Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) traded barbs with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) on the social media site "X" Monday — and got more than she bargained for.
"The clowns are running the circus," said McGovern. "We’re wasting time on Marjorie Taylor Greene because she wants to impeach someone. Don’t get me started on her absurd censure resolution of Congresswoman Omar that she introduced because she doesn’t know how to use Google Translate."
"Wow, this is coming from the same guy who is well known to lay his suit jacket on the actual bathroom floor while spending a lot of time in the stall of the first floor bathroom of the Capitol," Greene posted in reply. "Eww. That’s probably when he comes up with all this [poop emoji]."
McGovern, however, shot back with a ready retort.
"No idea what you’re talking about," he wrote. "What are you doing in the men’s bathroom aren’t you late for a klan meeting?"
House Republicans are chasing a "fantasy" border control policy that will never become a reality, even if former President Donald Trump gets reelected, Republican insider Brendan Buck told MSNBC's Chris Jansing on Monday.
"There is this fantasy among a lot of Republicans that there will be some day when the stars will align and you can have the perfect Republican super-conservative policy on the border," Buck continued. "That is never going to happen."
A weeks-long deliberation in the Senate has produced a bipartisan but relatively conservative border deal that would require mandatory border shutdowns, new asylum restrictions, and expedited removal in exchange for some new due process protections for migrants and an expansion of green cards.
But former President Donald Trump has convinced House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and the rest of House GOP leadership to vow it won't ever get a hearing if it passes the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters he worked closely with Leader Mitch McConnell, spurring frustration from other Republicans said Jansing.
"In response, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted 'That's the problem,'" Jansing noted. "What does it say that this level of collaboration is actually reason for the deal to be off the table for some members?"
"It's why nothing ever gets fixed," said Buck. "In our system of government, you need bipartisan cooperation. We have divided government."
Buck argued that even during the Trump era, when Republicans had "complete government control," all they managed to accomplish was a 35-day government shutdown.
"Donald Trump got nothing out of it," Buck said. "The only way it's going to happen is in a bipartisan way, but when bipartisanship is a four-letter word, you understand why we've gone 35 years without any type of resolution."
Buck believes the Republicans' fears are less about immigration and more about polling.
"You have too many members of the House and Senate who are terrified of a primary," he added. "They are unwilling to do anything that would require a little courage on a policy front."
WASHINGTON — After protecting – and studying – lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol for the past 15 years, Harry Dunn turned his service revolver over to the Capitol Police at the end of 2023.
He then entered the 2024 race to represent residents of Maryland’s 3rd congressional district, which curls through the suburbs south and west of Baltimore, as a Democrat.
Dunn found his life upended during the 2021 Capitol insurrection as he protected then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staffers from militia group the Oath Keepers and other violent attackers.
In the three years since the Capitol attack, Dunn has made it his mission to raise the alarm about what he sees as the greatest threat to American democracy: former President Donald Trump.
He offered gripping testimony about the day to the U.S. House’s select January 6 committee.
“I was distressed, I was angry, and I was scared," Dunn testified to the select committee in 2022. "During the event, it was just about surviving."
He also became a New York Times bestselling author with his book “Standing my Ground.”
In this Raw Story exclusive, Dunn discusses more than his newfound ambitions as a politician – “Don't think of me as one! I’m a public servant.” He also pulls the veil back on how his fellow officers reacted to his accidental activism and what he views as the hypocrisy of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“I refuse – win or lose this election – to let the story of January 6 and the narrative go in any other direction than the truth. Hell, that's been my mission since I started speaking out three years ago,” Dunn told Raw Story.
The distinguished former Capitol Police officer also discussed his personal interactions with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and other lawmakers – “a lot of the people that are holding those seats shouldn't be there” – including House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who has supported imprisoned Jan. 6 attackers and seems to be auditioning to get the vice-presidential nod from Trump.
Raw Story’s conversation with Dunn is lightly edited for length and clarity:
Raw Story: “So now you are running…”
Harry Dunn: “I know. What the hell am I thinking, right?”
RS: “Exactly! You’ve looked at all these politicians from the other side and, to now to be running — how's that change feel?”
HD: “Maybe ‘inspire’ is the right word. I've been up close and personal with them every day of my life for the last 15-plus years, and I feel like I see what they're doing and I'd say, ‘I could do it a little better’ – or not necessarily better but different or more effective. I've watched them. I've heard the things that they said, specifically the MAGA faction of the Republican Party that has kind of downplayed everything since January 6. Now, obviously, Jan. 6 was the catalyst that brought me to this point, but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things.”
