Harris fires back at DeSantis offer to talk Florida’s Black history curriculum

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Vice President Harris on Tuesday fired back after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered to discuss his state's African American history standards following Florida's approval of controversial new rules for teaching the subject.

"Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates, and now they attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically motivated roundtable," Harris said in remarks at the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention.

"Well, I'm here in Florida and I will tell you, there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery," she added.

The vice president's appearance at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando comes amid contention with DeSantis after Florida’s Board of Education passed the new standards, which Harris said in a separate trip to Florida last month was the state “pushing propaganda” onto children.

DeSantis, who is running for the GOP nomination for president, invited Harris in a Monday letter to Tallahassee to discuss the new standards.

“In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues,” DeSantis wrote in the letter to Harris. “And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice. So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards.” 

The Florida governor had dismissed the vice president's criticisms of the standards and accused her of crafting a “fake narrative" about the curriculum.

One new standard that has come under scrutiny directs teachers to include instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Harris has said it's "ridiculous" to have to say "that enslaved people do not benefit from slavery."

"As I said last week, when I was again here in Florida, we will not stop calling out and fighting back against extremist so-called leaders who try to prevent our children from learning our true and full history," Harris said Tuesday at the event in DeSantis's state. "And so, in this moment, let us remember, it is in the darkness that the candle shines most brightly."

House Republican says Trump should not have kept classified documents

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Sunday said former President Trump should not have kept classified documents at his Florida residence after his term in the White House ended, despite the former president's claims that he had a right to keep them.

"We don't have a right to take top-secret information to our home. I've dealt with top secrets since I was 22 years old, in the military for 30 years now, and now in Congress. You don't show our attack plans on Iran to people who are not cleared, or pick documents that talk about our nuclear technology or where our intelligence resources are located throughout the world," Bacon said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"And that's what happened there. And when the government asks for them back, you give them back. And if you deny having them, but then you have them, those are crimes."

The Nebraska lawmaker was responding to a clip of Trump during the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s conference over the weekend when he incorrectly stated that a president “has the absolute right to take" documents, and "has the absolute right to keep them or he can give them back to [National Archives and Records Administration] if he wants and talks to them like we were doing and he can do that if he wants.” 

Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal charges after a federal indictment alleged that he kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home after his time in office and that he resisted the government's efforts to recover them.

Asked on Sunday why many in the Republican Party have rallied around Trump over the materials, Bacon suggested that they are looking at the Trump case in the context of the classified documents found in the keeping of Trump's former vice president Mike Pence and President Biden, "but the situations are different," he said. Most notably, both Pence and Biden returned the documents when requested by the government.

The DOJ concluded its investigation into Pence over the materials and will not bring charges. Special counsel Robert Hur is probing the Biden documents, which were found by the president's attorneys.

Bacon on Sunday also suggested some Republicans may "see or perceive ... inconsistencies" in the context of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was investigated over her use of a private email server while in office. The FBI declined to charge her in the matter.

"But two wrongs don't make a right. You can't have hundreds of top secret information and be showing our attack plans on Iran to non-cleared people. I think, again, our party does best when we stand on the rule of law, the truth of the principles that made our party strong. And if we walk away from that, we'll be weakened in the short run, for sure," Bacon said.

Klobuchar blows off criticism of Hunter Biden attending state dinner

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Sunday shrugged off criticism of President Biden's son Hunter Biden attending a state dinner at the White House last week just after pleading guilty to tax crimes.

"You know, I think as the president explained, that's his son. That's a separate thing," Klobuchar said on NBC's "Meet the Press," when asked if she thinks it was appropriate for Hunter Biden to be at the state dinner, which Attorney General Merrick Garland also attended.

The president's son was in attendance at the dinner held during the official state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. Court documents last week also revealed Hunter, who has been under investigation for tax matters for several years, will plead guilty to tax crimes in a plea deal with prosecutors, and reached a diversion agreement relating to unlawful possession of a weapon.

