🐘 GOP's Jan. 6 defense

Plus: Republican blasts "sobbing" witnesses | Wednesday, June 08, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios Sneak Peek By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Jun 08, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. In yesterday's edition, we previewed the House Jan. 6 committee's plans for its first public hearing. Tonight, we're diving into what the opposition has in store. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,019 words ... 4 minutes. 🚨 Breaking: The House passed a package of gun control bills this evening, 223-204, introduced in the wake of the deadly shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde; the package is unlikely to get 60 Senate votes to break a filibuster.     1 big thing: The Republican defense Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   House Republicans, eager to get ahead of the barrage of revelations the Jan. 6 committee has planned for its prime-time hearing tomorrow night, launched their counterprogramming blitz in earnest this morning, Axios' Alayna Treene reports. Driving the news: House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), one of former President Trump's top Jan. 6 surrogates, accused Democrats of "scrambling to change the headlines, praying that the nation will focus on their partisan witch hunt instead of our pocketbooks." Stefanik called the investigation "a smear campaign" against Trump and criticized the committee's hiring of former ABC President James Goldston to produce the made-for-TV hearings. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also went after the panel in a new op-ed for The Federalist titled: "The True Goal Of The J6 Committee Is To Slander And Shame Conservatives Out Of The Public Sphere." Why it matters: This is just a taste of what Republicans have prepared for the coming messaging war — a counteroffensive crafted during private deliberations in which key Trump surrogates reviewed old documents, settled on talking points and plotted their media strategy. What we're watching 1. The stakes of subpoena defiance. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and four other House Republicans have signaled they do not plan to comply with subpoenas issued by the committee last month. This is uncharted territory: the Republicans' refusal to cooperate with the unprecedented subpoenas will force the panel to decide whether to pursue criminal contempt charges, dragging the Justice Department into the political spotlight. 2. Trump's involvement. Axios reported last week the former president has not ruled out a public appearance as part of an effort by him and his allies to flood the airwaves with their own messaging. During the opening arguments of his first impeachment trial in 2019 — before he was banned from Twitter — Trump was so animated he broke his record for most tweets sent in a day. 3. Loyalty test. While it's clear top House Republicans — namely McCarthy, Stefanik, Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) — plan to launch a full-throated defense of the former president, some GOP members want nothing more than to move on from Jan. 6 altogether. But choosing not to defend the former president could trigger a backlash and potential retribution. 4. Groundwork for retaliation. House Republicans are eager to sink their teeth into the Biden administration and Democrats if they take back the majority next year, including with their own Watergate-style hearings covering a catalog of alleged wrongdoing. Jordan, who spoke at today's press conference, would be chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee if Republicans take power, and he's promised to unleash a flood of investigations as retribution. Share this story.     2. 📣 Key GOP megaphone Screenshot: "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Forced to compete with wall-to-wall media coverage of tomorrow's hearing, Republican messaging would be largely drowned out were it not for one powerful ally: the top-rated host on cable news. Why it matters: Fox News will not carry the hearing live, instead allowing Tucker Carlson to use his massive platform as a parallel setting for Republicans to attack the committee in real time. A number of Fox News hosts have criticized the committee and downplayed Jan. 6 — but none have gone as far as Carlson, who produced his own documentary suggesting the Capitol attack was a "false flag" operation. Fox host Laura Ingraham ridiculed critics of the network's decision not to carry the hearing live, saying on her show last night: "We actually do something called, ya know, cater to our audience."     3. Republican blasts "sobbing" witnesses Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images   Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who was appointed to serve on the Jan. 6 committee before Republican leadership withdrew in protest, pulled no punches when discussing the hearing with Axios' Andrew Solender this week: "They're going to find probably the worst couple minutes they can find on people being assaulted here, law enforcement being assaulted. They're going to get the sobbing police officer or sobbing Democrat or somebody that said how terrible this was and now they're suffering from PTSD. ... They're going to put on a show for the American people. "They're not seeking the truth. … They're trying to find a way to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024. That's all this is about. They're going to probably show us a few text messages from [former chief of staff Mark] Meadows and some of Trump's confidantes and how horrible this was, and some communications going back and forth. … This is about destroying Donald Trump. Because they are deathly afraid of him. "And I want you to put that in your article." The big picture: Nehls and other would-be Republican members of the committee have been quietly working on a competing Jan. 6 report focused on law enforcement and intelligence failures, as well as proposals to strengthen Capitol security. "There are so many questions that need to be asked of the leadership of the Capitol Police. But they're not asking those questions," Nehls said. "They're not trying to find a way to prevent something like this from happening again."     A message from Facebook Facebook is taking action to keep its platform safe     Over 40 million people use Facebook Privacy Checkup each month. That's nearly 60 times the population of Washington, D.C. That's just one example of the work we're doing to create safer connections. Learn more about our work ahead.     4. By the numbers: Jan. 6 retribution Data: Axios research; Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios Visuals Almost a third of the House Republicans who voted to establish an independent Jan. 6 commission last May — before it died in the Senate — either plan to retire this cycle, already resigned or lost their primary, Andrew reports. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), thought to be a safe incumbent, was forced into a runoff yesterday with a primary challenger who attacked him for being one of the 35 Republicans who voted for the commission. Go deeper.     5. 🎥 Parting shots: Setting the stage Photos: J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press Television crews and technicians prepare the Cannon Caucus Room for tomorrow night's hearing.     A message from Facebook We spent $16 billion to enhance safety and security in the past 6 years     That's enough to build 7 pro stadiums – all to keep our communities safe and create more meaningful connections. That's just one example of the work we're doing. 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