HBO is premiering a documentary next month that chronicles the congressional career of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) filmed by the Democratic leader's daughter, Alexandra Pelosi.
The documentary, titled “Pelosi in the House,” will debut on Dec. 13 on HBO and HBO Max, Warner Media, the parent company of HBO, announced on Monday. Alexandra Pelosi, an award-winning documentarian, produced and directed the film.
HBO said the younger Pelosi “offers a candid, behind-the-scenes chronicle of the life of her mother and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, through her career milestones leading up to the inauguration of President Joseph Biden in January 2021.”
Footage in the film spans three decades, according to HBO, providing “a unique, longitudinal window into the life of a longstanding Democratic politician and history in the making.”
The public received a glimpse of Alexandra Pelosi’s footage last month, when the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol presented video filmed by the younger Pelosi during the Capitol riot. In it, the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) were seen making urgent calls from secure locations amid the attack.
Other members of congressional leadership — Democrats and Republicans — were also featured in the dramatic footage, which depicted tense moments as the riot was underway.
In addition to Jan. 6, Alexandra Pelosi was with the Speaker in the Capitol earlier this month when she announced in a speech on the House floor that she will step down from leadership in the next Congress, ending her historic, two-decade reign atop the Democratic caucus.
The younger Pelosi was spotted walking with the Speaker and filming her while entering the Capitol that day. HBO’s announcement also features a photo of Alexandra Pelosi filming the Speaker in the Capitol that day.
The forthcoming film about the Speaker is Alexandra Pelosi’s 14th documentary film for HBO. She is also the director of “Journeys with George,” which followed former President George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign for president. The film won an Emmy in 2003.
HBO said the documentary on the Speaker “goes behind the headlines as it tracks Pelosi’s life in public office from her election to Congress in 1987 and becoming the first female Speaker of the House in 2007 through the 2020 election and President Biden’s inauguration.”
“Following Pelosi at both work and home in real time during consequential political moments in the country’s recent history, the film offers a unique look at American politics through her efforts on the Affordable Care Act, the COVID-19 relief package, two impeachments as well as a record of the events of January 6, 2021, following Pelosi and other lawmakers at a secure location as the crisis unfolded,” HBO added.
More than 70 incoming lawmakers will be sworn into the House this January after winning their races earlier this month.
Republicans are poised to control the House next year, with 220 seats having been called in their favor compared to Democrats’ 213. Two races remain uncalled.
Next year’s crop of first-term lawmakers in the House includes 37 Republicans and 35 Democrats who hail from 32 states across the country.
Here are seven to watch:
Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.)
Frost is set to become the first Gen Z member of Congress. The 25-year-old community organizer will represent Florida’s 10th Congressional District after beating his Republican opponent by roughly 20 percentage points.
He is poised to become a leading progressive voice in the next Congress, advocating for liberal policies and serving as a representative for the youngest generation of voters, which broke decisively for Democrats this cycle.
“[I’m] excited to be here with my future colleagues in the Progressive Caucus, because we’re gonna be pushing and pushing and pushing for a world that works for every single person, no matter who they are,” he said days after the election at a Progressive Caucus press conference at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
In an interview with PBS, Frost said “the economy is top of mind” and zeroed in on affordable housing and increasing wages as key issues.
Frost characterized his victory as part of the “bigger puzzle” of getting more young people involved in government.
“I think it's important that we have young people at the table. Look, I'm not one of these people that say we need to take out all the old folks and just have young people. It needs to be diverse, right, in age, in race, in gender, in economic status and experience,” he said.
Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.)
Hageman is sure to be the center of attention when she is sworn in as Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) replacement.
Hageman, a Trump-endorsed attorney, overwhelmingly beat Cheney, one of former President Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, in a primary this summer, all but assuring her the general election victory.
The constitutional and natural resource attorney will join the ranks of Trump defenders on Capitol Hill as the former president makes another run for the White House. She previously said the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” against Trump.
During her victory speech, the congresswoman-elect thanked the former president for his support.
“Today we have succeeded at what we set out to do: We have reclaimed Wyoming’s lone congressional seat for Wyoming,” Hageman said. “But I did not do this on my own. Obviously we’re all very grateful to President Trump, who recognizes that Wyoming has only one congressional representative, and we have to make it count.”
“His clear and unwavering support from the very beginning propelled us to victory tonight,” she added.
Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.)
Goldman won’t be a new face on Capitol Hill — or to many Americans — when he gets sworn in next year.
The former federal prosecutor served as the lead counsel for House Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment investigation and hearings in 2019-2020.
Goldman, who was assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York for 10 years, has been a fixture on cable news since then, offering legal analysis on the myriad investigations involving Trump.