"And I would like to say about that, that decision was made by an independent prosecutor, who is a Trump appointed U.S. attorney, who had 10 years of experience, well-respected. [The] Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he was a registered Republican. He looked at the facts and evidence and made that decision," Klobuchar said of the legal development.

"And by the way, if that's what the Republicans want to run on, in the coming election, good luck," Klobuchar said.

Asked whether she wished the "perception" were different, Klobuchar said, "You always wish there are different perceptions."

Republicans have bashed the deal as too lenient on the president's son, with many attacking the Justice Department. Garland, who was also at the state dinner, has denied allegations of political interference in the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden.

House Democrat: ‘Overwhelmingly devastating’ Trump indictment is of ‘serious importance’ to national security

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Sunday characterized the federal indictment of former President Trump in connection with the handling of classified documents as "overwhelmingly devastating" and "of serious importance" to national security.

"This is an overwhelmingly devastating indictment that demonstrated Donald Trump believed the law does not apply to him, and that he would do anything he could to conceal and maintain possession of highly, highly classified national security information that would jeopardize our national security and would jeopardize the good men and women of the United States intelligence community who risked their lives to gather that information," Goldman said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"This is of serious, serious importance to our national security," Goldman, an attorney who served as the lead counsel in the first impeachment trial against Trump, stressed.

Trump was indicted last week on 37 counts in connection with his alleged mishandling of records at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Federal authorities also said the former president tried s to prevent the government from recovering the documents after the end of his White House term.

Goldman on Sunday also countered comments from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a Trump supporter who appeared earlier on the program and sparred with host Dana Bash over whether the former president had declassified the material at the heart of the investigation.

"He says, 'Yeah, we'll have to try to declassify it. As president, I could have declassified it. Now I can't, but this is still a secret,'" Goldman said, referring to Trump while paraphrasing a line from a transcript of an audio recording obtained by CNN.

"So there is no question based on his private recorded conversations that he did not declassify these documents. Mr. Jordan and Donald Trump and his defense team can try to spin this any way they want. But the evidence, based on his own recording, his own voice, says to the contrary," the House Democrat said.

Democratic lawmakers claim indictment news shows Trump ‘not above the law’

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday weighed in on former President Trump’s indictment in connection with an investigation into his handling of classified documents, with many arguing that the news shows the former president and current 2024 candidate isn’t above the law.

“Trump’s apparent indictment on multiple charges arising from his retention of classified materials is another affirmation of the rule of law,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who played a central role in Trump's first impeachment. 

Trump, who is running for president in 2024, said on Thursday that his legal team had been told he was indicted and summoned to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday. 

“For four years, he acted like he was above the law. But he should be treated like any other lawbreaker. And today, he has been,” Schiff said of Trump.

The California Democrat was also among the lawmakers who sat on the last congressional session’s House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, which criminally referred Trump to the Justice Department.

“The former twice-impeached president is now twice-indicted,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

“Twice impeached. Twice indicted. The only former president in history to face federal charges. This man is a national embarrassment,” wrote Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) 

Trump was also indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan earlier this year on criminal charges.

Democrats on Thursday took to Twitter to echo sentiments that the former president’s federal indictment proves the rule of law.

“No one is above the law,” wrote Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). 

“Never before has a former president been indicted for a federal crime," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) tweeted. "By indicting Trump & holding him accountable for his actions, America’s justice system is once again showing its strength & reminding us all: No one is above the law in this country, not even former presidents."

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Trump will "have his day in court, in Miami and Manhattan and Atlanta too if it comes to it," celebrating the indictment from the Justice Department's special counsel.

He was referring to the latest federal indictment, the Manhattan indictment and a district attorney's probe in Georgia into 2020 election interference.

"But I am grateful to live in a nation where no man is above the law," he said.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) also called Trump "a con man who damaged our institutions, turned us against each other, and who will be finally held accountable by the country he tried to destroy."

Markey calls for Clarence Thomas to resign: ‘reputation is unsalvageable’

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Monday called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign amid controversy over the justice’s financial disclosures and ethical concerns about the nation’s highest court.

