Month: January 2024

Morning Digest: Democrats spend big to pick preferred GOP opponent in Montana primary

Posted on by Daily Kos Elections

The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.

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Leading Off

● MT-Sen: Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale has now all but announced that he'll seek a rematch with the man who beat him in 2018, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester—news that brought smiles to Democrats and angst to the NRSC and its allies.

The GOP establishment is all-in for wealthy businessman Tim Sheehy, but Democrats have already spent millions on messaging designed either to knock Sheehy out in the June 4 primary or damage him for the general election.

But Sheehy might be his own worst enemy. News of a 2019 plane crash involving the death of a pilot and the injury of a teenager on the ground resurfaced Friday after Politico reported that someone identified as "Timothy Sheehy" listed "plane crasher" as his occupation when making political donations. And there's reason to think this wasn't the work of a troll with money to burn.

Read Jeff Singer's piece for much more on the unfolding race between two flawed Republicans—including why Rosendale's alliance with Florida's most infamous congressman helps explain why Democrats would still rather face him again.

4Q Fundraising

  • NE-02: Don Bacon (R-inc): $780,000 raised, $1.5 million cash on hand; Tony Vargas (D): $552,000 raised
  • PA-10: Janelle Stelson (D): $282,000 raised
  • NC-AG: Jeff Jackson (D): $2 million raised (in two months)

Senate

● WV-Sen: Disgraced coal baron Don Blankenship decided to add "perennial candidate" to his résumé on Friday when he filed to run as a Democrat for West Virginia's open Senate seat.

The state Democratic Party quickly made it clear it wanted nothing to do with Blankenship, who spent a year in prison in connection to the 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners at one of his properties. "Blankenship, or as he’ll forever be known, federal prisoner 12393-088, lost a previous race for U.S. Senate when he ran as a Republican," said chairman Mike Pushkin. "He followed that up with a failed race for president running on the Constitution Party ticket," Pushkin noted.

House

● CO-05: Former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said on Friday that he would not enter the GOP primary to succeed retiring Rep. Doug Lamborn but would instead endorse conservative radio host Jeff Crank.

● IN-08: State Sen. Mark Messmer on Thursday became the first elected official to announce a bid to replace retiring Rep. Larry Bucshon, a fellow Republican. Messmer previously served as the chamber's majority floor leader, but he set his sights higher in 2022 when he challenged Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray for the top job. Bray prevailed, though, and the Indiana Capital says that Messmer lost his leadership positions afterward.

● MD-02: Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger on Friday became the first Democratic congressman to announce his retirement in the new year. His decision marks the close of a long career that saw Ruppersberger rise high in Old Line State politics―though not quite as high as he had envisioned.

  • Going Dutch. Ruppersberger was elected Baltimore County executive in 1994, and he seemed primed to run for governor in 2002. However, his troubles at home, including an embarrassing loss at the ballot box for a measure he'd supported, kept him out of the contest.
  • "Ruppersberger facing uphill battle." The termed-out executive still got his chance to run for higher office that same year after Democrats in the legislature redrew the congressional map, but he had to go through an unexpectedly bruising primary just two months before a general election showdown with former Republican Rep. Helen Bentley—one he was no longer expected to win.
  • Not going way down in the hole. It would take more than a decade before Ruppersberger finally put his gubernatorial ambitions to rest. However, he quickly became so secure in Congress that even the most famous politician on "The Wire" wouldn't challenge him.

Check out Jeff Singer's piece for more on Ruppersberger's career―and how one local Democrat has spent months laying the groundwork to succeed him.

● NC-06: Journalist Bryan Anderson reported Thursday that Speaker Mike Johnson has yanked back his endorsement of former Rep. Mark Walker, though Walker claims the reversal actually happened several months ago.

The former congressman tells The News & Observer that Johnson backed him before becoming speaker in October but then notified him the following month that he would now be neutral in the March 5 Republican primary. Walker also showed the paper a text that reporter Danielle Battaglia says "seemingly confirms" he was Johnson's initial pick.

However, Johnson, at least, did in fact support Walker at some point. Not so, however, with another member of Congress whose endorsement Walker has claimed. Walker has posted on social media that he had the backing of Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, but the senator's staff now tells N&O that no such endorsement ever happened. "I don’t know what’s going on," said Mullin's chief of staff.

● NJ-07: Summit Councilman Greg Vartan announced Thursday that he was dropping out of the Democratic primary to take on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. Vartan's departure leaves former Working Families Party state director Sue Altman and former State Department official Jason Blazakis as the only notable candidates competing in the June 4 nomination contest.

● NY-16: The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that it was ending its probe into Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm at the Capitol in September. The body said that it would not sanction the congressman even though it found his explanations about the incident "less than credible and otherwise misleading," adding that he "failed to take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk of unnecessary harm."

