Special counsel Robert Hur will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12 about his investigation into President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, a person familiar told POLITICO.
The public hearing comes after the Justice Department released Hur's report earlier this month that concluded that criminal charges against Biden wouldn’t be warranted — even if the Justice Department lacked an internal policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Hur’s investigation found evidence that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency” but that it didn’t “establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The charging decision might be less interesting to House Republicans, however, than another part of the report. Hur described that Biden would be perceived in any court proceedings as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Republicans have made Biden’s mishandling of classified documents part of their sweeping impeachment inquiry into the president, which has largely focused on the business dealings of his family members.
In addition to public testimony from Hur, Republicans sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden, as well as classified documents referenced in the report.
Special Counsel Robert Hur is expected to testify in a public hearing before the House Judiciary Committee next month, Fox News Digital has learned.
A source with direct knowledge told Fox News Digital Hur will testify on March 12 in a public hearing on his findings following months of investigating President Biden's improper handling of classified records.
Hur, who released his report to the public last week after months of investigating, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.
Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
Hur did not recommend any charges against the president but did describe him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory" — a description that has raised significant concerns for Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.
Biden has blasted Hur since the release of his report last week, saying his "memory is fine" and that he is the "most qualified person in this country to be president."
During his address, Biden also fired back at Hur for suggesting he did not remember when his son Beau died.
"How dare he raise that?" Biden said last week. "Frankly, when I was asked a question, I thought to myself, what's that any of your damn business?"
"Let me tell you something... I swear, since the day he died, every single day...I wear the rosary he got from Our Lady—" Biden stopped, seemingly forgetting where the rosary was from.
In his report, Hur wrote: "He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died."
But two well-placed sources familiar with the investigation said it was Biden who brought up Beau's death in the interview — not the special counsel.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., are demanding the Justice Department turn over the transcript and any recordings of Biden’s interview.
The three committee leaders are leading the impeachment inquiry against Biden.
Comer had asked Hur if any of the classified records that Biden held were related to the countries with which his family allegedly conducted business.
Comer told Fox News Digital last week that he wants "unfettered access to these documents to determine if President Biden’s retention of sensitive materials were used to help the Bidens’ influence peddling."
Jordan, Comer and Smith are concerned that "Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings."
An attorney for Hunter Biden’s ex-business associate Tony Bobulinski accused House Democrats of "abusive conduct and disingenuous mischaracterizations" of his testimony on the Biden family's business dealings.
In a letter to Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member and lead Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Bobulinski's counsel Stefan Passantino asserted that Democrats were attempting to assassinate his client's character.
"We are watching the death throes of a political narrative that will be shattered upon the imminent public release of Mr. Bobulinski’s testimony before the House Committees on Oversight and Judiciary yesterday," Passantino wrote.
"The facts are before Congress and will soon be before the American people. Minority assassination of Mr. Bobulinski’s character and grotesque mischaracterizations of his words will only serve to highlight the gaslighting and vilification Mr. Bobulinski has endured since he reluctantly came forward almost four years ago to share with the public the facts of his business experience with the Biden family," the letter continues.
"As the public will see soon enough, Mr. Bobulinski has the facts and the receipts, and no amount of character assassination will change that."
Bobulinski testified behind closed doors for more than eight hours on Tuesday as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden. He is one of the Republicans' star witnesses, having worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC.
Behind closed doors, sources said Bobulinski told the House Overisght and Judiciary Committees that he had "personally met" with Joe Biden in May 2017 in Los Angeles on the sidelines of the Milken Conference for somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour.
Fox News Digital first reported on that meetings between Bobulinski and Biden in October 2020.
Joe Biden, on May 3, 2017, spoke at the conference, hosting "A Conversation with the 47th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden."
Just days after the May 2, 2017, meeting came the now-infamous May 13, 2017, email, which included a discussion of "remuneration packages" for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as "Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC," in a reference to the now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.
