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Trump tops DeSantis by 15 points in Fox News poll

Former President Trump leads Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) by 15 points among GOP primary voters in a hypothetical 2024 match-up, new polling from Fox News shows.

The survey released on Sunday found Trump, who launched his reelection campaign back in November, in the lead among potential Republican primary challengers with 43 percent. DeSantis, who hasn’t formally announced he’ll run, followed with 28 percent. 

The Florida governor has been seen as a top potential rival to the former president, with other recent polling indicating a faceoff between the two would be close.

The Fox News poll put Trump and DeSantis at the top of a possible GOP primary pack of 15 potential contenders. Trump’s former United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, who kicked off her 2024 campaign earlier this month, was 21 points behind DeSantis, with just 7 percent saying they’d like to see her win the GOP presidential nomination.

Haley’s tied with former Vice President Mike Pence, who also earned 7 percent support. Pence hasn’t said he’ll run, but has hinted he could make a decision on the question this spring. Two other potential contenders, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), each pulled in just 2 percent.

Narrowing down the options to just Trump and Haley, the two GOP candidates who have officially said they’re in the running, 66 percent said they’d vote for Trump and 24 percent said they’d back Haley. 

Though not many candidates have entered the 2024 ring with Trump, some in the party are expecting a crowded field of GOP primary contenders.

The Fox News poll surveyed 1,006 registered voters from Feb. 19-22 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points for the subset of voters who said they’d more likely vote in the Republican primary than Democrat primary. The survey was conducted with Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Congress, White House return to domestic worries

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

Lawmakers and President Biden are back in Washington this week as 2024 election suspense escalates along with Republican eagerness to probe domestic spending and administration policies across the board.

Biden, following last week’s bold travel to Ukraine and Poland, will make stops in Virginia and Maryland this week to champion changes enacted on his watch, which he maintains help everyday Americans with basic pocketbook issues.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will turn its attention to two cases that could determine the fate of Biden’s executive economic effort to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan indebtedness under existing law (The Hill).

U.S. spending for defense and international aid, health care and senior benefits, homeland security and immigration, the farm bill and trade are all ripe for debate, oversight and potentially some problem-solving.

Partisan maneuvering over the $31.4 trillion statutory debt limit remains unresolved. Both parties agree time’s a-wastin’, but how and when projected economic self-harm is averted remains a mystery. House Republicans want deep spending cuts to begin in the fiscal year that starts in October before they say they will consider votes to raise the nation’s borrowing authority. Biden counters that the two issues — past commitments by Congress and new spending — must be delinked before he’ll negotiate.

“We don’t need a manufactured crisis. That’s why I know the president and the administration are calling on Congress to lift the debt limit as quickly as possible.” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo last week told CBS News. 

He declined to comment on any Treasury revision to its projected June break-glass deadline for default.

▪ The Washington Post: If tax revenues come in strongly by spring, the debt ceiling deadline could be later than projected.

▪ Axios: What history says about debt standoffs.

▪ FiveThirtyEight: Which Republicans would vote to lift the limit.

▪ The Hill: Americans are split on whether the U.S. should raise the debt ceiling to avoid default, according to an NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll released on Thursday.

Here’s what else we’re watching this week:

🌍 International issues are not receding in Washington and world capitals. Russia’s war with Ukraine has entered its second year, pulling China into the picture as an ally of the Kremlin and superpower that professes to seek the war’s end.

Biden will meet Friday at the White House with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz amid discussions about NATO’s pact to support Ukraine, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and a Group of 20 meeting in India.

💉Food and Drug Administration advisers will review data this week during public hearings focused on vaccines created by prominent and competing drugmakers to tackle a tough respiratory virus that plagues older people. The FDA says trials of the drugs might lead to a worrisome side effect in some patients: Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

🐘 In politics, the Conservative Political Action Conference will offer its stage beginning on Wednesday to the two announced GOP presidential candidates and others who suggest they’d like to enter the race. Not scheduled to make an appearance: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

⚖  On Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee members, led by Democrats, want to hear from Attorney General Merrick Garland during an oversight hearing “about everything,” according to Fox News.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Nearly 10 percent of the current Congress would be subject to a hypothetical age-related mental acuity test promoted by presidential candidate Nikki Haley for politicians older than 75.

▪ The Washington Post: So far, former President Trump’s rollback of regulations can’t be blamed for the Ohio train wreck.

▪ The Hill: Recession or not, Americans feel like they’re poorer. 

LEADING THE DAY

➤ ADMINISTRATION

A puzzle about the origination of COVID-19 led weekend headlines after The Wall Street Journal reported that an Energy Department classified report had switched gears and now cited U.S. intelligence that the coronavirus likely escaped a Chinese lab, and was unlikely to have resulted from natural animal-to-human transmission.

It’s an unresolved scientific debate examined by the Biden administration and the World Health Organization without conclusive findings or cooperation from China. The National Institutes of Health last year reported that evidence “suggests” that COVID-19 originated in bats.

House Republicans, united in public opposition against Beijing, have planned oversight hearings about China’s suspected involvement in the release or escape of a respiratory virus that to date has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday countered the Journal’s report, telling CNN the U.S. intelligence community has “no definitive answer” about the origination of the COVID-19 virus (The Hill).

CNN: U.S. Energy Department assesses that COVID-19 likely resulted from a lab leak, furthering the U.S. intelligence divide over the virus’s origin.

“I think we need to have public hearings on this and really dig into it,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“It would once again show that the Chinese Communist Party is not only a menace but the nature of these regimes is to lie to the world, and we need to make that clear to people,” added the senator, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation panel.