In Congress, the New Yorker vowed to be a “bulwark” against the former president.
“He will be front and center and in conjunction with the House Republicans that he still controls,” Goldman said of Trump during an interview with PIX on Politics Sunday. “I would expect to see more abuses of power and more excessive conduct that is extremist conduct, really, that the American people don’t want anymore. And I look forward to being in Congress as a bulwark against that.”
Aside from Trump, the congressman-elect said he plans to focus on housing, mental health treatment, substance abuse, homelessness and crime.
Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.)
Van Orden will be closely watched in Congress next year, after the retired Navy SEAL attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., and walked to the Capitol afterwards.
He beat Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in the House, flipping the Badger State seat red. He will replace retiring centrist Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), who held the seat since 1997.
Van Orden has struck a distinctly more bipartisan tone since his election, telling PBS Wisconsin, "I fully understand that 48 percent of the voters in this district did not support me and I plan on representing them as equally as the 52 percent that did."
But he’ll join the ranks of Trump-backers in the House just as the former president continues his crusade to disprove the 2020 results and win another term in 2024. And he remains mired in controversy.
Van Orden contends he never entered the building on Jan. 6 and left the premises after “it became clear that a protest had become a mob.”
“When it became clear that a protest had become a mob, I left the area as to remain there could be construed as tacitly approving this unlawful conduct. At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building,” he wrote in an op-ed published by the La Crosse Tribune days after the Capitol attack.
But in June 2021, The Daily Beast published a photo of Van Orden before the Olmstead Lantern which, according to the Architect of the Capitol, is on Capitol grounds. According to The Washington Post, Van Orden has not called the authenticity of the photo into question.
Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
Luna is poised to become an outspoken member of the House Freedom Caucus, telling The Washington Post she plans to join the conservative group known for stirring controversy within the party after its political action committee endorsed her and funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into her campaign.
The Air Force veteran also secured endorsements from Trump and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). She has said Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that voter fraud occurred.
Luna made history on Election Day, becoming the first Mexican American woman to be elected to Congress from Florida. Her victory over former Obama aide Eric Lynn flipped the Sunshine State’s 13th Congressional District red. She will replace former Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), who left the seat to run for governor.
Luna spent time with some of her future colleagues earlier this month when she attended a gathering of the Second Amendment Caucus. Kyle Rittenhouse — the teenager who was acquitted of homicide related to the killing of two people in Kenosha, Wis., during a protest in 2020 — was also in attendance.
Cory Mills (R-Fla.)
Mills, who has already aligned himself with a contingent of Republicans opposed to allocating more funding for Ukraine in its battle against Russia, will be a lawmaker to watch in Congress as it weighs whether to do just that.
Mills worked as a Department of Defense adviser during the Trump administration and appeared at a press conference with GOP House members last week where Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) unveiled a privileged resolution to audit the funds allocated to Kyiv by Congress.
The congressman-elect lent support to the measure.
“Americans deserve transparency of where their money goes. That is our job as elected officials,” he said at the press conference. Separately, the incoming lawmaker told Florida’s Voice, “I personally would not vote for any continuance of funding.”
The White House earlier this month asked Congress to appropriate more than $7 billion in additional support for Ukraine. Assistance to Kyiv has received broad support from Republicans in both the House and Senate, but a small faction of GOP lawmakers in the lower chamber — which could grow after Mills’s victory — has been opposed to more funding.
Mills, a U.S. Army combat special operations veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received a Bronze Star in 2006, beat Democrat Karen Green to represent Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
Summer Lee (D-Pa.)
Lee made history earlier this month when she became the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. She beat Republican Mike Doyle to replace the 12th Congressional District’s retiring Democratic lawmaker, who is also named Mike Doyle.
The two-term state House member, lawyer and former labor organizer is expected to be a prominent figure in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The congresswoman-elect is also rumored to be joining the “squad,” a group made up of progressive lawmakers of color in the House, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
“I think that what we are going to see is that our progressive movement is going to continue to endure because we are doing the work to bring new people in, to expand the electorate every single election cycle, but also to do the work and to lay that groundwork, even in districts where we’re not supposed to have, or don't usually have progressives,” she said at a Progressive Caucus press conference. “So our work continues.”
She told reporters after the event that she will be focused on issues like environmental justice, policing and increasing wages.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that she will step away from Democratic leadership next Congress marked a transformational moment on Capitol Hill Thursday, with liberals and even some Republicans offering praise and kudos to the California congresswoman.
In a highly anticipated address from the House floor, Pelosi, who has led the Democratic caucus for 20 years, said she will continue serving her San Francisco district in the lower chamber but will pass the leadership torch to a “new generation” of Democrats, many of whom have been waiting in the wings for a shakeup among the caucus’s top brass.