RS: “Even before we jump into January 6, just seeing lawmakers every day, you kind of get a takeaway, like, ‘oh, wait, they're just humans.’”
HD: “I love that part of it, man. Because that's what public servants, to me, are supposed to be: just people – average people that aren't on a pedestal. But my job is to give a voice to the members of the community that I represent, and that's what your job is as an elected official. Your job is to represent those people, and you should be an everyday American because that's what the government should be made up of.”
RS: “Now to get to January 6, especially this year with the anniversary, it just had a different feeling at the Capitol, almost like it never happened.”
HD: “Because that's what Donald Trump wanted. Everything that Donald Trump has said — slowly but surely it starts trickling down into Congress. Everything that Donald Trump has said they are saying – ‘they’ meaning the subordinates of him in Congress parroting his talking points – and that's not how Congress is supposed to work.”
RS: “You'd expect it more – I'd expect it more from someone like MTG – but how is it watching…”
HD: “Do I expect more? At the Capitol, we would see these individuals every day so maybe we expect more from the position that they hold but not necessarily the person. Like, I don't expect more from Donald Trump, I expect more from the presidency. And that's how I was able to do my job. I was able to separate that, the institution of Congress – I marvel at it; I respect it – but a lot of the people that are holding those seats shouldn't be there.”
RS: “I've been with MTG to the D.C. jail for her to advocate for J6 prisoners, and it's been a part of her rhetoric. But now to hear Elise Stefanik – who’s been in Republican leadership – say, ‘January 6 hostages,’ that's new.”
HD: “So what is Elise Stefanik right now? She’s vying for a VP nod, right? So it's anything to stay in Trump's graces. We've seen it all the way from the beginning of January 6 with Kevin McCarthy when later that night he went on the floor and condemned Donald Trump. Few days later, he’s down at Mar-a-Lago changing his tune, right? [Sen.] Lindsey Graham, same thing with him. Elise Stefanik. The list goes on and on and on. He has that much of a hold over the people that it's dangerous and very counterproductive in Congress.”
RS: “We see Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party, how would it be serving with those folks?”
HD: “The same way it was for me protecting them. This isn't just something that I'll have to get used to being able to see them and say ‘hi’ to them every day. I did that January 7th – the day we went back after the attack at the Capitol, because I revere the institution. I hold it in high regard. I think the world of it, and I expect great things to come from Congress. The fact that we haven't been able to doesn't mean that we shouldn't still strive to get greatness out of it.”
RS: “Have you been surprised watching the rhetoric of MTG and that faction trickle into the leadership?”
HD: “I'm disappointed. I'm not surprised, because Donald Trump has this stranglehold over these individuals. It's very important to acknowledge, though, what Congress is supposed to do. I believe in it, and maybe that's crazy on me for believing in something that hasn't functioned well for a long time.”
RS: “How important is this election just for the legacy of January 6, because it feels very tied to Donald Trump and his future?”
HD: “It's very important, not necessarily for the legacy of it, so to speak. I refuse – win or lose this election – to let the story of January 6 and the narrative go in any other direction than the truth. Hell, that's been my mission since I started speaking out three years ago. But I think what this election will show is how important the threats to free and fair elections are and holding on to our democracy is to people. Donald Trump said it himself that [he] wants to be a dictator on day one. He said that. So I think what the election will show is how many people think that what we have now is worth preserving and worth fighting for it.”
RS: “When you were on the force, what was the reaction from Capitol Police brass – but then your fellow officers – to you speaking out?”
HD: “That was tough to navigate, because Capitol Police officers aren't allowed to give press conferences or speak to the media. So when I spoke, I was speaking as a citizen. I wasn't representing Capitol Police. So it was difficult to navigate, because those things are tied together – the Capitol Police and January 6 – so I was in a tough bind. I never went rogue or anything like that. I was respectful to the department. I said, ‘Listen, this is what I want to do. I'm not here to bash the department. I'm here to get the people responsible and hold them accountable.’ Period. There were a couple head bumps about me speaking out. I respect the Capitol Police leadership, and they were great. And obviously, when you talk about frontline — my co-workers — a lot of them were indifferent. A lot supported me, and said, ‘keep going.’ And there were a few that hated it – you know, ‘I'm making it about me’ – which kind of sucks, but it’s expected. If you look, the FOP [Fraternal Order of Police], the last few times Donald Trump ran, they endorsed him, so there's a lot of police officers that support Donald Trump, even after January 6. So I expected all types of mixed reactions. But I know what I'm doing, I'm standing up for what I believe in.”
