Donalds, DeSantis aides clash over Florida’s new education guidelines

Posted on July 27, 2023 (Updated July 27, 2023) by Brett Samuels

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) clashed Wednesday with aides to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his presidential campaign after the congressman expressed reservations about new education guidelines in the state focused on African American history.

Donalds, the lone Black Republican in the Florida congressional delegation and a supporter of former President Trump's 2024 bid, said the state's new standards for African-American history are "good, robust, & accurate."

"That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn't the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this," Donalds posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Florida’s new guidelines, which passed last week, require lessons on race to be taught in an “objective” manner that does not seek to “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.”

One update requires teachers to instruct on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

DeSantis aides were quick to criticize Donalds, accusing him of parroting White House talking points in the wake of sharp criticism from Vice President Harris and other administration officials.

"Supposed conservatives in the federal government are pushing the same false narrative that originated from the @WhiteHouse," Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis' press secretary, posted on X in response to Donalds. "Florida isn’t going to hide the truth for political convenience. Maybe the congressman shouldn’t swing for the liberal media fences like @VP."

Donalds responded with surprise that he was taking incoming after expressing support for most of the changes.

"Anyone who can't accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points," Donalds posted. "Just another reason why l'm proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump!"

Christina Pushaw, who served in the governor's office and works on the DeSantis campaign's rapid response team, replied with a GIF of Harris giving a thumbs up.

Redfern retweeted Pushaw's message, and in a separate response to Donalds wrote that the congressman was "repeating false talking points pushed by the Biden @WhiteHouse."

The online sparring between DeSantis's team and Donalds comes as the governor's presidential campaign has undergone something of a reset in the face of difficulties gaining ground on Trump in the polls and questions about the operation's spending strategy.

DeSantis entered the presidential race in May and was widely viewed as Trump's most formidable challenger, but the governor has struggled to put a dent in the former president's sizable polling lead nationally and in early voting states like Iowa.

His campaign has faced blowback for multiple online missteps, including its initial launch on Twitter Spaces and the sharing of a video criticizing Trump as too friendly to the LGBTQ community.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign, called it a "disgrace" for a DeSantis spokesperson to be attacking the congressman.

"Congressman Byron Donalds is a conservative hero,” Miller said in a statement to The Hill. “The Republican Party is lucky to have him as a leader, and President Trump is honored to have his endorsement.”

"The Congressman also calls it like he sees it, and if he thinks something is BS, he'll tell you,” Miller added. “That's why we like him so much.”

Are UFOs a national security risk? Hearing puts Pentagon on notice

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 27, 2023) by Ellen Mitchell

Three former defense officials on Wednesday gave explosive testimony at a House hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), warning that the sightings “potentially” pose national security risks.

The witnesses before the House Oversight subcommittee — a former Navy pilot, a retired Navy commander and an ex-Air Force intelligence official — also stressed that the government has been far too secretive in acknowledging such incidents, prompting calls from lawmakers for the intelligence community to be more forthcoming.

“If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem. If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, unidentified objects are a concern for flight safety,” said Ryan Graves, a former F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, a non-profit group meant to encourage pilots to report UAP incidents.

And all three witnesses replied “yes” when asked if the UAPs could be collecting reconnaissance information on the United States or probing the country’s capabilities.

The hearing seemed to unite lawmakers in a push for answers on a topic that has largely been dismissed by politicians, who for decades have been hesitant to touch on UAPs — also known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs — and other extraterrestrial life lest they become a laughingstock.

A series of reports from The New York Times beginning in 2017 began to change that. The reports — exploring the Pentagon’s secretive Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and DOD-documented UAP sightings.

Lawmakers also worry that the sightings could be tied to military technology owned by adversaries but unbeknownst to most Americans.

“UAPs, whatever they be, may pose a serious threat to our military and our civilian aircraft, and that must be understood,” said the subpanel's ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.). “We should encourage more reporting, not less on UAPs. The more we understand, the safer we will be.”

The Pentagon has only given tentative information on UAPs, in 2021 releasing a report which found more than 140 inexplicable encounters.

Videos released by the Defense Department have also shown unexplained happenings, including the now famous “Tic Tac” video, taken in November 2004 on a routine training mission with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the coast of southern California.

