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 e
Read MoreLooking 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
Read MoreGarland 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 Judi
Read MoreDemocrat '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
Read MoreWhat 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
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