The email includes a note that "Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate." A proposed equity split references "20" for "H" and "10 held by H for the big guy?" with no further details.
Bobulinski testified Tuesday that Joe Biden is "the big guy," a claim he has made since 2020. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who claimed that politics had influenced the yearslong federal investigation into Hunter Biden, have also said "the big guy" was known to be Joe Biden.
Bobulinski claims that Joe Biden was "the Brand" sold by Hunter Biden and other family members as part of a "foreign influence peddling operation."
President Biden has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son Hunter's business dealings. House Democrats have rallied behind the president, with Raskin claiming that Bobulinski "offers absolutely no testimony that indicates any criminal activity by President Biden . . . or evidence that President Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's businesses."
In the letter, Passantino said Raskin's statement is "categorically false" and pushed back against other claims made by House Democrats, insisting that a soon-to-be-released transcript of Bobulinksi's testimony will prove them wrong.
"Equally concerning are the false allegations impugning Mr. Bobulinski’s character and statements about law enforcement. Unlike those making these accusations, Mr. Bobulinski has a proud and exemplary history of serving this country in the military and his patriotism cannot be questioned," Passantino wrote.
"As the transcript will show, Mr. Bobulinski did NOT accuse the FBI of lying about his voluntary statements before them in October 2020. The transcript will show that when Mr. Bobulinski was asked by the Minority about second-hand accounts of his words rather than asking him direct questions, Mr. Bobulinski simply corrected errors in the FBI’s internal 302 report about his statements.
"As Mr. Bobulinski testified yesterday, these errors could have been corrected years ago if Mr. Bobulinski had been shown the FBI’s internal summary or if ANY government agency had reached out to us at the time," the letter states.
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for House Oversight Democrats pointed to several statements from committee members questioning Bobulinski's credibility as a witness. Democrats have urged the committee to release the transcript of his testimony after Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., accused them of "witness intimidation."
"Let’s read between the lines here: we asked questions on the very real credibility issues with your witness," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, posted on X. "If his claims can’t stand up to the most basic scrutiny, that’s on you."
"Hey Chairman Comer. You invited a sham witness and we asked basic questions — his lack of credibility is on you! Why not release the transcript?" posted Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif.
President BIden's brother, Jim Biden, will be the next witness to testify to the committee as part of the impeachment inquiry on February 21. Hunter Biden is expected to appear for his deposition on February 28.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson might have wanted to take a victory lap after finally getting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas impeached on Tuesday. Instead, the House descended into chaos again on Wednesday, and Johnson decided to call it quits on the week. Key votes scheduled for Thursday and Friday were canceled, and the House left midday Thursday for almost two weeks. It’s so bad that Republicans, including some in leadership, are running to the Capitol Hill press to complain about him and openly questioning his competence.
Wednesday hadn’t even ended before the headlines like “Republicans admit it. Kevin McCarthy has never looked so good” started appearing. It started off badly the night before, when Democrats flipped the seat of expelled New York Republican George Santos, further chipping away at the GOP’s already tiny House majority. A series of leadership missteps and acts of defiance against Johnson followed.
Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee—the committee chair responsible for the Mayorkas impeachment—announced on Wednesday that he was retiring at the end of his term because, as he told Axios, “This place is so broken.” He’s the fifth powerful committee chair to call it quits.
Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who heads up the Intelligence Committee, went rogue on Wednesday, issuing an alarmist and vague warning about "a serious national security threat," and forcing Johnson to assure reporters that "there is no need for public alarm."
Johnson suffered another embarrassing failure on the floor on Wednesday as well, when the usual crowd of Freedom Caucus maniacs tanked another procedural vote. This is the sixth time in this Republican majority that a rule vote was defeated. This used to be rare—the last time it happened was more than 20 years ago.
All of this has Republicans, including some in leadership, anonymously telling reporters that they’re running out of patience with him. And some are going on the record.
“Watching Speaker Johnson, who I have great respect for, grow up has been really fascinating. I just hope he has the time to finish growing up,” Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma told Punchbowl News. One senior Republican said that Johnson’s leadership “feels like chaos. Rudderless.”
