Why the FBI isn’t Trying to Shut Down the Government: The Case for the Investigating the House Judiciary Committee

Dean Obeidallah is a columnist and host of the daily program ” The Dean Obeidallah Show” on SiriusXM Radio. Follow him on his account. The opinions expressed are of his own, not of anyone else. CNN has more opinion on it.

It is possible that if the Republicans win back the House next month, they will try to shut down the government to stop the investigation intoTrump’s possible crimes, ranging from his role egging on a crowd that rampaged in the US Capitol to his possible illegality.

The search, pursuant to a court-approved warrant, found more than 100 documents bearing classification markings – including three in desks inside Trump’s office – among other items that should have been returned to the National Archives.

Nevertheless, many in the GOP were incensed by the search. There were immediate calls to “defund the FBI” by some highly vocal GOP lawmakers such as Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar. The Republican candidates for Congress in North Carolina and Ohio all supported the call to stop the investigation of Trump.

Of course, this is the same GOP that slammed Democrats for using the term “defund the police” after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Hypocrisies don’t matter when it comes to the defense of Trump.

The account for House Judiciary Committee members took matters into their own hands during a debate on a bill to give more funding to the Department of Justice.

We have gone from some Republicans wanting to defund the FBI to lawmakers actually seeking to withhold funding to the DOJ, all seemingly to protect their beloved leader.

The Republicans are playing hardball to get rid of something they don’t like. In the fall of 2013, Republicans tried to defund the health care bill, causing a 16-day partial government shutdown.

And we are not done. GOP lawmakers are preparing a buffet of investigations in response to the FBI’s investigation of Trump, according to a report last week. Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told Politico that “we ought to do a deep dive into ensuring that the FBI is focused on organized crime, combating crime, and not witch-hunting Americans.”

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California – a House impeachment manager during Trump’s trial after the January 6 insurrection – recently predicted on my SiriusXM show what he believes will happen if the GOP gains control of the House.

If they get power in the Congress, they will fight for Trump exclusively, according to Swalwell. He added that the House “will be become the largest law firm in D.C., but with just one client.”

A CBS poll released September 25 found that 65% of Republicans respondents said that “loyalty” to Trump is “important.” GOP leaders have that and must defend Trump at all costs in order to protect the reputation of the party.

But it’s with a lingering taste of the January 6 hearings and also two Trump impeachment efforts – one of which was kicked off by Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate none other than Hunter Biden – that Republicans are planning to use the subpoena power of the House majority.

Gaetz appeared on a show hosted by Steve Bannon who was recently indicted in New York on money laundering and other fraud-related charges. There was no plea of guilty from Bannon.

“If we don’t engage in impeachment inquiries to get the documents and the testimony and the information we need, then I believe that our voters will feel betrayed and that likely, that could be the biggest win the Democrats could hope for in 2024, when it really matters to investigate them and to hold them accountable,” Gaetz said.

It is becoming a referendum on the GOP, despite what some Republican leaders may have wanted it to be about.

Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign ruined by a scandalous prosecution and the misdeeds of the old president in the 21st century

It’s obvious that anyone who believes that Trump is above the law should vote Republican. For many Americans, the choice is clear: treat all of us equally under the law or not.

The unprecedented possibility that former President Donald Trump, who’s already launched another bid for the White House, could face indictment could tear the nation further apart at a moment when American democracy remains under grave strain. The already stirring 2024 presidential campaign will cause more political toxins, as both parties realise that the White House and control of Congress are up for grabs after the closely fought midterms.

At a moment when he is in a new clash with the courts and facts, Trump dropped his clearest hint yet of a new White House run.

The November announcement of the next presidential campaign is what Trump has pitched America into. But unusual doubts cloud his future after seven years dominating the Republican Party. His limp campaign launch, bluster over his 2020 election loss and poor track record of hand-picking election-denying candidates have weakened Trump’s aura.

