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Live coverage: Jan. 6 committee holds final public hearing

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is holding its final public meeting on Monday. 

The panel has heard from more than 1,000 witnesses, gone over millions of pages of documents and held nine public hearings as part of its year-plus investigation into what happened when supporters of former President Trump stormed the Capitol in a bid to overturn the 2020 election results and what led to that day. 

The committee has spent more than a year making the case that Trump was squarely at the center of efforts to overturn the election and was ultimately responsible for the deadly riot.

On Monday, the lawmakers will vote on whether to recommend the Justice Department file criminal charges against him and others and present a summary of its findings. 

Where to watch: The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET. Watch live in the video above and follow live updates from The Hill reporters below.

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Juan Williams: Third party chatter opens door for Trump

Donald Trump — meet Kyrsten Sinema.

Sen. Sinema (I-Ariz.) recently departed the Democratic Party to become an independent.

If Trump follows her lead and runs for president as an independent he instantly launches the most consequential third-party candidacy in American history. 

Think about it. 

Polls now show GOP voters increasingly rejecting the disgraced ex-president as the party’s 2024 nominee. 

If Republicans turn on him, is there any doubt the notoriously thin-skinned Trump will soon start threatening a run as an independent to spite his former party?

A third-party platform allows him to stay in the media spotlight and continue to raise money off his shrinking base of gullible supporters. 

It is all about him. Always has been. Always will be. 

And Sinema’s move to independent indicates the time is ripe for high-profile politicians to take a serious look outside the two-party system.

In the midterms, independents made a big difference, preventing any GOP “red wave” by favoring Democrats by four percentage points, according to a voter analysis commissioned by the Associated Press (AP) and Fox News.

The importance of independents was in the spotlight earlier this month as a new term entered the political lexicon: the “Double Haters.”

These are voters who hate the whole political mess and disdain candidates of both major parties, according to a report by Aliza Astrow, a senior political analyst for the center-left think tank Third Way.

In the 2016 presidential race, the “Double Haters” identified by Astrow had a distaste for both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Trump. 

The haters who went to the polls went with Trump.

As the populist newcomer, he won their vote by 17 percentage points, according to the AP-Fox News Voter Analysis.

But in 2020 the “Double Haters” turned against Trump. They voted for President Biden by 15 percentage points.

But what will “Double Haters” do if Trump is an official third-party candidate? They are sure to hear Trump express their views by damning all politicians as corrupt, especially establishment Republicans in the House and Senate.

If Trump runs as an independent in 2024, he will principally take votes from Republicans. 

But he might also pick off some “Double Haters” who respond to anti-establishment rhetoric.

Thirty years ago, Ross Perot ran a populist third-party presidential campaign and won almost 20 million votes, about 19 percent of all ballots cast. Some conservatives maintain to this day that Republican President George H.W. Bush would have been reelected if not for Perot.

Last week, a CNN poll found most Democratic and Republican voters say they don’t want a rematch between Trump and Biden. 

Earlier this year, a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found that 58 percent of voters would consider a moderate, independent candidate if Biden and Trump were the major party nominees in 2024.

An August Economist/YouGov survey found more Americans saying a third party is necessary (39 percent) than saying the Democratic and Republican parties are sufficient (30 percent.) 

This thirst for something new on the ballot opens a path for Trump.

“Anyone backing a third-party candidate should be clear eyed: they are not establishing a new political faction, because their candidate is not going to win,” wrote Astrow of  Third Way. “Rather, they are creating a spoiler who will help elect Donald Trump.”

Even with that warning, there remains an appetite for a candidate willing to curse status quo politics.

One new entry in the sweepstakes for an alternative to the current two-party system is the Forward Party. For now, its focus is on state and local races. The long-term goal is to create a nationwide base that eventually might produce a credible and strong third-party presidential candidate.

Forward was formed earlier this year in the merger of three existing groups. Its launch was announced in July by Andrew Yang, who ran for the Democrats’ 2016 presidential nomination, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) and former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.).

Sinema, meanwhile, remains the best-known political name pushing third-party candidates.

“It’s no wonder a growing number of Americans are registering as independents,” she wrote in an Arizona Republic column announcing her switch. 

“In Arizona, that number often outpaces those registered with either national party…When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans. 

“That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington,” she added. 

Sinema is creating a dilemma for Democrats.

Will they endorse her as an independent or risk losing independent-minded voters who voted for her as a Democrat? Either way, they potentially hand votes to any Republican running for the Senate seat.

