Archive by Author

GOP battles with itself over possibility of defense cuts

House Republicans are battling over reductions to defense spending, with some in the GOP downplaying the potential for Pentagon cuts and Democrats warning a small group of conservatives could lead to big budgetary cuts.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as part of concessions to Republicans opposed to his Speakership agreed to put a limit on new discretionary spending. The limit would cap all discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, if agreed to as part of a House budget.

The 2022 defense budget was $780 billion, compared to the $850 billion budget for fiscal year 2023.

As a result, such an agreement could cut $70 billion for defense spending based on those figures.  

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the previous Congress, said the cuts were a real possibility given the narrow GOP majority and the power of a small band of conservatives.

“What we saw in the Speaker fight was that a relatively small number of Republicans are willing to hold the process hostage out of the desire to make dramatic cuts in the budget,” Smith told The Hill. “So regardless of what McCarthy did or did not promise, that same group of people can do the same thing on the budget, on the appropriations bills, on the defense bill.”

Fears that the defense budget could be cut were the stated reason for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) to vote “no” on the House rules package on Monday evening.

Gonzales had warned of his potential vote during an interview Sunday with CBS’ Margaret Brennan in which he said the potential defense cuts were a “horrible idea”

“When you have aggressive Russia and Ukraine, you’ve got a growing threat of China in the Pacific, how am I going to look at our allies in the eye and say, ‘I need you to increase your defense budget, but yet America is going to decrease ours?’” he said.

Gonzales was the sole GOP vote against the House rules package that passed along party lines on Monday.

It’s possible there will be no cuts to defense, and the Pentagon has seen its budget rise steadily in recent years.

A majority of House Republicans are not likely to back any significant cuts to the defense budget, which has typically been the recipient of broad bipartisan support.

And a spokesperson for Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who was among the McCarthy holdouts last week, called claims of cutting defense spending “garbage.”

The spokesperson also pointed to a Twitter thread from Roy’s press office that discounted the idea of defense cuts.

In that thread, Roy’s press office said the discretionary cap would mean cutting $135 billion from 2023 fiscal year levels overall and not from defense. The thread said the cuts could mostly come from federal agencies, and Roy’s office said defense spending cuts were never mentioned during private talks.

“In fact, there was broad agreement spending cuts should focus on NON-DEFENSE discretionary spending,” the thread reads. “This means cutting funding for the woke & weaponized bureaucrats that received massive increases under the $1.7 trillion omnibus.”

However, the White House and Democrats in the House and Senate would be opposed to just cutting domestic discretionary spending alone.

That could lead to cuts to defense and non-defense spending, or no cuts. Or it could lead to an intense fight and a government shutdown.

The Defense Department declined to comment on this story.

Some lawmakers in both parties have raised questions about they skyrocketing Pentagon budget, while other Republican and Democratic Party voices have offered support for more defense spending.

Ukraine is expecting a long war with Russia, while Taiwan is under an increased threat from China. The Pentagon has also said it needs to keep growing to counter the rise of the Chinese military, which is on pace to quadruple its nuclear arsenal in the next 13 years.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed little concern for the foreseeable future in terms of funding for Ukraine, noting the $45 billion for Ukraine that was included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill last year.

“I do not see that money getting taken away from us,” he said at a press gaggle on Monday. “It is there. It is rock solid through nearly all or all of 2023.”

The National Defense Authorization Act passed last year also includes $10 billion for Taiwan spread out over five years.

Clashes over the defense budget likely foreshadows a longer battle on defense spending over the next two years.

Before the GOP narrowly took over the House in November’s midterm elections, McCarthy had promised there would be no “blank check” for Ukraine.

Far-right Republican lawmakers have also decried the billions of dollars in U.S. security assistance flowing to Ukraine without a proper audit of where the money is going.

Some Republicans have signaled there could be cuts in the Defense Department that relate to “woke” practices, a growing cry from the GOP over what they say are extreme progressive policies in the military.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox News on Sunday that “everything has to be on the table” for budget cuts.

“Maybe focus on getting rid of all the woke policies in our military,” the lawmaker said.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), also said on “Fox & Friends” that any cuts would not impact the Defense Department except for what he called “waste.”

“Republicans will not impact defense spending aside from efficiencies and waste,” Emmer said on Monday. “It’s the domestic spending we’re going to go after.”

Smith said the House Armed Services Committee is united behind maintaining defense spending and would continue to do its work this year. The Democrat explained he was mostly concerned about Republican detractors shutting down the government over budget talks.

“It’s really the chaos factor, driven by the small number of Republicans who think the federal government is irrelevant,” he said. “What 80 to 90 percent of the conference wants may not be enough to overcome the chaos.”

Source: TEST FEED1

House Democrats file, hand-deliver ethics complaint to George Santos

A pair of House Democrats on Tuesday filed and hand-delivered to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) a complaint urging the Ethics Committee to open an investigation into allegations the freshman congressman failed to file timely, accurate and complete financial disclosure reports.

Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) filed the ethics complaint against Santos on Tuesday and delivered a copy of the six-page document to the New York Republican’s congressional office. Goldman knocked on Santos’s door and entered the office, leaving the complaint on a desk inside.

“In order to safeguard the integrity of federal ethics laws and the House of Representatives itself, we respectfully request that you immediately undertake a full investigation into this matter of George Santos’s failure to timely and accurately file financial disclosure reports and promptly take all other necessary steps to seek appropriate penalties and corrective action,” the complaint reads.

The lawmakers allege that Santos — who was sworn into Congress early Saturday morning — violated the Ethics in Government Act for not filing accurate and complete financial disclosure reports on time.

The pair zeroed in on a number of allegations regarding the congressman’s financial records, including his failure to file financial disclosure forms before the GOP primary, whether he reported interest income properly and if he “engaged in fraudulent activity” through his company, the Devolder Organization.

The complaint brings attention to Santos’s disclosure that he earned more than $1 million in dividends from Devolder per year, noting that financial data company Dun & Bradstreet estimates the company had a revenue of $43,688 as of July 20, 2022.