During the encounter, Navy ships and planes used sensors to track an oval-shaped flying object that resembled a Tic Tac breath mint, with four pilots visually sighting the apparatus that flew at high speed over the water before abruptly disappearing.

Former Navy pilot David Fravor, the commander of the mission and the individual who filmed the video, on Wednesday told the committee that the object “was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today or looking to develop in the next 10 years.”

He added that he found it “shocking” that “the incident was never investigated” and said none of his crew were ever questioned.

And fellow witness Graves said during the hearing that he had seen UAPs off the Atlantic coast “every day for at least a couple years.”

He said the sightings were “not rare or isolated” – noting that UAP objects have been detected “essentially where all Navy operations are being conducted across the world,” and were also seen by military aircrews and commercial pilots.

But Graves also estimated that only 5 percent of sightings are reported, which he attributed to stigma among pilots who feel it will “lead to professional repercussions either through management or through their yearly physical check.”

But the most explosive testimony of the day came from David Grusch, a former member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency whose previous allegations on UAPs and the government’s efforts to conceal them sparked Wednesday’s hearing.

Grusch claimed that the Pentagon and other agencies are holding back information about UAPs and hiding a long-running program that is attempting to reverse engineer the objects.

Grusch said that he “absolutely” believes the U.S. government is in possession of non-human technology, adding that he knows “the exact locations” of that material.

He also claimed that he has faced serious reprisals for his statements and had knowledge of those who have been harmed or injured as part of ongoing efforts to cover up extraterrestrial technology.

Grusch in the past has claimed that the U.S. government has for decades recovered nonhuman craft with nonhuman species inside.

He repeated similar assertions at Wednesday’s hearing, though he repeatedly told lawmakers he could not share details in a public setting and that his information was based upon what he had been told by others.

Republicans and Democrats now want to get to the bottom of what these incidents mean for U.S. national security.

“There clearly is a threat to the national security of the United States of America,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said. “As members of Congress, we have a responsibility to maintain oversight and be aware of these activities so that if appropriate we take action.”

He later told reporters that lawmakers have “a responsibility now to move forward aggressively to get to the answers of these questions.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told reporters that a bipartisan group of lawmakers will seek a closed meeting with the witnesses to discuss confidential information in a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF.

And Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday's hearing was the “first of many” on the government's handling of information related to UAPs, which “is an issue of government transparency.”

“I’m shocked, actually, at just the amount of information that came out because all the roadblocks that we were put up against,” he told reporters.

“I think what’s gonna happen now, the floodgates — other people are gonna say, ‘You know, I’ve got some information, I’d like to come swear in,’ and that’s what we’re going to start doing.”

UFO whistleblower makes explosive claims, but wary of divulging details

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 27, 2023) by Saul Elbein

Former intelligence official David Grusch made far-reaching claims about possible U.S. government cover-ups of contact with UFOs and non-human pilots in a House Oversight subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.

But Grusch could not offer any hard evidence to substantiate his claims — largely due to his fears of prosecution for sharing classified data in a public setting, he told Congress.

“As a former intelligence officer, I go to jail for revealing classified information,” he told the members.

Lawmakers on the national security subcommittee noted that evasion is not the same thing as Grusch admitting he doesn’t have proof.

“We should remind viewers and witnesses — and I think is really important — that we also cannot share classified information in public settings,” Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said.

David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative, testifies during a House National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing to discuss Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Greg Nash)

Members repeatedly complained that they had been denied access to a secure hearing room (a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF) where they could hold a fully secure interview with Grusch.

“Every person watching this knows that we need to meet with Mr. Grusch in a secure compartmentalized facility so that we can get fulsome answers that do not put him in jeopardy,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told the committee.

Gaetz's GOP colleagues said after the hearing that they would demand to interview Grusch and the other witnesses in a SCIF to gather additional information.

Here are three specific areas where Grusch said he could share further classified information with Congress to bolster his claims.

Naming his sources

David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative, is sworn in during a House National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing to discuss Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena on Wednesday, July 26, 2023.

Grusch said that during his time as co-lead of the Pentagon’s Unexplained Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) task force, fellow intelligence officials leaked to him the existence of the secret program focused on retrieving — and attempting to reverse engineer — non-human craft.