The nation and its political and legal systems are still far from dealing with and moving on from the shock and awe of Trump’s turbulent White House term. The vice chair of the House Select Committee investigating January 6, 2021, stated on Sunday that they want to avoid Trump turning his potential testimony into a circus.

A criminal prosecution of an ex-president and current presidential candidate by the administration that succeeded him would subject the country’s political and judicial institutions to more extreme strain than even Trump has yet managed. The ex-president has claimed persecution over investigations and is now ready to frame them as politicized because of his declaration of his campaign.

And while fierce differences are emerging between Democrats and Republicans over policy on the economy, abortion, foreign policy and crime in the 2022 midterms – while concerns about democracy often rank lower for voters – there is every chance the coming political period revolves mostly around the ex-President’s past and future.

The Case for Donald Trump: The Implications of a State-Dependent Report on Tax and Insurance Frauds in the 2020 Elections

His most immediate clash with the institutions of accountability went to another level Friday when the House January 6 committee issued a subpoena for documents and testimony. Trump has challenged such requests before and has tried to delay or prevent investigations into his conduct. The subpoena could have raised the possibility of him testifying if he wanted to claim the political spotlight.

In Arizona, one of the ex-President’s favorite candidates, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake – a serial spreader of voter fraud falsehoods – is again raising doubts about the election system. Lake thinks it is not going to be fair.

There is a likelihood that the Republican Party will expand in Washington after the elections. Scores of Trump-endorsed candidates are running on a platform of his 2020 election fraud falsehoods, raising questions over whether they will accept results should they lose their races in just over two weeks.

On another politically sensitive front, the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud and grandy larceny trial begins in Manhattan on Monday. The ex-President hasn’t been personally charged but the trial could impact his business empire and prompt fresh claims from him that he is being persecuted for political reasons that could inject yet another contentious element into election season. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a $250 million civil suit against Trump and his family, accusing them of running tax and insurance fraud schemes to enrich themselves for years.

Democrats have tried to get Trump back in the news. Some campaign advisers have warned critical suburban voters that pro-Trump candidates are a danger to democracy because of President Joe Biden’s equating of the Trump supporters withsemi-fascists.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/politics/donald-trump-circus-analysis/index.html

The Investigation of an Ex-President’s Decay into a Political Hack and Thugs: Is It Possible to Lose a Republican Presidential Representative?

The party in power in Washington may be in danger of losing voters because of raging inflation and spikes in gasoline prices.

The ex- President told supporters at a Texas rally that he will likely have to run for the White House again.

Cheney said it could take multiple days and it would be done with a level of rigor and seriousness that it deserves.

“This isn’t going to be, you know, his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that that became. This is a lot of issues.

The committee announced it would send out a subpoena after Trump said he might use an appearance before the committee to create a political spectacle. In a 14-page letter, he made multiple false and debunked claims about election fraud, and lashed out at the panel itself, branding members “highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs whose sole function is to destroy the lives of many hard-working American Patriots, whose records in life have been unblemished until this point of attempted ruination.”

The committee has taken most depositions behind closed doors and on video and used testimony throughout its highly produced presentations. The most sympathetic witnesses have been in person. While this has helped create a powerful narrative that has painted a picture of shocking derelictions of duty by Trump on January 6, it has also deprived viewers of seeing witnesses under cross examination. This has made it difficult to assess whether the committee’s case would stand up to more rigorous evidentiary requirements in a court of law.

The prospect of video testimony over an intense period of days or hours is likely to be unappealing to the former President because it would be harder for him to dictate the terms of the exchanges and control how his testimony might be used.

This could all become academic anyway. It could take months for the issue to be resolved since a new Republican House majority would likely sweep the January 6 committee away and make the issue irrelevant.

Attorney General Garland could be facing one of the most consequential decisions in modern politics: whether to indict Trump over his attempt to alter the outcome of the 2020 elections or over his excessive possession of classified documents.

A decision to charge an ex-president running for a non-consecutive second White House term would undoubtedly cause a firestorm. It would be a bad sign to sparing him from accountability if there was evidence of a crime.

