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Biden hits back at GOP agenda rollout

President Biden on Friday sought to dismantle the agenda proposed hours earlier by House Republican leaders should they take back the House, hitting Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for dodging key issues and warning that a GOP majority would try to strip away fundamental rights and government programs.

Biden, in remarks at a Democratic National Committee event at the National Education Association, issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the agenda unveiled by McCarthy.

“We didn’t hear a mention of the right to choose. We didn’t hear a mention of Medicare. We didn’t hear a mention of Social Security,” Biden told the crowd at NEA headquarters.

Biden, pointing to a proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, warned the GOP would attempt to block access to the procedure if they hold the House majority. He pledged to veto any such legislation if it passed, arguing a stronger Democratic majority could help codify abortion access.

“If you give me two more Democratic senators in the United States Senate, I promise you… we’re going to codify Roe,” Biden said to applause. “We’ll once again make Roe the law of the land, and we’ll once again protect a women’s right to choose.”

Democrats would likely need to gain two seats in the Senate to change the chamber’s filibuster rules and codify Roe. Two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, oppose changing those rules even to codify Roe.

Gaining two Senate seats would be tough for Democrats but not impossible considering the current battleground states.

Yet Biden also would need to keep a House majority, which might be a lot tougher. Republicans are heavily favored to win back the House majority this fall.

Biden hopes to use abortion rights as a key campaign theme to prevent that from happening, however.

On Friday, he ticked through various themes of McCarthy’s policy rollout throughout the speech.

He rebuked McCarthy’s pledge to help Americans live longer, healthier lives by arguing some Republicans have called for cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Biden cited a policy platform from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that called for a vote every five years to determine the fate of those programs.

Biden pushed back on McCarthy’s focus on lowering crime and improving public safety by noting all Republicans in Congress voted against the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion package passed in early 2021 that included billions of dollars in funding for local police departments to hire more officers. 

And Biden again rejected calls to “defund the police,” while highlighting GOP criticism of the FBI over the search of former President Trump’s Florida home.

The president took on McCarthy’s economic proposals, arguing his administration inherited an economy that “was flat on its back” because of the pandemic and has helped revitalize it through a bipartisan infrastructure law, the American Rescue Plan and most recently the Inflation Reduction Act, which caps prescription drug costs and aims to combat the effects of climate change.

And Biden took aim at Republicans for wanting to restore faith in elections, noting dozens of GOP lawmakers still refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election.

“Eighty-one million people voted Democrat for president last time,” Biden said. “Even though they lost court case, after court case, after court case, after court case. Even in front of Trump-appointed judges. And recount after recount proved the results were accurate. It’s become a litmus test in their party to pledge loyalty to Donald Trump by buying into the big lie.”

Biden argued the midterm elections would be a clear choice between Democrats and their policy wins, and Republicans who have “embraced the big lie.”

“This November you have to choose to be a nation of hope unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division, darkness,” Biden said.

House Republicans in the rollout of their platform avoided sore subjects like abortion, election denialism and Trump. Instead, the GOP leaned into the topics it wants on voters’ minds this fall: inflation, the border and the IRS.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats have put special interests ahead of parents and students, criminals over safe streets, and wrecked an economy with their radical agenda. Simply put, Biden and Democrats’ woke schemes are out of touch with the concerns of families,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Nathan Brand said in response to Biden’s speech.

Source: TEST FEED1

Dow hits lowest point since 2020 as recession fears grow

Markets are bottoming out as they process the latest interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve in its battle to fight the highest inflation seen in 40 years.  

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 29,400 midday Friday to its lowest point in nearly two years. Since the Fed started raising interest rates in March, the index has lost more than 13.7 percent of its value. 

Other indices have followed suit. The S&P 500 fell below its previous 2022 low point, hitting 3,667 on Friday, down more than 15 percent since March and almost 23 percent on the year. 

The technology-heavy Nasdaq hit 10,847, down almost 20 percent since March. 

Interest rates have increased to 3.25 percent since the Fed started raising them from 0 percent in March. This has had the effect of making many goods and services more expensive, and driving down demand to bring down inflation. 

Consumer inflation did come down slightly over the summer, falling to 8.3 percent in August from 8.5 percent in July and 9.1 percent in June. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, still rose more than half a percentage point from July to August. 

But the little headway made by the Fed in fighting inflation comes at the price of slowing the economy and potentially even driving it into a recession, a trade-off that many market commentators don’t think is worth it. 

“There’s a huge Greek chorus out there that believes that inflation could result in a wage-price spiral whereby workers demand more pay from their employers, which in turn drives higher prices and the whole thing spirals upwards,” Dan Alpert, managing partner of investment firm Westwood Capital, said.  

“But that ignores the supply side of the equation. It ignores the enormous differences between, say, the supply picture in the 1970s when we did have a wage-price spiral, and today. Today we have an enormous volume of exogenous supply of goods that are coming from all over the world, which we didn’t have in the 1970s. Yes, the pandemic disrupted that supply, but it didn’t disrupt the capacity to produce it.” 

Critics of continued interest rate hikes from the Fed also point to the fact that the U.S. dollar is exceedingly strong now, which drives down the price of imported goods and acts as a disinflationary force within the economy. 