My Christmas wish is that “Double Haters,” fed up with polarized, do-nothing politics in D.C., wake up to the reality that they risk setting fire to the two-party system without building any alternative structure for change — beyond Trump’s and Sinema’s egomania.

Juan Williams is an author, and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

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Five things to know ahead of the Jan. 6 committee’s crucial week

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is heading into a crucial week as it prepares to hold its final presentation, release a highly anticipated report outlining findings from the panel’s year-plus probe and vote on criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.

The votes on criminal referrals are expected during Monday’s business meeting, marking a significant step for the panel, which has said one of its goals is to prevent what happened on Jan. 6 from happening again.

The week’s closely watched events are the culmination of the committee’s sprawling investigation, which began months after last year’s deadly riot and has consisted of almost a dozen hearings, testimony from more than 1,000 witnesses and millions of documents.

Here are five things to look for as the committee kicks off a pivotal week:

Committee to vote on referrals Monday

The committee will vote on criminal referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) during its final business meeting on Monday.

Multiple outlets reported on Friday that the committee will vote on urging the DOJ to pursue at least three charges against former President Trump, including obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, insurrection and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The referrals will be closely watched inside and outside Washington, but they are also largely symbolic. The DOJ is not obligated to consider recommendations from congressional committees and is in the midst of conducting its own investigation into Jan. 6.

Criminal referrals likely won’t be the only ones the panel considers. 

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, previously said the panel was considering “five or six categories” for referrals. The committee has highlighted behavior that would be under the purview of the Justice Department, House Ethics Committee and professional organizations, such as bar associations.

“We’re focused on key players and we’re focused on key players where there is sufficient evidence or abundant evidence that they committed crimes, and we’re focused on crimes that go right to the heart of the Constitutional order such that the Congress can’t remain silent,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the committee, told reporters last week.

Raskin suggested earlier this month that the five Republican lawmakers who ignored subpoenas from the committee — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Reps. Scott Perry (Pa.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (Ala.) — could be referred to the Ethics Committee.

On Sunday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the panel, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the committee has considered censure and ethics referrals.

Asked last week if he or any of his GOP colleagues are concerned about being referred for criminal contempt for ignoring subpoenas, McCarthy told reporters “no, not at all, we did nothing wrong.” 

The committee could also be mulling referrals to bar associations as a rebuke to the lawyers who assisted Trump in his quest to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Panel to release full report on Wednesday

The committee is set to release its report, which will be comprised of eight chapters outlining the findings of the panel’s months-long investigation, on Wednesday.

Those chapters, according to Politico, will closely correspond with the evidence presented at its nine public hearings this year. The committee will also provide an executive summary.

After Monday’s business meeting, the panel is expected to release certain materials, including an executive summary of the report, details on referrals, and additional information about witnesses who have appeared before the committee, according to a select committee aide.

But on Wednesday, the public will get access to the full report, including “attachments and some other things,” according to Thompson. The public may have to wait longer, however, to sift through transcripts of witness interviews.

Committee to release legislative recommendations

Monday’s business meeting will also feature some legislative recommendations, Thompson told reporters, which are core part of the Jan. 6 committee’s purpose.

“A lot of our work is also focused on recommendations, legislatively what needs to be done to prevent coups, insurrections, political violence and electoral sabotage in the future,” Raskin, who is a constitutional law expert, said in the Capitol last week.

“And in some sense that’s the heart of it because we think there is a clear, continuing, present danger to democracy today,” he added.

The House has already passed one legislative proposal crafted by members of the committee — the Presidential Election Reform Act, which clarifies the vice president’s role in certifying elections and significantly increases the number of lawmakers needed to object to the certification of a state’s electors.

But Raskin told reporters that the measure was “a very minimal first step.”

In September, he laid out a laundry list of areas the committee wanted to address following its investigation.

“We want to strengthen and fortify the electoral system and the right to vote. We want to do what we can to secure the situation of election workers and keep them safe from violence. We want to solidify the states in their determination that private armed militias not operate in the name of the state. You know, we don’t have any kind of federal law or policy about private armed militias,” the Maryland Democrat said.

It remains to be seen what the scope of the final recommendations will be. And they will be released just as Republicans take control of the House, leaving no time for the Democratic majority to pursue legislation.

Asked last week if there is any regret that the recommendations are coming at such a late stage, Raskin told reporters “I hope that they will have an impact on the thinking of Congress going forward.”