Insights from Denver Riggleman, a Republican Senator, on the Investigation of the 2018 January 6 Budget Raid and the White House Investigation

Denver Riggleman, a former Republican congressman, believes that the US has entered an era of political warfare. He was a senior advisor to the January 6 committee until this spring, when he decided to write a book about the investigation into January 6. A former Air Force intelligence officer, Riggleman cofounded a successful data mining and analysis military contracting firm before his election to the House in 2018. Hundreds of interviews were conducted by the special panel.

After he was ejected from the Republican Party for officiating at a same-sex wedding, John Riggleman asked for a budget of more than $3 million to conduct his digital sleuthing, but was only allocated a fraction of that.

The coordination included members of Congress, the wife of a Supreme Court justice, attorneys, little-known aides, and most of all, Trump’s most ardent supporters. Riggleman also revealed a mysterious nine-second phone call placed from the White House switchboard at 4:34 pm on January 6 to 26-year-old Anton Lunyk, who has since pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol. Even though the findings are positive, the former intel officer is not happy about being unable to go down the rabbit hole.

After voting concludes Tuesday, look for the dominoes to start falling on a scramble of investigations from the Department of Justice and Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The Department of Justice would have to act fast to indict Trump if they wanted to. He could announce his candidacy a week after Election Day on November 14, sources told CNN, although that date could change.

It is possible that Trump will be able to claim credit for GOP wins if they occur on Election Day.

Hunter Biden’s probe of the FBI, the Treasury Department and the House Oversight Committee: What the GOP can do about the Biden Insurrection

The investigation will be centered on suspicious activity reports that banks have filed related to Hunter Biden, the president’s son. We would love to talk to people in the Biden family, like Hunter and Joe.

The House January 6 committee will be shut down, and the public inquisition Republicans have been pursuing for years against President Joe Biden’s son will go into public overdrive.

GOP lawmakers do not have a detailed inflation plan, the issue driving many voters to the polls. But after years on the case of investigating Hunter Biden, who has struggled with substance abuse and made a career dealing with foreign nationals, they have prepared a 1,000-page road map they plan to present to the FBI and Department of Justice. Hunter Biden is already the subject of a two-pronged federal investigation in Delaware but has not been charged with any crime.

There is no connection between GOP investigations of Hunter Biden’s business activities and the January 6 committee’s efforts to document the insurrection.

Anticipating they’ll win a majority in Tuesday’s election, Republicans on Capitol Hill won’t wait to take control in the House in January. The likely new chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, told CNN he’ll resend a letter to the Treasury Department demanding any suspicious bank activity reports linked to Hunter Biden, with the hope the threat of newfound subpoena power gets more attention.

That is the piece of information at the top of a CNN report that summarizes everything the Republicans have said will be investigated about the Biden administration.

Investigations, hearings and subpoenas will dominate in a GOP majority, according to CNN’s report, which notes that Republicans won’t have power to pass much of anything into law.

The majority of bills will not succeed because they don’t have the votes to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit to raise a debt default.

While the Republicans flipped the House, they did it with a four seat advantage on the backs of candidates who weren’t very close to Donald Trump. The districts voted for Biden in 2020.

He said on the day after the election that he was ready to work with his Republican colleagues. “The American people have made clear, I think, that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.”

He thinks that the other team can make an appeal to the other team to get them help.

“Of course, they should always talk about things that would benefit people, but it’s difficult to see where that is actually occurring.” said Mari Urbina, managing director with Indivisible.

But he didn’t make clear what those potential areas of consensus could be. The president has previously spoken about opioids, cancer, mental health and veterans issues as a “unity agenda” where Republicans and Democrats might find common ground.

Biden also recently expressed hopes for a continued bipartisan approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, though in recent months, some Republicans have begun voicing concerns over the large sums of money being given to the Ukrainian government.

Biden was more explicit about areas where he will not compromise. He said he will veto any attempts to create a federal abortion ban, or to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act — the signature climate and healthcare bill Democrats passed this summer. He has said that he would not accept any major cuts to Social Security or Medicare, which was put forth by Senator Rick Scott.