RS: “What do you make of seeing law enforcement come around Trump or, more so, seeing Republicans still try to wear the mantle of law enforcement when they threw y'all literally under the bus?”
HD: “Does that make me dislike Donald Trump more or does that make me have to face the sad reality of what our country is? I don't think that necessarily makes me hate Donald Trump even more, I think it makes me have an awakening to, ‘hey, this faction exists, and it's not a small faction – it's a large population of people.’ We have to figure out how to navigate that, because they're here and clearly aren't going anywhere.”
RS: “When it comes to the lead up of January 6, have your questions been answered? For one, on congressional leaders – Pelosi and [Sen. Mitch] McConnell — for the pre-planning. But then also the agencies. Are you sure we can’t have a repeat?”
HD: “I don't believe in any conspiracy that McConnell or Pelosi wanted to see the Capitol attacked. I don't believe that at all. I believe in incompetence, versus it was a setup or some s— like that. Somebody dropped the ball, and they need to be held accountable. I don't know where that is, but somebody did. But I don't believe it was the leadership. I think they trusted people that they put in positions to answer for those things, and those people need to be held accountable.”
RS: “Seeing groups like Moms for Liberty take root on the right, are you worried about — maybe January 6 not repeating itself in a physical assault but them kind of taking root at the local level and trying to really take control of the reins of democracy at voting stations, etc.?”
HD: “We have to realize this faction – this chokehold that Donald Trump has – it's not just limited to members of Congress. It's triggered all the way down to local school board elections, like Moms for Liberty. And that's why it's so important to have truth tellers, individuals that really understand what is at stake right now. Obviously, we all want, in the long run, the same things, but I don't think that a lot of people realize the dire situation and how urgently we need to fight for it right now. Because it is a clear and present threat right now and we have to take it seriously. I left my job early. Meaning, I was there 15-plus years, four years short of being able to collect a full pension, because it's that important to me. It can't wait.”
RS: “How's that been going? Because it's hard for me to think of you as a politician, but, I guess, technically on paper, you are.”
HD: “Don't think of me as one! I’m a public servant. You saw me at the Capitol every day. You saw me interacting with people, ‘how can I help you?’ My job was to help people, and that's what I did. I've been doing that for the last 15 years of my adult life, and that won't change.”
RS: “But now you gotta dial for dollars and stuff like that. How's the campaigning?”
HD: “That sucks. I hate asking people for stuff. It’s difficult, but it's necessary. It's not like I'm raising money and putting it in my pocket. It’s for messaging, and I want to reach as many people as I can. Obviously, to win the election, but, the bigger picture, to educate and inform people of what is at stake right now.”
RS: “I'm from Chicago, which is very much like Baltimore, you got these old political machines. How's it been navigating Maryland Democratic politics?”
HD: “It's a lot to learn, but I've cared about politics, so it's not like, ‘who is the lieutenant governor?’ I'm engaged. Before I'm a candidate, before I'm a police officer, I'm a proud citizen of Maryland – and I have been my whole life – who wants to see the people and the state thrive. So running for office or not, that is always how I felt. But being a player now, so to speak, I don't want to lose the essence of who I am, which is a public servant.”
RS: “You obviously get a lot of focus from January 6, but what are the other things you're running on that you think – especially coming from law enforcement – that you can really bring to the table?”
HD: “Since you said it, let’s talk about that, law enforcement and police reform. There's been a long time where Cory Booker and Tim Scott, two black senators, were working together to create a bill to address police reform of criminal justice reform. They were unable to come to an agreement through a consensus, so the talks stalled and now it's just tabled. But the change can't wait … I've been very vocal about mental health. I think we need to reallocate funding to fight the war on mental health right now and the stigma that is associated with it. We all are struggling in some capacity every single day, and we need to make accessibility to mental health way more accessible … Lower health care costs. Obviously, I agree with the majority of the Democratic principles: the woman's right to choose, common sense gun reform. That's the stuff that I agree on, and those issues fall under the umbrella of democracy to me, because, you know, if Trump is elected back into the White House, do those issues even matter? They’ll be gone just like that.”