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food stamp assistance to families approved in the wake of the pandemic is set to run out in 32 states on March 1 (NBC News): 

Transportation Department: Biden has not nominated anyone to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, created in 2004, which is an important agency in the context of the Ohio toxic spill. It develops and enforces regulations for the country’s 2.6-million-mile pipeline transportation system and the nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials by land, sea and air. Along with the Federal Railroad Administration, it is supporting the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the derailment that caused havoc in East Palestine, Ohio (Government Executive). 

The Biden administration is barreling towards a legal fight with immigration groups after rolling out a new asylum policy similar to a Trump-era directive, write The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch and Rafael Bernal. Tension between the administration and its would-be allies on immigration has been brewing for years, but it hit a head Tuesday, when the administration unveiled a proposed rule taking two big hits at the asylum system — geographically containing asylum-seekers by pushing them to pursue protection in another country along their journey, and restricting where they can make these claims. 

“We do not think that this proposed rule is lawful. The changes that were made are largely cosmetic,” Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who led arguments in a case that toppled similar Trump administration policies, told The Hill. “The additional requirements suggested by the proposed rule would not be consistent with our domestic or international asylum laws. So if this rule is enacted, we will be back in court.”

Immigration will also be a hot topic for Biden in March, when he’s set to visit Canada and meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement, which states that asylum seekers who enter the U.S. or Canada must make their claims in the first country they arrive in (CBC and Reuters).

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Apple is gearing up for a lengthy legal battle after the Biden administration declined to veto an International Trade Commission (ITC) import ban on the Apple Watch, writes The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom. The tech giant is appealing the ITC ruling, which found that Apple infringed on wearable heart monitoring technology patented by California startup AliveCor.  

The Hill: Ben Labolt is back in the West Wing to communicate.

➤ POLITICS 

Biden said during an interview last week that he has “other things to finish” before starting a “full-blown” 2024 presidential campaign. The president has long said he intends to run for another four years in the White House, and first lady Jill Biden gave a strong indication last week that he’ll do so. “He says he’s not done,” she said during a trip to Kenya (The Hill). 

“Well, apparently, someone interviewed my wife today, I heard. I gotta call her and find out,” Biden told ABC News’s David Muir on Friday when asked if he’s running again. “No, all kidding aside, my intention … has been from the beginning to run, but there’s too many other things I have to finish in the near-term before I start a campaign.”

The president’s comments come as the White House and some of its allies are brushing off angst surrounding his lack of a formal announcement about 2024 with a collective shrug, write The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels. Aides are unfazed by attempts, filtered through media reports suggesting Biden is hedging on a reelection bid, to put pressure on Biden to announce a decision. 

Lori Lightfoot, who defied expectations four years ago to win the Chicago mayoral race as a political outsider, finds herself once again the underdog as she seeks to fend off multiple challengers in a tough reelection bid, The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports, as the city’s top executive is facing a crowded field of eight other candidates. 

Though Lightfoot campaigned as a reformer in 2019, voters are signaling they might be ready for another fresh start, as she’s fallen to second or third place in many polls. Should Lightfoot fail to become one of the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary, she could become the first incumbent Chicago mayor in over three decades to lose reelection. 

▪ Politico: The 9-person stage drama in Chicago that won’t end on Election Day.

▪ Chicago Sun-Times: Where the money’s come from in Chicago’s mayoral race.

▪ The Chicago Tribune: Lightfoot defends her record against challengers.

▪ NBC News: Nevada Democrats implode over battle for party control. The Democratic establishment accuses state chair Judith Whitmer of dividing the party. The democratic socialist leader says it’s a “smear campaign.”

Trump and Haley are set to give dueling addresses at CPAC, putting a sharp focus on the ongoing tug-of-war within the GOP. As The Hill’s Max Greenwood writes, it’ll be the first time since Haley launched her presidential bid last week that the two declared major Republican 2024 contenders will pitch their candidacies at the same event. And while few Republicans expect Trump and Haley to go after each other directly, they say that it could offer one of the clearest examples yet of the simmering tensions within the party. 

To note: DeSantis, a conservative favorite and likely 2024 candidate who has a new book out tomorrow, won’t be at the annual gathering of conservatives. 

▪ The Guardian: What to expect from this year’s CPAC: Biden bashing, 2024 Republican primary chatter and lawsuit gossip.

▪ ABC News: Former Vice President Mike Pence declined an invitation to CPAC as the event’s leader comes under fire.

▪ Vox: Texas asks a Trump-appointed judge to declare most of the federal government unconstitutional.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL 

CIA Director William Burns said he communicated in a meeting with Russia’s spy chief the “serious consequences” that would follow if Moscow ever used a nuclear weapon, a warning that he said his Russian counterpart “understood” (The Hill).

“What [President Biden] asked me to do, which was to make clear to [Sergey] Naryshkin, and through him to President [Vladimir] Putin, the serious consequences should Russia ever choose to use a nuclear weapon of any kind,” Burns said in an interview with CBS’s “Face The Nation.” “I think Naryshkin understood the seriousness of that issue and I think President Putin has understood it as well.”

Burns also said Putin is being “too confident” in his military’s ability to grind Ukraine into submission. He said Narshylin had displayed in their November meeting “a sense of cockiness and hubris” that reflected Putin’s own beliefs “that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in” (ABC News).

▪ Politico: Donbas: Ground zero of Russia’s war in Ukraine, in photos.

▪ CNN: The extraordinary train lifeline behind Ukraine’s Rail Force One.

▪ Vox: Here’s what arming Ukraine could look like in the future.