The lawmakers also pointed out a discrepancy regarding Santos’s ownership of property in Rio de Janeiro. The financial form discloses an apartment in Brazil, but he later admitted to not owning any property.

Torres, in remarks shortly after delivering the complaint, said the pair is asking that the Ethics Committee investigate Santos. If the panel finds that the allegations have merit, Torres said Santos should face disciplinary action.

Asked about the ethics complaint on Tuesday, Santos told reporters “they’re free to do whatever they want to do.” Pressed on whether he is concerned, the congressman responded, “I’m not. I have done nothing unethical.”

“I have not,” he added, when asked if he thinks he has done anything wrong.

The Ethics Committee — which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans — first must decide whether to launch an investigation. It remains unclear if it will do so.

Goldman told reporters on Tuesday that the pair has heard from some Republicans who support an ethics investigation. He specifically cited Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who has called for a full House Ethics investigation into Santos.

The complaint to the Ethics Committee is the latest development in the controversy surrounding Santos, who admitted to embellishing parts of his resume after news reports uncovered widespread discrepancies in his biography.

On Monday, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission outlining what is says are violations of campaign finance laws. On top of that, the New York Republican is already the subject of probes led by the Eastern District of New York and the Nassau County district attorney.

Additionally, a spokesperson for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office told The New York Times that it will make a formal request with the Justice Department to inform him that a 2008 criminal fraud case he was involved with is being reopened.

And, a group of four other Democratic House members with backgrounds in national security penned a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday expressing concern regarding “Santos’s access to classified information and potential appointment to any Congressional Committees that may facilitate the use of this information,” citing his “fabricated” biography and other allegations.

Goldman and Torres cited the ongoing controversy — particularly his misleading biography — in the ethics complaint.

“Given the revelations about his biography, as well as the public information pertaining to his financial disclosures, Mr. Santos has hailed to uphold the integrity expected of members of the House of Representatives,” the complaint reads. “We therefore respectfully request that you investigate this matter to determine the extent of these violations and take appropriate action as soon as possible.”

Democratic leaders also weighed in on the Santos scandals Tuesday morning, accusing McCarthy of seating the controversial freshman for the sole purpose of padding McCarthy’s vote tally in last week’s marathon balloting that finally gave him the Speaker’s gavel on the 15th vote.

“He owns George Santos,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chair of the Democratic Caucus, said of McCarthy. “That’s the only reason why he was seated, is to give George Santos that ability to vote for Kevin McCarthy.”

Aguilar said there “should be repercussions” for Santos, and called on state and federal law enforcement agencies — including the Federal Election Commission — to investigate.

“This is an incredibly serious issue from someone who clearly is divorced from reality and sanity,” he said. “But this is at the feet of Kevin McCarthy, not just George Santos alone.”

Mike Lillis contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

Texas Republican files articles of impeachment against Mayorkas

A Texas Republican has filed articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, wasting little time into the new Congress to act on a GOP priority leadership has said would come after thorough investigation.

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) filed the paperwork for the resolution Jan. 3, the first day of the 118th Congress, though with delays in securing a House Speaker, the document was officially filed late Monday.

The resolution claims Mayorkas “engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties,” complaining that he has failed to maintain operational control over the border.

The resolution comes amid a busy week in the Biden administration. President Biden visited the border over the weekend for the first time since taking office, pledging to deliver more resources to the officers that patrol the region.

And Mayorkas is in Mexico this week, meeting with officials there on a variety of issues, including the shared migration agreement rolled out by the Biden administration last week.

Mayorkas is also due to discuss coordination on trans-national crime with Mexican authorities. His office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Fallon’s resolution won’t move without further action from GOP leadership, but it would otherwise jump start a process House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has treaded carefully on.

“House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said at a press conference in El Paso, Texas, in November.

Still, impeachment charges against Mayorkas were all but certain under Republican control of the House, as the DHS secretary has been a constant foil for the GOP during the Biden administration.

Republicans claim that under Biden, DHS has dismantled the border security apparatus built under former President Trump, leading to border chaos.

Most border and immigration analysts agree that increased migration due to security, economic and governance conditions in the Western Hemisphere is the primary reason for the high number of migrants encountered at the border.

And Mayorkas has taken flak both from the right and the left, as DHS has maintained many of the Trump administration’s border policies, which immigrant advocates say violate human rights.

Still, Republicans see the border as a winning issue for them, and Mayorkas is the Biden administration’s face on that issue.

Mayorkas, the first Latino to ever hold that post, has often butted heads with congressional Republicans at oversight hearings.

In April, Mayorkas clashed with Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, including a notable exchange with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) over his agency’s record on deportations from the interior of the country.

That combative exchange could set the tone for impeachment proceedings.

The potential for a political circus is concerning for Republicans fresh off a nationally-televised Speaker’s race that highlighted divisions in the party.

Some Republicans have expressed reservations about going after Mayorkas without careful study. 

“You’ve got to build a case. You need the facts, evidence before you indict,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

“Has he been derelict in his responsibilities? I think so,” he said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Katie Porter launches bid for Feinstein's Senate seat

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that she will run for Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) Senate seat in 2024. 

Porter has previously acknowledged that she was considering a bid for what is expected to be an open Senate seat in deep-blue California. While Feinstein hasn’t yet announced her retirement, she is widely expected to do so in the coming months.

On Tuesday, however, Porter made clear that she’s not willing to wait for the 89-year-old Feinstein to make a formal decision. In a video announcing her campaign, Porter said that “it’s time for new leadership in the U.S. Senate.”

“California needs a warrior in Washington,” Porter said. “That’s exactly why I’m announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024.”

Porter is fresh off a tough reelection campaign that saw her defeat Republican Scott Baugh by little more than 3 percentage points. She also has a reputation as a prolific fundraiser. As of late November, her campaign had $7.7 million in the bank after raising more than $25 million throughout her 2022 reelection bid.