RS: “You have a presence, and it's usually a smiley, happy presence at the Capitol, but knowing that you were one of our boys in blue but then if you're wearing a suit and wearing that congressional pin, what signal would that send to the MTGs, the Matt Gaetzes, the Boeberts, the people trying to whitewash January 6th?”
HD: “That I can't be dismissed. It's easy to dismiss me when I was an officer, right? As just some ‘angry liberal plant,’ right? It's easy to dismiss me as that. But actually, I'm your colleague, now, I'm your equal. You can't dismiss me. You have to listen. I can bring an issue to the table and force it to be addressed.”
RS: “What would the lawmakers tell you like, personally off the record, post January 6?”
HD: “Well, the ones that I got to talk to, the ones who would dare talk to me about it – and that’s how bad it was – a lot of those members aren't in Congress anymore. That’s just a symptom of being a truth teller in a Donald Trump Congress, so to speak. It sucks. It’s unfortunate. But you mentioned MTG, I mean, she was a very friendly person. When I saw her on the Hill, she would always wave. She would always say hello. I don't know if she knew who I was, but she would always say hello. So I don't have anything bad to say about her about that.”
RS: “You get that southern nice but then it seems like some of those policies are very harmful but then they're cloaked in this smile. Like, does that worry you?”
HD: “I think it's disingenuous – smiling without even having your pulse on what's going on.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke to "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker on Sunday, claiming he was being left out of all of the negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans over the border and military funding bills. But one Senator says that's not entirely accurate. As it turns out, Johnson chose to be excluded.
Welker asked if he was offered a "briefing."
"No!" Johnson said. "I've had individual senators call and give me tips and offered things that are going on in the room, but we've not been a part of that negotiation. And I've been absolutely clear from day one — since literally the next day after I was handed the gavel in late October, what the functional equivalence of H.R. 2, what those are and why that was necessary to solve the problem."
CNN's Capitol reporter Manu Raju posted on the social media site "X" that Republican Sen. James Lankford (OK) was "invited to participate in the Senate talks but ultimately declined." According to Johnson, the House already approved its own bill.
"Lankford told me that Johnson was asked 'early on' whether 'you want to be engaged on this,'" recalls Johnson’s response, according to Lankford: 'He said the House has already spoken.'"
The reference was to the second House Resolution that the Republicans sought to pass for the year. Senators on both sides have called that bill a non-starter, Raju explained in his social media post.
Lankford also told Raju that Johnson was "loosely briefed" on the talks despite refusing to participate in the negotiations.
It was revealed in the past few weeks that Donald Trump has asked Republicans not to pass a border or immigration bill because he doesn't want President Joe Biden to have any successful legislation.
The legislation marks the first time in decades that Republicans and Democrats have been willing to come together on such legislation.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) had his microphone cut off during an interview on ABC News on Sunday after he denied statements he made about firing all civil servants.
While interviewing Vance on ABC's This Week program, host George Stephanopoulos pointed to the senator's remarks on a 2021 radio program.
"I think that what Trump should do, like if I was giving him one piece of advice, fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people, and when the courts, because you will get taken to court, and then when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say the Chief Justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it," Vance told the program.
"Fire everyone in the government, then defy the Supreme Court," Stephanopoulos said, summarizing the remarks. "Do you think it's okay for the President to defy the Supreme Court?"
"No, no, George, I did not say fire everyone in the government," Vance insisted. "I said replace the mid-level bureaucrats with people who are responsive to the administration."
"You said every civil servant in the administrative state," the ABC host pushed back.
"Let me finish the answer," Vance pleaded. "If those people aren't following the rules, then, of course, you've got to fire them, and, of course, the president has to be able to run the government as he thinks he should."
"The Constitution also says the president must abide by legitimate Supreme Court rulings, doesn't it?" Stephanopoulos pressed.
"You're talking about a hypothetical where the Supreme Court tries to run the military," Vance said. "I don't think that's gonna happen, George, but, of course, if it did, the president would have to respond to it."
"You didn't say military in your answer, and you've made it very clear," the ABC host observed. "You believe the president can defy the Supreme Court."
"No, no, no, no, George," Vance said before his microphone was cut off and the program moved to another segment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) may be headed for the same fate as his predecessor, the now-retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), with members of his GOP caucus complaining that he is not only blowing off their wishes, but is also ignoring them.