The dollar was slightly stronger than the Euro on Friday in foreign exchange markets and only a few cents weaker than the British pound — both currencies that have been more valuable than the dollar in recent years. 

“Foreign exchange rates are actually an extremely important part of this situation,” Westwood Capital’s Alpert said. “The outrageously strong dollar is resulting in prices falling through the floor, and that’s deflationary.” 

Alpert said that the pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates “is fundamentally political,” especially ahead of midterm elections in November. 

“Whether you’re the party in power or not, you’re going to have a lot of constituents complaining, and of course the party in power is particularly damaged by that going into the midterms,” he said. 

“There should be a letting up on pressure at this point,” Alper added, noting that the price of oil had fallen below $80 a barrel on Friday, signaling another significant deflationary pressure in the economy. 

Despite sticky inflation in recent months, President Biden’s approval ratings rebounded to 42 percent in September after falling to 38 percent in July when average gas prices in the U.S. soared to around $5 per gallon, according to the latest Gallup poll. 

Source: TEST FEED1

House GOP strays away from sore subjects in platform rollout

MONONGAHELA, Pa. – House Republicans avoided sore subjects like abortion, election denialism and former President Trump as they rolled out their “Commitment to America” midterm messaging and policy platform on Friday.

Instead, the GOP leaned into the topics it wants on voters’ minds this fall: inflation, the border and the IRS.

“On our very first bill, we’re going to repeal 87,000 IRS agents,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said at the event, referencing language in the Inflation Reduction Act that includes $80 billion aimed at boosting the IRS workforce and audits of high-income earners.

“We could have just sat back and said, ‘Look at how bad their policies have been. Give us the majority and it’ll be different,’” said House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). “That to us isn’t good enough. We wanted to lay out a cold conservative vision to show the country there’s hope again, there’s not just one direction that’s far left.”

Republicans unveiled their platform about 40 minutes outside of Pittsburgh at a warehouse for a commercial HVAC company, DMI Companies, that has 250 employees in southwest Pennsylvania and 400 nationwide.

The event had a town hall-like format, with brief introductions from McCarthy, Scalise, and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and a lengthy question-and-answer portion with numerous friendly questions.

Release of the plan and its rollout came after more than a year of planning, and provided an opportunity for the House GOP to assert its claim to a majority that election analysts say is firmly within the party’s grasp this fall.

But with some metrics showing improved signs for Democrats, particularly with a surge in Democratic enthusiasm after the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights protections in Roe v. Wade, a few doubts about how good the election could be for the GOP have crept up.

Abortion was not mentioned during the event. Republicans have pledged to “protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers,” but leaders have declined to commit to bringing up national abortion ban legislation.

There was only a passing reference to Trump, who is the subject of numerous investigations. The Republicans did not talk about election reform issues or concerns about the integrity of election systems.

McCarthy told The Hill that he had talked to Trump a little bit about the plan when they had talked on the phone the other day, but that their conversation focused on other topics. “He thought a lot of it looked pretty good,” McCarthy said.

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), a member of the House Administration Committee that oversees election issues, said that what was highlighted at the event is only a portion of what Republicans will do in the majority. Republicans on the committee revealed model election reform legislation earlier this year.

“I think as we present to the American people, what are the four key pillars that are going to be put in place when Republicans come in, that’s what you heard here today,” Steil said. “I think there’s going to be additional policies that we have an opportunity to work on and enhance.”

More than two dozen House Republicans joined top GOP leaders at the event for the rollout, including a number of McCarthy allies like Steil and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), but also Freedom Caucus firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is challenging Stefanik for House GOP Conference Chair. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), chair of the moderate Republican Governance Group, was also in attendance.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), who represents the district that encompasses the warehouse, argued that the ideological variance shows the strength of McCarthy — who is eying the Speaker’s gavel if Republicans win the House next year.

“We’re all united behind Kevin McCarthy,” Reschenthaler said.

Greene on Thursday declined to say whether she would support McCarthy for Speaker. And while she was included in the event on Friday, she was not one of a handful of members invited to answer audience questions.

“I don’t know the ins and outs on why I wasn’t asked to answer questions,” Greene told The Hill. But she expressed appreciation for being involved in the process, and support for looming GOP investigations. “I want people fired for what they have done to our country,” she said.

McCarthy said that the members who were invited to answer questions were those involved on task forces specific to the issues.

“You couldn’t bring every member here, but Marjorie participated in a lot of stuff,” McCarthy said. 

The HVAC facility prepared for weeks to host the event, according to an employee, moving shelves of supplies out of the warehouse and setting up technical infrastructure to support dozens of members of the media and cameras.

Those in the invited crowd of around 150 included local business owners, parents, and local activists, such as the head of a human trafficking awareness organization.

Earlier in the day in Pittsburgh, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) held a counter-programming event at the ​​United Steelworkers headquarters, casting McCarthy’s platform as advancing “MAGA extremism.”

“Leader McCarthy, of course, is in Pennsylvania today because he wants voters … to ignore that a majority of House Republicans voted to overturn the 2020 election,” Hoyer said.