“Do you have direct knowledge — or have you spoken to people with direct knowledge of this imagery of crash sites,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) asked Grusch.

“I can't discuss that in an open session,” Grusch said.

But he promised to offer a list of potential witnesses — both cooperative and “hostile” — who could give the committee more information.

Claims of retaliation

(L-R) US Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) arrive for a House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security Public Safety and Government Transparency," on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 26, 2023. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

While most of his intelligence agency colleagues have been supportive, Grusch told Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-N.Y.), “I do have knowledge of active and planned reprisal activity against myself and other colleagues,” in what he called “administrative terrorism.”

When Raskin pressed on where these reprisals had come from, Grusch said the source was “certain senior leadership at previous agencies I was associated with.”

“That’s all I’ll say publicly,” Grusch added, “but I can provide more details in a closed environment.”

Related coverage from The Hill

Asked if anyone had been killed over potential leaks, Grusch told Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) that "I have to be careful asking that question, I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities.”

By contrast, former Navy pilot Commander David Fravor, sitting next to Grusch, said that he and other pilots who had witnessed UAP had been treated “very well.”

Misappropriation of funds

Grusch alleged that aerospace and weapons manufacturers were siphoning money off of government contracts — and plowing it into unsanctioned research projects in advanced technology.

The Secretary of Defense does have the authority to deny congressional oversight of particularly sensitive “special access programs,” or SAPs. But the group of high-powered congressional leaders known as the Gang of Eight is at least supposed to be informed — which Grusch said didn’t happen in this case.

Asked how such a secret program gets funded, he said: “I will give generalities — I can get very specific in a closed session — but misappropriation of funds.”

“Do you think US corporations are overcharging for certain tech they're selling to the US government and that additional money is going to programs?” Rep. Moskowitz asked.

“Correct, through something called IREN,” Grusch said, referring to the INFOSEC Research and Engineering Network, a joint research and development venture between several corporate weapons contractors.

Pressed for details, Grusch said he could reveal more in a closed session and offered Rep. Alexia Ocaio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) a list of corporations and sites to begin targeting.

“I'd be happy to give you that in a closed environment, I can tell you specifically,” Grusch responded.

Judiciary GOP torn on Mayorkas impeachment as conference eyes other options

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Rebecca Beitsch

House Judiciary Republicans appeared split in their appetite for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Wednesday, with many largely refraining from discussions of booting him from office.

Democrats went into Wednesday's hearing expecting the unofficial kickoff of an impeachment inquiry into Mayorkas.

But they were met with a more muted GOP as the party grapples with where to focus their impeachment energy.

The hearing wasn’t entirely free of fireworks. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) told Mayorkas that U.S fentanyl deaths were “your fault” while Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) told Mayorkas he should ‘be ashamed; moreso you should be held accountable.”

And Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) repeated the once popular GOP refrain that he should resign or face removal, telling Mayorkas he’d reached the “inevitable conclusion” that the Homeland Security secretary should quit or “that leaves us with no other option. You should be impeached.”

Democrats previewed a point-by-point argument addressing GOP claims floated at different turns over Mayorkas’s two-and-a-half years on the job, and noted the drop in border crossings following the implementation of new Biden administration policies.

But most of the GOP seemed to carefully skirt the “I” word, a factor one GOP aide privately told The Hill was because “I think everyone has moved onto bigger fish.”

Rep. Jerold Nander (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the panel, rolled through a series of GOP arguments, including those surfaced in a recent report from the House Homeland Security Committee, which has vowed to turn over its investigative products for use by Judiciary should they advance an impeachment inquiry.

He asked Mayorkas to dismiss claims the border is open or that he lied to Congress during prior questioning with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) about achieving operational control of the border, a standard requiring perfection.

“The Secure Fence Act, specifically the statute, defines operational control as not having one individual cross the border illegally. Under that statutory definition, no administration has achieved operational control,” Mayorkas said.

Nadler said Mayorkas was just one target of a GOP eager to impeach anyone, pointing to earlier comments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) while calling their “outrage…entirely evidence free.”