According to a report from the Daily Beast, Republicans are fond of Johnson but there are growing worries about his "leadership skills" — something badly needed to keep his fractured caucus focused on the task at hand.
The report notes that the general consensus about his performance is that he "talks out of both sides of his mouth, telling members what they want to hear, and then doing what they don’t want."
One familiar complaint heard is that he keeps postponing taking on big issues, with Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) stating, "I’m not satisfied," before adding, “I’ll be his biggest cheerleader when he does something conservative. But when we continue to do what Republicans seem to do up here and kick the can down the road and say, ‘Oh, well, we'll fight next time we promise you,’ I’m gonna be critical of that.”
Another House Republican, who didn't want to be identified, complained, "He says whatever he needs to say to make everyone happy, which makes you an ineffective leader. I mean, there’s just a lot of lip service to people, making them feel like they’re being heard without actually making a decision. All that being said, you know, he’s doing a pretty crappy job,”
The Daily Beast reports adds, "The speaker’s shifting policy stances are at the top of the GOP’s list of grievances. His shifting positions on critical issues, disgruntled right-wing lawmakers said, have become a key problem."
A resolution passed at the Republican National Committee's (RNC) recent winter meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada shows that the question of whether the party accepts that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election is still a very divisive topic among Republicans.
The Washington Post reported on the resolution, which states the RNC will continue to support fake electors currently embroiled in criminal investigations in multiple states around the country. However, that resolution notably included language like putting the word "vocally" before support (rather than financially, for example) and the word "lawfully" when describing Trump electors from states that then-candidate Joe Biden won in 2020.
RNC committeeman Tyler Bowyer of Arizona authored the resolution, and told the Post that it aims to both "identify the awareness and involvement of the RNC" and "ensure that the RNC is vocally and morally supporting those who have been targeted by radicals with an ultimate hope that they can be financially sustained." However, Bowyer's resolution was met with skepticism by other RNC members, who questioned the political wisdom behind it.
"They stuck in the word lawful next to the word alternate electors, I don’t know what that is," New Jersey-based RNC committeeman Bill Palatucci told the Post.
Because presidential electors are only lawful if they are representing the candidate and party that won a majority of the state's voters, Republican electors from swing states Biden won have been prosecuted in several states — including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin — for various crimes, including forgery. Some GOP electors from Biden states have said that they were encouraged to sign paperwork falsely stating they were the presidential electors of that state at the behest of the Trump campaign.
Jeff Mandell — an attorney representing Biden's electors in Wisconsin — told the Post that it doesn't appear the RNC has been "chastened by the aftermath" of fake elector prosecutions.
"It’s not lawful action," Mandell told the publiction. "In fact, the 10 fraudulent electors in Wisconsin admit as part of their settlement ‘we were not the duly elected presidential electors for the state of Wisconsin and we said we were.’ So the resolution is just doubling down on things that aren’t true... [T]he Republican Party institutionally appears to be doubling down, already planning on the things that they’re going to do if they lose."
Senior Republican lawmakers and GOP insiders are reaching a consensus that the chances of successfully impeaching President Joe Biden are tumbling, given the dearth of credible accusations against him and the razor-thin majority Speaker Mike Johnson has in the House.
Three top Republican-chaired committees were tasked with investigating President Biden in an effort to impeach him. Some Republicans have suggested or even admitted the effort is either purely political or retaliation for Democrats in the House twice impeaching Donald Trump. Among them, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Troy Nehls (R-TX), then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Oversight Chair Jim Comer, and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan.
TIME reported last month, "the multi-pronged investigation has failed to prove that Joe Biden benefitted from his son’s business dealings or that he used his official government power to enrich himself or his kin. Nevertheless, leading House Republicans appear determined to impeach the President in the coming months, despite queasiness from within their own ranks."
CNN reported on Friday that a "growing number of senior House Republicans are coming to terms with a stark realization: It is unlikely that their monthslong investigation into Joe Biden will actually lead to impeaching the president."
"Top Republicans are not expected to make an official decision on whether to pursue impeachment articles until after a pair of high-stakes depositions later this month with Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James. But serious doubts are growing inside the GOP that they will be able to convince their razor-thin majority to back the politically perilous impeachment effort in an election-year, according to interviews with over a dozen Republican lawmakers and aides, including some who are close to the probe."
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a far-right Republican some have said was instrumental in the planning of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, told CNN, "I don’t know that the case has been made adequately to the American people."