With divided government, “his conversation with the American public gets a lot easier in some ways, politically” said Faiz Shakir, a long-time adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt. “You can say, ‘This is what I want to do. I want to pass this agenda. Republicans in the House are standing in my way.

In other words, the contrast becomes easier than it’s been these last two years when Democrats controlled the House and the Senate, but fought about policy amongst themselves.

With legislation stalled, the president is more likely to try to advance his domestic policy using executive actions, much like his predecessors who have dealt with split government.

Biden has his hands full elsewhere. A near miss between a Chinese jet and US military jet in the South China Sea over the holidays suggests that tensions in the region, especially over Taiwan, may lead to another superpower standoff. Biden also faces burgeoning nuclear crises with Iran and North Korea, which, along with Russia’s nuclear saber rattling, suggests the beginning of a dangerous new era of global conflict and risk.

Republican plans to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act are largely symbolic, given Biden’s veto powers. They could try to squeeze the president on their priorities by not raising the debt ceiling unless he agrees to some of their initiatives.

It is easy for every new majority to think that the election was about them when the other party is kicked out of Congress. It’s not necessarily a validation of the new party,” Buck said.

Going too far risks backlash from voters in the next general election. “That’s what we saw in 2010 into 2012,” Buck explained. The Republicans gained 63 seats in the House in the 2010 election, only for President Barack Obama to win reelection two years later.

The Border, Joe Biden’s Top Homeland Security Official, and the Case for a Fresh Face in the U.S.: How Much Do You Need Now?

The payback is believed to be by a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House, Bill Galston. “They are very angry about the investigations to which they believe they’ve been subjected.”

Biden is getting close to giving Americans a piece of history, a reelection campaign from a president older than 80. His success in staving off a Republican landslide in the midterms has quelled some anxiety among Democrats about a possible reelection run. And Biden’s strongest card is that he’s already beaten Trump once. He would not be able to play that card if Trump does not stay in the race. Roughly half the current president’s age, is what DeSantis is.

“I think this will make a big difference in the situation where the Democratic party wanted to have a fresh face in place of President Biden”, said Galston.

“If there had really been a rout, I think that there would have been a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure that might have burst out into public view sooner rather than later. I don’t think that’s going to happen now,” he said.

Immigration could take on greater importance with the surge at the border, the end of Title 42, and the slim chance of a bipartisan win before the year is done.

When Republicans take control of the House, you will hear a lot more about the border and President Joe Biden’s top Homeland Security official.

A description by a top border agent in El Paso, Texas, of a major surge of illegal crossing this weekend came ahead of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visiting the border on Tuesday.

And the increase in border crossings comes days before the Trump-era Covid-19 policy the Biden administration had used to keep many migrants out of the US expires.

Officials have warned that migrants camped across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, may try to cross as soon as the policy, known as Title 42, is officially rescinded following a court order. The policy has been used to turn away migrants at the border more than 2 million times.

Dem Dem Demystrated: Replacing Secretary Belknap in the White House if Republicans Can Impeach the Secretary of State

Back in Washington, the far-right flank of the GOP, itching to impeach Mayorkas since not long after he took office, renewed their pressure campaign in a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

While their alleged crimes are very different, any impeachment effort against Mayorkas would likely end similarly: Belknap was acquitted in a Senate trial. Democrats, controlling the Senate majority, would surely do the same if Republicans could even muster the majority needed to impeach Mayorkas.

Belknap’s is a Gilded Age tale of corruption, financial payoffs and a weeping resignation. The allegation against Mayorkas is not that he is corrupt, but that he is not executing the law as Republicans feel he should.

“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure. And we will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said during his own trip to the border in November.

It has been suggested that there could be a bipartisan push this year to give protection to immigrants who were brought to the US as children and have been living here all their lives.