Of course, she’s not the only prominent California Democrat interested in Feinstein’s Senate seat. Rep. Adam Schiff has also said that he’s weighing a 2024 Senate bid. Another member of California’s House delegation, Rep. Barbara Lee (D), is also seen as a prospective contender.

The Senate primary could grow particularly contentious; no Democrat is seen as the clear favorite to succeed Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for more than three decades. 

Still, Porter is likely to be among the best positioned. Within minutes of announcing her campaign, she scored an endorsement from Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), an influential liberal group.

“On a gut level, Katie knows how to challenge power on behalf of families,” Adam Green, the co-founder of the PCCC, said in a statement. “We’ve been fighting alongside Katie from the very beginning as she’s taken on predatory banks, corporate executives, and big-money special interests. Now voters are ready to send her – and her whiteboard – to the U.S. Senate.” 

Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary will head into the general as the heavy favorite for the seat. The last Republican to hold one of the state’s two Senate seats was former Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), whom Feinstein defeated in 1992.

Source: TEST FEED1

DOJ subpoenas Giuliani over Trump fundraising after 2020 election

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been subpoenaed in connection with a probe into fundraising efforts following the 2020 election, according to multiple reports.

The subpoena, which was sent in November and first reported by CNN, seeks documents from Giuliani about payments he received during the period when he was filing post-election lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign.

The subpoena was signed by an attorney in the D.C. U.S. attorney office and predated the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, though the special counsel’s office has likewise been investigating the inner workings of Save America PAC, former President Trump’s fundraising effort following the campaign.

Other subpoenas sent in recent months have also sought information related to the PAC, suggesting a DOJ interest in following the money flowing in as the Trump campaign falsely claimed widespread voter fraud had stolen the election from the then-president.

Giuliani is already facing fallout as a result of those claims, including a preliminary determination from the D.C. bar association that he violated rules of professional conduct in filing the suits, a matter that could eventually result in the loss of his law license.

Representatives for Giuliani did not immediately respond to request for comment, nor did the special counsel’s office. 

Giuliani was responsible for peddling a number of false claims as he led the campaign’s litigation response following Trump’s loss, including that Dominion voting machines were hacked and that Georgia officials had brought in “suitcases full of ballots.”

The latter became a focus of a hearing convened by the House Jan. 6 panel, which brought in Georgia election workers impacted by Giuliani’s baseless claims, detailing how they received death threats and had to leave their homes for safety.

Giuliani, like Trump, was among those whom the panel recommended the Justice Department evaluate for possible criminal charges.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — New Biden controversy on classified documents; House approves rules

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.

President Biden, his legal team, the Justice Department and the National Archives have known since early November that some classified documents created while he was vice president were discovered locked in a closet in an office Biden used for years after the Obama administration ended.

Limited details, first reported by CBS News and confirmed in a statement by a White House lawyer, set off a barrage of questions on Monday along with comparisons to former President Trump’s ongoing troubles with the Justice Department over his possession of classified records after leaving office. The FBI last year retrieved cartons of presidential and classified materials from Mar-a-Lago, which were destined for the Archives.

Trump, a declared 2024 presidential candidate, on Monday cried foul, setting in motion a new wave of complaints that he is treated unfairly by Democrats for political purposes. The news about Biden’s records punctuated the first workday of the new Congress as House Republicans vowed to pursue rigorous oversight and investigations. One topic at the top of their list: assertions that the Justice Department, FBI and intelligence agencies may have politicized actions to the detriment of conservatives. 

Monday’s revelations about Biden’s recovered documents are all but certain to be explored by the House GOP in future hearings.

“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump said Monday on his Truth Social platform (The Hill). 

Reacting to the November discovery of the Biden classified materials, Attorney General Merrick Garland at the time quietly assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review a “small number” of documents with classified marking, which were removed from the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in the nation’s capital and turned over to national archivists by Biden’s personal lawyers, CBS reported.

The White House says it is cooperating with the Justice Department (The Hill and The New York Times).

On Nov. 2, the day the material was discovered and almost a week before the midterm elections, Biden’s counsel’s office notified the National Archives and Records Administration, which took possession of the materials the following morning, according to the White House. Officials have not said why the matter was not disclosed publicly last fall. 

The Biden papers came to light when the president’s personal attorneys “were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said in a statement. It is unclear what the documents included, although sources told CBS that nuclear secrets were not among materials found in the closet. 

The Hill: Differences in the Trump, Biden classified documents discoveries. 

Trump is under federal investigation for the removal of hundreds of White House classified documents that he stored at his Florida estate after he left office — and was slow to return, decisions that allegedly violated the Presidential Records Act, according to lawyers and analysts in both parties. The FBI last year acted on a search warrant at the request of the Archives in order to search for and seize 200,000 pages from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, including at least 100 classified or highly classified documents.   

The Biden documents were discovered around the time that the attorney general tapped a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee the agency’s criminal investigation into Trump’s actions. Officials have said the investigation tied to the former president concerns possible mishandling of government secrets and possible obstruction of justice or destruction of records (The Washington Post).

To oversee the review of what was locked in Biden’s office closet, the attorney general, who was traveling Monday with the president in Mexico, assigned John Lausch, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to conduct a review. Lausch was nominated by Trump, the Post reported, adding that the FBI also is taking part.

The Penn Biden Center opened in Washington in 2018 as a think tank for the University of Pennsylvania with Biden as the anchor for programs involving foreign policy experts and lawmakers. He worked there with a number of long-serving aides who also returned to the White House after his election, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Steve Ricchetti, who previously served as the center’s managing director and is a top presidential adviser in the West Wing.

Related Articles

▪ Bloomberg News: DOJ reviewing classified files found at former Biden office. 

▪ CNN: Biden tries to stay focused on Mexico City summit after revelation that classified documents were found in his private office.

▪ NBC News: Biden became aware of the classified documents being stored in his former office when he was informed by his lawyers they had discovered them.

▪ The Atlantic (rewind to October predictions by Barton Gellman): The impeachment of Joe Biden. “The pressure from the MAGA base will build. A triggering event will burst all restraints. Eventually, Republicans will leave themselves little choice.”