“As she so eloquently put it, ‘Everyone loves dessert, and that's impeachment. Someone needs to be impeached.’ Like many of her colleagues, she seemed not to care who was impeached, so long as they could engage in the political exercise of impeaching somebody in the Biden administration. She singled out Secretary Mayorkas as ‘the lowest hanging fruit,’” he said.

And Rep. Veronica Escaobar (D-Texas), whose district is along the U.S.-Mexico border, accused Republicans of using Mayorkas as a scapegoat while refusing to enact legislation that would do anything to solve the problem.

“We know that the spectacle you're seeing on the other side is part of the Republicans ultimate distraction strategy, impeachment. They aren't just focused on impeaching you Mr. Secretary, despite the fact that apprehensions at the border are down by 70 percent,” she said.

“I encourage my colleagues who are seeking a true solution to join our effort to address our broken system. Anything short of that is a dereliction of Congress's responsibility and obligation,” she said, a nod to the GOP argument that Mayorkas has been derelict in his duty.

The GOP critiqued Mayorkas’s job performance, with Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) asking him to rate how he’s done on the job on a scale of one to 10.

And Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) accused the administration of offering too rosy a picture.

“We know that this administration repeatedly violates the law under the guise of instituting safe, orderly and humane policies. But nothing about the Biden administration's policy is safe, orderly, or humane,” he said.

“Only this administration and my Democratic colleagues would call it a success when monthly encounter numbers are near 150,000.”

Republicans in the hearing repeatedly griped about Mayorkas’s failure to answer specific questions on statistics or provide figures on the border.

The GOP had put Mayorkas on notice that they were hoping to get numbers – sending a letter on the afternoon ahead of the hearing with nine different areas where they were seeking data. That primarily covered how migrants seeking asylum were processed and deported since the start of the Biden administration.

“As I have stated before, data you wish to have we will provide to you as promptly as possible. What I don't want to do is misspeak when it comes to data,” Mayorkas told Jordan.

But Jordan said those promises are often not realized.

“I can appreciate that. But we have a history where we've asked questions before, in a hearing, you told us the same thing. You don't get it back to us. So we're trying to get as much as we can on the record, in a public hearing,” Jordan said.

“You say you're gonna get back with this, but the history has not been too good on your part.”

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) also accused Mayorkas of dodging questions.

“I think you're the most dishonest witness that has ever appeared before the Judiciary Committee and I think I speak for a lot of my colleagues. This is such a frustrating exercise for us,” he said.

Mayorkas was one of the earliest impeachment targets of the GOP – Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Mass.) jokingly asked if he's unpacked his office yet – but his appearance comes as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has floated other targets for impeachment.

McCarthy in recent weeks has floated the potential impeachment of Attorney General Merrick Garland as well as President Biden.

Some Republicans have said Mayorkas should remain a focus, and the Republican Study Committee on Tuesday released a memo backing the action.

But McCarhy has gotten flack about pursuing impeachment, including from Buck shortly after his exchange with Mayorkas.

“This is impeachment theater,” Buck said, saying McCarthy was dangling impeachment as “a shiny object.”

“I don’t think it’s responsible for us to talk about impeachment. When you start raising the ‘I word’ it starts sending a message to the public and it sets expectations,” he added later.

GOP rep: McCarthy impeachment talk a ‘shiny object’ to distract from spending

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Nick Robertson

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) criticized House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) recent comments on impeaching President Biden, saying the remarks were a political move meant to distract from budget negotiations.

“What he’s doing is saying there’s a shiny object over there and we’re going to focus on that, we just need to get all these things done so we can focus on the shiny object,” Buck, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a CNN interview Wednesday.

McCarthy said this week that House investigations into potential misconduct by Biden have “risen to the level of impeachment inquiry,” echoing calls from conservative wings of the House GOP.

Buck said he supported investigation into Biden, but said any talk of impeachment right now distracts from the appropriations process and sends the wrong message.

“This is impeachment theater,” Buck said. “I don’t think it’s responsible for us to talk about impeachment. When you start raising the ‘I word,’ it starts sending a message to the public, and it sets expectations.”

McCarthy is under pressure from within his own party on spending limits, as the Freedom Caucus pushes him to go back on a deal he made with President Biden earlier this year which raised the debt ceiling. That deal promised to cap discretionary spending over the next two years, but more conservative Republicans want deeper spending rollbacks.