Trump “incited and deployed people to the Capital of the United States to overturn the will of the people. To subvert the Constitution of the United States of America. To undermine our democracy,” Hoyer said.

This story was updated at 12:46 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Maher wants Trump indicted, says former president ‘has to be held accountable’

Bill Maher says indicting Donald Trump would likely “turn him into a martyr,” but that the former president “has to be held accountable for what he did.”

“There’s always a risk of everything with anything controversial and anything important,” the “Real Time” host told ITK in an exclusive Thursday interview, when asked if an indictment against Trump could ignite a civil war.

“It’s a valid argument,” Maher said, “You’re going to gin up the other side to an unbelievable degree. And there is going to be violence.”

Trump has repeatedly said in interviews that he doesn’t believe the American public would accept him being indicted, and has warned there would be “big problems” if he were.

“But the alternative is worse. You can’t allow someone to try a coup!” Maher, 66, exclaimed of Trump’s role in the deadly Jan. 6 riot last year at the Capitol.  

“I mean, this country can’t even do a coup right,” the HBO personality cracked. “In other countries, when there’s a coup and it fails, there are repercussions: jail or, in many places, worse.”

“I’m not suggesting worse for Donald Trump, but I am suggesting that if you try a coup — I mean, for f—’s sake, he still hasn’t conceded the last election,” Maher said of the 45th president’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.

“And he’s plotting to do it again, as I’ve been saying for years,” Maher added.

The DOJ’s probe into Trump’s handling of classified and top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago, the ex-president’s Florida resort home, should also lead to criminal charges, according to Maher.

“You can’t steal nuclear secrets and put them in the shed with the croquet equipment. What the f— are we talking about here?” Maher said in an incredulous tone.

“This guy cannot run again. And he has to be held accountable for what he did the last time. This cannot go on,” Maher said. “Enough of this nonsense of we only count elections when we win them.”

But someone who Maher doesn’t necessarily want out of the political picture is Biden.

“If you asked me six months ago, I would have said no, but now I’m not so sure,” the comedian said when ITK questioned whether Biden should run again in 2024. While the commander in chief said in an interview last week that he “intends” to run for reelection, he told “60 Minutes” that he hadn’t made a “firm decision.”

Critics have cited Biden’s age as an issue, noting that he would be 81 in 2024. But Maher defended the 79-year-old president.

“I do think age is the last acceptable prejudice we have in this country, ageism,” Maher said.

“I think it’s ironic would be the most charitable word I could think of for people who can’t stand any kind of bigotry, but have no problem with that kind of bigotry,” he said.

“I’m not saying you should necessarily be president when you’re 100, but I’ve seen people on television who are 100 who were interviewed and they seem to have all their marbles. What this country seems to forget is that experience does matter,” Maher contended.

Ticking off a string of legislative victories for Democrats, including Biden signing the CHIPS and Science Act, as well as putting his signature on a sweeping bill to lower health care costs and address climate change, Maher said, “I think the reason why Joe Biden has had a really great last six months, is because he’s 80 years old, or whatever he is, because he’s seen it all before. That’s what age does, you see the patterns come up over and over again.”

But Maher says despite recent political wins, Democrats desperately need some new blood.

“I think they need 100 new faces,” Maher said with a laugh.

“The Democratic Party I think does look at the moment like they have a weak bench, but maybe that will change in primary season.”

Famously liberal Maher — who described himself earlier this year on “Real Time” as an “unmarried, pot-smoking libertine” — has made headlines and won glowing coverage on the right in recent months for speaking out against Democrats. He said in an interview this week with Variety that the “biggest problem” for Democrats ahead of 2024 was “their woke baggage.”

“I am happy that everybody else is too cowardly on the left to call out their own people when they’re plainly crazy about stuff. And it leaves more comedy for me because I go where the comedy is. If you’re going to be ridiculous, I’m going to call you out,” Maher told ITK.

“I do get a lot of coverage on Fox News now, but they will only talk about like the 10 percent of the show where I say something rotten about the left — always deserved, I think — and they’ll leave out the 90 percent where I’m criticizing Trump and the Republicans,” Maher said.

“The people who watch my show understand.”

But does criticism from the left sting at all?

“No. It’s a badge of honor. Everybody should be doing it. I mean, people on the left understand how nutty a lot of the stuff is that’s coming out from the left,” Maher said, bringing up a piece published earlier this month in The Atlantic that detailed efforts to stop “separating school sports teams strictly by sex.”

It’s not that Democratic lawmakers “believe that the perfect people to read to five-year-olds are drag queens,” said Maher, naming a number of hot-button, cable news topics du jour. “It’s just that they won’t — they won’t say anything about it, so it looks to the whole country like the entire Democratic Party is thinking that it’s equally possible for men to get pregnant, or abolishing the police, or whatever nonsense they’re on to these days.”

Maher said the current polarized political climate — with some Americans fearing about the future of the nation’s democracy — doesn’t make doing his job as a comedian any harder. The former “Politically Incorrect” host is certainly staying busy. In addition to his weekly HBO show, he launched a podcast this year, “Club Random,” in which he delves into hourlong conversations with celebrities — including Woody Harrelson, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and “Saturday Night Live” alum Leslie Jones — on everything except politics. And he’s touring the country doing stand-up, including a Nov. 12 appearance at Madison Square Garden as part of the New York Comedy Festival.