“I’m as confused as ever about what he wants,” a House Republican insider told Politico. “He hasn’t given us any direction. … I think right now he’s in survival mode.” Another senior GOP member said, “[Former Speaker] Kevin [McCarthy] would have a strategy, he’d shop it around, then he’d make a play call… The more I’m around Johnson, the more it’s clear to me he doesn’t have a plan.” And yet another aide told Politico, “Not sure what the speaker wants to do on that—as with most things, he’s all over the place.”
“We’re in a bad spot, and that’s the understatement of the century.” That’s a leadership source talking to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman.
So Johnson’s House is packing up and leaving midday Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled, for a nearly two-week Presidents’ Day break. They’ll return on Feb. 28, just two days before the first government shutdown deadline, on March 1. Wheeeee!
Ohhhhh yeah! Democrats kicked ass and then some in Tuesday's special election in New York, so of course we're talking all about it on this week's episode of "The Downballot." Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explain how Tom Suozzi's win affects the math for Democrats' plan to take back the House, then dive into the seemingly bottomless list of excuses Republicans have been making to handwave their defeat away. The bottom line: Suozzi effectively neutralized attacks on immigration—and abortion is still a huge loser for the GOP.
But new polling on inflation suggests Democrats have an opening to reframe the issue as a discussion about corporate greed—an issue Democrats can turn to their advantage.
In a newly released survey, the progressive consortium Navigator Research found that 85% of voters now view corporate greed as a cause of inflation, with 59% calling it a "major" factor—a 15-percentage-point increase since January 2022.
"The fact that so many Americans now say that corporate greed is a root cause of inflation is an important turning point," Maryann Cousens, polling and analytics associate for Navigator Research, told Daily Kos.
The feeling among Americans has become so pervasive that Dictionary.com just added the term "greedflation" to its entries, describing it as a rise in prices "caused by corporate executives or boards of directors, property owners, etc., solely to increase profits that are already healthy or excessive."
It's not that voter concerns about inflation are new; it's that voters’ sense that corporations are profiting at the expense of average Americans by spiking prices is at an all-time high in Navigator's polling.
In fact, voters’ belief that corporate greed is a "major" driver of inflation has jumped 17 points in the past two years among both independents (from 45% to 62%) and Democrats (55% to 72%).
Cousens told Daily Kos that voters are also clamoring for Congress to take action on the issue. Navigator's 2022 midterm survey showed that Congress addressing inflation was "the top priority for midterm voters by a large margin," according to Cousens.
And while Republicans sought to tag government spending as the biggest cause of inflation in the midterm, some Democrats successfully pointed to corporate greed as the main culprit for soaring prices.
One of them was Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, who narrowly won her hard-fought 2022 reelection bid in the swing state, where gas prices had spiked to $5.67 per gallon amid the campaign.
According to reporting from The Nevada Independent, Cortez Masto staffers said she frequently mentioned pocketbook issues, like the prices of prescription drugs, housing, and gasoline.
“[She would] say, ‘yeah, I don't like the gas prices either,’ instead of just trying to sweep it under the rug,” Frank Hawk, president of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, told the Independent's Gabby Birenbaum. “And then [she] really pointed out what's a little more true, [which] is that you have oil companies and pharmaceutical companies and Big Corporate America making record profits on a daily basis, and we as the middle class are struggling to fill our gas tanks. And that should make us angry. And I think her passion came through, along with her sincerity.”
In other words, there's precedent for Democratic lawmakers to successfully empathize with voters and highlight their work to ease the cost of living. For example, President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which cleared Congress on a party-line vote, has forced a $35 monthly cap on insulin for Medicare beneficiaries. And that price is quickly becoming available to a much wider swath of Americans as drug companies cap their own price or offer savings programs.