The House chamber erupted in a standing ovation when Pelosi, dressed in a white suit, wrapped up her speech.
A swarm of Democrats lined up to hug the outgoing Speaker following her remarks. Some even recorded the moment on their cellphones from the floor. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) brought his young daughter to witness the occasion.
“She’s a historical figure. She’ll be one of the top people in American history,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a close ally of Pelosi. “This is a tough, strong, smart, courageous woman that knows how to listen to everybody, make a decision, [and] implement.”
“She’s just such a venerated leader,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said. “It was so dignified, you know, the way that she carried and carries herself in such a dignified fashion. She went on her own terms, and I think there’s just nothing but respect there for her.”
Few Republicans ventured to the House floor to witness the speech from Pelosi, who has long been villainized in GOP messaging. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) attended — and participated in the standing ovation after her speech.
But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who this week was nominated by Republicans to replace Pelosi as Speaker next year when the party controls the House, did not attend and said shortly after that he did not watch her speech.
“I had meetings. But normally the others would do it during votes. I wish — she could have done that. I could have been there,” said McCarthy, who once joked that it would be hard to not hit Pelosi with the Speaker’s gavel when he takes it over.
The GOP leader and the Speaker have a hostile relationship, particularly during and since the Trump era. Pelosi called McCarthy a “moron” after he criticized the mask mandate she instituted on the House floor during the coronavirus pandemic.
“They’ve both [had] quite a career of how many decades they've been here working through,” McCarthy said of Pelosi and Hoyer on Thursday. “It's a whole new generation for the Democrats.”
Pelosi’s historic reign in Democratic leadership began in 2002 when she assumed the role of House minority whip. She later served as chair of the House Democratic Caucus and minority leader, but will be most remembered for her ascension to the Speakership in 2007, when she became the first woman to secure the gavel.
Throughout her eight years as Speaker, Pelosi helped usher in a number of massive legislative accomplishments: she oversaw the passage of the Affordable Care Act, helped authorize trillions of dollars of emergency relief during the pandemic and pushed through this year’s multi-billion dollar tax and climate bill.
The California Democrat also twice kicked off impeachment proceedings against former President Trump during his White House tenure.
“I just admire her focus, her workmanship, her dedication and her able to get things done and work with folks,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters. “When I think of the accomplishments that we’ve made under her leadership, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to be here during those times.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a close Pelosi ally who was first to hug the Speaker on the floor, called her California colleague “the most effective Speaker in the history of the United States.”
The Democratic praise for Pelosi was bicameral. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has served as Pelosi’s counterpart in the upper chamber for years, was present on the House floor during her remarks.
“I just left the floor of the House for one of the most emotional moments I’ve had in my career: the valedictory of Nancy Pelosi, one of the greatest legislators — and greatest people — I’ve ever met,” Schumer later said on the Senate floor.
“Few in American history have been as effective, as driven, as successful as Speaker Pelosi. She's transformed practically every corner of American politics, and unquestionably made America a better, stronger nation,” he added.
But as Pelosi heads to the leadership exits, some Democrats are emphasizing that the California lawmaker will remain a consequential figure in the party — regardless of the title she holds.
“She’s not gonna leave Dem leadership, she’s still gonna be a leader in this caucus, you know, without all the nightmares of us … without the pains in the asses she had to deal with all the time,” Dingell said. “She’s got a great deal of influence, we all know how smart she is, she’s gonna be able to pull people together. She’s going to be a voice people are gonna listen to.”
“I think that her being still involved will be helpful and it'll help us to get — get further faster,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said.
Pelosi did get some praise from Republicans.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who said he often speaks to Pelosi on the House floor about her granddaughter and his daughter who share a name, gave her a hug after her speech.
“We don't agree on a dadgum thing. And I prayed for her husband to get well. But I'm a Christian first, not a Republican,” Burchett said. “We still talk, and I think this country needs a little more than that.”
“We disagreed probably 99 percent of the time. But she's been a very effective Speaker for her own cause,” said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) “She had a gracious presentation of well-prepared remarks. I think it was very appropriate.”
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) was also present for Pelosi’s speech and hugged her afterward.
“Part of it was I was first up to present on legislation immediately after. But also, I believe it was a historic moment there, and I usually tend to sit in on those no matter who it is. And thirdly, it’s an Italian thing,” LaMalfa said.
Others, however, did not contain their glee at Pelosi leaving the Speakership.
“I'm thrilled,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). “I think she's been the most destructive Speaker that we've had.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) chimed in with a tweet: “Good riddance!”
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) is eyeing legislation that would bar former President Trump from serving in office under the 14th Amendment “for leading an insurrection against the United States.”