▪ The New York Times: The war in Ukraine has changed Europe forever. 

▪ The Hill: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to visit China as the U.S. worries about Beijing assisting Russia.

A wooden sailing boat carrying migrants to Europe crashed against rocks near the coast of southern Italy early Sunday, authorities said. At least 59 people died, including 12 children. The vessel, which sailed from Turkey and was carrying people from Afghanistan, Iran and several other countries, sank in rough seas before dawn.

The incident reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where the recently-elected right-wing government’s tough new laws for migrant rescue charities have drawn criticism from the United Nations and others (Reuters).

▪ Reuters: Italy approves clampdown on migrant rescue ships.

▪ Al Jazeera: What you need to know about Tunisia’s anti-racism protests.

Saturday marked Nigeria’s presidential elections — one of the country’s most consequential in the 23 years since the last dictatorship ended and democracy took hold. The race to lead their young democracy and its legions of youthful citizens seemed wide open, but soon, reports of violence at polling stations trickled in, and others spent hours waiting in line. 

The presidential vote is expected to be the closest in Nigeria’s history, with candidates from two parties that have alternated power since the end of army rule in 1999 facing an unusually strong challenge from a minor party nominee popular among young voters. The country’s electoral commission began announcing state-by-state results from national elections on Sunday, though it is not expected to name a victor in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari for several days (Reuters and The Washington Post).

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he is “giving it everything” this weekend to secure a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, and he wants “to get the job done,” but the prime minister said no agreement had yet been reached with the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Britain today to work out the final details with Sunak.

The deal, if successful, could resolve one of the most bedeviling legacies of Brexit: the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, a complex agreement between Britain and the European Union that governs trade in the country. It sets out rules to handle Northern Ireland’s status as a part of the U.K. that also has an open border with Ireland, which is a member of the European Union and part of its single market (BBC and The New York Times).

▪ The Washington Post: Young doctors are leaving Egypt in droves for better jobs abroad.

▪ The New York Times: Women in Iran flaunt their locks as defiant resistance to the mandatory hijab law has exploded across the country after nationwide protests that erupted last year.

▪ Business Insider: A city in China is offering couples almost $2,900 to have a third child and some others are giving newlyweds paid marriage leave to help boost the birth rate.

OPINION

■ CPAC reflects the decline of the GOP from Reagan to Trump, by Frank Donatelli, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3kuZvkR

■ Why Pete Buttigieg isn’t the villain in the East Palestine, Ohio, crash, by Hayes Brown, MSNBC opinion writer/editor. https://on.msnbc.com/3m6NliG

■ Why Fox News lied to the viewers it “respects,” by David French, columnist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3Y5WtkN

WHERE AND WHEN

📲 Ask The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will meet at noon. 

The Senate meets at 3 p.m. for a reading of George Washington’s Farewell Address before proceeding to executive session to consider the nomination of Jamar Walker to be a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The president departs Delaware and arrives at the White House at 8:55 a.m.Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 11:15 a.m.He and Vice President Harris will deliver remarks in the East Room at 5 p.m. during a reception celebrating Black History Month.

The vice president also will fly to Columbia, S.C., to deliver a speech at 12:45 p.m. announcing more than $175 million in federal grants to 61 institutions nationwide that serve minority youth for affordable, high-speed internet connectivity. The grants are funded through the Department of Commerce’s Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program (WLTX). She will return to the White House in the afternoon. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will be in Portland, Ore., to visit the Urban League Multicultural Senior Center at 11:30 a.m. PT for a roundtable discussion about lowering health care costs through the Inflation Reduction Act. Later, the secretary and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and first lady Aimee Wilson will be at the Faubion School to discuss mental health among children and teens at 2:30 p.m. PT.     

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2:30 p.m.

ELSEWHERE

➤ TECH

The introduction of artificial intelligence could one day be integrated into all school subjects, not just computer science, experts say, and familiarity with the technology itself could soon become essential for students. The Hill’s Lexi Lonas reports that the education industry is having to grapple with where AI can fit into schools, from lesson plans to teacher training. The chatbot ChatGPT caused shockwaves through the education industry over concerns about cheating and how students will learn, but the importance of AI in technological education is still part of the debate. 

“The way that we integrate AI education to the classroom is really an approach to connect artificial intelligence with core subjects like English, science, math, social studies, in addition to computer science and career technology education,” Alex Kotran, co-founder and CEO of the AI Education Project, told The Hill. 

▪ TechCrunch: AI’s hype isn’t going to be simply star-studded.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: For chat-based AI, we are all once again tech companies’ guinea pigs.

▪ Business Insider: Not even Google’s cleaning robots are safe from the tech industry’s layoffs and cost-cutting efforts.

➤ ENTERTAINMENT

🎥 Movie fans: Check out Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild award winners to gauge where Oscar statuettes may land on March 12. Spoiler alert: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has momentum. A list of SAG winners is HERE. Coverage of the award night’s takeaways, courtesy of ABC News/AP, is HERE. 

“The clearest result of the SAG Awards was the overwhelming success of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s madcap multiverse tale, which has now used its hotdog fingers to snag top honors from the acting, directing and producing guilds. Only one film (“Apollo 13”) had won all three and not gone on to win best picture at the Oscars,” film journalist Jake Coyle notes.

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced on Friday that it is proposing rules to make many flexibilities for telemedicine that were established amid the COVID-19 pandemic permanent, with certain safeguards. The agency said in a release that the rule will give patients access to virtual therapies beyond the end of the public health emergency, which is scheduled to conclude in May (The Hill).