Last month, Navigator released polling of likely general election voters in 61 battleground districts, showing that congressional Republicans still hold a 10-point trust advantage on the issue of "fighting inflation." However, once Navigator actually named the lawmakers, Democratic legislators in those districts edged out Republican lawmakers. Forty-five percent of voters said they trust their Democratic representative "a lot" or "some" to fight inflation, while 42% said the same of their GOP representative.
Navigator's most recent poll found the most persuasive messages on price increases focus on corporate profits and CEO salaries being “at an all-time high, outpacing inflation” while corporations are “raising prices for families and small businesses.” It's a message the White House and Democrats should be pushing proactively, particularly given the fact that the economy is overall on much stronger footing than it was during the 2022 midterms.
The country’s economic upswing, coupled with Americans increasing belief in greedflation, suggests voters are ripe for an argument that the high price of consumer goods is a product of corporate greed, not economic missteps. And Democrats have a plan for that.
Republicans demanded border security, worked on a compromise deal with Democrats, and now want to blow the whole thing up. Biden is promising to remind Americans every day that the Republican Party is at fault for the lack of solutions to the problems they claim are most important.
Two U.S. House members from Florida missed the vote Tuesday that secured Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' impeachment due to massive flight delays.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said he would vote to impeach Mayorkas, while Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., fully expected to vote against impeaching the Biden Cabinet official, yet both members of Congress failed to get back to Washington, D.C., in time due to massive delays at Palm Beach International Airport.
Mast shared a video to X from the airport "on about hour nine of waiting for a flight with a broken circuit board."
"Hoping to get off the ground soon, but they did just call votes in the House of Representatives as they normally do at this time, and it looks like I’m going to miss the vote to impeach Mayorkas," he said. "I was there for the first one – absolutely voted to do that – but it looks like I’m going to miss this one."
"There’s a couple other Palm Beach reps here as well. Lois Frankel is here in the airport sitting back there behind me," Mast said, showing the seating area next to the flight gate. "A few other representatives from this area that are going to miss it as well. But that is how I would be definitely doing that had I been there – there went Lois walking behind me."
In the post itself, Mast wrote, "Not only is Secretary Mayorkas horrible at his job, he is willfully refusing to do it. Thankfully, despite mechanical failures on my flight, we still had enough votes to impeach him tonight. He has abandoned the trust of the American people, and he deserves to be impeached."
Frankel also confirmed the flight delay in a statement of her own.
"Unfortunately, my flight from Palm Beach to Washington was severely delayed today. I waited at the airport for eight hours, which caused me, along with a Republican colleague on the same flight, to miss the vote. Had I been present, I would have voted no, as I did last week," Frankel said. "House Republicans’ vote to impeach Secretary Mayorkas despite having no evidence of wrongdoing was a shameful political stunt that does nothing to fix our broken immigration system."
The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis – by just one vote.
The 214-213 vote historically made Mayorkas the first ever sitting U.S. Cabinet official to be impeached. It was nearly 150 years ago that President Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of war, William Belknap, resigned before the House approved articles of impeachment against him over a kickback scheme in government contracts. The Senate acquitted Belknap that same year, 1876.
The charges against Mayorkas next go to the Senate for a trial, but neither Democratic nor even some Republican senators have shown interest in the matter, and it may be indefinitely shelved to a committee, according to The Associated Press. The Senate is expected to receive the articles of impeachment from the House after returning to session Feb. 26.
It was House Republicans' second attempt to impeach Mayorkas after a vote failed last week.
Three House Republicans who broke ranks last week over the Mayorkas impeachment – Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California – all did so again Tuesday. With a 219-212 majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had few votes to spare. His margin got even smaller later Tuesday night when New York Democrat Thomas Suozzi won a special election to the seat once held by Republican George Santos before his expulsion from Congress.
In a dramatic development the first time around, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, left the hospital bed where he was recovering from surgery to cast his "no" vote against Mayorkas' impeachment.
Joining the three Republican defectors, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, switched his vote to "no" at the last minute – a procedural move to be able to bring the resolution back to the floor.