Bowman, who has insisted he believed the alarm would open a locked door as he was "rushing to a vote," pleaded guilty in October for "willfully or knowingly" instigating a false alarm. The case was dismissed Thursday after it was determined that Bowman had paid his $1,000 fine and apologized to the Capitol Police. The congressman faces serious opposition in the June 25 primary from Westchester County Executive George Latimer, though the challenger did not mention the fire alarm incident in his December launch video.

Ballot Measures

● OH Ballot: Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has, for the second time, rejected the proposed ballot summary for an initiative that would enshrine extensive voting access protections and policies in Ohio's constitution, which we've previously detailed.

Yost claims that the measure's proposed title, which supporters have called the "Ohio Voters Bill of Rights," is misleading, even though the amendment would, among other things, establish voting as a "fundamental right" and prohibit "any means whatsoever" that have the intent or effect of denying or unreasonably burdening the right to vote.

Proponents can revise and resubmit their summary, but this rejection further delays the start of gathering voter signatures, which must be submitted by an initial July 3 deadline to qualify for November's ballot.

Legislatures

● NC Redistricting: U.S. District Judge James Dever, a George W. Bush appointee, has rejected a request to block a pair of state Senate districts in northeastern North Carolina that Black plaintiffs alleged violate the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against Black voters.

Plaintiffs quickly indicated they would appeal Dever's ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while the case continues at the district court level. Republicans passed new gerrymanders last year and claimed the VRA no longer applied in North Carolina despite extensive evidence that voting patterns remain polarized along racial lines, particularly in rural regions such as those challenged in this case.

Grab Bag

● Where Are They Now?: The Justice Department determined that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 13 different women who worked in state government between 2013 and 2021, findings that were made public as part of a settlement with the governor's office. Investigators concluded that Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace amid the threat of impeachment in 2021, had created "a sexually hostile work environment" and engaged in "a pattern or practice of retaliation" after employees complained.

The agreement requires Cuomo's successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, to institute a number of reforms to prevent future civil rights violations. They include expanding her office's human resources department and implementing policies that require complaints against the governor and "high-level" aides to be reported and investigated externally. In response to the settlement, an attorney for Cuomo issued a statement denying her client had committed sexual harassment.

Cuomo has reportedly been considering bids for Senate and for New York City mayor.

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House GOP releases impeachment articles against Homeland Security secretary

Posted on by Associated Press

House Republicans on Sunday released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they vowed to swiftly push forward with election-year efforts to oust him over what they call his failure to manage the U.S.-Mexico border. The rare step against a Cabinet member drew outrage from Democrats and the agency as a politically motivated stunt lacking the constitutional basis to remove Mayorkas from office.

Republicans contend Mayorkas is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that amount to a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” on immigration and a “breach of the public trust.” Impeachment, they say, is “Congress's only viable option.”

“Alejandro N. Mayorkas willfully and systemically refused to comply with the immigration laws, failed to control the border to the detriment of national security, compromised public safety, and violated the rule of law and separation of powers in the Constitution, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States," the impeachment resolution says.

Only once in American history has a Cabinet secretary been impeached: William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant's war secretary, in 1876, over kickbacks in government contracts. Going after an official for a policy dispute, in this instance over the claim that Mayorkas is not upholding immigration laws, is unprecedented.

Ever since taking control of the House in 2023, Republicans have pushed to impeach Mayorkas. Sunday’s announcement comes as their other impeachment drive — to impeach Democratic President Joe Biden in relation to his son Hunter's business dealings — has struggled to advance.

But Republicans have moved with rapid speed against Mayorkas after a series of hearings in recent weeks. It all comes at a time when border security and immigration are key issues in the 2024 campaign and as Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is promising to launch the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history if he returns to the White House.

The Republican-controlled House Homeland Security Committee is set to vote Tuesday on the articles of impeachment, aiming to send them to the full House for consideration. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said the House will move forward as soon as possible with a vote after that.

Passage requires only a House majority. The Senate would hold a trial, and a two-thirds vote is required for conviction, an exceedingly unlikely outcome in the Democratic-run Senate.

The GOP push also comes at a curious time for Mayorkas.

Even as the House is taking steps to try remove him from office, Mayorkas has been engaged in arduous negotiations with senators seeking to reach a bipartisan deal on border policy. He has won praise from senators for his engagement in the process.

Democrats have lambasted the impeachment proceedings, calling them a waste of time when lawmakers should be working together to solve the problems. They also say Republicans are part of the problems at the border, with Republicans attacking Mayorkas even as they have failed to give his department the tools it needs to manage the situation.