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS

The House and newly confirmed Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) faced their first legislative challenge Monday with the adoption of the chamber’s rules package, which passed in a mainly party-line vote, 220-213.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas) was the only Republican to vote against the sweeping measure, which will govern how the chamber operates for its next two-year term, The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell report. The terms in the package were central to closed-door negotiations last week between McCarthy’s allies and detractors, and the Speaker had to give up a number of concessions in order to put him over the finish line to secure the gavel — which he ultimately won on the 15th ballot, after four days of voting.

But the process left open questions about whether the provisions would turn off moderate Republicans, and a few had voiced misgivings in recent days. The most controversial item in the rules package is the single-member motion to vacate the chair, which allows one lawmaker to force a vote on ousting the Speaker. Also reinstated is the Holman rule, which gives members the ability to propose amendments for appropriations bills that would decrease the salaries of specific federal workers, or funding for certain programs, to $1, essentially defunding them.

House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (Mass.) — who called the rules package “flawed” — was among the Democrats to express concerns with the provisions, especially those agreed upon in handshake deals between McCarthy and his detractors.

“What I’m concerned about is not just what’s written down here, I’m concerned by the backroom deals that Speaker McCarthy made with the Freedom Caucus in exchange for their votes,” McGovern said. “This is unconscionable, we’re only one week into this and this is how they’re running this place. Is this what the majority leader meant when he talked about a new day in transparency? These rules are not a serious attempt at governing, they’re essentially a ransom note to America from the extreme right.”

Through the rules package, the GOP is also preparing to hammer agencies reviewing the conduct of Trump with a new select subcommittee poised to focus on the “weaponization” of the federal government, writes The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. The panel is being drawn up to take aim at ongoing investigations at the Department of Justice and the FBI on Trump, including the taking of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago and the former president’s conduct leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The subcommittee, included under the umbrella of the House Judiciary Committee, will be helmed by its chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the combative ally of Trump who has already sent more than 100 letters to the two agencies ahead of his own expected probes.

Politico: Mutually assured obstruction: House GOP aims “weaponization” panel at DOJ.

Taken together, the new rules could increase transparency around how legislation is put together, but they could also make it difficult for the chamber to carry out even its most basic duties in the next two years, such as funding the government, including the military, or avoiding a federal debt default (The New York Times).

Outside of the measures McCarthy included to appease his skeptics, one of the most significant inclusions in the package is a move to strip House employees’ collective bargaining rights. Democrats adopted a resolution in May that granted nearly 9,100 House staffers the ability to form unions, but the new rules include language saying that resolution will have no force or effect during the 118th Congress (Roll Call).

The rules would also impose term limits for Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) board members and require the office to make hiring decisions within 30 days — which ethics advocates say could effectively gut the watchdog agency.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) told Business Insider of the rules package on Monday. Following his election in November, Santos, who was sworn into Congress this weekend, was revealed to have fabricated much of his background. He is under investigation in multiple jurisdictions and faces at least two OCE complaints related to his financial disclosures.

The House on Monday also approved a bill that would roll back $80 billion in IRS funding that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, write The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell. The legislation would pile more than $100 billion onto federal deficits, according to a new estimate from Congress’s official budget scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office (The Hill and The Wall Street Journal). The White House on Monday excoriated the bill — which is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate — calling it a “reckless” bill that would benefit “tax cheats.”

“With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement (The Hill).

The Hill’s Emily Brooks has rounded up the Republicans who were selected to chair House committees under the new GOP majority, from Rep. Jason Smith (Mo.) for Ways and Means to Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.) for Education and the Workforce.

In a statement, Smith said the panel will “build on the success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and examine how our policies can reward working families with a tax code that delivers better jobs, higher wages, and more investment in America,” as well as examine tax benefits for “corporations that have shed their American identity in favor of a relationship with China.”

The concessions McCarthy agreed to with conservative rebels are likely to set up showdowns this year with Senate Democrats and Biden, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, on topics ranging from the debt limit to the annual spending bills — and heightening the likelihood of a national default or government shutdown.

One of the conservatives who held out against McCarthy, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), demanded that the GOP leader be willing to shut down the government to extract deep concessions on spending from Democrats. Democrats have refused to negotiate on the debt limit over the past decade, but Senate aides note that when Biden was vice president, he helped negotiate the Budget Control Act, which put steep cuts and later budget sequestration in effect. The question now is whether Biden will pressure Senate Democrats to make concessions to enhance his 2024 reelection prospects.

▪ Roll Call: For new GOP House majority, a focus on abortion messaging.

▪ The Hill: Here’s who’s on the GOP committee that helps pick panel chairs.

▪ Foreign Policy: In Biden’s shadow, progressives are forging their own foreign-policy agenda.

A bipartisan group of senators from states including Texas, Delaware and Arizona is participating in a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border this week to see “the crisis” firsthand, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the participating lawmakers.

“The humanitarian and national security crisis at our southern border has created untenable and unacceptable challenges for Texas communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, which is why I’m glad my colleagues from across the country will see the impacts of this firsthand,” Cornyn said. “On this visit, we will hear from the men and women working around the clock to manage the strain of this crisis, and I hope this will result in meaningful discussions about finally securing our border and giving these communities tangible relief.”

The trip comes a day after Biden made his own visit to the border for the first time since his election. The lawmakers are set to tour various points along the border in El Paso and Yuma, Texas, meet with U.S. Border Patrol and the Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, and tour Border Patrol processing centers. Joining Cornyn on the trip are Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) — co-sponsors of the trip — and Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) (KVUE).

Biden on Monday spoke with recently inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, condemning the violence of supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro who on Sunday stormed the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and other government offices in protest of his election loss last fall.

“Biden conveyed the unwavering support of the United States for Brazil’s democracy and for the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent presidential election, which President Lula won,” according to a joint statement by Biden and Lula. Biden also “condemned the violence and the attack on democratic institutions and on the peaceful transfer of power” and invited Lula to visit the White House in February, which he accepted (The Hill).