DOJ will finally get committee’s report Wednesday

The DOJ has spent months requesting evidence from the panel as it conducts its own investigation and on Wednesday it will finally get its hands on the committee’s final report.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had said the department would like to view the transcripts and other materials “so that we can use it in the ordinary course of our investigations.”

In June, the DOJ wrote in a court filing that the committee’s refusal to share information was making its work more difficult.

“The Select Committee’s failure to grant the Department access to these transcripts complicates the Department’s ability to investigate and prosecute those who engaged in criminal conduct in relation to the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” a letter in the filing read.

“Accordingly, we renew our request that the Select Committee provide us with copies of the transcripts of all the interviews it has conducted to date,” it added.

But Thompson told reporters last month that the DOJ would have to wait until the final report was published to view evidence the committee collected throughout its year-and-a-half investigation. 

The DOJ will finally get its wish on Wednesday, when the committee’s report is made available to the public — including those who work in the agency.

Cheney, Kinzinger to have final moments in the spotlight

Monday’s business meeting will also mark a swan song of sorts for Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who are departing Congress at the end of this month after breaking from the Republican Party and denouncing Trump.

Cheney, one of two Republicans serving on the panel, is leaving the House after losing reelection over the summer, in part because of her participation on the Jan. 6 committee.

She has emerged as an outspoken critic of Trump, using her prominent position as vice chair of the committee to lay out the case that the former president was responsible for what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

It is a main reason why she lost reelection last year to Wyoming lawyer Harriet Hageman, who Trump handpicked to challenge Cheney after she voted for his impeachment and joined the Jan. 6 committee.

Kinzinger has also become a top GOP critic of Trump, though he opted out of running for reelection this year.

Despite their departures, the GOP duo has continued in their crusades against Trump, criticizing him for recent comments he made regarding the Constitution and for dining with noted white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

But Monday’s meeting will likely be the last time they can make the case against Trump with the audience and platform that come with being a member of Congress.

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Divided Congress may drive Biden to the power of the pen

President Biden will likely be forced to ramp up administrative actions to advance his agenda next year, when a divided Congress will offer him far fewer chances for legislative wins.

Biden has already issued a slew of executive orders throughout his time in the White House, notably his student loan forgiveness plan, and outside groups want to see movement on more progressive issues, such as the climate, workers’ rights and marijuana reform.

Advocates say Biden needs to move forward in response to the better-than-expected midterm results for Democrats — and that now is the time to tackle items the president ran on in 2020 and make his case for 2024, with or without the help of the new GOP-controlled House.

“President Biden must ramp up and use the entirety of his executive power going into this new Congress to get things done for the young people who saved this midterm election for Democrats,” said Deirdre Shelly, campaigns director for the Sunrise Movement. “That means canceling even more student loan debt, declaring a climate emergency, using the Defense Production Act to expedite our transition to renewable energy, and a range of other far-reaching executive actions that would help the lives of people across the country.”

Paco Fabian, communications and campaigns director for Our Revolution, said that ahead of 2024, progressives need to know Biden is fighting for them.

“If you think that you’re going to be able to rest on your laurels from what you achieved so far, which from our perspective is certainly a step forward but not enough by any stretch, then we’re going to have a serious problem in 2024 trying to convince voters to be excited to vote for the reelection of Joe Biden,” Fabian said.

Democrats in this Congress passed a sweeping climate and tax bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, which was a huge focus for the president. The $740 billion law Biden signed in August is expected to bring U.S. planet-warming emissions down to lower than they were in 2005 through provisions to promote the deployment of clean energy.

But progressives have not quieted their calls for Biden to declare a national emergency on the climate.

“The administration got canceling student debt across the finish line, and now is the time to do things like declaring a climate emergency and using those powers to take bold environmental actions,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

A White House official argued that Biden has done more on climate already than any other president and to expect more.

“President Biden has done more than any prior president in U.S. history to tackle the climate crisis, and has no intention of stopping now. In addition, the President has taken historic action to increase competition in the economy, including establishing the first-ever White House Competition Council,” the official told The Hill.

Progressives, Green said, also want to see worker protections for federal employees and action on overtime rules.

The Congressional Progressive Staff Association earlier this month pushed for Congress to include overtime pay provisions in the government spending bill to give congressional staffers clear and secure overtime protections.

Additionally, liberals are pushing for changes that support consumers and build on Biden’s efforts to crack down on junk fees. In October, Biden said he would take on so-called junk fees to combat inflation by taking steps to eliminate billions in banking fees, hidden charges and added fees on cable bills, airline tickets and hotel bookings.

