: Hallmark, the Kansas City-based maker of greeting cards and guilty-pleasure holiday movies, told Popular Information's Judd Legum, who has been tracking corporate donations, that its HALLPAC will be asking for refunds from Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

What to watch: How long these pledges last and whether more are coming. Many of those who are pausing their political spending this week have certainly left the door open to donating to these same lawmakers at a later time.

Doug Pinkham, the president of the Public Affairs Council, an association for public affairs professionals, said he and his staff had spoken to more than 30 companies and trade groups that were trying to figure out what to do in recent days. Other lobbyists have heard similar things from their clients — one I spoke to predicted a forthcoming "reckoning in the corporate PAC world" with regard to election objectors.

Several key members of the House and Senate, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and NRSC Chairman Rick Scott, were among those who voted against certifying the election, lawmakers for whom fundraising is a key part of their role. Will companies really cut them off for the next two years?

"It's gonna be hard for people to justify not giving to Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise because they're the top two Republicans in the House," one lobbyist, whose firm's PAC is reassessing its donation policies along with others on K Street, said. "But man, they're gonna have a hard time justifying that to people who give to the PAC who watched the United States Capitol get taken because of their rhetoric."

KEEP UP WITH THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WITH TRANSITION PLAYBOOK: It was a dark week in American history, and a new administration will have to pick up the pieces. Transition Playbook brings you inside the last days of this crucial transfer of power, tracking the latest from President-elect Biden and his growing administration. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter breaks big news and analyzes the appointments, people, and the emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today.

Around the Nation

NORTH OF THE WALL — Biden has pledged to reverse many of Trump's immigration policies early in his term, including halting construction on a border wall. Trump blasted Biden today for threatening to undo his signature campaign promise during a visit to a section of the wall in Alamo, Texas, a week after the deadly Capitol Hill riot has threatened his future.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians along the U.S.-Mexico border have long rolled their eyes at the way that Washington has approached immigration policy. Trump didn't deliver on his promise to build a wall along the entire Southern border and exact payment from Mexico. "We can't let the next administration even think about taking it down, if you can believe that," Trump said today.

Jim Darling, the mayor of McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, told Renu today he isn't hopeful that Biden will be able to navigate the complex reality of implementing policy along the Southern border either: He's not "optimistic" about a bipartisan agreement on immigration, he said, and is "scared" about one-party control of Washington.

Trade is the biggest issue on the border, Darling said, and a wall, along with rhetoric around making Mexicans pay for it, have hurt local politicians' ability to implement the new USMCA trade agreement. "It just got to be a political thing," said Darling, who holds a nonpartisan office but has endorsed Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and Gov. Greg Abbott. "They said, 'To hell with all the rest of the considerations. We're gonna build this wall.' That's too bad."

Biden has said he wouldn't tear down existing parts of the wall, but his hands might even be tied when it comes to stopping construction. The White House has already obligated some wall-building contracts to keep construction going after Biden takes office. Darling said he hopes the Biden administration will review what's been built and what's left before moving forward.

Now that Biden is in office Darling, who is retiring in May, has dusted off a plan he has put together with officials in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to enact education, health and criminal justice reform and economic development in Central America. He presented the plan to Cornyn and to the Obama administration, but it went nowhere. Darling met with Mexican and Central American officials three weeks ago to update the plan and prepare for the incoming administration.

Biden has proposed a program to spend $4 billion on development in Central America.

From the Health Desk

99 PROBLEMS, ONE OF THEM IS 100 — 100 million vaccinations in 100 days. It's one of the main promises Biden has made for when he takes office. With the Trump administration's vaccination efforts hitting roadblocks and falling behind schedule, the latest POLITICO Dispatch featuring health care reporter Adam Cancryn explains how Biden's goal is looking more out of reach by the day.

Listen to the latest POLITICO Dispatch podcast

Ask The Audience

Nightly asks you: What are you most hopeful about heading into 2021? Send us your answers through our form, and we'll use select responses later this week.

The Global Fight

SUNSCREEN? CHECK. COVID TEST? CHECK. The U.S. will require that all international air passengers entering the country test negative for the coronavirus starting on Jan. 26, the CDC said today — a broad expansion of pre-flight testing that the airline industry hopes will replace restrictive quarantines and help reinvigorate air travel, David Lim and Sam Mintz write.

Under the impending order, which an agency spokesperson said will be signed today and which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, air passengers will be required to test negative up to three days before their flight to the U.S. departs. They must also provide written documentation of their results or show they've already recovered from the virus to the airline.

Bidenology

Welcome to Bidenology, Nightly's look at the president-elect and what to expect in his administration. Tonight, Nightly's Myah Ward takes us through Biden's exercise routine:

Thanks to Daniel Lippman, we now know what Biden eats. But how does the president-elect work off his beloved pasta and ice cream?

Biden played baseball and football growing up. He was a halfback for the University of Delaware Blue Hens for a short time. Like the last few presidents, Biden golfs (during the Obama administration, Golf Digest listed Biden among the best golfers in the Washington, D.C. political community).

He stays fit with cardio and weight routines "at least five days per week," according to a 2019 medical assessment by the former vice president's physician. Biden's brother, Frank Biden, has bragged about Biden's performance in the weightroom. "Joe benches 185 for repetition," Frank said on Michael Smerconish's radio talk show in January 2019.

Biden also likes the Peloton, one person familiar with the matter told Daniel.

"I do three things. I bike, treadmill and I lift," Biden told The New York Times editorial board last year. He said his doctor from the White House still sends him daily exercise routines. "If I had my phone, I'd show you — he sends me every morning, every morning, an exercise routine, and I do it every morning. I'm not in bad shape." He said he could do 44 push-ups in a row, and even offered to demonstrate right there during the interview.

Biden's push-up ability was a recurring defense to attacks on his age and fitness to be president during the campaign. After a voter told Biden he believed he was too old to be president in December 2019, the president-elect challenged the man to a push-up contest. And it wasn't the first time Biden suggested such a competition to test his fitness — he also said he'd challenge Trump if he made fun of his age or mental state on the debate stage. "I'd say 'C'mon Donald, c'mon man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal," Biden said on MSNBC in July 2019. "I mean, jokingly … C'mon, run with me, man."

But both men are likely to be "super-agers," who thrive well into their 80s and beyond with preserved physical and cognitive function, according to a paper published in the Journal on Active Aging.

At 78, Biden is set to be sworn in as the oldest president in U.S. history. A December 2019 report from Kevin O'Connor, an associate professor of medicine at George Washington University and Biden's doctor when he was VP, called Biden a "healthy, vigorous 77-year-old male." He takes blood thinners and medication for acid reflux, cholesterol and seasonal allergies. At the time of the exam, he was 5-feet-11-inches, weighed 178 pounds and his blood pressure was 128/84.

Nightly Number

$500

The fine for House members who do not wear a mask on the chamber floor, according to a new rule outlined today. Second-time offenders will be fined $2,500.

Parting Words

POTUS SPEAKS — During his trip to Texas today, Trump said that he was at no risk of being ousted by the 25th Amendment and called moves to impeach him following the Capitol Hill insurgency another "hoax."