You’ve heard them referred to as “Dreamers” or “DACA recipients,” named after previous failed legislation and executive action by then-President Barack Obama that was put in jeopardy by former President Donald Trump.

There is not much time left this year and two senators, one Republican and one Democrat, are working on a bipartisan proposal.

What is next for the Department of Education and Human Services? Insights from CNN’s December 5 Report on Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals

The legislation is intended to give the recipients of the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program some clarity and a path to citizenship. Read more about this December 5 report from CNN.

It will probably have to pass without help from some Democrats who have long been opposed to the Trump-era policy, which will be a heavy lift, since there are not yet any concrete details.

“It’s unlikely to happen before the end of the year, and even next year it’s going to be very hard,” Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican, told the Texas Tribune.

One interesting tidbit out of CNN’s post-election poll released on Monday is that while Americans expect Republicans’ ascendance to the House majority to have a positive impact on the economy and cut down on government spending, they also expect a harmful impact on immigration laws (32% positive, 41% negative).

Immigration has been impossible for a long time. The congress has failed to come up with a policy to deal with both migrants at the border and people who have lived in the country for a long time. It’s not likely that those problems will be solved, but there will definitely be more focus on the border.

While the contours of the White House’s strategy and some of its targets are coming into view, officials are still determining the exact steps they will take to reach their objectives – and they are waiting to see exactly what dynamic they will face in the House next year.

The GOP House brings new difficulties to the table if they want substantive legislation to be passed next year, because of some of the deals Biden delivered in the Senate.

The basic tasks of a functioning government will become high-stakes standoffs. Spending battles will shift from arduous tight-rope walks to outright warfare. And the looming debt ceiling deadline next year and the potential for catastrophic debt default drew enough concern from White House officials that they weighed a push to address it in the current Congress to take it off the table entirely.

Biden’s top legislative officials have spent the last month primarily focused on wrapping up the major spending negotiations of the current Congress and have held off on significant outreach to Republicans about next year’s Congress. And Republicans are in the midst of their own intraparty war over who will serve as the next speaker of the House, and the new members aren’t even in Washington for another couple of weeks.

The official noted that Biden has a track record of working with Republicans during his time in office, but did not say whether he would engage more directly with Republican lawmakers.

White House preparations for the coming years of the U.S. Senate unified power session and a look at the legacy of Kevin Biden

The preparations for months to come are in the early stages, officials said. The main goal is to close out the final days of unified power in Washington, DC by securing passage of the annual defense policy bill and a sweeping bipartisan spending agreement that includes new funding to assist Ukraine’s war effort.

Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican expected to be the next Speaker of the House, is currently locked in a battle with his own members of his own party to win the votes for that ascension. Biden spoke to McCarthy by phone after the election and was one of four leaders who met with him at the White House a few weeks later.

McCarthy, after the meeting, told reporters he “can work with anyone,” but noted the new Republican majority clinched in the midterms signaled “America likes a check and balance.”

But the continued uncertainty across Washington about McCarthy’s pathway to the speakership has tacitly created another reason for what serves as somewhat of a wait-and-see posture in terms of engaging House Republicans.

After two years of seeking out ways to connect Biden, a 36-year Senate veteran with a keen awareness of the importance of even the smallest of priorities back home for elected officials, to rank-and-file members from both parties, the effort will to some degree track and expand on what officials leaned on in their first two years.

The Democrat-only legislative pathway that led to two of Biden’s most consequential legislative wins, the American rescue plan and the $700 billion economic and climate law, have closed the door for officials to take further actions on those issues.

“The option is get absolutely nothing done or find a way to make this work,” a House Democrat told CNN. When it comes to breaking partisan warfare from the areas we can get stuff done it isn’t easy, but I cannot see two years of nothing appealing to someone like Biden.

The preparation currently under way will lead to outreach from the White House to the newly elected members. Each member of the White House’s legislative affairs team is charged with liaising with a list of individual members and at least one committee, a senior White House official said.

The senior administration official said that they were content to let them shoot at each other. “We have a record and, driven by the president, very clear way in which we approach the importance of these relationships. That will certainly be reflected in the next Congress.”