“I will say what needs to be said: Clarence Thomas should resign from the Supreme Court of the United States. His reputation is unsalvageable,” Markey said at an event to advocate for Supreme Court reforms.

“It is evident that he cannot judge right from wrong. So why should he be judging the country's most important cases, on its highest court?” the senator added.

Recent reporting from ProPublica found that Texas billionaire Harlan Crow paid for Thomas to take part in luxury vacations over two decades without the justice reporting them. Thomas said later that he was “advised” he did not need to disclose the trips. 

Another ProPublica report found that Thomas also didn’t disclose a 2014 real estate deal he’d made with the same Republican megadonor. 

Markey joins Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and a handful of House lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), in calling for Thomas to leave the court after the reports sparked renewed debate over ethics standards for the justices.

“Justice Thomas should resign - to uphold the Court and American justice. The unavoidable, sickening appearance of impropriety stains trust & credibility in our whole judiciary,” Blumenthal said earlier this month.

Ocasio-Cortez said “this degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish” and called for Thomas to be impeached.

Markey on Monday gathered with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and others to kick off "the Just Majority bus tour" and push for expanding the court and shoring up ethics standards.

In addition to criticisms about Thomas's ties to Crow, who Markey called "a rich right-wing bad actor pushing a far-right agenda," the senator also criticized Thomas for not recusing himself "on cases about efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, in spite of the fact that his wife was implicated in them."

"We have to ensure that the mockery which Justice Clarence Thomas is actually committing is corrected because it is a violation of public trust," Markey said, adding, "Clarence Thomas is serving on the high court with the highest level of corruption."

Trump responds to Biden classified document discovery, asks when FBI will raid his ‘many homes’

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Former President Trump responded Monday to the breaking news that the Justice Department is reviewing classified documents from President Biden’s tenure as vice president that were found last fall in a private office Biden had previously used.  

“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump said on his Truth Social account, sharing an article on the document discovery from CBS News.  

The Obama-Biden era documents were found by the president’s attorneys while clearing out an office he used when he served as an honorary professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, according to Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber.

Biden’s legal team notified the National Archives, which took possession of the materials, Sauber said. The documents are now reportedly being looked at by the U.S. attorney general for Chicago, with cooperation from the White House.  

Trump was referring to the FBI’s execution of a search warrant last summer at his Mar-a-Lago residence, where investigators found more than a hundred classified documents kept past his time in the White House.  

Trump is now under investigation for his handling of the classified materials.  

“We were told for months that this was treasonous… grounds for impeachment... & meriting the death penalty, yet I have a feeling nothing will happen!?” wrote Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter, retweeting the CBS article.  

Notably, Biden’s team notified the Archives and turned over the documents upon discovery, while Trump apparently kept classified materials even after requests from the Archives to return them.  

The Presidential Records Act requires that presidential and vice presidential records be turned over to the National Archives at the end of a given administration for preservation and to protect classified material.

Trump responds to Jan. 6 criminal referrals: ‘It strengthens me’ 

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Former President Trump on Monday responded to the Jan. 6 committee’s decision to urge the Justice Department to prosecute him and some of his associates over their involvement in the Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, saying the move makes him “stronger.”  

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me.  It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger," Trump said on his Truth Social social media platform.

In its final public meeting hours earlier, the Jan. 6 panel unveiled criminal referrals recommending that the DOJ prosecute Trump on charges of inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding. 

“The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax # 2. I WON convincingly. Double Jeopardy anyone!” Trump wrote hours after the panel’s recommendations were formally made.

Trump, who last month announced another run for the White House in 2024, painted the probes as an effort to undercut his campaign. The insurrection charge could bar Trump from running for elected office again.

“The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, the DBI, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win and that this whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party,” Trump said. 

At the meeting, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who is leaving Congress after she lost her primary election to a Trump-backed candidate, said Trump is “unfit for any office.” 

The former president also rebuffed the panel’s determination of his 187 minutes of inaction between the start of the riot and Trump’s video message urging the rioters to "go home." Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) on Monday called it an “extreme dereliction of duty,” with other lawmakers calling Trump's inaction one of the panel's most shameful findings.