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. JD Vance's office will send a letter to GOP lawmakers Thursday doubling down on the claim that the Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan foreign aid package contains an "impeachment time bomb" that would tie the hands of the next administration.
Vance's memo comes a day after former Vice President Mike Pence's policy think tank, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), sent a memo to senators dismissing Vance's claims.
The national security supplemental text assures the delivery of $1.6 billion to finance Ukraine's military as well as just under $14 billion for Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through Sept. 30, 2025 – the same aid mechanism that Trump temporarily paused while pushing for an investigation into Biden family foreign business dealings.
AAF claimed Wednesday that it's the president’s duty to faithfully execute the law as "written into the Constitution" — known as the Take Care clause — rejecting the argument made by the Nixon administration that the clause "empowered the President to ignore federal statutes."
Vance's office said AAF was actually supporting their point that the Ukraine supplemental would tie Trump's hands if he returns to the White House.
"Therefore, they advance the claim that a future president would have a constitutional responsibility to 'faithfully execute the law' that requires him to fund Ukraine well into his second term or face a (fake) claim of a constitutional/legal violation," Vance's office wrote in the new memo. "That is exactly the claim advanced by the Ukraine Supplemental Impeachment Time Bomb."
"Administration officials have been transparent about efforts to tie the hands of a future presidential administration, with one revealing to the Washington Post that this supplemental bill is a key component of their plan to ‘future-proof aid for Ukraine against the possibility that former president Donald Trump wins his reelection bid,’" the memo continued. "Former senior administration officials, including a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, have validated that this supplemental bill may function as a "secret set of handcuffs" and that opponents of a future president’s Ukraine policy 'will use this to try and tie his hands in the initial weeks of his presidency.'"
Meanwhile, AAF noted in their memo if the president wants to cut off federal aid to Ukraine, he must get approval from Congress in a 45-day timeframe, "otherwise he must dutifully execute the law as written."
Vance's office said that rebuttal actually "reinforces" their position "that this supplemental would tie a future president’s hands on spending in Ukraine or he would risk impeachment from Democrats on the same absurd grounds as President Trump’s first impeachment."
The Trump administration, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), withheld a total of about $400 million in security assistance from Ukraine in 2019. This came just before Trump asked Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy to investigate the family of his 2020 rival, Joe Biden, and while the White House allegedly was withholding an Oval Office visit from Zelenskyy in exchange for an investigation.
These actions are what fueled the impeachment effort against Trump, in which he was ultimately acquitted.
Vance's memo argues previous Ukraine supplemental bills lacked sunset dates extending into future administrations. The Biden administration requested specific sunset dates in the current bill to extend aid into the next presidential term, which was granted despite most Senate Republicans voting against it.
Several other Republican allies of Trump agreed with Vance this week.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said the provision in the bill "is gonna force him to send money and spend money for Ukraine."
"This is in the bill," Tuberville told Fox News Digital. "So, it's just another situation where the Democrats are doing something and working towards making sure that money's spent in a certain area where American taxpayers and this country don't have."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, also agreed with Vance and claimed that Democrats are "setting up" for a possible Trump presidential win.
"It was immigration that taught us it does not matter where you came from, or who your parents were. What counts is who you are."
—Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
"I have said this before, and I will say it again: the vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy."
—Congressman John Lewis
“If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
—Charles Darwin
Continued...
Birthdays Cont’d...
"To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best."
—Bill Russell
"I don't have a short temper, I just have a quick reaction to bullshit." —Elizabeth Taylor
"The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but can not do at all, or can not so well do, for themselves, in their separate, and individual capacities."
—President Lincoln
"The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
—Frederick Douglass
"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart."
—Erma Bombeck
"Guys, is this inauguration speech running too long? No? You sure? We're cool? Great. As I was saying…"
—President William Henry Harrison
And the classic:
“You don’t need no gun control. You know what you need? We need some bullet control. That’s right—I think all bullets should cost five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars per bullet. You know why? Cuz if a bullet costs five thousand dollars, there would be no more innocent bystanders.”