“They don’t want to fix the problem; they want to campaign on it. That’s why they have undermined efforts to achieve bipartisan solutions and ignored the facts, legal scholars and experts, and even the Constitution itself in their quest to baselessly impeach Secretary Mayorkas,” the department said in a statement Sunday.

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House committee, said the GOP resolution did not have “a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors –- the Constitutional standard for impeachment.”

The two articles mark the culmination of a roughly yearlong examination by Republicans of the secretary's handling of the border and what they describe as a crisis of the administration's own making. Republicans contend that the administration and Mayorkas specifically either got rid of policies in place under Trump that had controlled migration or enacted policies of their own that encouraged migrants from around the world to come to the U.S. illegally via the southern border. They also accused Mayorkas of lying to Congress, pointing to comments about the border being secure or about vetting of Afghans airlifted to the U.S.

They cite growing numbers of migrants who have at times overwhelmed the capacity of Customs and Border Protection authorities to care and process them. Arrests for illegal crossings topped 2 million in each of the U.S. government’s past two budget years. In December, arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico reached an all-time high since figures have been released. The backlog of people in immigration court has grown by 1 million over the past budget year.

In the articles, Republicans argue that Mayorkas is deliberately violating immigration laws passed by Congress, such as those requiring detention of migrants, and that through his policies, a crisis has arisen at the border. They accuse him of releasing migrants without effective ways to make sure they show up for court or are removed from the country. They cited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo written by Mayorkas that sets priorities for whom the agency should target for enforcement proceedings as proof that he is letting people stay in the country who don't have the right to do so.

They also attacked the administration’s use of the humanitarian parole authority, which allows the DHS secretary to admit certain migrants into the country. Republicans said the Biden administration has essentially created a mass parole program that bypasses Congress. They cited cities such as New York that have struggled with high numbers of migrants, taxing housing and education systems, as proof of the financial costs immigration is taking.

Democrats, as well as Mayorkas, have argued that it’s not the administration’s policies that are causing people to attempt to migrate to America but that the movement is part of a global mass migration of people fleeing wars, economic instability and political repression. They have argued that Mayorkas is doing the best he can to manage border security but with a system that hasn’t been updated in decades and is chronically underfunded.

The department on Sunday cited high numbers of people being removed from the country, especially over roughly the last six months and its efforts to tackle fentanyl smuggling as proof that DHS is not shirking its border duties. And, they said, no administration has been able to detain every person who crosses the border illegally, citing space capacities. Instead, they focus on those who pose security threats.

“A standard requiring 100% detention would mean that Congress should have impeached every DHS Secretary since the Department was founded,” the agency said in the statement.

It was almost 150 years ago when the House voted unanimously to impeach Belknap on five articles of impeachment that he had criminally disregarded his Cabinet duties and used his office for private gain. Belknap had resigned earlier that same day, March 2, 1876. After a trial in the Senate, a majority of senators vote to convict him but they didn’t have enough votes to hit the the necessary two-thirds majority and Belknap was acquitted.

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Read the House GOP’s articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas

Posted on by Rebecca Santana, Associated Press
House Republicans on Sunday released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they vowed to swiftly push forward with election-year efforts to oust the Cabinet member over what they call his failure to manage the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Republicans unveil articles of impeachment against DHS Sec. Mayorkas

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

House Republicans unveiled articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandrop Mayorkas on Sunday.

The articles, introduced by Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., accuse Mayorkas of "Willfull and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and "breach of public trust." 

"Throughout his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro N. Mayorkas has repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security. In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States. His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security," Republicans allege in the first article.

"Alejandro N. Mayorkas knowingly made false statements to Congress that the border is 'secure,' that the border is ‘no less secure than it was previously,’ that the border is 'closed,' and that DHS has ‘operational control’ of the border," they allege in the second article.

'SENSE OF HOPELESSNESS': MICHAEL MCCAUL SOUNDS ALARM ON BORDER PATROL MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

"These articles lay out a clear, compelling, and irrefutable case for Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment. He has willfully and systemically refused to comply with immigration laws enacted by Congress. He has breached the public trust by knowingly making false statements to Congress and the American people, and obstructing congressional oversight of his department. These facts are beyond dispute, and the results of his lawless behavior have been disastrous for our country," said Green, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told fellow Republican lawmakers on Friday that he intends to hold a House-wide vote on whether to impeach Mayorkas "as soon as possible."

WATCH: MIGRANTS CLAIM ASYLUM ON COLD JANUARY NIGHT AS CBP UNION LEADER TALKS BORDER CRISIS

Johnson pointed out polling that showed illegal immigration as an increasingly urgent issue for American voters.