And, Fabian noted, progressives want to see more pro-union actions, such as curbing retaliation and getting paid sick days for rail workers. The president signed legislation earlier this month to avert a rail shutdown, but increasing paid leave accommodations for workers was left out of the deal. Biden said it should be addressed separately after lawmakers couldn’t agree on it.

Several of the Democrats who are heading to Congress next year made marijuana legislation a big part of their campaigns. Sen-elect John Fetterman (Pa.) has vowed to work to deschedule the drug and expunge records of those convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses, and Rep-elect Maxwell Frost (Fla.) wants to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide.

Bills tackling marijuana reform would likely not get far in a GOP-controlled House. And while Biden could act by executive order to build on his moves from October to grant pardons to those convicted on simple federal marijuana possession charges, much of marijuana law is currently relegated to the state level.

Of course, Republicans are sure to oppose any major Biden executive actions. 

The president’s student loan forgiveness plan, which was celebrated by progressives, has faced numerous legal challenges and pushback from Republicans. The president announced an executive order in August to give federal borrowers making less than $125,000 a year up to $10,000 debt relief. But the program is on hold while its legal challenges play out. 

Democrats, however, are confident those court challenges won’t stop Biden from wanting to do more through the power of the pen.

“Of course, there’s a concern that the courts may throw it out,” said Ivan Zapien, a former Democratic National Committee official. “You look at all the levers that you have and pull the ones that you think are important for the future and deal with the consequences one way or another, as long as it’s not reckless. And I don’t think any of these initiatives or use of executive powers have been reckless.”

Fabian argued that progressives would rather see action that is challenged than none at all

“That’s always gonna be a concern, but I think the Democratic base and the progressive part of that base, in particular, will be much more upset if the president didn’t do anything because he’s worried about what the courts might do versus actually doing it and then having it play out in the courts,” he said.

The president could also use executive orders to rack up talking points to run on in 2024. Biden has indicated he intends to seek reelection and that an official announcement will come next month.

Shelly, from Sunrise, said that bold actions will help with young voters who were essential in 2022, coming out for Democrats with a larger turnout than typically seen among young people in a midterm election.

“This election cycle proved that delivering progressive policy, from canceling student loans to passing the largest climate bill in U.S. history, is a winning strategy, and one that the administration cannot abandon ahead of 2024,” she said.

“Young people were not excited to vote months ago, and after he passed a climate bill, a gun bill and canceled student loans, they improved significantly — and led to nearly record-breaking turnout. That’s no coincidence,” Shelly added.

Implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act next year will also be critical and help the president looking ahead to 2024. Biden takes trips around the country often to discuss provisions of the bill, including how it allows Medicare to negotiate prices for some drugs and shores up health insurance subsidies.

The administration will also be focused on implementation of the infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Law, bills passed with bipartisan support this Congress.

“Right now, you’re going into a very heavy period of where you’re looking for effective executive leadership to get this money out the door, the programs up and running,” Zapien said. “It’s a gigantic undertaking, which we haven’t seen probably since the New Deal.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Bobby Rush’s retirement is a chance to return to ‘first love’: social justice

For nearly three decades, Rep. Bobby Rush (D) has represented the people of Illinois’ first congressional district, speaking up for the overlooked communities of Chicago’s South Side and giving voice to America’s most vulnerable.

Now, after 29 years, Rush is leaving Washington. But in an interview with The Hill, Rush says he’s not really retiring. 

“I’m returning home to my church and to my community, and I’m returning to my first love which is basically social justice and community organizing,” said the 75-year-old pastor. 

Rush’s “first love” of social justice dates back to the 1960s and his time as a Black Panther. 

Born in segregated Albany, Georgia, on Nov. 23, 1946, Rush’s family moved to Chicago in 1953. At 17, Rush enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served until 1968.

That year, the Black Panther Party of Chicago was born. Rush co-founded the chapter with Fred Hampton and served as defense minister, coordinating projects to boost support for the group throughout the Black community. 

“In a nation that had long devalued Black people and rejected Black power, the Panthers preached Black pride and self-determination, defense against police brutality, and economic security for Black America,” Rush wrote in an op-ed last year.

“For that, we were deemed by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to be the ‘greatest threat’ to America’s internal security,” Rush continued, noting he was among the members “subjected to a relentless campaign of surveillance and political repression.”