Some rank-and-file members of Congress are calling on the U.S. to extradite Bolsonaro, who had reportedly been holed up in a rental property in Orlando, Fla. His wife on Monday said on Instagram that her husband was hospitalized in Florida with abdominal pain she said was linked to a 2018 stabbing injury (NBC News and The New York Times).

“Nearly 2 years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), tweeted, adding that the “US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”

➤ ADMINISTRATION

In Mexico City, Biden may have embraced Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for photographers while heading into a bilateral meeting tied to a North American Leaders’ Summit, but the exchange Monday, described by reporters, was served cold. 

Obrador challenged Biden to shed an attitude of “abandonment” and “disdain” for Latin America and the Caribbean, telling the U.S. president “you hold the key in your hand.” Biden, who brought a handful of his Cabinet officials with him, defended billions of dollars in U.S. aid dispersed around the world, saying “unfortunately our responsibility just doesn’t end in the Western Hemisphere.” 

The president, who will be back at the White House late tonight, also meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Discussions between the U.S. and Canada today are expected to focus on energy as well as Russia’s war with Ukraine (USA Today).  

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS

Much will be reported this year about mashups of policy and politics ahead of the next presidential election as candidates of all stripes work to gain voters’ attention. In his latest Memo, The Hill’s Niall Stanage turns his attention to the subject of police reform and draws on a new book by two investigative journalists who put California’s Oakland Police Department under a spotlight.

The cause of improving policing may have receded in Washington with the Republican takeover of the House and after the failure of last year’s bipartisan push for new law, led by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Stanage interviewed Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham, the authors of “The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption and Cover-up in Oakland,” which makes the case that police reform is necessary, improves policing and builds trust. As one reviewer said of the book’s conclusions, police agencies are incapable of policing themselves (San Francisco Chronicle).

Trump on Monday continued his long-simmering feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), urging on his social media platform that GOP candidates challenge the Republican leader in the next primary (along with other Senate Republicans who vote with McConnell) (The Hill). McConnell blames Trump for some of the GOP Senate losses last year following Trump’s backing of candidates that McConnell says proved flawed and inexperienced.

The Alabama Republican Party on Monday said its steering committee “cannot support or endorse” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is vying to keep her job coming out of the party’s winter gathering this month. The Alabama GOP declared its “vote of no-confidence” in McDaniel and called for fresh “vision,” although she remains the favorite to win. She has steered the RNC since 2017, overseeing a White House defeat and losses of the GOP’s Senate majority in 2020 and the House Republican majority in 2018. McDaniel is being challenged by Harmeet Dhillon, who represented Trump in lawsuits related to the 2020 election. To retain her position, McDaniel needs to win the support of a majority among 168 total members (ABC News and The Hill).

Florida Politics: Florida Democratic Party Chairman Manny Diaz resigned from office on Monday, two months after the state party suffered one of its worst election results in modern history.

Roll Call: The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington group that focuses on political money laws, on Monday filed a 50-page complaint with the Federal Election Commission detailing potential violations of federal election laws by Santos. He has conceded he fabricated details of his biography, background, work experience, and elements of campaign presentations to voters. He also faces 2008 check fraud charges in Brazil.  

The Hill: In Virginia, Democrats are closely eyeing a special state Senate race today hoping to flip the seat. The special election for the seventh state senate district, which encompasses a portion of the greater Virginia Beach area, was previously held by GOP Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.). 

OPINION

■ Brazil’s copycat insurrection won’t be the last, by Jessica Karl, social media editor, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3VXCJif

■ Allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) plot the hostile takeover of a liberal college, by Michelle Goldberg, opinion columnist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3WZLObs

WHERE AND WHEN

👉 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 10 a.m.

The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. for a pro forma session. 

The president is in Mexico City for a North American summit with leaders of Mexico and Canada. Biden meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning. The president will head to the National Palace for a photo with host Obrador and Trudeau, after which the three leaders will begin their summit session at 1:30 p.m. The trio will deliver statements at 3:45 p.m. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will depart the National Palace at 4:55 p.m. to return to the White House at 10:20 p.m.             

Vice President Harris is in Washington and has no public events.

The attorney general is in Mexico City with the president.

Blinken is in Mexico City with the president.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will participate in a bilateral meeting with Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry is in Mexico City with Biden.

ELSEWHERE

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Brazilian soldiers, backed by police, on Monday dismantled a camp of Bolsonaro supporters in the capital, Brasilia, a day after thousands of rioters launched the worst attack on state institutions since the country’s return to democracy in the 1980s, storming Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace (Reuters). On Monday, Lula promised to bring the rioters to justice as he toured the destruction. Lula on Sunday had made an official statement saying he would sign an emergency decree, in effect until Jan. 31, allowing the federal government to implement “any measures necessary” to calm the unrest in the capital (Vox).

“The terrorists who promote the destruction of public spaces in Brasília are being identified and punished,” he tweeted Monday. “Tomorrow we will resume work at the Presidential Palace. Democracy forever. Good night.”

▪ The Hill: Here are five things to know about the crisis in Brazil.

▪ The Washington Post: Come to the “war cry party”: How social media helped drive mayhem in Brazil.

▪ Vox: What comes after Brazil’s Jan. 8?

▪ The Washington Post: Videos of the Brazil attack show striking similarities to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Earlier in the war against Russia, Ukraine’s leadership was more equivocal about pitched battles with high casualties. But this time, The New York Times reports, there’s no second-guessing as Ukrainian forces go toe to toe with Russia in Bakhmut. Some analysts say it makes sense strategically. An analysis by Rob Lee and Michael Kofman, published last month by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, supported the attritional fighting. The pitched battle weakened the Russian army enough for two Ukrainian counterattacks in the fall to succeed, they wrote, and those offensives delivered two of the most embarrassing defeats of the war to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The amount of ammunition Russia expended and the casualties they took set up the Russian Army for failure,” Lee told the Times.