"The facts show that President Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas have willfully ignored and actively undermined our nation’s immigration laws," the speaker wrote in a letter to colleagues. "Rather than accept accountability, President Biden is now trying to blame Congress for what HE himself intentionally created."

The Department of Homeland Security offered a response to the allegations on Sunday, arguing that Republicans failed to present evidence that Mayorkas has committed any "high crimes or misdemeanors."

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS STRIKE DEAL TO PUNT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DEADLINES

The DHS argues the GOP effort has been a "cynical and hypocritical process" that was "predetermined from the start."

"This markup is just more of the same political games from House Homeland Security Committee (CHS) Republicans. They don’t want to fix the problem; they want to campaign on it. That’s why they have undermined efforts to achieve bipartisan solutions and ignored the facts, legal scholars and experts, and even the Constitution itself in their quest to baselessly impeach Secretary Mayorkas," the DHS said in a memo.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS., ranking member of the committee, rejected Republicans' argument in a statement.

"What is glaringly missing from these articles is any real charge or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors – the Constitutional standard for impeachment. That should come as no surprise because Republicans’ so-called ‘investigation’ of Secretary Mayorkas has been a remarkably fact-free affair. They are abusing Congress’ impeachment power to appease their MAGA members, score political points, and deflect Americans’ attention from their do-nothing Congress," Thompson said in a statement.

The GOP push to remove Mayorkas comes after years of skyrocketing illegal immigration under President Biden's administration.

Fox News' Chad Pergram, Tyler Olson, Griff Jenkins and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report

House GOP to hear additional witness testimony from Hunter Biden business partners amid impeachment inquiry

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

House Republicans plan to hear testimony from several additional witnesses who did business with Hunter Biden this week as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

First up this week is Eric Schwerin, who is scheduled to appear on Tuesday after being subpoenaed last year by the House Oversight Committee for a deposition. The committee obtained bank records indicating Schwerin "had access to bank accounts" that could be relevant to their probe.

Schwerin’s testimony comes after Fox News Digital first reported that Joe Biden, as vice president, used email aliases and private email addresses to communicate with Hunter Biden and his business associates hundreds of times – including with Schwerin. The communications came between 2010 to 2019, with the majority of email traffic taking place while Biden was serving as vice president.

BIDEN WAS IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH HUNTER’S BUSINESS PARTNERS USING EMAIL ALIAS AS VP

The House Ways & Means Committee, which is co-leading the impeachment inquiry alongside the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, said 54 of those emails were "exclusively" between Joe Biden and Schwerin. The House Ways & Means Committee describes Schwerin as "the architect of the Biden family’s shell companies."

Schwerin, during a March 2023 meeting with the House Oversight Committee staff, explained that "he was not aware of any transactions into or out of the then-Vice President’s bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member," a spokesperson for the Democrats on the committee told Fox News Digital. 

The White House has also cited Schwerin's statement that Biden was not involved in his family's business dealings when pushing back against Republicans' impeachment inquiry. 

HUNTER BIDEN PAID JOE BIDEN FROM ACCOUNT FOR BIZ THAT RECEIVED PAYMENTS FROM CHINA: COMER

A person familiar with Schwerin's role in handling then-Vice President Biden's finances told Fox News Digital that Schwerin worked on Biden's personal budget and helped coordinate with his tax preparers.

The individual also pointed to the frequency of Schwerin's communications with Biden and his top aides and said it was "inevitable" Rosemont Seneca business came up in conversations.

Meanwhile, the data shows direct emails between Schwerin and then-Vice President Biden increased during times when the vice president traveled to Ukraine.

The committee said the data shows Joe Biden and Schwerin exchanged five emails in June 2014 before the vice president’s trip to Ukraine that month.

After that trip and before Biden’s November 2014 trip back to Ukraine, he and Schwerin emailed 27 times.

Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in April 2014. 

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings. During the same period, Hunter Biden held a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month.

OVERSIGHT DEMS ADMIT HUNTER'S LONGTIME BUSINESS PARTNER HANDLED BIDEN’S FINANCES THROUGHOUT VP TENURE

At the time, the vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.

Biden allies maintain the vice president pushed for Shokin's firing due to concerns the Ukrainian prosecutor went easy on corruption and say his firing was the policy position of the U.S. and international community. 

Meanwhile, the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees are also expected to hear testimony from Joey Langston on Wednesday.

Langston is said to have hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden and to have donated thousands of dollars to his political campaigns.

The committee says Langston, in 2008, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to attempt to influence a judge by providing the judge with "favorable consideration" for a federal judgeship. Langston was sentenced to three years in federal prison and fined $250,000. The Mississippi state bar then disbarred him from practicing law, and in 2016, a federal judge denied his requests to have his "conviction for conspiring to bribe a judge thrown out," and to have his "record cleared." 