“DEA is committed to ensuring that all Americans can access needed medications,” Administrator Anne Milgram said. “The permanent expansion of telemedicine flexibilities would continue greater access to care for patients across the country, while ensuring the safety of patients.”

▪ The Hill: Democratic attorneys general sue FDA over “burdensome” restrictions on abortion pills.

▪ The Hill: FDA approves first over-the-counter at-home test for COVID-19, the flu.

🤧 After three years of largely being punted out of the limelight, a glut of airway pathogens — including the common cold — are becoming very common again. And, as The Atlantic reports, they’re really laying some people out. The good news is that there’s no evidence that colds are worse now than they were before the pandemic started. 

The less-good news is that after years of respite from a bunch of viral nuisances, a lot of us have forgotten that colds can be a real drag.

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov. 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,119,560. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 2,407 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🦕 The next Jurassic Park movie could feature far less roaring, and more bird-like sounds, as scientists discover more about what dinosaurs might have sounded like all those millennia ago.

Very little is understood about dinosaur vocals, but a research team has drawn clues about sounds they could have made from what might be the first known fossilized larynx of a dinosaur. It comes from an ankylosaur, a group of armored plant-eaters that were not close relatives of birds; this short, spiky dinosaur was dug up in 2005 in Mongolia. To try to understand what sounds a dinosaur might have uttered, the team also looked to the creatures’ evolutionary relatives, including birds and the Cretaceous creatures’ closest cousins — crocodiles.

“They kind of bracket the range of sounds we might expect,” Victoria Arbour, a paleontologist at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Canada, who was not involved in the new study, told The New York Times. “Assuming that dinosaurs make some crocodile-like sounds is pretty safe. That’s the base anatomy they’d be working with. And then birds evolved these additional ways of producing sounds where they can modify the sounds coming out of their throat in a more nuanced way.”

▪ Nature: An ankylosaur larynx provides insights for bird-like vocalization in non-avian dinosaurs.

▪ Natural History Museum of Utah (four-minute video): Paleontologists working in Utah discovered a type of ankylosaur in 2018 they named Akainacephalus johnsoni, now on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Utah. 

Stay Engaged

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Looking for a new voice, Biden turns to Obama veteran 

Weeks before Ketanji Brown Jackson was tapped as a Supreme Court nominee last year, the White House knew the confirmation process would be a political fight for the ages.   

Republicans were already attacking the would-be nominee before Biden had even selected Jackson or publicly uttered her name. 

It was then that Biden turned to Ben LaBolt, one of the most respected communications professionals in Democratic circles, to help guide the first Black woman Supreme Court justice to confirmation and lead the messaging wars during one of the biggest fights of his presidency. 

Now, a year later, LaBolt, 41, is returning to the West Wing as Biden’s communications director as the president prepares his battle for reelection.  

“Ben knows about the art of trench warfare, and that’s the type of person you want for your team when you’re about to be in the fight of your life,” said Democratic strategist Lis Smith, who served as a communications adviser to Pete Buttigieg during his 2020 presidential campaign. “He knows how to take a punch, but he also knows how to land one.”  

Democrats say Biden’s selection of LaBolt is particularly noteworthy because the president — who has relied for years on a small, air-tight inner circle — is bringing in a relative outsider for the influential role.  

While he worked on Biden’s 2020 presidential transition, LaBolt is known in the political universe as an “Obama guy.” He started with the former president as a communications aide when he was a senator and then moved to his 2008 presidential campaign, before landing in Obama’s White House press shop. Later, he would go on to serve as one of the most prominent faces of the Obama 2012 campaign, making daily television appearances on behalf of the president. 

“It shows how seriously the president is taking this reelection fight,” one Democratic strategist said, adding that it’s meaningful that he’s going “outside the family.” 

LaBolt starts his new gig on March 1, just as Biden prepares to launch his bid for reelection. Bide is also grappling with a new House GOP majority ramping up investigations, including one focused on his son, Hunter Biden. 

“It speaks to the White House’s understanding that they need someone who is smart about governing but also strategic about politics, helming their communications operation,” Smith said. “Republicans are going to be making Joe Biden’s life hell.”  

LaBolt’s arrival also coincides with a rash of headlines surrounding the president in recent weeks on issues including unidentified flying objects and the discovery of classified documents at his former office and his Wilmington, Del., home.  

The White House has been criticized by some Democrats at times for being too lax in its communications strategy. Democrats were particularly miffed last year when Biden’s team seemed flat-footed in its messaging following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  

There have also been complaints from Democrats that the White House should be doing more to boast about the president’s accomplishments, including his economic success stories.  

LaBolt can offer new ideas, those around him say.  

“You need fresh thinking. You need a different perspective,” said Marti Adams, who served until recently as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s executive secretary and worked with LaBolt on Obama’s 2012 campaign. “The dynamics the White House is dealing with are so complex. I think it would have been a mistake to rely on the same playbook.” 

Those who know LaBolt — who will be the first openly gay communications director — say he brings a unique perspective to the role because of the depth of his experiences.  

The Illinois native began his political career on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, followed by stints at the Democratic National Committee and in the congressional offices of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio.) 

Most recently, he served as a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive in San Francisco, the Democratic firm where he worked alongside Robert Gibbs, the former White House press secretary under Obama.  

“Ben will be a huge asset for President Biden because he has experience in every facet of politics,” said Tommy Vietor, the co-host of the popular podcast Pod Save America who worked with LaBolt in the White House press office under Obama. “Ben knows how to manage complicated, deeply reported stories, and he understands how to lead a team and keep everyone on message.” 