“Comedy’s always gonna be there,” said Maher. “After every president leaves, they always ask the same question in the press: What are you going to do [now that President] Bush is gone? ‘You’re right. I’m just gonna give up and go home. Nothing will be ever be funny again,’” he quipped.

“Especially on the Republican side, they constantly come up with crazier, and nuttier, and more ridiculous candidates. I mean, I thought Bush was bad. And then, you know, [2008 GOP vice presidential candidate] Sarah Palin stepped up. And now we have [Republican Reps.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.).”

“They never know any bounds, the Republican Party. I’ll give them that. There is no bottom. You think you’re at the bottom, then they will come up with somebody worse. And they’re also masters of nominating the ‘are you f—ing kidding me?’ candidate. You know, Donald Trump,” Maher said.

“Comedy is fine. And my comedy, especially, is great because I get more of a mixed crowd. I wouldn’t say Trump people exactly, but I get so much love when I go into the critique of the left,” he continued.

“And I think a lot of them are Democrats who want to hear that message. They want their party to get back to a sane, center-left position, and they don’t see anybody voicing that for them.”

Source: TEST FEED1

US has privately warned Russia of consequences of using a nuclear weapon

The U.S. has privately been warning the Kremlin for months of consequences if they use a nuclear weapon in their conflict with Ukraine, according to officials.

Anonymous officials told The Washington Post that the White House has publicly been purposefully vague about what those consequences would be in an attempt to build concern among Russian leaders, a method of nuclear deterrence called “strategic ambiguity.”

President Biden underlined his opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in an interview with CBS’s “60 minutes” on Sunday, where he warned the Russian leader not to “change the face of war.”

“Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II,” Biden said when host Scott Pelley asked for a message to Putin concerning weapons of mass destruction.

Biden added that the U.S. response to Russian use of nuclear weapons would depend on “the extent of what they do.”

Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev stoked fears about Russia’s possible use of weapons when he announced on Thursday that the country would be willing to use “strategic nuclear weapons” to protect itself.

“The protection of all joined territories will be significantly strengthened by the Russian Armed Forces,” wrote Medvedev on Telegram.

“Russia announced that not only mobilization capabilities, but also any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, could be used for such protection.”

Ukrainian Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the country’s armed forces, and Lt. Gen. Mykhailo Zabrodskyi predicted earlier this month in an article that nuclear war was a “threat.”

“It is hard to imagine that even nuclear strikes will allow Russia to break Ukraine’s will to resist,” the two wrote for state news outlet Ukrinform.

“But the threat that will emerge for the whole of Europe cannot be ignored.”

The pair encouraged Ukraine’s Western allies to employ their “entire arsenal of means” to prevent the possibility of nuclear war.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Schumer up against clock, calendar, math

Congress is battling the clock and the calendar with fewer than three legislative days to fund the government.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who demonstrated to his colleagues this summer his appetite for backroom deals, is in a bind. Without a surefire route to adoption of a short-term measure to fund the government after Sept. 30, Schumer started the preliminary process on Thursday, expecting to work with colleagues over the weekend to try to hatch an eleventh hour plan that can get enough votes between Tuesday night and next Friday.

Schumer on Thursday started the clock by teeing up a legislative vessel to hold the contents of a stopgap bill that’s still being worked on (The Hill). 

The House is ready to move next week once a funding bill comes across the Capitol from the Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday (Roll Call). But Schumer next week needs 60 votes to cut off debate and move ahead with the legislative language that would fund the government with language favored by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) that would change the federal construction permit process for oil and gas interests.

It’s a gamble. 

Pelosi told reporters the plan calls for the Senate to vote Tuesday night “after sundown” to try to end debate and turn to the spending bill. Lawmakers are out of session on Monday and most of Tuesday for Rosh Hashanah, so the time crunch impacts both chambers. 

Schumer has been scrambling to make good on a deal he struck with Manchin in exchange for the centrist senator’s critical “aye” vote in August for Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

Manchin’s language, as unveiled late Wednesday and potentially grafted to a continuing resolution to fund the government next week, has struggled to gain traction, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reported. Schumer could rapidly switch gears next week to strip out the Manchin language, if necessary.

“I can’t see how it’s going to pass,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to the GOP leadership said.

“I’d be surprised if it gets 60 votes. I’d be surprised if it gets all the Democrats,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), told Roll Call on Thursday.  

At least two Democrats said they would vote against a combined bill with Manchin’s provisions included, and there may not be enough Republicans willing to be the backstop, although Manchin got a boost on Thursday when Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) endorsed his measure (Fox News).

▪ The Hill: Republicans are lining up against Manchin’s permitting reform bill.

▪ Politico: Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) say they would vote against a continuing resolution with Manchin’s language attached. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday she wants a separate vote on the West Virginia senator’s permitting measure.

▪ Politico: Schumer 2.0: How a surprise same-sex marriage decision explains the Senate leader.

Meanwhile, the House on Thursday passed four policing and public safety measures with bipartisan support. Lawmakers, who spent weeks ironing out an agreement to approve the bills before leaving Washington this month, said they do not expect the Senate to act because of GOP resistance. House passage overcame last-minute opposition from progressive Democrats (The Hill).