The next Congress, even with a Republican majority, is going to look very different from the White House’s expectations. While they were confident in the popularity of their legislative agenda, the combination of economic headwinds in the form of persistent inflation and historical precedent that showed nearly every president took losses in the first midterm election led to a less than ideal environment.

Instead of the “red wave” predicted by Republicans, however, Biden’s party expanded its Senate majority and stunned House Republicans – and many Democrats – by nearly fighting to a draw in the chamber.

Two new Republicans from New York who are elected this fall say they see an opportunity to work with the White House to pass legislation.

“We have been, you know, sort of named majority makers here in New York,” D’Esposito told CNN. We have no choice if we want to keep the majority, but we have to work in a bipartisan fashion to deliver.

“When you have a small majority, everybody is empowered to a degree,” said Lawler, who defeated House Democrats’ campaign chief in suburban New York. “The objective should be to make sure that we are working as a conference to pass legislation that the conference can get behind and that has the best chance of passing the Senate and being signed by the White House.”

The House Republican told CNN that he was getting the focus of the Trump and Freedom Caucuses because they hold significant sway inside the conference. We go nowhere without our freshman, and that creates very real leverage.

Even if the White House can convince enough Republicans to buck their party on key bills, the speaker of the House controls what legislation comes up for a vote in the chamber. Recent House GOP leaders have attempted to stick close to an unofficial idea that nothing should move forward without a “majority of the majority” in support of the measure, though the approach was often scrapped in times of crisis or must-pass legislative moments.

A senior White House official declined to say whether the White House would focus on trying to strike bipartisan agreements with Republican leadership or try and peel off moderate Republicans through the use of discharge petitions, calling those decisions premature.

“That will be something we will be considering tomorrow,” Schiff added, noting that the panel has weighed whether it is better to criminally refer members of Congress to other parts of the federal government or if Congress should “police its own.” The congressional mechanisms could include censure and referrals.

The California Democrat told Jake Tapper on State of the Union that they were looking at the appropriate remedy for members of Congress who ignore a congressional subpoena.

Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the GOP in the House of Representatives, is one of five House Republicans that have been subpoenaed.

Correspondence to Schiff on Russian charges of insurrection and obstruction of justice in the House and Senate investigations into the 2020 midterm elections

A source with knowledge of the matter says that the panel will refer at least three criminal charges against the former president to the Justice Department.

The impact House referrals might have is not known because the Department of Justice special counsel investigation is already examining Trump.

But in addition to criminal referrals, January 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters that the panel could issue five to six other categories of referrals, such as ethics referrals to the House Ethics Committee, bar discipline referrals and campaign finance referrals.

Censure was something that we have considered. The committee will make a decision on ethics referrals on Monday.

Multiple sources told CNN that the panel weighed Criminal referrals for a number of Trump’s closest allies, including former White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows, former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Schiff reiterated Sunday that he believes there is evidence that Trump committed criminal offenses related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

This person tried to get state officials to find votes that didn’t exist. This is someone who tried to interfere with a joint session, even inciting a mob to attack the Capitol. If that is not a crime, then I don’t know.

“If you look at Donald Trump’s acts and you match them up against the statute, it’s a pretty good match,” Schiff told Tapper when asked specifically about a charge of insurrection.

I think the president has committed crimes. And I think you have to be treated like any other American who breaks the law, and that is, you have to be prosecuted,” he said.

The Biden-Zenensky deadline for January 6 terrorist attacks: a single man or a loophole in the wall-crossing?

Biden is expected to announce an additional $1.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, a significant boost in aid headlined by the Patriot missile systems within the defense assistance package, a US official told CNN.

Though the visit might last only hours, the two are expected to convene a White House news conference before Zelensky addresses members of Congress on Capitol Hill in prime time.

The committee says in its final report that the central cause of January 6th is a single man: Donald Trump. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”

The Senate should be able to take the procedural steps needed to pass a year-long federal spending bill by Thursday.