Those who worked with LaBolt on Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination process say he was instrumental in leading the overall press strategy, including making sure it was tailored to persuadable senators including Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). 

He coordinated messaging strategies with outside groups, helping to ensure everyone stayed on message. 

And he participated in prep sessions for Jackson, previewing likely questions and lines of attack from Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.  

“He is someone who is always on top of things,” said former Sen. Doug Jones, (D-Ala.) who worked alongside LaBolt during Jackson’s confirmation process. “He has good instincts.” 

That skillset will be helpful in his new role, Jones said.  

“He is politically savvy enough to know everything the White House does has a political overtone, and he will serve the president and the candidate well,” he said.  

LaBolt is known among friends and associates for bringing a dry sense of humor and levity to tense situations on the job. 

For years, he has been known to frequently respond to bad news, a mundane question from a reporter, or a less-than-ideal predicament with one line: “Best day of my life.”   

When he served at the White House and on the Obama campaigns, after receiving press inquiries he regarded as silly or trivial, he famously emailed reporters a photo of a crying mime.  

The mime became such a staple and a symbol for LaBolt and his own communications, that the president’s aides hired a real mime to come into their campaign headquarters for the spokesman’s birthday in 2012.  

“There were some bad days, but he never lets the moments get to him,” Smith said. “He’s really good at making sure no one on the communications team got down in the dumps with his inspirational and colorful speeches.  

“Yes, there were some four-letter words here and there,” she added.  

Adams said his demeanor is pitch-perfect for his new role.  

“He’s exactly who you want to be in the trenches with,” she said.  

Source: TEST FEED1

White House brushes off angst, chatter about Biden not running

The White House and some of its allies are shrugging off angst and chatter about whether President Biden will really run for reelection in 2024 at the age of 81.

Biden looks like a president who plans to run for a second term regardless of his age.

Look at the State of the Union address earlier this month, where he baited Republicans on the issue of cutting Social Security and Medicare in a moment that seemed made for political campaign ads. 

Biden has said he intends to run, a sentiment echoed by his former chief of staff Ron Klain at a going away event earlier this month. In his State of the Union address, Biden said about a dozen times that he wants to “finish the job” Americans gave him when he was elected in 2020.

Yet a story in Politico last week ran with the headline “Biden may not run — and top Dems are quietly preparing.” The story went on to say that Biden no longer seems “absolutely certain” to run for a second term in office.

Aides to Biden take a dim view of such media reports, and argue they are an effort to put pressure on Biden to announce a decision. 

White House officials also feel that the idea that “random Democrats are concerned” about something having to do with Biden has been the tone of almost every political story about their boss since before he launched his 2020 campaign. 

“We’re inured to it. It would be like coming to the Philly Eagles and saying, do you have a comment on how your fans are colorful?” an official said.

Aides and allies also say they believe Biden has time before he needs to formally declare a reelection bid.

First lady Jill Biden, a strong influence on her husband’s political plans, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that there was little left to decide about a 2024 bid other than when and where to announce it.

President Biden’s travel in the first months of the year look like the stoppings of someone with an eye on 2024, with visits to Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida.

Still, the timing of an announcement has been difficult to pin down.

Biden teased an early 2023 decision during a December press conference, and reports by The Hill and other outlets indicated he might declare or send a signal shortly after the State of the Union address.

Aides and allies note that making the announcement now would be historically early.

Former President Obama announced his plans to seek reelection on April 4, 2011. Former President George W. Bush announced his reelection on May 16, 2003, while former President Clinton made an announcement on April 14, 1995.

Biden’s age has shadowed discussions of the president and recent polling indicates that Democrats are wavering in their support for his reelection. An Associated Press poll released earlier this month found 37 percent of Democrats wanted Biden to seek a second term, down from 52 percent last fall. 

As the Republican primary field fills out, it inevitable will lead to questions about whether Biden is the best equipped Democrat to take on a younger opponent like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) or former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Former President Trump, just four years younger than Biden, is seen as the favorite for the GOP nomination.

One Democratic strategist, who chose to remain anonymous, said there has not been much chatter out of the White House on the Politico piece suggesting Biden may not run. The discussion around the White House is instead that the bar for “Democrats are worried” stories is too low and has been for years.

Democrats outside the White House are talking about the president’s timing, but some are brushing that off as paranoia. 

“It does reflect the chatter in bar rooms, at dinners, and everything in between, which is sort of like we’re nervous,” said Ivan Zapien, a Democratic lobbyist and former Democratic National Committee official.

“I think the election of Donald Trump in 2016 was traumatic to every Democrat and every Democratic operative, so I think we’ve been in a constant high state of alert for potential catastrophic events on a daily basis,” he said, adding that being nervous is where “Democrats are in their natural state these days.”

Matt Bennett, who has worked on several previous Democratic campaigns, downplayed the significance of Biden making an announcement early this year. He noted that much of the messaging and strategy for the reelection bid will emanate from the White House and be run by officials already in the building, such as senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn.

“It’s really about money,” said Bennett, a co-founder of centrist think tank Third Way. “When they decide they need to start raising money in earnest, they’ll launch.”

Progressive Marianne Williamson confirmed last week that she will run for the Democratic nomination, but Biden seems unlikely to get a serious primary challenger the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

His top allies have signaled he will entertain a 2024 presidential bid if Biden does not seek reelection.

White House aides, over all, are projecting confidence.

“I get the vibe from the Biden inner circle on the road ahead that they’re extremely confident. And I don’t think that’s an act, I think they’ve got a lot to be proud of,” Zapien said. “They’ll announce when they announce. They’re confident. I’m confident that everybody that I know who may be nervous now will jump in once they announce.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Recession or not, Americans feel like they're poorer

The nation may not be in recession, but Americans are reckoning with a classic recessionary symptom: feeling poorer. 