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Lawmakers slam big bank CEOs for failure to increase interest rates on their customers’ savings accounts. 

▪ The Hill: Republicans block a bill requiring dark money groups to reveal donors. 

▪ Business Insider: The House may finally vote — next week — on legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stocks

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS

After Ohio House GOP candidate J.R. Majewski embellished his service record to voters — falsely claiming he served in combat in Afghanistan following Sept. 11 — the party’s campaign arm is axing a nearly $1 million ad buy targeting his opponent (Politico and Axios).

The move comes after the Air Force confirmed there was no service record for Majewski that matched his description. While Majewski told supporters he was an Air Force combat veteran who had faced “tough” conditions in Afghanistan, records indicated he instead spent six months at an air base in Qatar, loading and unloading planes (Associated Press via The Hill).

Majewski didn’t directly address the inconsistencies in a statement, saying “I am proud to have served my country.”

Politico on Thursday reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee canceled a $960,000 ad buy in the Toledo, Ohio market meant to help boost Majewski. He is running against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the longest-serving woman in the House. Kaptur’s district had been redrawn to encompass an area that former President Trump would have carried narrowly, making her one of the most vulnerable incumbents.

Even before the discoveries about his service record, the national GOP worried about Majewski’s close alignment with MAGA Republicans.

Herschel Walker, the Republican running for the Senate in Georgia, has also come under fire for misrepresenting his past. When Walker ran a food distribution company, he pledged that 15 percent of profits would be donated to charities — including the Boy Scouts of America and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

But The New York Times reports that there is little evidence the money actually made it to its intended destinations. One of the four charities declined to comment, and “the other three said they had no record or recollection of any gifts from the company in the last decade.”

While The Times’ reporting could not conclusively prove his company didn’t donate profits, Walker has given misleading or false information about himself during various points in his campaign — falsely claiming to have graduated with honors from the University of Georgia when he didn’t graduate at all, and claiming to have worked in law enforcement, which proved untrue (The New York Times).

Indiana Sen. Mike Braun (R) is likely to run for governor in 2024, though the senator on Thursday said he’s not yet making an official statement (Politico). But Braun has been reaching out to Republicans across the state to inform them of his intentions, according to IndyPolitics.

An Indiana judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of the state’s new law banning most abortions to allow for court challenges from Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers. After the Supreme Court struck down the national right to abortion in June by overturning Roe v. Wade, Indiana was the first state to enact a sweeping abortion ban (Reuters).

▪ Axios: Abortion looms over 2022 state ballots.

▪ NPR: The Veterans Affairs Department says it will provide abortions in some cases even in states where it’s banned.

Trump will hold a rally tonight in Wilmington, N.C. (WNCT). Despite facing multiple investigations — including into his keeping of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence — his approval ratings have remained largely stable. A new New York Times/Siena College poll shows 44 percent of voters view Trump favorably, and 53 percent view him unfavorably. These numbers are comparable to earlier in the summer, as well as approval ratings for the former president in the past few years (The New York Times).

Some GOP senators, meanwhile, are expressing criticism of how Trump handled classified government documents found at Mar-a-Lago, especially after he asserted Wednesday on Fox News that he could declassify documents by “thinking about it” (The Guardian).

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told CNN that there is a process for declassifying documents, “and I think it ought to be adhered to and followed. And I think that should apply to anybody who has access to or deals with classified information.”

“I think the concern is about those being taken from the White House absent some way of declassifying them or the fact that there were classified documents removed — without sort of the appropriate safeguards,” he said. “I think that is what the Justice Department is getting at.”

Other senators who criticized Trump about the matter include Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch ally of the former president (CNN).

Trump is beginning to hit roadblocks in court, too, writes The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. A federal appeals court granted a Justice Department request to allow investigators access to the roughly 100 classified documents seized by the FBI.

The Washington Post: Mar-a-Lago special master Raymond Dearie asks Trump lawyers whether they believe FBI lied about seized documents.

Meanwhile in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing scrutiny over his controversial decision last week to fly dozens of migrants to the Massachusetts resort island of Martha’s Vineyard, The Hill’s Max Greenwood and Amie Parnes write.

While some conservatives lauded the move as a powerful protest of the Biden administration’s approach to border security, Democrats and members of Florida’s vast Hispanic community have been vocal in their criticism. The migrant flight from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard — and DeSantis’s promise of more to come — have already prompted a slew of legal responses. A Texas sheriff said on Monday that his office would investigate the legality of the flight, while a Florida state lawmaker is preparing to file a lawsuit seeking to block DeSantis from transporting more migrants from the southern border.

▪ Reuters: DeSantis travels the US with 2024 in the air. 

▪ The Hill: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) is giving the confrontational right flank of the House GOP a seat at the table as he aims to shore up its support for him as a future Speaker.