Cicilline, who served as an impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment, sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues Tuesday night previewing a bill to prevent Trump from holding office and soliciting co-sponsors for the measure.
It is unclear when the congressman plans to introduce the bill. The listed deadline for lawmakers to co-sponsor the measure is Thursday at noon.
“Given the proof – demonstrated through the January 6th Committee Hearings, the 2021 impeachment trial, and other reporting – that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection on January 6th with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results, I have drafted legislation that would prevent Donald Trump from holding public office again under the Fourteenth Amendment,” Cicilline wrote.
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Trump was impeached for a second time in January 2021 on the charge of “incitement of insurrection” following the Capitol riot, but the Senate ultimately acquitted him. The House impeached him for a first time in December 2019 for “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” over revelations regarding his dealings with Ukraine, though the Senate acquitted him of both charges.
Cicilline argued that Trump should be barred from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known as the “Disqualification Clause,” which says individuals should not be allowed “to hold any office” if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The congressman said his bill “details testimony and evidence demonstrating how Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States,” pointing to revelations from Jan. 6 select committee hearings.
“It specifically details how Donald Trump engaged in insurrection when he helped to plan and encouraged the insurgence on January 6th despite knowing that the election results were lawful; attempted to intimidate state and federal officials when they did not support his false claims and unlawful plans; tried to manipulate Mike Pence into unlawfully refusing to certify the election results, despite Mr. Pence’s and legal advisors’ assertion that he held no such authority; and supported the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, refusing for hours to denounce or act against the mob and putting thousands of lives in danger,” the letter reads.
If he introduces the bill, Cicilline will have to lay out the process for how the measure would use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the text is vague.
“It is unclear whether Section 3 is self-executing, which, if it is not, would leave federal and state courts or election authorities without power to determine the eligibility of candidates unless Congress enacts legislation to permit it. Courts have produced mixed results on this question,” the CRS report reads.
“Section 3 does not expressly provide a procedure for its implementation other than Section 5’s general authority of Congress ‘to enforce [the Fourteenth Amendment’ by appropriate legislation,’” it adds.
Trump announced his intention for a third presidential bid Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort, telling the audience at the event "we always have known that this was not the end. It was only the beginning of our fight to rescue the American dream."
"In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," he added.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said she “absolutely” draws a line between last month’s attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, 82, and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The Speaker sat with CNN’s Anderson Cooper for her first sit-down interview since the brutal assault on her husband at their San Francisco home. During that conversation, Cooper quoted President Biden, who, in remarks last week, drew a similarity between the assault on Paul Pelosi, and the Capitol riot.
“The assailant entered the home, asking: 'Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?' Those were the same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6,” Cooper said, quoting Biden.
“That's right,” Pelosi responded.
Asked by Cooper if she draws the same line, Pelosi said “absolutely.”
“There's no question. It's the same -- the same thing, and a copycat or whatever it happens to be, inflamed by the same misrepresentation,” she added.
An alleged assailant broke a glass door and entered the Pelosis’ San Francisco home in the early hours of Oct. 28 and struck Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, authorities said. He was transported to a hospital after the attack where he underwent successful surgery to treat a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands, and was released on Thursday.
Authorities and a source, however, have since revealed that the Speaker was the intended target of the incident.
According to the Justice Department’s affidavit, the alleged attacker — who authorities have identified as David DePape, 42 — threatened to hold the Speaker hostage and break her kneecaps.
“DEPAPE stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DEPAPE the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps,’” the affidavit reads.
DePape also told authorities he was “looking for Nancy,” according to the charging documents.
A source briefed on the attack told The Hill shortly after the incident that before the assault occurred, the suspect confronted Paul Pelosi and shouted “where is Nancy? Where is Nancy.”
The phrase led some to draw parallels to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, when rioters who stormed the building demanded to know where the Speaker was, including some who ransacked her office.
In one video of the riot, presented at former President Trump’s impeachment proceedings, a voice asks “where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you.”
“Nancy. Oh Nancy. Nancy. Where are you, Nancy?” the voice adds.
On Monday, the Speaker told CNN that the attack was “a flame that was fueled by misinformation and all the rest of that, which is most unfortunate. It shouldn't — has no place in our democracy.”
Multiplesources reported after the attack that DePape posted about conspiracy theories online, including ones regarding COVID-19 vaccines and the Capitol riot, and had posted about QAnon.
Later in the interview, Pelosi called for a message to be sent to Republicans to stop its engagement with misinformation.
“I do think that there has to be some message to the Republicans to stop, to stop the disinformation, because that is, without any question, a source of what happened on January 6, and the denial of that, and then the source of what's happening to me now,” she said.