Half of American respondents say they are worse-off financially than a year ago, according to a Gallup poll released this month. In nearly 50 years of polling on this question, only once before have so many people reported dwindling fortunes: during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009. 

The nation’s collective economic ennui has far-reaching implications, observers say, on everything from consumer spending to President Biden’s reelection hopes.  

The average individual retirement account lost nearly one-quarter of its value last year, Fidelity Investments reported Thursday. American homes shed $2.3 trillion in value from June to December, according to new Redfin data. The average worker saw hourly wages fall by 1.8 percent in 2022. That’s after adjusting for inflation, an old economic foe that returned to bedevil the American consumer last year. 

And many Americans don’t expect things to get better anytime soon. Another Gallup poll shows that a record-high 48 percent of the nation believes the stock market will decline in the next six months. Most respondents also expect both inflation and interest rates to rise. 

But not all the economic tidings are so grim. Employment rose by 517,000 in January, trimming the jobless rate to 3.4 percent, the lowest mark since 1969. Biden took credit for “the strongest two years of job growth in history” in remarks this month.  

“We have a weird economy right now,” said David Bateman, an associate professor of government at Cornell University. “You can take all the measures seriously, but the measures are pointing toward different things.” 

Consumer spending rebounded in January after a lackluster holiday season, another good tiding amid bad ones. 

Yet, most Americans feel squeezed. The chief culprit is lingering inflation: the average consumer good cost 6.4 percent more in January 2023 than in January 2022. Food costs rose 10 percent.  

Inflation peaked at 9 percent last summer, the highest rate recorded since 1981. Over much of the previous four decades, the Consumer Price Index had barely registered in the national consciousness. 

“It’s the part of the economy that people relate to the most,” said Callie Cox, an investment analyst at eToro, an investment platform. “When you go into a grocery store, you notice inflation. When you drive by a gas station, you notice inflation.” 

The Federal Reserve stepped in to tamp down inflation with the most dramatic series of interest-rate hikes in decades. At the start of 2022, the benchmark federal funds rate was effectively zero. The fed has raised the rate eight times since March. It now exceeds 4.5 percent. 

As a result, inflation and high borrowing costs are pinching American consumers like jaws in an economic vise. 

“Essentially, both inflation and the rate hikes serve as taxes on the economy,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com, a consumer lending site. 

Two or three years ago, as Americans waited out the pandemic and deposited their federal stimulus checks, bank accounts were flush with savings. Today, the nation is saving less and borrowing more. The national credit card balance hit a record $931 billion at the end of last year. 

The national savings rate, another measure of economic health, has hovered below 5 percent since the start of 2022. It hadn’t been that low since 2009. 

In a futile effort to keep pace with inflation, Americans are “running down their bank accounts,” said Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “They’ve still got money to spend. But at some point, we’re going to reach the cliff edge.” 

Lower-income Americans are struggling the most. In the Gallup poll, 61 percent of low-income respondents said they are worse off than a year ago, compared to 43 percent of upper-income people.  

But even the wealthy feel the pinch. Financial markets, a common preoccupation of the well-heeled, revealed new depths of unpredictability in 2022.  

When stocks go down, bonds tend to go up: That is a cardinal rule of investing, and it’s why investors diversify their portfolios with bonds to offset losses in stocks.  

Last year, even as the stock market sank, bonds suffered their worst year on record, by some accounts. Analysts blame the toxic combination of inflation and interest-rate hikes. 

“Seeing your money getting hit that hard can really damage your psyche,” Cox said.  

All of that uncertainty means American consumers will probably spend — and invest — more carefully in the months to come.  

“Let’s not say they’ll be spending less, but they’ll be more conservative with their spending,” Hamrick said. “We saw that in the holiday shopping season.” Surveys showed holiday shoppers bought fewer gifts and gave gifts to fewer people. 

As economists mull how Americans will spend in 2023, political scientists puzzle over how they will vote in 2024. Biden is up for reelection in 21 months, along with scores of Democratic governors and members of Congress.   

History dictates that a bad economy can punish the party in power. Biden will surely labor to persuade the American public that he is presiding over a good economy. Not everyone will believe him. 

Remember that Gallup poll about America’s financial health? Republicans were far more likely than Democratic respondents to say they are worse off now than a year ago, by a margin of 61 percent to 37 percent.  

In the same partisan spirit, 57 percent of Republicans told Gallup they expect the stock market to go down this year. Only 38 percent of Democrats agreed. 

“In recent years, the question of how American voters assess the economy has increasingly become a partisan question,” said Daniel Hopkins, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.  

Voters tend to hold the president’s party responsible for the economy. Hopkins and his peers don’t expect a shaky economy in February 2023 to decide an election in November 2024. Yet, even this far out, grim economic tidings can shape a narrative that opposition candidates can carry into election season. 

“The number-one factor for incumbents to bolster their chances for election is to run on a strong economy,” Hopkins said. “So, certainly, Joe Biden wants consumers to think it’s a strong economy.” 

A bad economy could even drive Biden from office, just as it contributed to President Carter’s loss at the polls in 1980 after a single term. But seasoned observers consider that scenario unlikely. 

“People don’t like to fire sitting presidents, even vulnerable ones,” said Alvin Tillery, Jr., a political scientist and director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University. “It’s only happened three times in the modern era,” with Carter, George H.W. Bush in 1992 and Donald Trump in 2020. 