“We right now are starting the appropriations process and there is no consensus on what the [budget] number should be. Kevin McCarthy promised when he was running for speaker one set of numbers, and then he made an agreement with President Biden for the debt ceiling increase on another set of numbers,” Buck said.

“The party itself is not in agreement, and we’re going to have some real trouble passing some appropriations bills.”

The impeachment discussions have already raised questions among Senate Republicans and have been outright dismissed by Democrats.

Congress and the White House have until Sept. 30 to hash out a budget and avoid a government shutdown.

White House knocks GOP attacks against Biden as a ‘clown carousel’

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Alex Gangitano

The White House on Wednesday criticized House Republicans for their attacks against President Biden, saying that their disjointed messaging about the president is a “clown carousel.”

“Instead of having a consistent, disciplined message, the congressional GOP’s public criticisms of the Biden-Harris Administration are now a fragmented grab-bag that runs the gamut from bizarrely opposing our fentanyl crackdowns to blasting us for trying to end rural poverty (not a joke, sadly),” the White House said in a memo from spokesperson Andrew Bates.

In a day, the memo said, Republicans will move from bashing drag queens to calling Biden old to calling Ukraine a U.S. adversary.

“By the time 4 o’clock shows up, it’s a game of mad libs with bizarre conspiracies about the President’s family and then something about 'wokeness' (we keep asking them what 'wokeness' is, but then they leave the chat),” the memo said. “Apparently, this clown carousel wasn’t weird enough. Now House Republicans are channeling their frustrated energy into a measured and purposeful urge to impeach… someone… somewhere… for something.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) this week signaled the House could move forward with an impeachment inquiry against Biden, though he made it clear no decision has been made. The House GOP has launched investigations into Biden’s family business dealings.

Hunter Biden was in a Delaware court Wednesday, where his plea deal — which has been criticized by Republicans — appeared to be on hold.

More on recent House GOP attacks against Biden from The Hill

The White House memo was titled “The message behind Republicans’ haphazard non-message: they can’t beat Bidenomics,” reflecting the Biden argument that the GOP is stepping up attacks on Hunter Biden and talk of impeachment because the economy is getting stronger and is now a less effective avenue for attack.

“[They] could keep telling the American people that they want to ship the new manufacturing jobs we’re delivering back overseas (we didn’t make it up — we couldn’t). I guess they could triple down on cutting Medicare benefits. Big constituency behind that one. Or the most likely: all of the above,” the memo said. “The bottom line is this. The subtitle to everything that makes up congressional Republicans’ disjointed message is this: ‘Bidenomics is working.’”

The Biden administration recently launched the term "Bidenomics" to tout its economic agenda, which includes boosting manufacturing and job creation.

The president and top officials have traversed the country in the past month to spread the message that Bidenomics has been a success because of low unemployment and falling inflation.

Democratic Caucus chair dismisses Biden impeachment push as ‘complete distraction’

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Mychael Schnell

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) on Wednesday dismissed Republican discussions about opening an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, calling the conversations a “complete distraction.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during an interview Monday night said GOP-led investigations into Biden’s family are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry,” then told reporters Tuesday that actions he sees “could rise to an impeachment inquiry.” He did not, however, launch such a probe.

The comments, nonetheless, have sparked a conversation about whether lawmakers should begin an impeachment inquiry into Biden, which is prompting pushback from Democrats.

“This is just a complete distraction, and Speaker McCarthy knows it,” Aguilar told reporters in the Capitol when asked for his reaction to Republicans now targeting Biden, after previously floating impeaching other administration officials.

“In the absence of talking about important policies that reduce cost for everyday Americans, this is what we’re left with,” he continued. “There’s no there there, but that’s not going to stop House Republicans from advocating things that they feel are harmful politically for the president.”

Republican-led committees in the House for months have been investigating Biden and his family’s business activities, with a particular focus on Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Last week, a House panel heard testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who allege that prosecutors slow-walked an investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax crimes.

Also last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) released an FBI document of unverified claims of corruption connected to Hunter Biden’s work with Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

McCarthy on Tuesday said committees of jurisdiction will continue to investigate, but if the government denies lawmakers information they are requesting, “That would rise to an impeachment inquiry.”