—Chris Rock
If you’re marking another year around the sun this month, Happy Birthday and many blessings on your camels—especially you lovable leap year babies. And now, our feature presentation...
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Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, February 15, 2024
Note: Today’s note is in a minor key today. I'm feeling villainous.
Annual inflation rate in December and January, respectively: 3.4%, 3.1%
Estimated portion of Americans over 75 who still work, up from 1-in-20 in 2012: 1-in-12
Number of Super Bowl LVIII viewers last Sunday, the largest TV audience since the moon landing: 123.4 million
Current score at Rotten Tomatoes for the new Marvel Universe movie Madame Web: 17%
Average number of times the human eye blinks in a year: 4,200,000
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them.
I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this [Iraq] war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."
Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can.
CHEERS to the usual drill. The special election in New York’s 3rd congressional district, where Tom Suozzi romped to a landslide win over all the Republicans’ hopes and dreams, is behind us. And that means it's time for the media to trot out…The Takeaways!!! Let's Google and see how many they came up with this time:
The New York Times: 5 takeaways
NPR: 5 takeaways
The Cook Political Report: 4 takeaways
The Hill: 5 takeaways
The Washington Post: 3 takeaways
ABC News: 4 takeaways
NBC News: 5 takeaways
Politico: 6 takeaways
CNN: 5 takeaways
And so on and so forth. But one takeaway lords over all others: Dems rule, MAGAs drool.
JEERS to a master class in Wasting Everybody's Time 101. Having nothing better to do, the MAGA-brained leaders in the House set up a do-over vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on charges of [TBA] and succeeded by one measly vote. And now, according to the rules…
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said in a statement, “The House impeachment managers will present the articles of impeachment to the Senate following the state work period [Feb. 26]. Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray will preside.”
Way to go, Republicans. That'll really fill the potholes.
JEERS to incivility. On this date in 1798, the House of Representatives was the site of the first congressional brawl, when much knocking of noggins occurred after a hurling of insults followed by Rep. Matthew Lyon (Democratic-Republican-VT) spitting in the face of Roger Griswold (Federalist-CT). Among the weapons that were wielded: fireplace tongs. Based on his expression, the guy recording the minutes just got tonged in the crotch...
And if you look toward the lower left corner, you’ll see a dog is present in the chamber. That would be Thaddeus T. Woofington from the great state of New York. He only lasted one term. Once he got tax cuts for the Wilson company passed, he spent the rest of his life working a cushy job at a pro-tennis-ball think tank. Crafty canine.
CHEERS to unleashing the romantic within. My credit card isn't happy with me this morning, because yesterday I went all-out for my sweetie Michael—doing fine after his emergency appendectomy last week—on Valentine's Day. First I gave him the latest miracle weight loss plan. Then I got him a box of Hair Club for Men and lifts for his shoes. Then a cordless nose-hair trimmer. And finally, new vacuum cleaner bags and a lifetime supply of Windex. I know you're jonesin' to know how much he loved them. I'm jonesin' to tell ya! And I'll be sure to let you know just as soon as he lets me out of this crawlspace. (Y'know, with a little ketchup these cockroaches wouldn't taste half bad...)
CHEERS to a life well lived. Three indispensable bills were introduced in 1964: me, a new civil rights act, and the inventor of Pop-Tarts. Sadly, this morning we note that one of them has suffered an irrevocable setback. Bill Post, the inventor of Pop-Tarts, has gone to the great toaster in the sky at 96:
By the age of 21, Post was the personnel manager of [Kellogg's] and worked in all aspects of the business, including sales and production. That’s when Kellogg’s executives approached him.
The height of human civilization.
The executives had an idea for something "like a piece of pie, the shape of a slice of bread, fork marks around the edge, two pieces of dough with some filling in" to put in a toaster. Post took the idea and turned it into a real product. […]
The Pop-Tarts debuted to the public in 1964 with four original flavors: strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar cinnamon and apple-currant. The toaster pastry remains a favorite among customers 60 years later, with around three billion sold in 2022.