The FBI’s domestic counterintelligence operation, called COINTELPRO, would lead to a predawn attack on the Chicago Panthers. On Dec. 4, 1969, Hampton, along with fellow Panther Mark Clark, was murdered when Chicago law enforcement burst into their West Side apartment and opened fire. 

Rush was meant to be in the apartment at the time, he told Esquire in June. After Hampton’s assassination, Rush became the acting chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party.

In 2021, Rush introduced the COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act, legislation that would force the government to reveal decades-old FBI files about domestic spying on civil rights activists. 

“In the past year and a half, our nation has finally started to recognize and reckon with longstanding abuses in policing and surveillance that have been perpetrated against Black communities for decades,” Rush said. “Contrary to J. Edgar Hoover’s assertion, the Black Panther Party did not pose a real threat to America’s national security — only to the status quo of white supremacy.”

Still, it was Rush’s work with the Black Panthers that eventually set him down the path to run for Congress. 

In the early 1970s, a friend of Rush’s apprentice Rep. Ralph Metcalfe (D-Ill.) was stopped for not having a light over his license plate. The two white policemen who stopped allegedly “roughed him up.” When the friend, Herbert Odom, complained about the treatment, he was arrested.

“I’ll never forget at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church when Congressman Metcalfe called a rally on a Sunday afternoon to talk about what the police had done,” Rush said. “I went to the rally, sat in the back, and I was astounded. The whole church was full, standing room only.”

This was a congregation of thousands, Rush added. The Panthers, he said, considered an event successful if 200 people show up. It was an epiphany for Rush.

“The megaphone of a respected elected official can speak to a lot more people than just a community organizer’s,” he said. 

So, in 1975, Rush ran for alderman of Chicago’s 2nd Ward. He lost, but ran again and won in 1983. He served as alderman until 1992, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Throughout his 15 terms, Rush focused on fighting for and amplifying the needs of the Black community. 

He sponsored the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act, which created a board to review and declassify files from Civil Rights–era cold cases.  

After the murder of Trayvon Martin in March 2012, Rush was removed from the House floor for wearing a hoodie while speaking, defying the House’s dress code. He pulled the hood over his head, the same way Martin had done before he was shot, to emphasize that hoodies do not inherently make Black men threats.

In 2021, Rush called for a multi-agency special task force dedicated to finding missing Black and Brown women and girls across the country. 

He also reintroduced the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which defined lynching as “a conspiracy to commit a hate crime that results in death or serious bodily injury.” The act also made lynching a federal crime. President Biden signed the act into law in March.

Rush has remained popular with his district, consistently winning by large margins, and even defeating then-state Sen. Barack Obama in the 2000 Democratic primary. Rush is the only politician to ever beat Obama. Obama would later say he had “my rear end handed to me.”

Rush told The Hill he’ll miss his colleagues, Capitol staff and the employees he’s had over the years. But he keeps his former member of Congress ID card in his wallet, which means he’ll have access to the building for life, and promises to come back and visit. 

He added the diversity in the incoming representatives and leadership is shocking, especially as they understand it is his shoulders they stand on.

“I’m honored and humbled that they would include me in being part of their inspiration just as I had some people from the past who were my inspiration as a young person trying to find their way,” Rush said. 

Still, Rush said it’s time to leave, while he can still spend time with his family and congregation. 

“I want to spend time with my grandchildren,” he said. “I want them to know me, what I sound like, and I want them to know something about my heart so that they can be inspired or at least knowledgeable about who I am; to laugh with me and joke with me and crack jokes about me. I want them to be able to call me and spend time with me.”

As of now, Rush said, he spends four days a week in Washington. Not only does it keep him from his grandchildren, but it also keeps him from his congregation at the Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ, who he says deserves a full-time pastor. 

By getting back to community organizing, Rush added, he’ll also have the chance to continue inspiring younger generations with stories of the Civil Rights Movement and his time in politics, especially as political and cultural polarization increases.

While the 1960s were “the apex of cultural change,” Rush said, lately it feels as if history is repeating itself. 

“Right now, I think we’re at a more critical juncture than we were at in the 60s,” Rush said. “In the 60s, we were trying to change our nation for the better. We are now at a point where strong forces are trying to change our nation to a more limited, ego-driven, maniacal future.”

“They want to return to the dark days of this nation where white men were the apex of power, without any recognition or appreciation for others in society who are contributing at the same time, and maybe contributing more,” he continued. 