The conversation about an impeachment inquiry involving Biden comes after Republicans have been at odds over who their first target for impeachment should be.

Lawmakers previously floated impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the situation at the southern border and Attorney General Merrick Garland, citing testimony from the IRS whistleblowers.

Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, on Wednesday called attention to the wide net Republicans have cast when it comes to possible impeachments.

“The American people understand that this is a political sideshow, these are political games,” he said. “I mean look, House Republicans three months ago, four months ago, were talking about impeaching the Homeland secretary, then they talked about impeaching the attorney general, now apparently talk of an impeachment inquiry with respect to the president.”

“Apparently, the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the House Republican caucus would like to impeach every single federal official if they could, and I think the American people would far prefer that the Congress focus on real priorities and real issues that are impacting their daily lives. And certainly we will continue to do that. It would be the prudent course of House Republicans to do the same,” he added.

Democrats introduce resolution to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Joan McCarter

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s revenge porn stunt in last week’s House Oversight Committee hearing was the last straw for Democrats. They’ve introduced a resolution to censure her for her record of “racism, antisemitism, LGBTQ, hate speech, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, xenophobia, and other forms of hatred.” Freshman Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont has the honor of sponsoring the resolution.

“For me, censuring Rep. Taylor Greene is about the health of our democracy and faith in government. Her antisemitic, racist, transphobic rhetoric has no place in the House of Representatives,” Balint said in a statement announcing the bill. Because she introduced it as privileged, she can bring it up on the floor at any time and it will have to be considered. It won’t remove Greene from Congress, but it would require a formal rebuke of her by Speaker Kevin McCarthy while she stands in the well of the House chamber. It’s a shaming ritual.

There’s plenty of shameful behavior as evidence in the resolution: four pages detailing around 40 instances of Greene’s violent, abusive, hateful words and acts. Oh, and the conspiracy theories she spouts, everything from 9/11—the government did it—to the 2020 election Big Lie. She has “repeatedly called for violence against elected representatives and their families,” the resolution states, providing the instances, such as when she said former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was ‘‘a traitor to our country, she’s guilty of treason’’ and should ‘‘suffer death or she’ll be in prison.” Or when she “posted an image of herself holding a gun next to images of three Members of Congress with a caption encouraging ‘going on offense’ against them.”

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There’s a litany of instances where Greene “repeatedly espoused antisemitic rhetoric and conspiracy theories, including through inflammatory evocations of the Holocaust.” This includes her association with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and her public slurs against Black people, Asian Americans, and LBGTQ+ people as well as her Islamophobic statements, including against sitting members of Congress who she calls the “Jihad Squad.”

Given Greene’s alliance with McCarthy, he’s not going to be willing to rebuke her. McCarthy has practically made her a member of his leadership team. He’s given her plum committee assignments on Homeland Security and Oversight, where she shared big pornographic posters. McCarthy ignored established procedures and put Greene on the conference committee charged with working with senators to reconcile the National Defense Authorization Act, a seat that would normally be reserved for an Armed Service committee member.

She’s McCarthy’s pet, or maybe his puppet master. It’s hard to tell. At any rate, leadership isn’t going to allow her to be censured. One way or another, they’ll get the resolution off the floor without condemning her, but it will still put Republicans in a bind. The resolution and all of the evidence collected in it will be read on the floor, and every Republican will be forced to say whether they stand with Greene or condemn her actions.

You wouldn’t think that would be a tough call for any member considering the Freedom Caucus decided she was too toxic to be in their club. Instead, they’ll probably reject the censure, condone her behavior, and embrace her as one of them.

Watch live: Mayorkas testifies before House panel on border security, immigration

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Morgan Chalfant

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, just one day after a federal court struck down a Biden administration policy restricting migrants’ access to asylum.

The rule required migrants to first seek and be denied asylum in a country they passed through along their way to the U.S. and also blocked asylum seekers from seeking protection after crossing between ports of entry -- a practice protected under U.S. asylum law.

Mayorkas has been the focus of broad GOP criticism, including calls for impeachment, over the large numbers of migrants who have attempted to enter the U.S. since Biden took office.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET.

Watch the live video above.