But a weak economy now could wreak havoc on Democratic incumbents in down-ticket races in 2024, simply by inspiring strong Republican candidates to run against them. 

“Quality candidates are more likely to run at every level if they think the chances are good for them,” Bateman said. If the economy spirals into a lengthy recession later this year, “it’s going to be high-quality Republicans down-ticket, all the way.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Garland to face first grilling before new Congress

Attorney General Merrick Garland is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill this week for the first time in the 118th Congress, testifying before a Senate panel as the Justice Department continues its investigations into the current and former presidents.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released little information regarding the hearing, which is titled “Oversight of the Department of Justice” and is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. The presentation, however, will likely include questions about the probes zeroing in on President Biden and former President Trump.

The Judiciary Committee this week is also scheduled to vote on the nomination of Charnelle Bjelkengren to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington after the vote was held over earlier this month. Bjelkengren drew criticism when she flubbed basic questions about the Constitution during her confirmation hearing.

On Monday, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is slated to deliver Washington’s Farewell Address on the Senate floor, continuing the decades-old tradition to recognize the first U.S. president’s birthday.

On the House side, Democrats are heading to Baltimore this week for their annual issues conference, which will feature remarks from Biden, Vice President Harris and a number of cabinet officials.

The lower chamber will also consider a disapproval resolution and an inflation-related bill, and the Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing focused on the border.

Garland to testify before Senate panel

Garland’s scheduled appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee comes at a significant moment for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is overseeing a number of probes into top political figures — including Biden, Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Questions regarding those investigations are likely to come up during Wednesday’s hearing.

The agency is looking into all three men following the discovery of classified documents at their homes and/or offices. The FBI has conducted searches at locations belonging to all three men.

The probes into Biden and Trump, however, are now under the purview of two separate special counsels, decisions Garland made after Trump announced a 2024 bid for president, and amid speculation of a Biden reelection bid.

The two cases, in addition to the Pence matter, bear some key differences, despite all revolving around the alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Though it appears that all three did not properly follow the President Records Act — which requires that presidents and vice presidents give official documents to the National Archives following their tenures — Biden and Pence have cooperated with the DOJ, while an affidavit accuses Trump of refusing to cooperate with entities to return the materials.

Senators on the Intelligence Committee have expressed frustration at the administration for not having a briefing on the documents seized in searches on Trump and Biden locations, and for not providing a damage assessment on the materials found.

Those irritations may bubble up on Wednesday.

In addition to the case involving the discovery of classified documents, the Justice Department is also conducting an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, which involves Trump — and is also under the purview of Trump special counsel Jack Smith.

Questions about that investigation could come up on Wednesday as well.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has revealed few details regarding the hearing aside from its name and star witness.

Senate Judiciary to vote on Bjelkengren nomination

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on the nomination of Charnelle Bjelkengren to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington, after the lawyer was mocked last month for failing to answer basic legal questions.

During her confirmation hearing last month, Bjelkengren — a Spokane County Superior Court judge — was unable to answer questions from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) about the purpose of Article II and Article V of the Constitution, which deal with executive branch powers and procedures for amending the document, respectively.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ridiculed the nominee for her inability to answer the inquiries.

“Is this the caliber of legal expert with which President Biden is filling the federal bench?” McConnell asked on the Senate floor, referring to Bjelkengren. “For lifetime appointments? Is the bar for merit and excellence really set this low?”

Bjelkengren was listed on the Judiciary Committee’s executive business meeting agenda for Feb. 16, but her nomination was ultimately held over. Her name is now listed on the agenda for Thursday’s business meeting.

Lankford to deliver Washington’s Farewell Address

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) will continue the decades-old tradition of delivering Washington’s Farewell Address in the Senate chamber Monday to commemorate the first U.S. president’s birthday.

One senator — alternating parties each time — has recited the famed address in the Senate chamber every year since 1896, according to the Senate website. The reading comes around the time of Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22.

The tradition of reading the address in the chamber, however, officially began on Feb. 22, 1862, amid the Civil War, per the Senate website. The act was seen as a “morale-boosting gesture” during the conflict.

House Democrats hold annual issues conference

House Democrats will convene in Baltimore Wednesday through Friday for their annual issues conference, which is taking place weeks into their time as the minority party of the chamber.

Biden is scheduled to address the caucus on Wednesday night. According to the White House, he will deliver remarks “on his Administration and Congress’ historic investments in America.” Harris is also slated to make an appearance at the gathering.

A number of other administration officials will speak with the group, according to House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) are also slated to attend, in addition to comedian Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show.

The conference, which is themed “People Over Politics,” will include conversations regarding reproductive freedom, women’s economic security, LGBTQI+ equality, border security, gun violence prevention, public safety, climate, national security and the economy, according to Aguilar.

House to vote on disapproval resolution, inflation-related bill

The House this week is scheduled to vote on a disapproval resolution that aims to nullify a Department of Labor rule issued by the Biden administration that makes it easier for money managers to take climate change and other environmental and social factors into account when making retirement investments.

The rule eased a Trump-era rule, issued in 2020, that was meant to discourage considerations of environmental and social factors in investment decisions.

Under the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers can overturn a rule if both chambers pass a disapproval resolution and the president signs it. If the president decides to veto the measure, Congress can override it.

When introducing the resolution earlier his month, Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) wrote in a statement that “Retirement plans should be solely focused on delivering maximum returns, not advancing a political agenda.”

The chamber is also slated to vote on a bill that would require the Biden administration to draw up an inflation estimate for all executive orders that are projected to have an annual gross budgetary effect of at least $1 billion.