Putin has only one option left but won’t accept it, says Ukraine’s foreign minister. “It’s up [to] the U.S. government and other partners of Ukraine to make their decisions on how long they are going to support us,” Dmytro Kuleba told NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Monday. “But we have made our choice, we have made the decision. We are going to fight against an invader as long as we can breathe.”

▪ Reuters: Russia pushes to capture Ukraine’s Soledar amid fierce fighting.

▪ The Washington Post: Ukraine sees “year of victory” in 2023 but Russia has other plans.

➤ TECH

Seattle Public Schools is suing social media companies including TikTok, Snapchat and Meta — Facebook and Instagram’s parent company — saying the tech giants’ “misconduct has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis.”

The school district claims that it has seen a 30 percent increase of students who said they feel “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that [they] stopped doing some usual activities” from 2009 to 2019. There was also a nationwide increase in students experiencing persistent feelings of sadness and who seriously considered, planned for and attempted suicide during the same period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CBS News and Axios).

“This mental health crisis is no accident,” the Seattle district’s lawsuit against the companies says. “It is the result of the Defendants’ deliberate choices and affirmative actions to design and market their social media platforms to attract youth.”

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Tech industry reversal intensifies with new rounds of layoffs.

▪ Axios: See how much tech companies are paying workers.

▪ Nexstar/NBC4: Ohio bans TikTok, other Chinese-operated apps on state-owned devices.

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH

Increasingly, alcohol-related cirrhosis, or liver disease, is killing younger people in the U.S., new data show. According to a 2018 study, between 2009 and 2016, deaths attributed to alcohol-related cirrhosis had been consistently rising, with the sharpest increase among those in the 25-34 age group. COVID-19 made it worse. Between 2017 and 2020, deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease continued to rise, with an acceleration during the first year of the pandemic, according to a report published in March 2022 in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

“We’re definitely seeing younger and younger patients coming in with what we previously thought was advanced liver disease seen in patients only in their 50s and 60s,” Jessica Mellinger, a liver specialist at the University of Michigan Medical School, told NBC News.

For the first time, retail pharmacies, such as CVS and Walgreens, will be able to dispense abortion medication pills directly to consumers in states where the procedure is legal. Still, despite the early January rule change from the Food and Drug Administration, the two-drug regimen is unlikely to be available at neighborhood pharmacies anytime soon, as implementing the requirements to dispense mifepristone is time-consuming and may dissuade smaller stores from participating (The Washington Post).

▪ NPR: A “medical cost-sharing” plan left this minister to pay most of his $160,000 bill.

▪ National Geographic: COVID-19 is more widespread in animals than we thought.

▪ Reuters: Omicron COVID-19 booster shots cut hospitalization rates in over 65s, Israeli study finds.

▪ Reuters: Pfizer CEO rules out generic COVID-19 drug Paxlovid for China.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,096,751. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 2,731 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 … 🇺🇳 Today marks the 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations. On Jan. 10, 1948, the first General Assembly of the United Nations, comprising 51 nations, convened at Westminster Central Hall in London. A week later, the U.N. Security Council met for the first time and established its rules of procedure, and  on Jan. 24, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution — a measure calling for the peaceful uses of atomic energy and the elimination of atomic and other weapons of mass destruction.

The groundwork for the U.N. was laid four years earlier, at the Dumbarton Oaks conference in Washington, D.C., where Allied delegates drew up plans for an international organization to maintain peace and security in the postwar world — one with considerably more power than the defunct League of Nations. Delegates from 51 nations convened in San Francisco in April 1945 to draft the United Nations Charter (History). Now, the U.N.’s General Assembly is headquartered in New York City, and the body counts 193 member states (U.N.).

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

McCarthy’s concessions spur fears of potential default, government shutdown

The concessions Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreed to in a bid to appease conservative rebels sets up showdowns this year with Senate Democrats and President Biden on the debt limit and the annual spending bills — heightening the danger of a national default or a government shutdown, political strategists say.  

McCarthy’s promises all but guarantee a standoff with Senate Democrats and Biden later this year, particularly those to attach spending cuts to legislation to raise the debt limit and to cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels. 

Democrats have refused to negotiate adding spending cuts or other fiscal reforms to any debt limit legislation over the past decade.  

And they say McCarthy’s promise to cap discretionary spending at the levels set by the fiscal 2022 appropriations bills, which would require a big cut to the current federal budget baseline, is a nonstarter.  

One Senate Democratic aide predicted a stalemate in spending negotiations this year and forecast that Congress will only agree to passing yearlong continuing resolutions that would keep federal spending frozen.  

Further complicating the situation, McCarthy has pledged to pass the 12 annual appropriations bills individually, something Congress hasn’t done on time in decades.  

“I don’t think it’s realistic at all, and certainly even if it’s achievable, it’s not desirable,” said Scott Lilly, a former Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, of McCarthy’s promise to cap federal discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels.  

Lilly noted that high inflation, which measured at 7.1 percent on an annual basis in November, would increase the impact of the cuts under discussion among House Republicans.  

The omnibus Congress passed in December increased discretionary defense spending by 9.7 percent and nondefense, nonveterans-related spending by 5.5 percent.  

The prospect of capping spending at fiscal 2022 levels has already set off a new round of infighting between conservative budget hawks and national defense-minded Republicans in the House who don’t want to claw back new money approved for the Pentagon.  

“The Republican Conference is about to go to blows over the defense cuts,” Lilly said, predicting the turmoil over spending is likely to result in a government shutdown later this year.  

“I think it’s very likely,” he said. “Given the number of shutdowns we’ve had in the last 30 years and the consequences of each of them, you’d think someone would get the message that it’s not good policy and it’s not even good politics.”

“But I think you got a very select group of people in the House at this moment in time that don’t get that message,” he added.  

McCarthy will be under heavy pressure to deliver on his promises to cut federal spending because he also agreed to a new House rules package that would allow any member to call for a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair.  

