💰 Jan. 6 fundraising boom

Plus: Charting biggest bombshells | Thursday, June 09, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Facebook   Axios Sneak Peek By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Jun 09, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. The first public Jan. 6 committee hearing kicks off at 8pm ET. Follow along with the Axios stream for coverage of the biggest moments. Smart Brevity™ count: 910 words ... 3.5 minutes. 💵 Breaking: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is privately frustrated at bubbling speculation that she's angling to replace Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary after the midterms, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.     1 big thing: Dems question political upshot A lone demonstrator stands in front of the Cannon House Office Building, where the Jan. 6 committee will hold its first public hearing. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images   Some vulnerable House Democrats doubt the coming Jan. 6 hearings can produce anywhere near the same visceral political impact they might have had in the immediate aftermath of the attack, Axios' Andrew Solender reports. Why it matters: The committee has been building its case for the better part of a year that Republicans were at best complicit and at worst instigators in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. But the climax of that effort comes 17 months after the attack — and at a moment of serious political peril for Democrats, who are struggling to flip the script against the backdrop of an unpopular president and soaring inflation. Driving the news: Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) told Axios that voters who view Jan. 6 as a top issue are already more likely to be voting for Democrats, and that Fox News' refusal to air the hearings live will limit their reach to persuadable voters. "I think they're incredibly important," Wild said of the hearings, "but I wouldn't call them pivotal to the election." "No," one Democrat in a swing district told Axios bluntly when asked if Jan. 6 ever comes up on the campaign trail. But, they added, that could change if the hearings have "a lot of powerful information" or a "holy sh*t" moment. By the numbers: Google Trends data shows midterm voters have "very low interest" in Jan. 6 compared to topics like jobs, taxes and gun policy, according to Axios' interactive midterm tool. Polls consistently show the public is divided on the issue: A YouGov/UMass poll last month found that 42% of Americans support efforts to hold the Jan. 6 rioters accountable, down 10 points from a year ago. Between the lines: The approach of the House Democratic campaign apparatus has been to deploy Jan. 6 on the campaign trail in a targeted way, while also hammering on broader issues of democracy and extremism. For instance, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and its allies at House Majority PAC have seized on specific instances of GOP candidates making inflammatory comments about Jan. 6. The DCCC also maintains a website highlighting all the GOP candidates and members connected to the attack in some way. The bottom line: Politics aside, Democrats are united in their position that these hearings are essential for the health of American democracy. "I don't think it's that complicated," DCCC Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) told Axios. "People understand back home that this was wrong." Share this story.     2. 💰 Small-dollar gold mine Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The prolonged Jan. 6 fallout may not move many votes for Democrats in November, but it's unequivocally played a role in juicing small-dollar donor enthusiasm, according to records reviewed by Axios' Lachlan Markay. What's happening: Email data show hundreds of fundraising appeals pegged to the Jan. 6 investigation over the past month, including from the DCCC and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "Jan. 6 panel announces eight hearings to be held in June," declared one DSCC email subject line (the committee hasn't said how many it will hold). The message "polled" recipients about whether they'd watch, then directed them to a fundraising page. The DCCC has used its organizing chair, Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, to fill out fundraising appeals, with emails and digital ads featuring the Maryland Democrat tying donation appeals to the investigation. Outside groups are getting in on the action too. American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC, has sent more than 70 fundraising emails mentioning Jan. 6 or the term "insurrection" over the past month, according to data compiled by the Defending Democracy Together Institute. DDTI tallied more than 500 emails over the past month from Democratic campaigns, party committees and independent political spenders mentioning or referring to the Jan. 6 attack or investigation. The bottom line: The hearings that start today don't need to move many votes to have political utility. They're likely to energize the Democratic base — the voters most inclined to pony up to the party's campaigns and committees. Share this story.     3. 💥 Data du jour: Jan. 6 bombshells Data: Google Trends. Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios The Jan. 6 committee's biggest breakthrough since its creation was a gripping hearing last July in which four law enforcement officers recounted their grisly experiences responding to the Capitol attack, Andrew writes from Google Trends data. Other top attention-grabbing weeks featured: The panel's vote to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with its subpoena. Subpoenas for Rudy Giuliani and other high-profile members of the Trump campaign team that worked to overturn the election. A legal filing from the committee that claimed to have uncovered evidence Trump and his allies "engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States." Share this graphic.     A message from Facebook Facebook is taking action to keep its platform safe     We spent $16 billion to enhance safety and security across our platforms over the past 6 years. That's enough to build 7 pro stadiums. And it's just one example of the work we're doing to create safer connections. Learn more about our work ahead.     4. 👀 One for the calendar Via Politico's Kyle Cheney     5. 🇧🇷 Parting shot: Bolsonaro meets Biden Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has questioned the legitimacy of President Biden's victory over Donald Trump, mocked Biden's age and added to the administration's headaches by threatening to boycott the Summit of the Americas this week. "We have a great deal in common," Bolsonaro told Biden in an awkward face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles tonight. "For example, our shared love for freedom, democracy."     A message from Facebook We have over 40,000 people working on safety and security     That's more than the size of the FBI. And they're working to create more meaningful connections for our communities. That's just one example of the work we're doing. Facebook is taking action to keep its platform safe. Learn more about our work ahead.   Thanks for reading! We'll be back Sunday. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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