The Supreme Court should reject an emergency bid by a group of GOP-led states to keep the restriction in effect while legal challenges are fought, according to the Biden administration. But it also asked for the court to delay the ending of Title 42 until at least December 27, citing ongoing preparations for an influx of migrants and the upcoming holiday weekend.

The border officials can turn away migrants who have crossed the southern border illegally if they don’t use Covid-19. There have been nearly 2.5 million expulsions – mostly under the Biden administration, which has been bracing for an influx of arrivals if the authority lifts.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/21/politics/washington-biden-zelensky-january-6-trump-immigration-spending-bill/index.html

Trump’s Tax Audit Report: The Secret Counsel to the President, and a White House Response to Jordan and Comer’s Correspondence

The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday asserted that the IRS failed to properly audit Trump’s taxes while he was in office. It released a report that detailed six years’ worth of the former president’s tax returns, including his claims of massive annual losses that significantly reduced his tax burden.

Alpha Grant said that the hearing for Sam Bankman- Fried was expected to take place on Wednesday.

Grant confirmed the timing of Wednesday’s hearing shortly after Jerone Roberts, Bankman-Fried’s Bahamian attorney, spent several hours in the courthouse Tuesday afternoon and then left amid a swarm of unanswered questions from reporters.

Bankman-Fried had been arrested a week ago at his home in the Bahamas, which was near where he was to appear before the committee.

The GOP will be in control of the House next week, so a top White House lawyer told them they need to re-issue oversight requests from the last Congress.

The White House has been assembling a team of lawyers and other advisers to deal with the expected onslaught of oversight requests. The first indication of the approach is Thursday’s letter, one that vows cooperation but still pushes back on what the White House views as overstepping.

Jordan and Comer had started demanding records from the Biden administration beginning shortly after it became clear in November that Republicans would gain enough seats in the House to take the majority in the chamber from Democrats. The deadlines were put in place in December.

The Special Counsel to the President writes in his letter that the two Republicans do not have the authority to make requests, and that they would need to resubmit them when the Congress convenes next week.

The House of Representatives has not delegated authority to individual members of Congress who are not committee chairs, according to a letter from a top White House oversight lawyer.

“Should the Committee issue similar or other requests in the 118th Congress, we will review and respond to them in good faith, consistent with the needs and obligations of both branches. We expect the new Congress will undertake its oversight responsibilities in the same spirit of good faith,” Sauber wrote.

In a statement, Comer said, “President Biden promised to have the most transparent administration in history but at every turn the Biden White House seeks to obstruct congressional oversight and hide information from the American people.”

We will work in good faith to provide appropriate information to congress, but Americans want their leaders to work together on their priorities, like lowering costs. That’s what the president will focus on, and we hope House Republicans join him,” Ian Sams, a spokesman for White House Counsel’s Office, said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, political stunts like subpoena threats from the minority suggest House Republicans might be spending more time thinking about how to get booked on ‘Hannity’ than on preparing to work together to help the American people,” Sams said, referring to the Fox News program.

The Republicans take control of the House this week that will lead to a two year political era with governing battles and shutdowns as the GOP speaker and the president try to impose their will.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year showed how outside, global events can redefine a presidency. Biden will be remembered for his leadership of the West against Moscow’s aggression. But Russian President Vladimir Putin shows every sign of fighting on for years. Ukraine says it won’t stop until he gets his forces out. So Biden’s capacity to stop the war from spilling over into a disastrous Russia-NATO clash will be constantly tested.

In the Senate, Democrats are still celebrating the expansion of their tiny majority in the midterms. (After two years split at 50-50, the chamber is now 51-49 in their favor). The president will travel to Kentucky this week in order to get the public to trust him with bipartisanship and effective governance. He’ll take part in an event also featuring Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to highlight the infrastructure package that passed with bipartisan support in 2021.

The Next Donald Trump: The Real Problem of Predicting the Future of the U.S. Economy and the Implications for 2023

If Trump were to be indicted it would cause such a large uproar that it would be hard to determine if it would be in the national interest.