▪ The New York Times: There will likely be no debates in Nevada’s Senate race, after Republican Adam Laxalt refused an invitation. He agreed to two other debates, but Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto accepted invitations from different sponsors.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL & ADMINISTRATION

Voting began today in sham, Russian-ordered referendums in Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions of Ukraine as part of the Kremlin’s new strategy to absorb large swaths of territory into Russia in order to argue it is defending Russians and Russian land. The annexation plan is viewed by the United States and the West as without legal force and an escalation of Russia’s aggression.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote Thursday in a post on Telegram that territory in eastern Ukraine would be “accepted into Russia” after the completion of the “referendums” and he vowed to strengthen the security of those areas. To defend that annexed land, Medvedev said, Russia is able to use not only its newly mobilized forces, but also “any Russian weapon, including strategic nuclear ones and those using new principles,” a reference to hypersonic weapons (The Washington Post). 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday at a heated meeting of the United Nations Security Council, of which Russia is a member, clashed with his Russian counterpart over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. 

“Wherever the Russian tide recedes, we discover the horror that’s left in its wake,” Blinken said. “We cannot, we will not allow President Putin to get away with it.”

He said Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian cities of Izyum and Bucha revealed dead and tortured civilians, evidence that could not be dismissed as the actions of rogue fighters (The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer). 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied the U.S. charges and accused Ukrainian forces of killing civilians in the eastern Donbas region “with impunity.”

▪ The Hill: U.S. and allies pledge to punish Putin over Ukraine during United Nations showdown.

The initial full day of Russia’s first military mobilization since World War II produced emotional showdowns at draft centers and some protests on Thursday. It appears Russia could be considering far more than the 300,000 new conscripts claimed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, The Guardian reports.

Shoigu on Wednesday said Russia would be targeting draftees with recent military experience. But the actual number in an order signed by Putin is secret. Some think it could be far higher.

The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Russia was seeking to draft more than 1 million people into the army, citing a source, according to the Guardian. That reporting has not been confirmed by other news outlets, but if accurate suggests Putin is risking domestic unrest. Video and anecdotal evidence and reporting from around Russia has shown large drafts taking place even in small towns, suggesting that the numbers could be far higher than publicly described by the Kremlin.

In the United Kingdom, the government today said it would borrow heavily to fund a large package of tax cuts in an effort to fire up the British economy, which is weighed down by inflation pressures. The plan is to cut payroll taxes, freeze a tax on corporations, jettison a tax on banker bonuses and provide stimulus in the form of energy subsidies to taxpayers over the next two years (The Wall Street Journal).

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was overheard insulting American lawmakers at a Global Fund event in New York, after briefly chatting with Biden about issues including U.S. electric-vehicle subsidies.

“What an embarrassment for Biden, if these idiots refuse to grant it in Congress,” video footage showed Yoon telling his foreign minister. The comments were caught on his microphone (Bloomberg).

At home, Biden on Thursday told Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi (D) that the administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are “laser-focused” on the storm-ravaged island. “We’re surging federal resources to Puerto Rico, and we’ll do everything we can to meet the urgent needs you have,” Biden said during a briefing about Hurricane Fiona’s destruction convened in New York City. “To the people of Puerto Rico who are still hurting from Hurricane Maria five years later, they should know: We are with you,” the president added. “We’re not going to walk away.”

Puerto Rico’s power grid failed and roads and bridges were destroyed after Fiona made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, delivering punishing winds and flooding rains. Hundreds of thousands of residents were still without power this week and lacked clean water. The island’s infrastructure was badly damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, and the effects of the latest storm have called into question how the repaired power grid could fail so badly again during Fiona (The Hill).

▪ CNBC: Biden promises federal government will fully cover a month of aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona

OPINION

■ Gov. Ron DeSantis emulates Trump, but the act is weak, by David Atkins, contributor, Washington Monthly. https://bit.ly/3R5orcW

■ Putin has just made the world a far more dangerous place, by Fareed Zakaria, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3DOuiAn 

■ Putin is not liberating my family. He is subjugating them, by Sasha Vasilyuk, guest essayist, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3StfDi0

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 10 a.m. on Monday for a pro forma session.

The Senate convenes at 11 a.m. for a pro forma session.

President Biden will deliver remarks at a Democratic National Committee event at 1 p.m. Biden will welcome Elton John — who is currently on a farewell tour and in concert in Washington on Saturday —  for a South Lawn musical performance at 8 p.m. to celebrate “the unifying and healing power of music” and to honor “history-makers in the audience, including teachers, nurses, frontline workers, mental health advocates, students, LGBTQ+ advocates and more.” The event is a collaboration with A+E Networks and The History Channel (The Hill).

Vice President Harris will meet at 2:50 p.m. in her ceremonial office with a group of young members of NAACP to discuss civil rights.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen today will chair a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

First lady Jill Biden will speak at 2:30 p.m. during a White House Historical Association dedication ceremony held at Decatur House honoring former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and featuring a new garden sculpture by Chas Fagan. The first lady will join the president and speak at 8 p.m. during the Elton John event on the South Lawn.

🖥  Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH 

People who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later compared with people who were never infected by the coronavirus, a finding that could affect millions of Americans, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday (Reuters). 

The yearlong study, published in Nature Medicine, used medical records without patient identifiers from millions of U.S. veterans to assess brain health across 44 different disorders. Among those who had been infected with COVID, brain disorders were 7 percent more likely to occur.