But the House Oversight Committee says it obtained bank records revealing that after Langston lost his appeal, his company, Langston Law Firm Consulting Inc., began making payments, totaling more than $200,000 to James and Sara Biden directly, and to their entity Lion Hall Group.

The committee says it is "interested in the nature and purpose of these payments, which totaled $187,000 while Joe Biden was serving as vice president."

EXCLUSIVE: JOE BIDEN ALLEGEDLY PAID $5M BY BURISMA EXECUTIVE AS PART OF A BRIBERY SCHEME, ACCORDING TO FBI DOCUMENT

House Republicans hope the witnesses can provide information on whether, among other things, Joe Biden, as vice president and/or president "took any official action or effected any change in government policy because of money or other things of value provided to himself or his family, including whether concerns that Chinese sources may release additional evidence about their business relationships with the Biden family have had any impact on official acts performed by President Biden or U.S. foreign policy; abused his office of public trust by providing foreign interests with access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him; or abused his office of public trust by knowingly participating in a scheme to enrich himself or his family by giving foreign interests the impression that they would receive access to him and his office in exchange for payments to his family or him."

The expected testimonies come days after Hunter Biden business associates Mervyn Yan and Rob Walker appeared for their transcribed interviews before the committees, and weeks before the first son is set to take part in a closed-door deposition.

DEVON ARCHER: HUNTER BIDEN, BURISMA EXECS ‘CALLED DC’ TO GET UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR FIRED

Hunter Biden defied his subpoena to appear for a deposition on Dec. 13, and was at risk of being held in contempt of Congress.

His attorneys and the committees came to an agreement last week that the first son will appear for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28.

House Democrats, though, have blasted the impeachment inquiry, and have said witness testimony has not supported Republicans’ claims that Biden benefited from or was involved in his son's business dealings. House Democrats are calling for the inquiry to come to an end.

Stability or chaos: The turnover rate in the Biden vs. Trump Cabinets speaks for itself

Posted on by Charles Jay

The success or failure of a presidency can often depend on the people chosen for Cabinet-level posts. President Joe Biden has just passed the three-year mark of his first term. His administration has been a model of stability and competence. This follows the four years of chaos and incompetence that marked Donald Trump’s miserable administration.

And that point is clear when you look at the turnover rate in both administrations among the 15 Cabinet members in the line of succession for the presidency as well as the nine additional Cabinet-level positions.

RELATED STORY: Republicans actually published a blueprint for dismantling our democracy. It's called Project 2025

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a visiting fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, has written detailed analyses on overall staff turnover in the Trump administration and the Biden administration. There’s Biden, who kept his promise to make his Cabinet the most diverse in U.S. history with more women and members of color, all of whom had considerable political experience. His Cabinet includes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay person to be a Cabinet-level secretary, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve in a president’s Cabinet.

And so far only one Cabinet member has resigned—Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, the former Boston mayor, who stepped down in March 2023. A longtime Boston Bruins fan, Walsh accepted an offer to become executive director of the NHL Players’ Association. Julie Su is serving as acting labor secretary because the Senate has yet to confirm her nomination.

And just two of the nine additional Cabinet-level positions have seen change. Longtime Biden aide Ron Klain stepped down as White House chief of staff at the mid-point of Biden’s term, and was immediately replaced by Jeff Zients, who effectively ran Biden’s COVID-19 response operation. He remains in the post.

The second is Cecilia Rouse, the first Black woman to serve as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, resigned in March 2023 to return to Princeton University and resume her work as a professor of economics and public affairs. She was replaced by longtime Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein.

That means that 21 of 24 of Biden’s original appointees remain in their positions heading into the fourth year of his term. National Journal White House correspondent George E. Condon Jr. wrote:

In his three years in office, the president has been determined to keep his top team mostly intact, and that team in turn has been determined to avoid the leaks, backstabbing, and controversy that have led to purges and makeovers in almost all the nine presidencies Biden has witnessed in his half century in Washington.

A National Journal review of past administrations found that one has to go back 171 years to find a more stable first-term administration.”

Condon wrote that Biden’s 87.5% retention rate in these top positions is topped in U.S. presidential history only by Franklin Pierce, elected in 1852, whose seven-member Cabinet remained intact during his four-year term. Condon added:

The contrast is particularly sharp compared with Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, whose Cabinet chaos was matched by no president in almost two centuries. By the end of his term in office, only four of Trump’s original 15 Cabinet members remained and only one of nine Cabinet-level appointees had survived. His retention rate of 20.8 percent exceeded only the president whose picture he brought to the Oval Office—Andrew Jackson, who had only one of six Cabinet members remaining at the end of his first term.