That means if any conservative in the House GOP conference feels angered or disappointed by whatever spending deal McCarthy brings to the floor, he or she could force a vote to oust him as Speaker.  

Ray Zaccaro, a Democratic strategist and former Senate aide, said McCarthy’s difficulty in getting elected Speaker shows he has little leverage over House conservatives who want to force showdowns over the debt limit and spending.     

“We don’t even know if we can even predict that there will be a Kevin McCarthy Speakership for very long,” he said. “That draws into question how the House is going to function.”

He added there is no desire among Democrats to help McCarthy deliver on his big promises to fiscal conservatives.  

“Nobody right now is going to agree to any of the very hyperbolic, frenzied agreements that Kevin McCarthy may have made to secure the gavel,” he said.  

“How long is it going to take before Kevin McCarthy is compelled to shut down the government for something?” he asked.  

If House Republicans agree to exempt the Defense Department from cuts, it would require cutting domestic discretionary spending by roughly 25 percent in real dollars to meet the goal of capping spending at fiscal 2022 levels, according to Shai Akabas, the director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

Akabas estimates the cuts would be steeper if veterans programs and the Department of Homeland Security were also protected.  

Such deep cuts to nondefense programs have no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate, say Democratic aides and strategists.  

“There’s already been a tiff up there about defense spending. I don’t believe you can get fiscal 2022 numbers through the system for fiscal 2024. I don’t believe you can do that. I don’t think the votes are even close to doing that,” said Jim Dyer, a senior adviser at Baker Donelson with 30 years of experience working on the House Appropriations Committee. 

Dyer, a longtime Republican aide, said, however, that the risk of Congress failing to pass debt limit legislation in time poses more danger to the national economy than a government shutdown.  

“I am far more worried about the debt-ceiling issue than I am a government shutdown,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder if the members have a great appreciation of what all is at stake here.”

“With the debt-ceiling issue, you’re talking about defaulting on the government’s full faith and credit. I don’t know how you can do any greater harm to this country that doing that,” he said. “In a divided government I think it will be challenging to come up with a level of [spending] reductions that offset what you would be trying to do when you’re adjusting the top line [debt number.]”

“I think it’s going to be difficult,” he added of the spending battles between the Senate and House.  

Brendan Buck, a former senior adviser to former Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), who led the House GOP majority during the 2011 standoff over the debt limit, thinks another showdown is likely this year.  

“I’m not saying it’s healthy to worry about the debt limit every day for the next nine months, but I am saying you probably should,” he tweeted Monday. 

The Treasury Department hasn’t said when exactly the nation will exhaust its borrowing authority but it is expected to happen sometime after July. 

Zach Moller, a former Senate Budget Committee aide who now directs the economic program at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, warned that the negotiations over debt-limit legislation could very well run past the deadline set by Treasury.  

“The House Republicans really seem to want to drag their feet on the debt limit,” he said, adding that McCarthy made additional private concessions to conservative that were included in a secret three-page addendum included in the new House rules package.  

“I’m really worried that the unknown nature of the X-date, the default date, and how slow the House may move, we may find ourselves in a situation where we’re defaulting,” he added.  

Moller said he expects a government shutdown later this year because McCarthy will be under pressure to cater to conservatives who opposed his election to Speaker.  

“I do expect a little bit of a government shutdown this year because I feel like McCarthy is going to view it as a win, as red meat for a lot of the spending hawks in his caucus. How he gets himself out of a shutdown is a completely separate issue,” he said.  

Moller noted that the usual tactic for avoiding a shutdown, passing a stopgap spending measure that freezes federal spending, would fall short of his pledge to cap spending at fiscal-year 2022 levels.  

Conservative rebels last week pressed McCarthy to promise he would take a hardline stance on pairing major fiscal reforms to debt-ceiling legislation.  

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said conservatives who opposed McCarthy’s election to Speaker wanted to see “changes” in the GOP’s leadership approach to the debt limit. 

“Is he willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling? That’s a non-negotiable item,” he told reporters.  

Source: TEST FEED1

House GOP passes repeal of IRS funding boost as its first bill in the majority

House Republicans fulfilled a key campaign promise on Monday, passing legislation to rescind the bulk of an IRS funding boost signed into law last year, marking the first bill passed by the GOP-controlled House this Congress.

The bill, which is unlikely to see action in the Democratic-controlled Senate, passed in a party-line 221-210 vote on Monday evening.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced that the first bill for a GOP-controlled House would be to repeal the new IRS funding in September, when House Republicans released their “Commitment to America” midterm policy and messaging platform ahead of the election.

A boost of about $80 billion in IRS funding over a decade generally aimed at upping high-income enforcement was included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ sweeping tax, health and climate bill. 

The Republican bill, formally titled the “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act,” is barely longer than one page. It directs any “unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available” to the IRS from the Inflation Reduction Act to be rescinded.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Monday that the legislation would eliminate about $71 billion of the total $80 billion that was allocated for the IRS but would reduce tax revenue by about $186 billion, translating to a $114 billion increase in deficits over the next decade.

Republicans have repeatedly falsely claimed the 87,000 new IRS employees, who would be added over the course of a decade, would be “agents.” 

The 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department compliance report estimating new hires over a decade with the $80 billion funding boost. But only a small portion of the department’s current employees are agents, and the department has said the figure accounts for other workers such as customer service representatives and computer scientists as well as replacements for the 52,000 employees expected to retire or resign within the next six years.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an August letter to members of the Senate that the funds from the legislation would be used to up examination of large corporations and high-net-worth individuals and were not designed to raise enforcement for households making less than $400,000. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also said that the agency would not increase audit rates for those taxpayers making less than $400,000.

Republicans, however, argued that the directives did not prohibit increased enforcement activities directed at middle- and low-income taxpayers, and pointed to a CBO analysis that said the funding boost would mean audit rates “rise for all taxpayers.” They also criticized the legislation for not allocating a larger portion to taxpayer services.

The bill stand little chance in the Senate, and the White House said in a statement on Monday that President Biden would veto it if it came to his desk. 