U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) added, “Let the American people decide in November if they want to take this country in a different direction."
One unnamed GOP lawmaker told CNN of the impeachment, “I don’t think it goes anywhere,” and another said point-blank: “We don’t have the votes right now.”
GOP insiders too are growing weary of the move to impeach Biden, given the dearth of evidence.
“The window to impeach is rapidly closing,” one Republican strategist said.
Another, speaking about the investigation into President Biden told CNN, “You’d be hard pressed to say it’s going well,” and added, “It’s a jumbled mess.”
Meanwhile, CNN adds, Oversight Chair Jim Comer "has gotten in hot water for his handling of witness transcripts and has held only one public hearing on his probe, which one senior GOP aide called at the time 'an unmitigated disaster.'”
Add to this that on Tuesday the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote, "Impeaching Mayorkas Achieves Nothing: A policy dispute doesn’t qualify as a high crime and misdemeanor."
For weeks now, House Republicans have grown increasingly sour on their prospects of impeaching President Joe Biden as their investigation fails to yield the evidence they were hoping for — and, according to CNN, Republicans are frustrated at House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), a key leader in the project.
"The prospect of their inquiry not culminating in impeachment has prompted some internal frustration among Republicans, with finger-pointing already underway in GOP circles about what went wrong — and who is to blame — even as the Republican-led committees continue to push on with their probe," according to the report.
"Some of the ire has been directed at House Oversight Chairman James Comer, who has spearheaded the investigation into Biden family business records."
Republicans can only afford to lose two votes from their caucus in a vote to impeach Biden and, according to the report, almost two dozen Republicans would vote against impeachment at the present time. Even if articles of impeachment could pass, there is no chance a trial in the Senate would convict Biden.
Even far-right Freedom Caucus figure Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a close Donald Trump ally who played a key role in the plot to overturn the 2020 election, has acknowledged, "I don’t know that the case has been made adequately to the American people" to impeach Biden. And one Republican insider told CNN, “You’d be hard-pressed to say it’s going well. It’s a jumbled mess.”
Comer, as well as House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), have pushed the impeachment on the theory that Biden's son Hunter's international business ventures were cover to launder bribes from foreign companies and entities to the president.
The problem is that no evidence of this has materialized. Indeed, witnesses to Hunter Biden's business projects called by Republicans themselves have disputed that the president ever had any involvement in these ventures.
However, some observers have suggested Republicans' plan is not to find evidence, but simply to cast increasingly wider and wider subpoena nets until the White House is unable to provide all the documents they are requesting, and use this to create obstruction of justice charges against the president.
The House Judiciary Committee, led by far-right Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), issued a subpoena to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis Friday over claims that her office misused federal grant funds and fired a whistleblower.
The subpoena is unrelated to Willis' election interference/RICO case against former President Donald Trump and his allies who, the prosecutor alleges, violated state laws when they tried to overturn now-President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. Some of the co-defendants have made plea deals in the case, including former Trump attorneys Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
The news of the subpoena is receiving plenty of reactions on X.
Far-right conspiracy theorist and Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) applauded the subpoena, tweeting, "I fully support bringing Fani before the House Judiciary Committee for questioning."
But others on X slammed issuing the subpoena as empty political theatrics.
Author Dianne Callahan, responding to reporting by CNN's Zachary Cohen, posted, "This will never happen. Jim Jordan has no authority here. Georgia's RICO case is a state matter, not federal. This is just a waste of time on Jim Jordan's part, another frivolous action."
Cohen noted, "Jordan is demanding Willis hand over documents…. The subpoena comes after Willis denied several requests from Jordan for access documents she says are evidence in a pending criminal investigation."
Politicus USA's Sarah Reese Jones argued that Jordan was "abusing his power and attempting to illegally interfere in a criminal investigation by subpoenaing Fulton County DA Fani Willis."
Activist Dianne Sheehan said of Willis and Jordan, "She needs to press obstruction charges on him.
Union organizer Gordon Forbes tweeted, "They tried this with Alvin Bragg too, and it backfired on them."
Anti-Donald Trump activist Kathy Ibbetson posted, "JUST the fact that Jim Jordan can even issue a subpoena is such b—----.
Speaker Mike Johnson has become media shy nearly five months into his bruising tenure as House leader — and he’s being called out for using childish tactics to hide.