“I am convinced, now more than ever, that in order to really change the fabric of our nation, we have to get into the homes, communities and enter the individual minds and hearts of American citizens,” said Rush. “More than political change there has got to be a cultural change.”

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP lawmakers say Trump electability problem is behind cratering support

Republican lawmakers say GOP voters are shifting away from former President Trump because of widespread doubt he can win a general election in 2024.

They say the disappointing results of the 2022 midterm elections, in which several high-profile Trump-endorsed candidates lost key races, reenforced the view that Trump doesn’t appeal to independent and moderate GOP voters.  

They note that Trump’s expanding legal problems and recent gaffes give his potential Republican rivals plenty of ammo to use in the 2024 primary and have only increased the Trump fatigue many feel.  

And they are increasingly willing to go public with their concerns.

“We win general elections when we bring independents with us. We need more than simply the loyal base that understands conservative principles,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “That’s the reason why you’re seeing the polls suggest that we have a number of individuals who would get more votes [than Trump] in the general election and so that’s going to drive the determination who we bring as our candidate.”  

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, which he launched on Nov. 15, has failed to gain traction in part because he has continued to push unsubstantiated claims that he lost the last presidential election because of widespread fraud.  

“I don’t think it was helpful when the issues he was focusing on after he announced [his 2024 presidential campaign] related to the 2020 election. I think if he’s going to succeed, he has to focus on the future. I think if he focuses on the past, he won’t succeed,” she said.  

“I do believe that people are over the 2020 election, and they want to move on,” she added.  

A third Republican senator, who requested anonymity to discuss Trump fatigue among GOP voters, said “people are tired of losing.”  

“If Trump was winning or if we were winning Senate seats or got a big majority in the House or got the majority in the Senate, many people would judge former President Trump differently,” the senator said.  

“I have those kind of conversations with constituents frequently, and they say, ‘It’s probably time to move on. I like his policies but I think he killed us in Georgia twice,’” the senator said, citing perceptions that Trump hurt Republicans’ ability to win runoff Senate races in Georgia in 2020 and 2022.  

A recent USA Today-Suffolk University poll of 1,000 registered voters across the country found that 61 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say they like Trump’s policies but want to have a different presidential nominee in 2024.  

The survey found that those voters favor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as a potential nominee over Trump by a margin of 56 percent to 33 percent. It was conducted from Dec. 7-11. 

A CNN poll of 1,208 adults nationwide conducted from Dec. 1-7 showed similar results. 

That poll found that only 38 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said the party should nominate Trump for the presidency, down 12 percentage points from the 50 percent who said so in a survey conducted in January and early February.  

Sixty-two percent of Republican and Republican-leaning respondents in the CNN survey, which was conducted by SSRS, an independent research company, said the party should nominate a different candidate.  

Thirty-eight percent of Republican voters who said they wanted someone other than Trump atop the ticket named DeSantis as their favorite.  

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill say DeSantis’s surge in popularity among Republican voters is being driven by the recent success of GOP candidates in Florida, which was considered a swing state not long ago but has now turned sharply in favor of Republicans.  

DeSantis trounced Democrat Charlie Crist in the gubernatorial race 59 percent to 40 percent, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) cruised easily to reelection in the state, beating Democratic Rep. Val Demings 57.7 percent to 41.3 percent.  

Republican candidates also won statewide races in Florida for attorney general, agriculture commissioner and chief financial officer by large margins.  

Lummis said she sees DeSantis as the new leader of the Republican Party. 

“I do think that,” she said. “What Republicans have accomplished in Florida is truly phenomenal.“

She said DeSantis has “been extremely able to articulate” his accomplishments in Florida and “shown an extraordinary ability with the Florida legislature to accomplish policy goals.” 

“He just has a very good sense of how to make it about the team,” she added. “That’s pretty key.”  

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said he’s staying out of the 2024 presidential primary but noted that many Republicans are ready to move on from Trump. 

“You got to elect the Republican who’s best suited to your values but who can also win. That’s certainly the story of the midterms,” he said, referring to the perception among many Republicans that Trump and his brash brand of politics hurt the party in November.  

He said the recent polling results showing the shift in Republican voters away from Trump isn’t surprising.  

“This trend is not new,” he added. “The rest of us have been seeing it for a very long time. None of it surprises me.”  

Crenshaw said “hearing from voters, hearing from donors, hearing from activists, they all kind of say the same thing.” 