In January 2023, midway through Biden’s term. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told NBC News, “Not one single member of the Cabinet has left in disgrace, is writing a tell-all book or has bad-mouthed the president. There are no leaks, no backbiting, nothing.”

Only recently has there been a major controversy surrounding a member of Biden’s Cabinet which is under investigation: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was criticized for his failure to notify the White House, Congress, and the media about his hospitalization resulting from complications related to a procedure to treat prostate cancer.

And House Republicans have scheduled a Homeland Security Committee meeting for Jan. 30 to mark up articles of impeachment for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of border policy. Democrats have accused House Republicans of launching a “baseless political attack” instead of focusing on a bipartisan solution to the immigration crisis, Axios reported.

Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky, author of “The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution,” told National Journal:

“Trump’s Cabinet chaos reflected the broader chaos in government. It’s a reason why most people elected Biden. It was because they felt like he would bring calmness and stability back to government and back to the nation.”

She added that this stability is one of the reasons why Biden “has been able to be effective.”

“Up to now, he’s not spending political capital or time on having to get new candidates appointed or finding replacements. It frees up mental space and bandwidth and political capital to get things done,” she said.

Trump promised to bring “the best and the brightest” to his administration. He also said he would run his administration like his business. Unfortunately, as shown in a New York civil lawsuit in which Trump faces up to $370 million in penalties, there was persistent fraud in his business dealings.

And, as The New York Times noted, Trump “created a  cabinet of mostly wealthy, white men with limited experience in government, mirroring himself.”

Vox wrote in May 2017:

CEOs don’t persuade people; they dictate. And they fire those who refuse to carry out their demands. Even more importantly, a CEO of a privately held company (like the Trump organization) operates like a king over his personal fiefdom. His employees work for him; they have no higher obligation to shareholders.

And three years later, during the 2020 campaign, The Hill wrote about just how tumultuous the Trump administration had been:

Trump operates like the federal government is just a backdrop for a never-ending episode of “The Apprentice,” except that he dominates every scene. And, just like “The Apprentice,” Trump is constantly trying to make every scene more outrageous than the one before. After all, dull is death in the TV business.

Trump fired some Cabinet members he considered disloyal or incompetent by his standards. Others resigned because of differences over policy issues.

The turnover in the Trump administration began less than a month after his inauguration when national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign following claims he misled the administration over his communications with Russia’s ambassador. In December 2020, Trump pardoned Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Trump then ran through three more national security advisers—H.R. McMaster, John Bolton, and Robert O’ Brien. Bolton, who was fired over policy differences, has warned that Trump could do  “irreparable” damage to the country if elected president again.

There were four White House chiefs of staff under Trump: Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney, and Mark Meadows.    

Meadows was among the 19 people indicted with Trump in the criminal racketeering case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. 

Kelly became an outspoken critic of Trump. CNN reported that Kelly told friends this about Trump:

“The depths of his (Trump’s) dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life,” the retired Marine general has told friends, CNN has learned.

Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO, after he called the president “a moron.” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin called Trump “an idiot,” while Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the president had “the understanding of a fifth or six grader,” according to Bob Woodward’s book “Fear: Trump in the White House.” Mnuchin was one of the few Cabinet members to survive four years in the Trump administration.  

Three of Trump’s Cabinet members left after being linked to scandals involving misuse of government funds for personal purposes: Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price,  Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin. Zinke, of Montana, is now a member of the House GOP caucus.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced out in November 2018, because he recused himself and appointed a special counsel, Robert  Mueller, to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. His successor, William Barr, resigned in December 2020 after debunking Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential  election.

And then, with just weeks left in Trump’s term, two more Cabinet members—Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—were among the administration officials who resigned after the mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump has since derisively referred to Chao, the wife of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in social media posts as “Coco Chow,” which she criticized as an anti-Asian slur.

In July 2023, NBC News reached out to 44 of the dozens of people who served in Cabinet-level positions during Trump’s term, not all of whom responded. A total of four publicly said they support his reelection bid. Several were coy about where they stood. And there were some who “outright oppose his bid for the GOP nomination or are adamant that they don’t want him back in power.”

“I have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump,” former Attorney General Bill Barr told NBC News. Asked how he would vote if the general election pits Trump against President Joe Biden, a Democrat, Barr said: “I’ll jump off that bridge when I get to it.”

At the time, some former Cabinet members told NBC that they were supporting other candidates in the Republican primary. Former Vice President Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, challenged Trump for the nomination. Haley is hanging on in the primary race by a thread.

It’s not clear how many of these former Cabinet members will join the stampede within the GOP to endorse Trump now that he’s won the first two nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, especially since he’s been acting like a Mafia don in threatening Republicans who oppose him.