The legislation does not, however, include measures that provide emergency assistance or relief that is requested by state or local governments, or measures that are “necessary for the national security or the ratification or implementation of international treaty obligations.”

In a statement introducing the Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negatively Impacting the Nation (REIN IN) Inflation Act, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a sponsor of the legislation, spoke about holding the Biden administration “accountable.”

“As hardworking families in New York’s 21st District and across the nation are forced to pay the price for Democrats’ out-of-control spending, I am working to hold this administration accountable and rein in the policies that fuel devastating inflation, which is a tax on every family,” she wrote.

House Homeland Security Committee holds border hearing

The House Committee on Homeland Security is scheduled to hold its first full committee hearing on Tuesday at 10 a.m., which will focus on the situation at the border.

Witnesses for the hearing, titled “Every State is a Border State: Examining Secretary Mayorkas’ Border Crisis,” have not yet been announced. But the presentation, according to the panel, “will focus on the widespread and debilitating impact” the “border crisis” is having on communities across the nation.

“Our first hearing will clearly and articulately lay out the devastation this crisis is having on our communities and how Americans have been abandoned by President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas as this crisis surfaces in our backyards,” Rep. Mark Greene (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the committee, wrote in a statement.

“Whether it’s the overwhelming presence of MS-13 gang violence on Long Island in New York, the crippling impact of the fentanyl crisis across Tennessee, or the influx of illegal aliens being dropped in small towns in Mississippi and North Carolina, every American community bears the brunt of weak border security,” he added.

Source: TEST FEED1

Democrat 'not entirely surprised' by Energy's COVID lab leak conclusion

Rep. Seth Molten (D-Mass.) said on Sunday that he was “not entirely surprised” by the Energy Department’s reported determination that a lab leak likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m not entirely surprised,” Moulton told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Sunday. “The Chinese have mishandled COVID at every step of the way, are trying to sweep it under the rug, trying to try a strategy of zero covid that utterly failed. And tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Chinese are dead as a result of the mismanagement of this pandemic by the Chinese Communist Party.”

“For it to come out that the whole thing started because of mismanagement, I mean, look, we need to see whether this is true, but if it is, I don’t find it surprising at all,” Moulton added.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Energy Department determined with “low confidence” that a laboratory leak sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FBI determined last year with “moderate confidence” that the pandemic was caused by a laboratory leak, but The Journal noted that four other agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe the virus was caused by natural transmission. The Journal also added that two other agencies, including the CIA, are undecided in what caused the pandemic.

Republicans rushed to call for urgent action against China on Sunday in response to the reports, saying that the Chinese Communist Party needs to be held accountable.

However, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the intelligence community has not yet come up with a “definitive answer” on the question. 

Source: TEST FEED1

What we know about Energy Department’s lab leak conclusion

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Energy Department has concluded with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 virus emerged from a laboratory in China.

The newspaper, citing a classified intelligence report, said the Energy Department’s new position adds to divisions within the intelligence community on what was behind the pandemic, which first appeared in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. 

Here’s what to know about Energy’s new conclusion, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times:

‘New intelligence’ contributed to conclusion

The Energy Department’s judgment that a lab mishap was behind the COVID-19 outbreak was based on “new intelligence” and further study, according to the Journal’s reporting.

But some who read the undisclosed intelligence called it “weak,” according to The New York Times, which also reported on the determination. The Energy Department characterized its judgment as being made with “low confidence.” 

Exactly what comprises the new intelligence isn’t yet known, but it was notably gathered by the Energy Department’s network of national laboratories, a different intel-gathering method than what was likely relied upon by the FBI, both newspapers reported.

The Energy Department’s conclusion is an update from its previously undecided position.

Energy now squares with FBI

The FBI has previously determined with “moderate confidence” that a lab leak caused the COVID outbreak, according to WSJ.

However, four other agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe with “low confidence” that the pandemic was sparked by natural transmission involving an infected animal, per the report. 

Two other agencies, one of which was identified as the CIA, still haven’t drawn a conclusion.

There is agreement across the government that the virus wasn’t the product of a biological weapons program in China — a conspiracy theory that has sometimes been conflated with concerns about a lab leak.

The classified intelligence report cited by The Wall Street Journal was reportedly provided to some congressional lawmakers and the White House.

The position change is noted in a recent update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, per the Journal. 

White House still says no ‘definitive answer’

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday responded to the WSJ report, saying the intelligence community hasn’t come up with a “definitive answer” on the question. 

“There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure,” Sullivan said. 

“Here’s what I can tell you. President Biden has directed, repeatedly, every element of our intelligence community to put effort and resources behind getting to the bottom of this question … But, right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question.” 

GOP calls for action against China

A number of GOP lawmakers quickly jumped on the WSJ report to call for action against the Chinese Communist Party. Others said it proved that suspicions of a lab leak were correct.

“The left spent the past 2yrs trying to censor the truth & cover up for Communist China, but the facts are undeniable,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) tweeted. “The CCP is evil. Its virus killed millions & Xi will stop at nothing to destroy the U.S. It’s time to hold this evil regime accountable.”

Asked whether there should be consequences for Beijing if the U.S. definitively determines a lab leak caused the pandemic, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) on Sunday said there need to be more public hearings on the matter.

“Look, this is a country that has no problem coming out and lying to the world … I think that we need to make sure every country knows that, and then look at what the consequences could be,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Obviously, millions of deaths, huge economic impacts, and it would once again show that the Chinese Communist Party is not only a menace, but the nature of these regimes is to lie to the world,” the senator said.

Source: TEST FEED1