“None of us really have anything bad to say about Trump but — I don’t think this is rocket science — people think there’s an electability problem,” he added.  

Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, an early presidential primary state, told CNN in an interview aired Friday that “we’re moving on” from Trump. 

“There’s an argument to be made that someone like DeSantis could beat him in a primary today,” he said.  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), after largely avoiding attacking Trump over the past year, has come out swinging in recent weeks. He has told reporters Trump hurt the party in two ways.  

He said on Tuesday that Trump made it tougher to weed out weak candidates in Senate Republican primaries by making endorsements that diminished the ability of party leaders in Washington to determine who would emerge as the nominee.  

And McConnell also implied after Election Day that Trump’s prominence in the national spotlight and his repeated claims that the 2020 election was stolen — something that became a litmus test in Republican primaries — turned off independent and moderate voters.  

“Here’s the problem: We underperformed among voters who did not like President Biden’s performance, among independents and among moderate Republicans, who looked at us and concluded [there was] too much chaos, too much negativity, and we turned off a lot of these centrist voters,” he said.  

He said this was “fatal” in Pennsylvania, where he said Republican candidate Mehmet Oz’s attempt to a run as a moderate “got muddled” in the final weeks of the race.  

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s most loyal Senate allies, acknowledged that Trump is “leaking oil” because of the political hits he’s taken in recent weeks. 

“It’s snapshot in time,” he said of this polls. “I think it’s fair to say President Trump has been leaking oil a bit.” 

He noted that Trump is still popular in South Carolina and is “still in a pretty commanding position.”  

“People do like his policies. He still has very high approval rating” among Republican voters, Graham said, but “what people are concerned about is, ‘can he win?’” 

Graham argued that Republican voters who say they support Trump’s policies but don’t want him to the be the party’s nominee are stumbling into a fallacy. 

“What he has to do fairly soon is convince people that not only did his policy work before but they’ll work again and he’s the best guy to advocate them,” he said.  

“It’s easy to say ‘I like Trump’s policies but a lot of the people talking about running, I wonder if they could do what he did?’” he added. “Trump’s policies and personality are pretty hard to disconnect. He got other countries to do things because they were afraid of him.”  

Source: TEST FEED1

CNN chief says 'uninformed vitriol' from left has been 'stunning'

Chris Licht, who became CEO of CNN earlier this year, said he has been surprised by the “uninformed vitriol” directed at him from liberals as he attempts to shift the network’s editorial direction, in a series of interviews with The New York Times.

Licht took over the network in May, making a series of staffing and programmatic changes that have sparked buzz about Licht aiming for a more centrist slant.

“The uninformed vitriol, especially from the left, has been stunning,” Licht told the Times. “Which proves my point: so much of what passes for news is name-calling, half-truths and desperation.”

Since joining CNN, Licht shook up the network’s morning lineup by moving host Don Lemon, an outspoken critic of former President Trump, out of his prime-time slot and into “CNN This Morning” with Kaitlyn Collins and Poppy Harlow.

“They obviously like each other,” Licht told the Times of the show. “The chemistry is great. I love the collaboration. Every day, it evolves. It’s not like me giving orders. It’s so much fun.”

Licht has also let go prominent pundits like Chris Cillizza and Brian Stelter, also known for their sharp criticisms of the former president.

Many inside and outside the organization see Licht steering the network toward a more centrist direction, a characterization Licht has pushed back on.

Instead, Licht told the Times that he wanted the network to offer a “rational conversation about polarizing issues,” adding that he hoped viewers would “take what they’ve heard to the dinner table and have a discussion.”

“That’s a dream of mine,” Licht said.

But Licht has also faced the strains of a slowing economy and dwindling digital advertising, causing him to lay off some rank-and-file employees and make other major cuts.

In one of his first moves at the network, Licht nixed the network’s streaming service, CNN+, just days after its launch.

“I want CNN to be essential to society,” Licht told the Times. “If you’re essential then the revenue will follow.”

But the CEO acknowledged he might not succeed in that aspiration.

“Maybe it won’t work,” Mr. Licht said. “But I’d rather try to win this way.”

Source: TEST FEED1

After a week of sagging polls and mockery, Trump faces looming Jan. 6 action

Things are going from bad to worse for former President Trump. And last week didn’t do him any favors.

A major poll showed Trump trailing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) by a wide margin in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up with perhaps his most formidable potential primary opponent.

And a self-described “major announcement” from Trump drew eye rolls after it was revealed to be a new way for the president to make money by selling digital trading cards with his likeness.