But on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who was fired by Trump on Nov. 9, 2020, issued this warning about the former president in an interview on CNN.

“I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it, our institutions, our political culture, all those things that make America great and have defined us as, you know, the oldest democracy on this planet,” Esper said.

RELATED STORY: Loyal, angry, and ready to break the law: How Trump plans to staff his Cabinet

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What the Cheney-Stefanik clash shows about the GOP and Jan. 6

Posted on (Updated by By Olivia Alafriz

A bitter clash over the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack erupted between two prominent Republicans on Saturday, as Liz Cheney accused Rep. Elise Stefanik of covering up her past criticism of the Jan. 6 attack and branded Stefanik a "total crackpot."

Stefanik, one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters in Congress, lashed back at Cheney and accused her of having a "mental breakdown." Taunting the former Wyoming lawmaker, Stefanik jeered in a statement that Cheney "will never hold any elected office again."

The caustic personal spat exposed how raw and angry the wounds of Jan. 6 remain within the Republican Party. Few lawmakers embody the political consequences of that day more than Cheney, who lost her role in House leadership after voting to impeach Trump, and Stefanik, who replaced Cheney in that role and gained ever greater prominence as a Trump defender.

The two were both previously seen as next-generation leaders of the Republican establishment, before diverging in their views of Trump. Cheney has recently vowed to do anything she can to stop Trump's return to the White House, while Stefanik is widely seen as campaigning to become Trump's running mate.

On Tuesday, Cheney tweeted at Stefanik and linked to her 2021 press release on the Jan. 6 attack, saying: “This is what ⁦⁦@EliseStefanik said, in a rare moment of honesty, about the January 6 attack on our Capitol. One day she will have to explain how and why she morphed into a total crackpot. History, and our children, deserve to know."

In Stefanik’s 2021 press release, she condemned the “violence and destruction” of Jan. 6 and called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.

On Saturday, Cheney posted again to point out that the statement in question was no longer available on Stefanik’s official House website.

As of Saturday morning, the website showed no press releases prior to 2023. Cheney's team insists the press releases were there at the beginning of this week. A spokesperson for Stefanik noted that her previous statements could still be found on several social media channels.

The sharp exchange Saturday previewed in part what a general election debate over Jan. 6 might look like, if Stefanik ends up on the Republican ticket and Cheney campaigns against it.

Republican pollster Christine Matthews described the unfolding fight as "the story of two women: one who put principles above ambition and the other who put ambition above principles.”

“It is also the story of the evolution of the Republican Party, which once used issues as a litmus test for who was inside and who was outside the norm. Now it uses pitch — whoever matches their pitch to Trump most closely is the person who belongs inside the party,” Matthews continued, pointing to Stefanik’s shift to the party's hard right flank over time, both in style and substance.

Cheney formerly was vice chair of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack — which Stefanik has described as ”illegitimate and unconstitutional.” Her work on the committee drew and vote for his impeachment drew Trump's ire and she lost in the primary for her Wyoming House seat in 2022.

Stefanik has frequently downplayed the significance of the attack on the Capitol and cast doubt on the legitimacy of legal action against the attack’s participants.

On Jan. 7 of this year, Stefanik referred to those imprisoned for offenses related to Jan. 6 as “hostages” in an appearance on “Meet The Press.”

“I have concerns about the treatment of the January 6 hostages,“ she added.

Cheney called her out for it later that morning on “Face the Nation.”

"You don't have to take my word for the fact that you can't count on these elected Republicans to defend the Constitution. ... They demonstrate it themselves," she said.

Since that exchange, Stefanik has urged GOP candidates to drop out of the race following Trump's victory in Iowa and joined the former president on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, further burnishing her credentials as a potential vice president pick.

She told reporters in New Hampshire she'd be "honored" to serve in the Trump administration, adding that Trump is going to "restore the rule of law" and "restore respect for the Constitution in this nation."

Stefanik’s views on Jan. 6 are widely shared by the Republican base — which has become more accepting of the attack on the Capitol over time — but the riot and its aftermath remains a thorny issue for the Trump campaign in the general election, even as they look to wrap up the Republican primary.

David Cohen contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct an editing error regarding Cheney's home state.
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Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker says Joe Biden was ‘never involved’ in business dealings

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker told congressional investigators on Friday that President Biden was "never involved in any of" his son’s business activities.

Walker testified for hours before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees after being subpoenaed to do so last year. 

Walker arrived at 10 a.m. ET. When he left just before 6 p.m., he told reporters: "I answered questions to the best of my ability." 