“If a president can incite an insurrection and not be held accountable, then really there’s no limit to what a president can do or can’t do,” outgoing Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the select committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.

“If he’s not guilty of a crime, then I, frankly, fear for the future of his country because now every future president can say, ‘Hey, here’s the bar.’ The bar is to stay in power.

Potential alternative figureheads for his populist, nationalist culture war politics, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are emerging who could test the ex-president’s bond with his adoring conservative base. Even as he fends off multiple investigations, Trump must urgently show he’s still the GOP top dog as more and more Republicans consider him a national liability.

As 2023 opens, a repeat White House duel between Trump and Biden – which polls show voters do not want – is the best bet. But shifting politics, the momentous events in the months to come and the vagaries of fate means there’s no guarantee this will be the case come the end of the year.

And who knows how long US and European voters will stomach high energy prices and sending billions of taxpayer cash to arm Ukraine if Western economies dip into recession this year.

It has been hard to judge the economy. In 2022, 40-year-high inflation and tumbling stock markets coincided with historically low unemployment rates, which created an odd simultaneous sensation of economic anxiety and wellbeing. The key question for 2023 will be whether the Federal Reserve’s harsh interest rate medicine – designed to bring down the cost of living – can bring about a soft landing without triggering a recession that many analysts believe is on the way.

Washington spending showdowns and potential government shutdowns could also pose new threats to growth. The economy will be outside any political leader’s capacity to control, but its state at the end of the year will play a vital role in an election that will define America, domestically and globally after 2024.

The White House is Not Enforcing the Right Policy on Confidentiality in Investigating Associated Democrat and Republican Correlations

The White House cannot make sure the identity of people who cooperated with the probe on the condition of anonymity remains confidential once the panel ends on Tuesday.

The select committee had agreed it “would do its utmost to protect the identity” of certain personnel if the White House allowed them to sit for an interview.

But now the panel acknowledges it “cannot ensure enforcement of the commitment to maintain the confidentiality of the identity of the witnesses” because it will no longer exercise control over interview transcripts after it is dissolved, according to a December 30 letter.

“Pursuant to long-standing House rules, the official records of the Committee will be archived and pass into the control of the National Archives,” the committee wrote to Richard Sauber, special counsel for Biden, noting the panel shares “concern for the safety, security, and reputations of our witnesses.”

The committee has already begun to transmit materials to the National Archives and Records Administration, while releasing dozens of interview transcripts publicly. In some cases, the panel has redacted the names of witnesses in transcripts made available for public review.

At the same time, the panel said in its letter to the White House it is providing materials for review and “instructions for proper handling by the Archives.”

Now that the speaker of the House has been selected and the members have been sworn in, the chamber is free to look at picking up business and organizing committees.

The top item on the to-do list when the House returns Monday is to pass a new set of House rules.

There will also be some must-pass policy issues – like funding the government – that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together.

What Comes Next: Inside the White House on the Afghanistan Explanation of the November 2021 Referendum to the House Selector’s Report

The White House said the investigations are politically motivated and a waste of time. Such reports are not conclusive and do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing.

The FBI and Department of Justice. The expected chairman of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Justice Department in November requesting documents on everything from the department’s alleged “targeting” of the right wing group to the FBI searching for President Donald Trump’s records.

The southern border. After winning the majority, Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas telling him and other department officials to be prepared to testify.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden’s decision to remove US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 led to a frantic attempt by many Afghans to flee the county, with devastating scenes of people clinging to the wings of planes as they tried to escape before the Taliban government officially assumed power. Republicans have signaled that they are eyeing potential probes into the events.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/07/politics/house-speaker-what-comes-next/index.html

The origins of covid-19: What is the most important public health question that need to be answered? Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers

The origins of covid-19. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce panel, has said that “how the pandemic started, that’s probably the most important public health question that needs to be answered.” According to studies released last year, a seafood market in China is most likely the epicenter of the virus.