Since the attack on Paul Pelosi, some figures have elevated conspiracy theories casting doubt on the incident, including new Twitter CEO Elon Musk and former President Trump. Asked what she has to say to those individuals, the Speaker responded “it’s really sad for the country.”
“It's really sad for the country that people of that high visibility would separate themselves from the facts and the truth in such a blatant way. It's really sad. And it is traumatizing to those affected by it,” she said.
“They don't care about that, obviously. But it is -- it's destructive to the unity that we want to have in our country. But I don't have anything to say to them. I mean, I — we have nothing — there would be no common ground to have any conversation with them,” she added.
Rep. David Valadao (Calif.) is fighting for his political life in an election that will determine whether one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump sees another term.
Valadao is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and one of two who sought reelection and prevailed in their primary.
He’s now facing Democrat Rudy Salas, a state lawmaker who placed first in California’s open primary in June by close to 20 percentage points. The race is rated as a toss-up by the Cook Political Report.
Valadao, who was first elected to the House in 2012 before losing the seat in 2018 and winning it back in 2020, narrowly beat two GOP challengers in a primary this summer.
While he didn’t face a Trump-backed challenger, his impeachment vote complicated his primary.
“I think it definitely made his primary race require more effort maybe than normal,” said Lisa Bryant, chairwoman of the department of political science at California State University, Fresno.
In a highly controversial move that brought criticism from some Democratic lawmakers, Democratic groups ran ads during Valadao’s primary that sought to elevate Trump-aligned GOP candidate Chris Mathys.
The House Majority PAC, which is aligned with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), released an ad saying that “David Valadao claims he’s Republican, yet David Valadao voted to impeach President Trump.” It called Mathys a “true conservative” and “100 percent pro-Trump.”
Democrats have utilized similar tactics in other GOP primaries, banking on the idea that propping up more hard-line conservatives in primaries will give them easier opponents to beat in general elections, despite complaints from some members.
“Many of us are facing death threats over our efforts to tell the truth about Jan. 6,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) told Politico in a summer interview. “To have people boosting candidates telling the very kinds of lies that caused Jan. 6 and continues to put our democracy in danger, is just mind-blowing.”
The House Majority PAC and other groups have been unapologetic about the strategy.
“David Valadao is an out-of-touch extremist who voted against a law to prevent gas price gouging and would eagerly help Kevin McCarthy implement a national abortion ban. That’s why House Majority PAC is doing whatever it takes to elect Rudy Salas and flip this seat blue in November,” House Majority PAC Communications Director C.J. Warnke told The Hill in a statement on Monday.
Asked about the Democratic effort, Salas campaign manager Abby Olmstead told The Hill in an email that “Rudy is focused on his own campaign and not on what outside groups are doing.”
It’s possible the Democratic effort could backfire in helping Valadao, which has sought to use his impeachment vote to his benefit.
“It means different things to different voters certainly,” Valadao campaign senior adviser Robert Jones told The Hill. “Most importantly, and I think above all else, regardless of how you view it on a partisan basis, it’s a demonstration of his independence.”
“David has not been afraid to stand up to his party through his time in Congress, and this is sort of the ultimate demonstration of that. And so I think most voters see it as that he’s going to do what he thinks is right, not what any party thinks is right. That’s what people in the district I think want,” Jones added.
Democrats complimentary of Valadao’s vote to impeach Trump say voters should consider the rest of his record.
“I think that just because he voted for Trump’s impeachment does not take away the fact that the policies and agenda that he’d subscribed to is much reflective of the Trump agenda. And every member of Congress — Democrat and Republican — should be [wanting] to hold the executive branch accountable. That’s part of their job,” said Antjuan Seawright, senior adviser for the House Democrats’ campaign arm.
Still, in a sign that being seen as independent of party could resonate with voters in the district, Salas is also touting a willingness to buck his party.
One ad touts how he was the only Democrat in the state Assembly to vote in 2017 against a transportation plan that would have raised gas taxes. He later lost a committee chairmanship following the vote.
Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist Mike Trujillo said the Central Valley’s leanings are toward candidates who are more toward the center.
“Democrats and Republicans in the Central Valley have a very moderate — they both have a very moderate DNA, right? Valadao voted for impeachment. Salas voted against his party against a gas tax. That’s consistent across the Central Valley because it’s a very centrist-oriented part of the state,” he added.
The race is also seen as competitive, given that the newly drawn 22nd Congressional District leans more favorably toward Democrats.
The California news outlet CalMatters notes that 43.4 percent of residents in the district are registered Democrats, compared to 26 percent who are registered as Republicans and 22.6 percent who have no party preference.