The landscape is unlikely to get any better for Trump in the coming days, with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot set to release its final report and announce criminal referrals targeting Trump and his allies.

Two separate polls showed DeSantis surging ahead of Trump in head-to-head scenarios for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

A USA Today-Suffolk University poll released Tuesday found that 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters prefer DeSantis, while only 33 percent would support Trump. On Wednesday, a Wall Street Journal poll found DeSantis leading Trump among likely Republican voters 52 percent to 38 percent. 

While it’s unlikely Trump and DeSantis would be the only two candidates for voters to choose from, the polls showed concrete evidence of the former president’s potentially loosening grip on the GOP in the weeks since he announced his third White House campaign.

Not as politically damaging but perhaps just as concerning for some of Trump’s allies was the former president unveiling a line of digital trading cards bearing his likeness after he’d promised a “major announcement.”

Trump allies have been frustrated by a lack of activity around the former president’s 2024 campaign since he officially announced his candidacy in mid-November. There was some hope that the “major announcement” would be related to campaign staffing or events in early voting states.

Instead, it was a commercial venture for the former president — and one in which the money would go to Trump personally, not his campaign. The 45,000 cards sold out at $99 each in less than 24 hours.

“Whoever’s advising this stuff is a good idea needs to be fired. This is NOT 2016,” Robby Starbuck, a Trump-aligned commentator who briefly ran for a House seat in Tennessee, tweeted in response to the announcement. “We’re in an economic crisis, fighting total cultural degradation, fighting to save our country and facing an enemy that wants to control our lives. People want to see fight right now, not NFT cards.”

Stephen Bannon, who served as a chief strategist for Trump on his 2016 campaign and in the White House, appeared exasperated by the trading cards during his radio show on Thursday.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Bannon said after a video played promoting the cards, which feature Trump as an astronaut, a golfer and superhero, among other images.

“He’s one of the greatest presidents in history, but I’ve got to tell you, whatever business partner, anybody in the comms team, anybody at Mar-a-Lago, and I love the folks down there, but we’re at war. They ought to be fired today,” Bannon said.

The announcement even drew mockery from President Biden, who used the opportunity to tweet out some of his own “major announcements,” including a prisoner swap to free WNBA star Brittney Griner, the signing of legislation to protect same-sex marriage and falling gas prices.

Trump’s rough week also came in stark contrast to some of the Republicans against whom he may be campaigning for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024.

DeSantis, who has emerged as the preferred alternative to Trump among many voters and conservative commentators, signed legislation on Thursday cutting roadway tolls for more than 1 million Florida commuters.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who has also received some buzz as a possible 2024 candidate, released his proposed 2023 budget on Thursday that included a suggested income tax cut that he said would save Virginians more than $700 million per year.

The hits could keep coming for Trump in the next several days.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol will hold its final event on Monday, during which it will publicly release its list of criminal referrals and vote to publish its final report two days later.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel has not finalized the referrals, but it has repeatedly indicated it believes Trump broke the law in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump, for his part, appears ready to put up a fight.

“How can they January 6th unselect committee make criminal referrals when they haven’t spoken about, or studied, those that rigged the 2020 election, the troops not being brought in by Pelosi, or now, the election fraud determinatively revealed by Twitter?” Trump posted in all caps on Truth Social. “These are the real criminals!!!”

Source: TEST FEED1

Twitter bans 'free promotion' of other social media platforms

Twitter announced that it will prohibit any “free promotion” of other social media platforms on its site, marking the latest major policy change under billionaire owner Elon Musk.

“We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms,” Twitter Support wrote in a thread on Sunday. “However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.”

Twitter Support also said that it will remove accounts that are created for the sole purpose of promoting other social media platforms.

Twitter specifically said users cannot promote Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Pos accounts. Twitter will also prohibit users from sharing third-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee and lnk.bio. 

“We still allow cross-posting content from any social media platform,” Twitter Support added in its thread. “Posting links or usernames to social media platforms not listed above are also not in violation of this policy.”

The decision comes as many Twitter users — angry over Musk suspending tech journalists and other controversial changes — are looking for a new platform.

The latest policy change follows Musk’s decision to ban Twitter alternative Mastodon’s official account on the platform.

Musk said on Saturday he had lifted the temporary bans on several journalist’s accounts after conducting a poll where 59 percent of Twitter users called for those accounts to be restored immediately.

Source: TEST FEED1