Plus: '24 hopefuls ignore Trump | Tuesday, June 14, 2022
| | | | | | | Presented By BlackRock | | | | Axios Sneak Peek | | By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Jun 14, 2022 | | Welcome back to Sneak. Smart Brevity™ count: 989 words ... 3.5 minutes. | | | | | | 1 big thing — Scoop: Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House |  | | | Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images | | | | President Biden is tapping former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace Cedric Richmond as one of his most senior aides, bringing a Democratic rising star and former VP contender into the White House at a critical juncture, Axios' Alexi McCammond has learned. Why it matters: As director of the White House Office of Public Engagement beginning in the coming weeks, Bottoms will immediately have access to some of the most high-level planning and strategy sessions in the West Wing — and to the president himself. - The role is integral to developing Biden's policies and then convincing the broader Democratic coalition that the president is charting the right approach.
- The stakes are high: Bottoms will be responsible for navigating divergent policy goals between progressives and centrists ahead of what's expected to be an ugly midterm cycle for Democrats.
Driving the news: Bottoms told Axios in an interview that she plans to do "more listening than anything," and that "it's important that people feel their voices are reflected and their voices are heard." - Democrats face the prospect of losing one or both chambers of Congress in November and have struggled to find the right message for voters amid soaring inflation and Biden's sliding approval rating.
- Bottoms, who has a reputation for candor, has committed to serve at least through the midterms, according to a senior administration official. Richmond left the White House last month for the Democratic National Committee.
Between the lines: In choosing Bottoms to replace Richmond, a Black former congressman from Louisiana, Biden is signaling an ongoing commitment to African American constituents and leaders to elevate people of color in his administration. - Bottoms' work as mayor of a big city in a crucial swing state — during a period that covered the start of the pandemic through nationwide protests against systemic racism — has given her experience with some of the most pressing and divisive domestic issues Americans are confronting.
- As Axios previously reported, Biden had at one point been considering former Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx as Richmond's successor.
Keep reading. |     | | | | | | 2. 🤔 Jan. 6 "semantics" |  | | | Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images | | | | Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House Jan. 6 committee and a constitutional law expert, says there's been "semantic confusion from the beginning" about the panel's authority to issue criminal referrals, Axios' Alayna Treene reports. Why it matters: The committee has already laid out its view in court filings that former President Trump engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden's election victory. - But Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) surprised reporters on Monday when he declared the committee wouldn't send criminal referrals to the Justice Department, saying it's "not our job."
- Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and other members later clarified that the committee "has not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals."
Driving the news: "I'm not trying to be coy here," Raskin told Axios and others on Capitol Hill today. "If there's evidence of crimes that we think is relevant to our investigation, we will put it out there. But there's not a separate process for making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice." Between the lines: Raskin said there's less a disagreement or "divide" among members of the committee than public confusion over what a criminal referral actually entails. - He explained the committee has made official criminal referrals for people held in "contempt of Congress" for defying subpoenas, such as former Trump officials Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino.
- "There is a specific federal statute providing for congressional criminal referrals of contempt citations against people who violate our subpoenas. There is no general federal statute providing for 'criminal referral' to the Department of Justice by Congress," Raskin said.
Keep reading. | | | | | | | | 3. 🗣️ Trump lawyer's advice | | Screenshot: Jan. 6 committee video The Jan. 6 committee released a preview of testimony set to be featured in Thursday's hearing, in which former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann describes a call he had with election-denying lawyer John Eastman on Jan. 7: "He started to ask me about something dealing with Georgia, preserving something potentially for appeal. And I said to him, 'Are you out of your effin' mind? I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.' ... "'Now I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life: Get a great effin' criminal defense lawyer, you're gonna need it. Then I hung up on him." Flashback: Weeks after the 2020 election, Herschmann got into a screaming match with Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and other pro-Trump election conspiracy theorists in the Oval Office. | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock | | Invested in the future of Americans | | |  | | | | At BlackRock, we are proud to help eliminate the barriers to investing for millions of Americans with our simple, low-cost ways to invest. Through BlackRock's iShares® funds, we offer more ETFs than anyone else. Learn more on our website. | | | | | | 4. 🐘 '24 hopefuls ignore Trump |  | | | Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) with then-President Trump in 2017. Photo: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images | | | | Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told his top donors today he's prepared to run for president in 2024 — and would not defer to former President Trump in a potential primary, Politico's Alex Isenstadt scooped. Why it matters: Cotton is at least the fourth Republican considering a 2024 presidential run to claim that a Trump comeback bid would not factor in their decision-making. Watchlist: - Former Vice President Mike Pence: "We'll go where we're called."
- Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: "I've never walked away from an argument, no matter who stood on the other side."
- Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson: "I think [Trump] did a lot of good things for our country, but we need to go a different direction. So that's not a factor in my decision-making process."
| | | | | | | | 5. 📚 Parting shot: Study materials | | Photo: Alayna Treene/Axios Alayna snapped a shot of a book Raskin was carrying around the halls of Congress titled, "How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Republic." - Raskin called it "an awesome book about the Catiline conspiracy" — an attempt to topple the elected leader of the Roman Republic in 63 BC, originally chronicled by historian Sallust.
- "I'm getting ideas from wherever I can," Raskin joked.
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