If you plan on going to his funeral, get to the church early. It's expected to be jam-packed.
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Ten years ago in C&J: February 15, 2014
JEERS to today's least-surprising opening sentence in an environmental news story:
The natural gas system in the United States is leaking far more methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the air than official estimates say, according to research released Thursday.
The natural gas industry says it will make all the leaks go away by using a method they like to call disappearing all the research released Thursday.
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And just one more…
JEERS to socialism. Makes me so mad! The government takes our hard-earned money and then turns around and "distributes" its services to everyone equally. Like, for example, how they build public streets and then "distribute" their use to the vehicles of all the unsuspecting drivers. Even worse, look at how they send out large trucks with attached blades to distribute “snowplowing services” to those streets. My god, where will it stop? Next thing you know, they'll be offering the public the right to distribute "names" to those plows, and ohhhhhh I wish I were joking…
Heckuva job, Minnesota. Or should we now start calling you…..Mini Moscow?
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
"A wide variety of health benefits have been observed from regular Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool use."
House Homeland Security Chair, Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., announced Wednesday he will not run for re-election, citing Alejandro Mayorkas' impeachment as a reason to retire from Congress and return to his home district after serving three terms in Washington, D.C.
"At the start of the 118th Congress, I promised my constituents to pass legislation to secure our borders and to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable. Today, with the House having passed H.R. 2 and Secretary Mayorkas impeached, it is time for me to return home," Green said in a statement. "In the last few months, in reading the writings of our Framers, I was reminded of their intent for representatives to be citizen-legislators, to serve for a season and then return home. Our country – and our Congress – is broken beyond most means of repair. I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington."
"As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country – but in a new capacity," Green continued Wednesday, not disclosing if he will run again for governor in 2026, where the seat will up for grabs because Republican Gov. Bill Lee is prohibited from running under Tennessee’s gubernatorial term limits.
"I am grateful to my wife, Camie, and my family, for standing beside me and for their service to our nation," he continued, announcing his retirement.
"During my time in the Army, they sacrificed dad and husband to multiple deployments – and as I have served here in Congress, they have supported me as I’ve been away most weeks," he said. "I also want to thank the constituents of Tennessee’s 7th District for the unbelievable honor to serve them in Congress – whose vote of confidence was not only evident in the wide margins in each election, but also without ever having a single primary opponent in my three elections. And finally, I want to thank my staff, whose unmatched hard work, dedication, and talent have resulted in our many victories and one of the lowest turnover rates in Congress."
Green is the fifth Republican committee chair to forgo re-election. The others are House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, R-Texas, Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., and House Select Committee on China Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.
Gallagher was one of just three Republican House members to vote against the impeachment of Mayorkas, joining with all House Democrats and preventing an initial measure from going forward. After that bid failed, a second attempt succeeded Tuesday, making Mayorkas the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876.
As chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Green spearheaded a months-long investigation of Mayorkas, his policies and his management of the department, ultimately concluding Tuesday that his conduct in office amounted to "high crimes and misdemeanors" worthy of impeachment.
At the beginning of the 118th Congress, Green was selected as Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, becoming the only member of Congress to be selected at the start of his or her third term to chair a major legislative committee this century, his office said.
Green previously served as an Army surgeon and in the state Senate and is from Montgomery County.
Green flirted with running for governor in 2017, but suspended his campaign after he was nominated by former President Trump to become the Army secretary. He later withdrew his nomination amid criticism over his remarks about Muslims and LGBTQ+ Americans, including saying that being transgender is a disease, according to the Associated Press. He also urged that a stand be taken against "the indoctrination of Islam" in public schools and referred to a "Muslim horde" that invaded Constantinople hundreds of years ago.