“With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe,” the White House said in a statement.

Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) — the sponsor of the bill who lost a race on Monday to become chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee — touted the measure during debate on the chamber floor Monday, calling it a “first great step” in reforming the IRS to become an agency that works for the public.

“There are numerous reasons to support this bill. It protects families and small businesses. It ensures agencies are funded appropriately. Most importantly, it stops autopilot funding for an out-of-control government agency that is perhaps most in need of reform,” Smith said.

“IRS needs to fix its customer service and return processing problems, not focus on auditing families and small businesses. Americans want an IRS that works for them, not against them. This bill is a great first step in that direction,” he added.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, brought attention to the CBO report, saying the bill would lead to a $114 billion surge in deficits over the next 10 years. He also argued that the changes in the bill at hand would make matters worse for the middle class and small businesses.

“They don’t want a fairer tax administration. They think it’s bad for some of their supporters. But you know what? This is — what they’re attempting to do tonight — is bad for middle-class families, it’s bad for small businesses, who then are asked to pay more when the people at the top don’t pay their fair share,” Neal said.

“The American people are wise to what’s being presented here tonight. We live in a two-tier tax system. Wage earners follow the rules. Wealthy billionaires, they get to skirt their responsibilities. And that’s what we’re being asked to vote on tonight,” he later added.

Source: TEST FEED1

Differences in the Trump, Biden classified document discoveries

The White House on Monday disclosed that lawyers for President Biden discovered what they called a “small number” of classified documents in November in an office Biden had used between his time serving as vice president and president.

The documents were turned over the next day to the National Archives, and the White House said it is cooperating with the Department of Justice (DOJ) as it conducts a review of the documents.

The news quickly drew comparisons to former President Trump, who has been in hot water over his potential mishandling of classified materials upon leaving office two years ago.

In both cases, the two men appear to have failed to follow the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents and vice presidents to turn over documents to the National Archives for secure storage.

But there are key differences between the two cases, which many Biden allies swiftly pointed out while several Trump supporters openly wondered if the president would also see an FBI search of his home.

Here’s a look at some of the ways the Biden and Trump discoveries of classified documents differ, based on what is known so far.

FBI not involved in retrieving Biden documents

Attorneys for Biden discovered the documents on Nov. 2, 2022, six days before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to Biden, said in a statement. 

The materials were discovered at an office in Washington that Biden had used while he served as an honorary professor for the University of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2019.

The president’s lawyers alerted the National Archives the same day of the discovery, and the agency took possession of the materials the next morning. The matter has since been referred to the Justice Department for review.

The discovery has drawn pushback from Trump allies, who have sarcastically asked whether the FBI will be raiding Biden’s properties in search of more documents. Trump himself wondered after the news about Biden broke if the FBI would search the White House.

That’s because federal agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August to recover sensitive government materials Trump had taken with him upon leaving office.

Federal officials had tried for months to recover materials from Trump they believed were being kept at Mar-a-Lago, some of which were discovered to be in unsecured locations.

The FBI search in August came after the National Archives last January retrieved more than 150 classified documents, The New York Times reported. Concern over how many documents Trump was holding at his property triggered the Archives to alert the Justice Department, which eventually led to the FBI search.

Trump had more documents of varying classification degrees

One key difference between the Trump and Biden cases is the sheer number of documents involved.

Multiple news outlets reported that lawyers for Biden found about 10 classified documents in a locked closet as the university office space was being prepared to be vacated. The level of classification that applies to the documents in Biden’s office is currently unknown.

By comparison, a heavily redacted affidavit used to justify the August FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property showed that authorities had discovered 15 boxes in January 2022 that contained 184 classified documents, including 25 that were marked “top secret.”

In total, The New York Times reported that the federal government has recovered more than 300 documents with varying levels of classified markings on them from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.

The Washington Post has reported that some of those documents describe the nuclear capability of a foreign government’s military along with top-secret U.S. operations shared with only a select few government officials.

Sources told CBS News the documents found in Biden’s office did not contain nuclear secrets.

Biden’s team alerted National Archives quickly

While the White House did not alert the public about the classified document discovery until it was reported on by CBS News on Monday, the president’s attorneys were quick to inform the National Archives about the situation.

The president’s lawyers alerted the National Archives about the documents the same day they were discovered, Sauber said.

The agency took possession of the materials the next morning. The matter has since been referred to the Justice Department for review.

“Hope context breaks through in coverage. Looks quite different from Trump situation,” Ben LaBolt, a former White House press aide, tweeted, calling the quick notification to the National Archives a “key point.”

Trump, by comparison, has been insistent that he tried to work with the National Archives and that he was forthcoming about the documents he’d taken with him. But affidavits outlining the justification for last August’s FBI search made clear that was not always the case.

The redacted affidavit showed how federal officials spent months trying to get the sensitive materials back from Mar-a-Lago without success, prompting high-ranking DOJ officials to sign off on the FBI search.

The New York Times reported that the National Archives had spent much of 2021 trying to get sensitive materials back from Trump.

Trump as president had authority over certain documents

Trump’s defenders have leaned heavily on the argument that the former president had the power to declassify classified documents and therefore must have done so with the materials he took with him from the White House.

Some Trump allies have talked about a so-called standing order by Trump to declassify documents, though Trump’s own attorneys have been unable to provide proof of any such order. 

Trump himself at one point claimed presidents don’t have to go through a formal process to declassify sensitive documents and can do so “even by thinking about it.” While that isn’t the case, a president’s ability to declassify documents has been a central talking point to push back on Trump’s potential legal exposure.

The documents discovered in November by Biden’s team, meanwhile, stem from his time as vice president, a position that does not have the power to declassify documents.

“Unlike President Trump, then-VP Joe Biden wasn’t the President when he took classified records with him when he left office,” tweeted Mike Davis, a conservative legal activist and former GOP Senate aide. “Presidents have the constitutional and statutory power to declassify and take records when they leave office. Not VPs. FBI raid? Intel assessment?”

Source: TEST FEED1