The data website FiveThirtyEight gives the district a partisan lean of plus 10 points Democrat, but Salas is anticipating a tight campaign.
“We know this is gonna be a tough race, and we’ve seen that play out. But we also have such a fantastic candidate,” Olmstead said.
Republicans who backed Trump’s impeachment are an endangered species in the House.
Eight pro-impeachment Republicans — including Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), once the third-ranking House Republican — either lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers or opted against running for reelection this cycle. Aside from Valadao, the only other pro-impeachment GOP lawmaker who may sit in the next Congress is Rep. Dan Newhouse (Wash.).
In a nod to the competitiveness of the House seat and the dwindling number of pro-impeachment Republicans left, former Vice President Mike Pence, who rebuffed efforts to overturn the 2020 election, campaigned earlier this week for Valadao in Fresno, Calif.
Republican strategist Doug Heye, who previously served as communications director of the Republican National Committee, said the impeachment vote allows Valadao “to talk to independent voters in a way, and even some soft Democrats, in a way that most Republicans wouldn’t be able to.”
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), who previously worked as an adviser to the Jan. 6 select committee, is at the center of a new controversy engulfing the panel after he dropped a bombshell revelation while promoting his forthcoming book.
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” teasing his book, Riggleman said someone at the White House placed a late-afternoon call to a Capitol rioter while the attack was still underway.
"You get a real 'aha!' moment when you see that the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter's phone while it's happening," he told Bill Whitaker of “60 Minutes.”
Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) speaks during House debates regarding articles of impeachment against former President Trump following Trump's actions leading up to and during the Capitol riot.
The revelation about the committee's largely-private investigation drew swift pushback from committee members, who are downplaying Riggleman’s knowledge of the panel's operation and brushing away the significance of the call.
It was an unwelcome distraction just days ahead of what may be the committee’s final public hearing on Wednesday, when panel members will seek to wrap up their case against former President Trump and his allies weeks before the midterm elections.
“I don't know what Mr. Riggleman is doing, really,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the Jan. 6 committee, told CNN during an interview Sunday when asked if he is a credible source when it comes to Jan. 6, 2021.
“I only saw him a few times when he was on the staff, and he did leave. He said he was going off to help Afghanistan refugees. So, you know, he does not know what happened after April, and a lot has happened in our investigation,” she said.
The California Democrat noted that all matters Riggleman brought up before his departure were looked into but “in some cases didn’t really [pan] out.”
“I will say this, that everything that he was able to relay prior to his departure has been followed up on and in some cases didn't really [pan] out, or there might have been a decision that suggested that there was a connection between one number or one email and a person that turned out not to pan out,” Lofgren said. “So, we follow up on everything.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who also sits on the Jan. 6 panel, tried to trivialize Riggleman’s claims about the call during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“Well, that's one of thousands of details that obviously the committee is aware of,” Raskin said of the reported White House rioter call.
“I can't say anything specific about that particular call, but we are aware of it. And we are aware of lots of contacts between the people in the White House and different people that were involved obviously in the coup attempt and the insurrection. And that's really what all of our hearings have been about,” he said after being pressed on the matter.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has been a leading figure among the Jan. 6 House committee investigating the Capitol riot.
CNN has since identified the rioter as Anton Lunyk, a 26-year-old Trump supporter. The Brooklyn native pleaded guilty to a charge associated with the Capitol riot and was sentenced to 12 months of probation. The call reportedly came after he and two friends left the Capitol.
But the individual who placed the call from the White House, shortly after Trump told his supporters to go home at 4:17 p.m., remains unknown. Call logs show the publicly available number for the White House without the relevant extension.
Riggleman’s publishing company has pegged the book — “The Breach: The Untold Story of the Investigations into January 6th” — as “an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation” and teases knowledge of the almost eight-hour period at the White House where they “supposedly had no phone calls.”
But the panel sees matters differently.
“In his role on the Select Committee staff, Mr. Riggleman had limited knowledge of the committee’s investigation. He departed from the staff in April prior to our hearings and much of our most important investigative work,” select committee spokesperson Tim Mulvey told multipleoutlets in a statement.
“The committee has run down all the leads and digested and analyzed all the information that arose from his work. We will be presenting additional evidence to the public in our next hearing this coming Wednesday, and a thorough report will be published by the end of the year,” Mulvey added.
Riggleman’s book tour isn’t the first time the ex-adviser has alarmed his former employer. A TV hit shortly after he left the committee spurred an email to staff that his appearance was “in direct contravention to his employment agreement.”
“His specific discussion about the content of subpoenaed records, our contracts, contractors and methodologies, and your hard work is unnerving,” the panel’s staff director wrote, according to The Washington Post.