Before becoming the victor in the bloody battle for the gavel, Johnson (R-LA) was known to be a chatty congressman who would routinely stop to talk with reporters, New York Times’ congressional correspondent Annie Karni wrote Friday.
Now, however, as he’s hounded by the right wing of his party, under pressure to stop a government shutdown and has Trump breathing down his neck on border discussions, he’s less eager to talk.
And Karni said his avoidance is verging on the ridiculous.
“After spending less than six minutes answering questions at a news conference, Mr. Johnson shut down reporters’ shouted questions with a silent cue, like a cab light switched off, signaling he was no longer available: He held his smartphone phone to his ear and speed-walked out of sight,” she wrote.
“It is a ploy that Mr. Johnson has used frequently to dodge questions since the fall.”
She called it, “One of the most common tactics in a member of Congress’s playbook … talking, or pretending to talk, on the phone.
“These days, as he strides through the Capitol from his office to the House floor and back, Mr. Johnson’s preferred posture is inaccessible. And it most often involves using his iPhone as his buffer.”
She went on, “Is it a fake phone call, a sick kid or the president of the United States? It’s hard for journalists to tell who, if anyone, is on the other end of the line — and that is the point.”
Another Johnson tactic that Karni has noticed, when a phone isn’t available, is Johnson taking notes or reviewing papers as he walked.
Johnson isn’t the first to hide behind a phone, Karni wrote.
The Republican National Committee’s finances and fundraising efforts are in a “horrifying” state, according to a Republican National Committeeman. Several Democratic National Committee officials and at least one analyst also point to data that says the RNC just had the worst fundraising year in three decades.
“This is horrifying,” declared Tyler Bowyer, an RNC National Committeeman and official at Charlie Kirk’s right-wing Turning Point USA. “Worst fundraising year for RNC in 30 years. They’re asking for a $10 million bailout. Anyone defending this is insane.”
According to the chart Bowyer posted to social media, under Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel the RNC ended 2023 with just over $8 million cash on hand and debt of $1.8 million.
Democratic National Committee Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin says the GOP “is struggling when they can least afford it (literally): -Worst fundraising year since ’93 -Lowest cash on hand headed into a presidential in decades -Worst month for contributions in a decade.”
“Meanwhile,” she adds, Democrats “outraised RNC by 3:1, with 2x+ as much cash on hand.”
Alex Floyd, the Rapid Response Director for the Democratic National Committee, adds, “FEC reports are due, and no surprise: the RNC is in absolutely dire financial straits, with some of the lowest yearly fundraising numbers and lowest cash on hand headed into a presidential year in decades.”
Turning to the RNC’s cash on hand, Floyd says it is $8 million, which is “less than half the [cash on hand] as the DNC,” and “less than half the [cash on hand] the RNC had in 2011 at this point against an incumbent.”
“In real dollars, the RNC had its worst fundraising year since 1993,” Floyd says, which echoes analysis others have made. “The RNC also had its worst *month* for contributions in a decade,” he adds, although a Fox News article called the RNC’s January fundraising its “best monthly haul in 2024 cycle.”
“And to cap it off, they had a December burn rate of 137%, and spent more money over the past year than they’ve taken in,” Floyd concludes.
“Meanwhile, the DNC outraised the RNC by nearly 3 to 1 and is sitting on more than twice as much cash on hand, helping to drive President Biden’s massive warchest,” Floyd says, adding that “GOP state parties, especially in critical battlegrounds, are also struggling, facing bankruptcy and mounting debts alongside leadership chaos and infighting ahead of 2024.”
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is being ridiculed for a recent fundraising appeal claiming that they "hit a brick wall" with campaign cash.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) trolled the House Oversight and Reform Committee chair on Thursday by posting a screen capture of the email and pointing out Comer's continued failure to find information so he can impeach President Joe Biden.
"No sh_t," Swalwell said on social media. "How pathetic is this guy? His Biden investigation has collapsed and now he’s coming to me for money! Sorry, Comer Pyle!"
The reference is to witnesses brought into the committee to testify over the past several weeks, who failed to deliver any information of financial impropriety from the president.
One witness, a friend of Hunter Biden's, revealed that his loans to the president's son came with restrictions and interest and were drafted by his lawyers. He told the committee he never got anything from the president due to the loans and never discussed the matter with him.
"In fact," he continued, "I am not aware of any role that Vice President Biden, as a public official or as a private citizen, had in any of Hunter's business activities. None."