That translates into roughly 6.6 million Americans who had brain impairments linked with their COVID-19 infections, the team said. “The results show the devastating long-term effects of COVID-19,” senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, of Washington University School of Medicine, said in a statement. 

▪ The New York Times: Why the omicron variant of COVID-19 might stick around.

▪ The Atlantic: The “end” of COVID is still far worse than we imagined.

▪ Bloomberg: COVID infection linked to more type 1 diabetes in kids and teens.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,055,922. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 347, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ HOUSING

Rising interest rates, which affect mortgages and home sales, make it tougher for young people to afford today’s real estate prices and borrowing costs. The trend may force young people to rent for longer periods than they would like or to remain at home with parents or other relatives, writes The Hill’s Adam Barnes. 

Even with a cooling housing market and lower prices, interests are still proving a major stumbling block for first-time buyers. 

“Those buyers were of course already frustrated by a lack of inventory, which made purchasing a home difficult in recent years,” Robert Dietz, chief economist and senior vice president for economics and housing policy for the National Association of Home Builders, told The Hill. “But now that lack of inventory challenge is being replaced by a dramatic decline in housing affordability.”

Real estate firm Redfin lists August’s median national home price at $406,500.

▪ CNBC: Here’s how long it would take a typical millennial to save enough to buy a home.

▪ Forbes: Mortgage rates spike to 6.29 percent as home affordability gets tighter.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Bravo to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Puzzle masters recognized newsy quotes and identified the darnedest things some leaders have recently said.

🥇Victorious today: Stan Wasser, Paul Harris, Patrick Kavanagh, Lou Tisler, Kathleen Kovalik, Jaina Mehta, Donna Nackers, Robert Bradley, André Leblanc, Barbara Golian, Daniel Bachhuber, David Letostak, James Rose, Jon Berck, Ki Harvey, Kane Martin, Richard Fanning, Chuck Breidenbach, Karen Daniel, Joan Domingues, Terry Pflaumer, Randall Patrick, Ted Kontek, “Rick,” Rich Davis, Len Jones, Harry Strulovici, Jeremy Serwer, Rick DeCroix, Stephen Delano, Pam Manges, Steve James and Michael Palermo.

They knew that Biden, on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday, said the pandemic is “over.”

Putin told Russians during a televised address on Wednesday that his willingness to use Russia’s nuclear arsenal “is not a bluff.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) surprised some fellow Republicans during a Monday TV interview when he said abortion is “not a states’ rights issue.”

Reporters this week asked British Prime Minister Liz Truss again about her August comment, made when she was foreign secretary, that the “jury’s out” whether France (and its president) is the United Kingdom’s friend or foe.

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!

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Schumer looks for way past Manchin permitting impasse

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is looking for a way to avoid a government shutdown next week while also keeping his promise to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to pass permitting reform before October.  

Most Senate Republicans say they will vote against the government funding measure if it includes Manchin’s permitting reform bill, and a group of Democrats are pressing Schumer to separate the continuing resolution and permitting reform. 

That means Schumer is likely to fall short of the 60 votes he needs to overcome an expected filibuster to a short-term government funding resolution that also includes Manchin’s permitting reform legislation, which would alter the federal approval process for energy projects.

Schumer has promised Manchin that he will include permitting reform in the stopgap funding measure, which must pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.  

The Democratic leader appears committed — at least as of this week — to rounding up the votes.

Asked Thursday if he’s confident Manchin’s permitting reform proposal will stay in the short-term funding resolution, Schumer gave a terse reply: “yes.”  

Republicans say that means Schumer and Manchin will have to make significant changes to the permitting reform bill to pick up more GOP votes. 

But any concessions to Republicans will further anger environmental justice groups who are upset that Schumer promised to pass permitting reform in order to secure Manchin’s support for a sweeping climate, tax and prescription drug reform bill last month. 

“The thing that always helps get legislation moving [is] if people are willing to take good, constructive suggestions. That’s what I’ve been telling those guys for a couple of weeks now,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). “We’ll see if they’re interested in making some changes. That’s always a way to get more votes.” 

Some Democrats are already making the argument that if Schumer brings the continuing resolution with Manchin’s language to the floor for a vote and it fails, he will have fulfilled his promise to Manchin that won the West Virginian senator’s backing for the Inflation Reduction Act.   

“Sen. Schumer promised a vote to Sen. Manchin on a must-pass bill and we’ll take that vote,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who noted that Manchin doesn’t know how many Republican votes he’ll get for his proposal.  

“The commitment was to offer his bill on a must-pass plan,” he added. “The goal is to bring this matter to a vote, as Sen. Schumer promised.”  

Schumer and Manchin will have to find more than 10 Republican votes because Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) have signaled they will vote against the continuing resolution if it includes Manchin’s permitting reform proposal.  

Kaine delivered a fiery floor speech Thursday criticizing Manchin’s proposal for greenlighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline, 100 miles of which will run through his home state.  

He said Manchin’s bill would take that project out of the permitting process and away from judicial review “and have Congress put our thumb on the scale.”  

Kaine said Congress could pass permitting reform without entangling it in the short-term government funding bill.  

The votes of other Democrats are also in doubt, including Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Cory Booker (N.J.), who are calling for Schumer to move the government funding bill and funding reform separately.  