"You get a real 'aha!' moment when you see that the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter's phone while it's happening."
- Denver Riggleman to CBS’s “60 Minutes”
Riggleman appeared to nod to that dynamic in his book.
“I continually called for us to push the envelope and use the toughest approach possible. This ruffled some feathers on the committee,” he wrote.
At another point he questioned the panel’s strategy of dealing with the media.
“The committee had other fears too: leaks. We were obsessed with them, and the fear of leaks led the committee to compartmentalize the various teams of investigators… I wondered sometimes if there was an overabundance of caution — whether in the desire to thwart the press, we deprived the overall investigation of coordinated information. Was that a necessary trade-off?” he asked.
On his book tour, Riggleman has also weighed in on some ongoing matters before the committee, including Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
His comments come just days after the committee was able to secure an interview with Ginni Thomas after months of negotiations.
Riggleman said it was an “open secret” that her views had gotten more extreme.
Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to be interviewed by the Jan. 6 House panel.
“What really shook me was the fact that if Clarence agreed with or was even aware of his wife's efforts, all three branches of government would be tied to the Stop the Steal movement,” Riggleman wrote in his book.
"For me in intelligence, there['s] always the possible and the probable," Riggleman said. "Is it possible that Clarence Thomas had no idea of the activities of Ginni Thomas over decades as a Republican activist? Possible. Had no idea about what was going on during the election and Biden and Trump and her connections to the administration? Possible. Is it probable? I just can't even get my arms [around] that being probable," he added in the "60 Minutes" interview.
Asked on Sunday if he sees the reported call between the White House and a rioter as significant to the panel’s probe, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Jan. 6 select committee, told CNN's “State of the Union” that relevant information will be presented before the public at Wednesday’s hearing.
“I can't comment on the particulars. I can say that each of the issues that Mr. Riggleman raised during the period he was with the committee, which ended quite some time ago, we looked into,” Schiff said.
“So, we have looked into all of these issues. Some of the information we have found on various issues, we will be presenting it to the public for the first time in the hearing coming up. It will be the usual mix of information in the public domain and new information woven together to tell the story about one key thematic element of Donald Trump's effort to overturn the election,” he added.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) in a new interview predicts that GOP lawmakers will demand a vote to impeach President Biden "every week" if Republicans take control of the House in the midterms.
Kinzinger, a frequent critic of former President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill, compared previous efforts by congressional Republicans to what he predicts “crazies” will attempt to do under a GOP majority.
“Back before we had all the crazies here — just some crazies — you know, every vote we took, we had to somehow defund ObamaCare. ... You'll remember, right when we took over it was we need to do the omnibus bill, but we're not going to vote for it because it doesn't defund ObamaCare,” Kinzinger said on CNN’s “The Axe Files with David Axelrod,” released Monday.
“That's going to look like child's play in terms of what [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-Ga.] is going to demand of [House GOP Leader] Kevin McCarthy [Calif.]. They're going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week,” he added.
Republicans are widely expected to take control of the House in November, though Democrats are battling to limit the size of a potential GOP majority. According to FiveThirtyEight, Republicans are favored to win control of the lower chamber over Democrats, 71 percent to 29 percent.
If they do secure the majority, a number of Republican lawmakers are preparing plans to impeach Biden over various matters. Some conservative House members have already introduced impeachment articles against the president over his administration's efforts on border enforcement, the COVID-19 pandemic and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year, to name a few.
Kinzinger said a GOP House majority may also try to “make abortion illegal in all circumstances on this omnibus bill.”
The Illinois Republican, who is not running for reelection in November, predicted that McCarthy — the current House minority leader who is expected to become Speaker if Republicans win the lower chamber — will have a difficult time governing because of “crazies” in the GOP conference.
“I think it'll be a very difficult majority for him to govern unless he just chooses to go absolutely crazy with them. In which case you may see the rise of the silent, non-existent moderate Republican that may still exist out there, but I don't know,” he said.
Kinzinger predicted that McCarthy is “not going to be able to do much” and also raised the possibility that the GOP leader would not receive the Speaker's gavel at all, suggesting Trump and members of the conservative Freedom Caucus could push for a more right-leaning leader.
McCarthy was close to the Speakership in 2015 but ultimately dropped out of contention after making a controversial comment about the taxpayer-funded Benghazi Committee.
“I think it's quite possible,” Kinzinger told Axelrod when asked if McCarthy will not be Speaker come January.
“I think if there's, particularly if there's a narrow Republican majority, let's say there's five, a five-seat Republican majority, it only takes five Republicans or six Republicans to come together, deny Kevin the Speakership because they weren't, let's say, [Rep.] Jim Jordan [R-Ohio], where they have this idea that Donald Trump can sit as Speaker. Any of them can do that. And I know these Freedom Caucus members fairly well, and I know that they have no problem turning their back on [McCarthy] and they will,” he added.