After winning his congressional seat in 2018, Green once again made headlines after hosting a town hall where he stated that vaccines cause autism. He later walked back his comments.
Last April, the Trump campaign announced Green would be a part of the Trump 2024 Tennessee Federal Leadership team.
In 2022, Green's middle Tennessee congressional seat was among seats that Republicans drastically carved up during redistricting. The 7th Congressional District was redrawn to include a significant portion of Nashville. The congressional map is now facing a federal lawsuit, but that case is not scheduled to go to trial until April 2025.
The GOP primary to replace Green is on Aug. 1, and candidates have primary ballot acces until the April 4 deadline, according to the Federal Elections Commission. So far on the Republican side, Caleb Stack has pulled petitions to run for the congressional district Green will vacate at the end of his term.
In a brazen attempt at a political comeback, former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, who stepped down about five years ago amid now-dismissed criminal charges linked to her using taxpayer dollars to carry on an extramarital affair with her city-employed bodyguard, announced in December that she would run for Green's U.S. House seat as a Democrat.
"I expect candidates who agree with Mark Green or are even more extreme will announce campaigns, and I look forward to taking on whoever makes it through that primary," Barry said in a statement.
Tom Suozzi beat Republican Mazi Pilip in Tuesday’s special election on Long Island, unleashing a tidal wave of punditry about his winning formula–openly tackling such issues as illegal migration and crime rather than avoiding them.
I always caution against drawing sweeping conclusions in one-off local races, and this election in a snowstorm is no exception.
The underlying factor was Santos, the outlandish, lying, fabricating lawmaker who won the seat with a made-up resume, was expelled by the House and is under indictment. Voters felt hosed by the Republican publicity hound, and maybe the Dems were more motivated to vote.
Sure, Suozzi deserves credit for seizing on illegal migration and crime rather than avoiding such explosive issues – and doggedly distancing himself from President Biden. But he also has to run again in the fall.
Trump, for his part, blamed Pilip, "running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America…I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, ‘I WANT TO BE LOVED!’"
A subtle Valentine’s Day message?
The move against Mayorkas, the first against a Cabinet officer in 150 years, is about the politics of symbolism. Republicans know full well the Democratic-controlled Senate is not going to convict him. This was about keeping the spotlight on one of the GOP’s best issues.
But if the press saddled Johnson with a humiliating defeat last week, it has to credit him with a big win now.
Both episodes shed light on the fractious politics of the Hill. Just when it looked like the Senate might pass a bipartisan border security bill–which included military aid to Ukraine and Israel–Donald Trump ripped it and the package was dead.
Now the Senate appears ready to pass a stand-alone military aid bill by a filibuster-proof majority. But Johnson says he won’t bring it up for a House floor vote.
That would bury it, unless a handful of Republicans join with Democrats to force a vote through a discharge petition.
Think about it: the United States, unable to help two major allies because of election-year politics, especially Ukraine, which remains under siege by Vladimir Putin.
And that’s why Biden took the rare step of delivering a televised speech on Tuesday.
His predecessor gave him an opening by saying he wouldn’t protect any NATO member who didn’t pay its fair share in military costs. And if that were the case, Putin and Russia could "do whatever the hell they want."
Biden, in his speech, accused Trump of siding with the Russian dictator, calling the comments "dumb," "shameful," "dangerous" and "un-American."
Put aside whether Biden is right or Trump is trying to pressure delinquent allies. Joe Biden passed up a softball Super Bowl interview. So why is he getting in front of the cameras now?
One, he’s trying to get push Congress to pass the military aid bill.
Two, he’s trying to change the subject from his own questionable memory in that wake of that stinging special counsel’s report.
Three, he is finally heeding the advice of those who say he needs to do more television to prove his competence and dim the focus on every gaffe or misstatement.
What’s fascinating is the spin of each party when it comes to backing their candidate.
Democrats are hitting the airwaves saying Biden is sharp and laser-focused in private, and counsel Robert Hur has no business airing his personal criticism of the president’s mental acuity.