HUNTER BIDEN BIZ ASSOCIATE ROB WALKER TO TESTIFY ON BEING ALLEGED 'VEHICLE' FOR BIDEN FAMILY'S FOREIGN FUNDS

Fox News Digital obtained a copy of Walker’s opening statement, in which he testified under oath that the allegations against the president and the first son are "unfounded," but welcomed the opportunity to "provide context to some of the events that are frequently the public focus of the members of these committees."

Walker said he and Hunter "became friends" during the Clinton administration in 1999 and began working together around 2008 by "developing business with, and consulting for, various individuals, businesses, and NGO’s (non-governmental organizations)."

Walker said Hunter "is an intelligent, caring, and generous person, and his demeanor and strong interpersonal skills made him a valued and effective business partner."

He also said Hunter "lost his way" when his brother, Beau Biden, "became seriously ill" and later passed away.

"I’m glad he’s recovering and hope he and his family are doing well," Walker said.

He went on to detail his business with Hunter, saying the opportunities they pursued together were "varied, varied, well-founded, and well within the bounds of legitimate business activities."

"To be clear, President Biden — while in office or as a private citizen — was never involved in any of the business activities we pursued. Any statement to the contrary is simply false," Walker testified. "Hunter made sure there was always a clear boundary between any business and his father. Always."

He added: "And as his partner, I always understood and respected that boundary." 

Walker said that he is "very concerned" that his testimony "may be taken out of context to further a political objective, rather than to discover the truth."

6 ADDITIONAL BIDEN FAMILY MEMBERS 'MAY HAVE BENEFITED' FROM HUNTER BUSINESS DEALINGS

"I therefore respectfully ask that any public statements about this interview be accompanied by the release of the entire transcript of what I say here today, so that members of the public can form their own conclusions about what did and did not happen during my business relationship with Hunter," he said.

Walker's testimony came as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. 

Hours into his transcribed interview, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters that Walker testified that "a couple of weeks after Joe Biden leaves the vice presidency, Hunter Biden and his team, these guys, do business with, enter a contract with, this affiliate of CEFC, the Chinese energy company." 

Jordan said "a few days later there's a lunch at the Four Seasons" that CEFC executives, Hunter, James Gilliar and Walker attended. Jordan said, "Joe Biden stops and gives a presentation." Jordan said days later, $3 million was sent to Walker from the Chinese company. 

"I think that's just the timing, just a sequence," Jordan said. 

In notifying his attorney of his subpoena in November, Jordan and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., explained that Walker set up his limited liability company, Robinson Walker LLC. The chairmen said it was "used as a vehicle to receive foreign funds and send a percentage of the money to Biden family members."

One example Comer and Jordan provided is when Joe Biden served as vice president, Robinson Walker LLC received millions of dollars from a company owned by Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian who was then the subject of a high-profile corruption prosecution in his home country.

BIDEN FAMILY RECEIVED MORE THAN $1M FROM HUNTER ASSOCIATE AFTER 2017 CHINA WIRE: HOUSE OVERSIGHT

"Following the receipt of this money, Robinson Walker sent over one million dollars to Biden family accounts, including those of Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden," Comer and Jordan wrote.

But Comer and Jordan flagged that those payments from Romania to Robinson Walker LLC started "within approximately five weeks of then-Vice President Biden meeting with the President of Romania, where, according to the official readout, the issue of corruption was discussed."

When asked what Hunter did for Popoviciu, Walker told the committee that Hunter flew to Romania to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm, who had just been confirmed.

HOUSE OVERSIGHT SUBPOENAS HUNTER BIDEN, JAMES BIDEN, ROB WALKER FOR TESTIMONY AMID IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Comer and Jordan also note that Robinson Walker LLC received the payment of $3 million from State Energy HK Limited, a Chinese company, in February 2017, less than two months after Biden left the Obama administration. Comer and Jordan said that in the three months following that payment, Robinson Walker LLC made "incremental payments totaling over one million dollars to Biden family members and their companies, including Hallie Biden and entities associated with Hunter Biden and James Biden."

According to an FBI FD-302 form detailing Walker's 2021 interview with Special Counsel David Weiss' team and obtained by the House Ways and Means Committee, Walker said the "$3 million amount was more of a ‘thank you’ from CEFC." 

Comer and Jordan, in subpoenaing Walker, said he may be able to provide evidence relevant to the impeachment inquiry, saying that Walker "played a key role in the Biden family’s business dealings and the chain of complex financial transactions that was used to hide the foreign sources of the funds received by the Biden family."

After receiving money from the CEFC entity in March 2017, Walker testified Hunter told him to send payments to his uncle, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, even though they did not do work for the CEFC entity. Further, James Biden wanted a piece of the CEFC entity money despite not being involved in the deal. Walker called Hunter to approve the money transfer to James Biden.