The Jan. 6 panel will release a much-anticipated report on its findings on Wednesday before it is dissolved in the next Congress.

Trump responds to Jan. 6 criminal referrals: ‘It strengthens me’ 

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Former President Trump on Monday responded to the Jan. 6 committee’s decision to urge the Justice Department to prosecute him and some of his associates over their involvement in the Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, saying the move makes him “stronger.”  

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me.  It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger," Trump said on his Truth Social social media platform.

In its final public meeting hours earlier, the Jan. 6 panel unveiled criminal referrals recommending that the DOJ prosecute Trump on charges of inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding. 

“The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax # 2. I WON convincingly. Double Jeopardy anyone!” Trump wrote hours after the panel’s recommendations were formally made.

Trump, who last month announced another run for the White House in 2024, painted the probes as an effort to undercut his campaign. The insurrection charge could bar Trump from running for elected office again.

“The people understand that the Democratic Bureau of Investigation, the DBI, are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win and that this whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party,” Trump said. 

At the meeting, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who is leaving Congress after she lost her primary election to a Trump-backed candidate, said Trump is “unfit for any office.” 

The former president also rebuffed the panel’s determination of his 187 minutes of inaction between the start of the riot and Trump’s video message urging the rioters to "go home." Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) on Monday called it an “extreme dereliction of duty,” with other lawmakers calling Trump's inaction one of the panel's most shameful findings.

The Jan. 6 panel will release a much-anticipated report on its findings on Wednesday before it is dissolved in the next Congress.

Family of fallen officer snubs McConnell, McCarthy at Jan. 6 Gold Medal ceremony

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Family members of the late officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, appeared to snub Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday, passing by the pair without shaking their hands at a ceremony to honor officers who served during the attack.

C-SPAN footage shows some of the officers and their family members moving down a line of lawmakers, first shaking the hand of Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and then passing by McConnell and McCarthy. McConnell kept his hand outstretched as the honorees walked by.  

Sicknick's mother, Gladys Sicknick, and brother, Ken Sicknick, were among those who declined to shake the Republican leaders' hands, according to multiple reports.

McCarthy did not appear to extend his hand, holding on to a box containing one of the medals as the recipients filed by.

The lawmakers were gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to award the Congressional Gold Medal for officers’ service defending the Capitol on Jan. 6.  

D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger accepted medals on behalf of their departments, and family members of officers who died surrounding Jan. 6 joined them for the ceremony.

The 42-year-old Sicknick collapsed during the riot, suffered two strokes and died the following day. Capitol Police have said Sicknick “died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”

Sicknick’s mother ahead of this year’s midterm elections attributed her son’s death to people such as failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R), who espoused former President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election had been fraudulent. The fallen officer’s former partner said she blamed people surrounding Trump for not speaking up before the attack.

McConnell and McCarthy both gave remarks at the ceremony after the medals were awarded. 

“The Capitol Police and D.C. Police are valued members of this community. But they’re also members of another community. The community of law enforcement. The brotherhood of law enforcement," McCarthy said, tying the officers’ actions to a broader conversation of law enforcement in the nation. 

“These brave men and women are heroes ... Days like today force us to realize how much we owe the thin blue line,” McCarthy said. 

McConnell said that Congress was able to “finish our job that very night” because of the officers’ actions to secure the Capitol and facilitate the lawmakers’ certification of the 2020 presidential election results. 

McConnell was the Senate majority leader during the Jan. 6 attack and has come under scrutiny for voting against convicting Trump in his second impeachment trial over the insurrection, though he has said Trump "provoked" the crowd.

McCarthy has indicated he intends to investigate the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 when Republicans take control of the lower chamber in the next Congress.

“On that terrible day in January, you stared directly into the heart of darkness and, though outnumbered, you held the line, the line of democracy. You bravely held it and democracy endured. In return, those of us in elected office must always strive to care for you,” Schumer said to officers on Tuesday.

—Updated at 2:06 p.m.