He said he would “absolutely love to see” McCarthy not become Speaker in January.
The House passed a bill on Thursday strengthening protections for whistleblowers in the federal government.
The legislation, titled the Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act, passed in a 221-203 vote. Two Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.) — joined all voting Democrats in supporting the measure.
The bill seeks to prevent retaliation against federal employees who expose wrongdoings, including retaliatory investigations. Such wrongdoings can include breaches of the law, mismanagement, abuse of authority or actions that pose a danger to public health.
If the Office of Special Counsel determines that an inspector general referral was retaliatory, however, the measure would require that the special counsel make note of the discovery to the inspector general, who would use that information when deciding whether or not to open or continue an investigation.
Additionally, the bill calls for limiting the disclosure of the identity of whistleblowers, and clarifies that federal government employees — including the president, vice president and congressional lawmakers — are not allowed to hinder or strike back against a whistleblower who provides information to Congress.
“Today’s bipartisan passage of the Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act brings us one step closer to ensuring that any federal employee who steps forward to report wrongdoing is protected from retaliation,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of the bill and the chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a statement after the bill passed on Thursday.
“Whistleblowers are the first line of defense to hold those in power accountable. Congress relies on whistleblowers to exercise our constitutional oversight responsibilities, safeguard taxpayer dollars, improve federal programs, and even save lives,” she added.
House passage of the bill came roughly four months after the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General found that Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman — the brother of Retired Army Col. Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness in former President Trump’s first impeachment — was likely the target of retaliation from Trump officials.
“We found, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that the Complainant was the subject of unfavorable personnel actions from administration officials,” the office of the inspector general wrote in a statement.
The Vindman brothers raised alarm about Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July 2019, which led to Trump’s first impeachment. The Pentagon’s report said Alexander Vindman told his concerns to his brother, and the pair then reported the worries to higher authorities.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, argued on the House floor Wednesday that the whistleblower legislation “is a step too far.”
“The whistleblower protection improvement act is a step too far and would help further entrench federal government employees in their job,” he said.
“Whistleblowers in the federal government are covered by some of the most comprehensive protections for employees in the country. Whistleblowers serve a valuable role in our government — especially under an administration like the Biden administration, which is subject to almost no oversight by Congress. But giving this bill a great title, Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act, does not and should not provide cover for the actual requirements and consequences of this bill,” he added.
Comer also referenced Trump’s first impeachment in his argument against the bill.
“In large part this bill is just an excuse to further idolize the people who pushed the sham impeachment against former President Trump,” he said.
At portrait of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) was unveiled at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Cummings, who was first elected to the House in 1996, died in October 2019 at the age of 68. He was serving as chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee at the time of his death.
Baltimore-based artist Jerrell Gibbs painted Cummings’s portrait, which will hang in the Rayburn House Office Building’s Oversight and Reform Committee hearing room.
According to the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), commissioning an official portrait is a customary honor for congressional lawmakers who serve as chairs of committees.
Cummings, who died during his 13th term in Congress, lay in state in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. His office at the time said he died “due to complications concerning longstanding health challenges.”
The son of a sharecropper, Cummings was born on Jan. 18, 1951, in Baltimore. He graduated from Howard University and received a law degree from the University of Maryland. Before serving in Congress, the Maryland Democrat spent 13 years in the state House of Delegates.
Cummings was a frequent figure in the news in the weeks before his death for his involvement in the House impeachment inquiry focused on then-President Trump. As the chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings was one of the top three lawmakers leading the inquiry.
A number of lawmakers delivered remarks honoring Cummings at the portrait unveiling on Wednesday, including Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).
“He was my Baltimore brother,” Pelosi, who was born in the Maryland city, said at the ceremony on Wednesday.
“He was so astute, so smart, so wise, so strategic and the rest, and that's why he made such a big difference. He was a leader of towering integrity. Everybody knows that. A man whose life embodied the American dream,” Pelosi added, calling him “the north star of the House of Representatives.”
The Speaker noted that the room where the portrait unveiling took place is the same location where the Jan. 6 House select committee has held its public hearings.
“Elijah said, ‘When we’re dancing with the angels, when we’re dancing with the angels, what would we have thought that we could have done to make the future better for our children, for our democracy?’ That’s what they’re doing in this room. When we’re not honoring Elijah directly, we are indirectly for his patriotism,” she said.
The Speaker said she still has Cummings on her speed dial, adding, “I can’t separate myself.”
“I go to it frequently and just try to think of what he would be thinking of what is going on,” she added.