McCarthy walks balancing act one more time before long summer

Posted on July 26, 2023 (Updated July 26, 2023) by Mychael Schnell

House Republicans are set to meet as a group one final time ahead of the August recess on Wednesday amid tensions over the annual appropriations process, a push to expunge former President Trump’s impeachments and questions over who they might impeach in the Biden administration.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has shaken up the final question by suggesting in an interview on Fox News on Monday night that the impeachment targets could include the president himself.

He told Fox’s Sean Hannity that Republican-led investigations into Biden are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry” and didn’t back away from the suggestion in remarks to reporters Tuesday.

The statements by McCarthy offer red meat to the GOP base and hard-line conservatives in the conference who are jumping at the chance to go after Biden amid anger over what many Republicans see as favorable treatment by the Department of Justice.

They also come as McCarthy is trying to soothe conservatives angered by the direction of federal spending.

It’s the latest balancing act for the Speaker, who is managing a razor-thin majority and must navigate differences between conservatives and more moderate members of his conference, some of whom do not support as steep of spending cuts and do not want to expunge Trump’s impeachment or impeach Biden.

“We’ve got a narrow majority and we’re trying to work our way to a consensus and hopefully we will,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Rules Committee, said of the appropriations process.

McCarthy must also contend with Trump, the leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, whom he risks angering should he fail to schedule a vote to expunge his impeachments. That dynamic could grow if Trump is hit with his third indictment of 2023 this week.

Wednesday’s Republican conference meeting — its regular weekly gathering — provides McCarthy with one final opportunity to alleviate tensions and rally his GOP troops ahead of a critical week, and a long summer break.

Top of the legislative to-do list is appropriations, as Congress stares down a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown. The House is scheduled to vote on the first two of 12 appropriations bills this week, even as conservatives remain skeptical of leadership's efforts to cut spending.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus put GOP leadership on notice Tuesday, announcing they want to review all 12 appropriations bills — and assess the overall price tag — before voting on any individual measures. All appropriations bills have been released by the Appropriations Committee, but two are still being marked up.

“We are united in the belief that we have to see what the entire cost is before we can start working on individual pieces of it. Because again, you will be left with a very small piece of that pie that we might have to take a lot of the spending out of,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), one of the Freedom Caucus members, said Tuesday.

That posture could make it tougher for McCarthy to pass the first two appropriations bills, which Democrats are expected to oppose because they were marked up at levels below the debt limit deal. If liberals are united in opposition, the Speaker will only be able to lose a handful of his members.

McCarthy brushed aside any concerns Tuesday.

“It’s your same question every week, and I haven't changed my opinion yet,” he told reporters.

The appropriations fight is at risk of being drowned out by Trump, with the former president on indictment watch and House conservatives pushing for a vote on expunging his impeachments.

Trump last week said the Justice Department informed him that he is a target in their investigation into his efforts to remain in office following the 2020 presidential election — which includes the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — a notification that often precedes charges being filed.

That news came within days of a Politico report that said McCarthy — in an effort to ease tensions with Trump after the Speaker questioned his strength as a candidate — promised to stage a vote on resolutions to expunge the former president's impeachments by the end of September, the constitutionality of which has been questioned by some.

McCarthy, who is in favor of expungement, denied ever vowing to hold a vote on the measures. But the report nonetheless resurfaced conservative calls to wipe away the impeachments, much to the chagrin of moderate Republicans.

“President Trump was wrongfully impeached twice — twice — and both of these impeachments must be expunged by the House of Representatives,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a lead sponsor of one of the expungement resolutions, said on the House floor Tuesday.

Those demands will likely grow louder if Trumps is indicted.

McCarthy risks angering Trump and his allies if he does not schedule a vote on the resolutions; but if he does, they would almost certainly fail amid opposition from moderates.

The risk of angering Trump and hard-line conservatives is especially acute as appropriations season heats up — a time when McCarthy is trying to unite his conference behind spending bills to avoid a shutdown.

Some conservatives, however, were pleased with McCarthy opening up the possibility of an impeachment inquiry, a move that could help simmer tensions between the Speaker and his right flank in the sprint to Sept. 30.

“I don’t think there’s any question that him speaking to that has caused a paradigm shift,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said Tuesday.

Emily Brooks contributed.

This story was updated at 8:12 a.m.