They released a letter to Schumer urging that permitting reform “should be examined through detailed committee consideration and a robust floor debate separate from the urgent need to see that the government stays open.”  

Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D) and Ben Cardin (D) also signed on to the letter.  

These senators, however, have not gone as far as Sanders or Kaine in expressing opposition to government funding bill that includes permitting reform.  

“They should be separated,” Markey reaffirmed Thursday. 

But when asked if he would vote “no,” if the legislation remains paired, Markey demurred: “I haven’t seen the proposal yet. I have to wait and see the proposal.”  

Manchin got a piece of good news Thursday when his home state Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) announced she would vote for his permitting reform bill. She cited the approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline as a major factor.  

And at least a few other Senate Republicans could follow Capito’s lead. Those possible swing votes include Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).   

Most Republican senators, however, say Manchin’s permitting reform bill doesn’t go far enough and predict it won’t pick up enough GOP votes to reach the 60-vote threshold to get by a filibuster.  

“I can’t see how it’s going to pass,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to the Senate GOP leadership team.  

Asked if Manchin’s bill would get more than 10 Republican votes if combined with the continuing resolution, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) replied: “Nowhere close.” 

Schumer on Thursday afternoon filed a cloture motion on a “shell” House bill that will serve as the legislative vehicle for moving the government funding bill next week.  

That means the Senate won’t vote until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the motion to begin debate on the vehicle for moving the government funding bill.  

The motion to proceed is expected to pass since it will allow debate to begin on a shell bill, which Schumer will then attempt to amend by adding the continuing funding resolution combined with Manchin’s permitting reform bill.  

Democratic and Republican sources are predicting, however, that the combined funding and permitting reform bill will fail to get the necessary 60 votes to be added as a substitute amendment to the shell bill. 

At that point, Schumer will have to decide whether to try to pick up more GOP votes by negotiating changes to Manchin’s bill or whether he will opt instead to advance a short-term funding resolution that only includes emergency funding for the war in Ukraine but not permitting reform.  

The Democratic leader will find himself in a time crunch, because the Senate will be out of session on Monday in observance of Rosh Hashanah and next week’s first vote won’t take place until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.  

That gives Schumer only a few days to figure out a way to pass a government-funding bill, with or without Manchin’s permitting proposal, before Friday. Government funding is due to expire at 11:59 pm on Sept. 30.  

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) says there’s a slim chance Schumer could pick up a dozen or so Republican votes to find his way past the impasse, but it won’t be easy.  

“It’s hard to say because we don’t know what else is on it,” he said of the text of the continuing resolution that has yet to be released. “They haven’t really shown their hand on that yet. 

“There are lot of discussions going on around different permutations of the CR [continuing resolution], including Manchin’s permitting reform,” he added. “Our members are still trying to get more information and process it.”  

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DeSantis risks voter backlash in Florida with migrant flights

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing mounting scrutiny in his home state over his controversial decision last week to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants to the elite resort island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. 

While the move was lauded by conservatives as a powerful protest of the Biden administration’s approach to border security, it has sparked a wave of criticism from Democrats and members of Florida’s vast Hispanic community, a politically influential force in the Sunshine State.

“With this move, this stunt, obviously he made his base very happy,” said Adelys Ferro, the executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus. “But there are many people more toward the middle and people who are independents that are very disgusted and that reject all of this.”

“We are Venezuelan Americans and we vote, and we’re going to vote in November,” she added. “And we’re never going to vote for somebody who does this.”

The migrant flight from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard — and DeSantis’s promise of more to come — have already prompted a slew of legal activity. A Texas sheriff said on Monday that his office would investigate the legality of the flight, while a Florida state lawmaker is preparing to file a lawsuit seeking to block DeSantis from transporting more migrants from the southern border.

But whether the migrant flights — dubbed a political stunt by critics — will weigh on DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential contender who is facing reelection this year, remains an open question. 

On one hand, the move risks running afoul of Latino voters, especially in South Florida, a vote-rich part of the state with a massive community of exiles who fled oppressive governments in Latin America. The GOP has strengthened its position among Latinos in recent years, though strategists on both sides of the aisle say those gains aren’t set in stone.

“I think we need to be cautious about taking Hispanics for granted in the same way that Democrats took them for granted,” one Republican strategist who has worked on campaigns in Florida said. “We’re talking about voters who like Republican policies, but maybe don’t consider themselves Republicans. They’re still open to hearing the other side.”

Still, the migrant flight also carries the potential to further endear DeSantis to conservatives ahead of a prospective bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. 

“This is a story that has put him at the forefront of the national conversation for the last couple of weeks,” said Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster who helped former President Obama win the state in 2008 and 2012. “So from his perspective, as long as he doesn’t get charged, I think he sees it as a good thing.”

And as far as his reelection bid goes, DeSantis appears well positioned to defeat his Democratic rival Charlie Crist, a former congressman and Republican Florida governor. Not only does polling in that race regularly show DeSantis in the lead, but he also has a steep financial edge. DeSantis has raised more than $130 million for his reelection effort so far.

Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist who ran Obama’s campaign operation in the Sunshine State, also noted that the migrant flight isn’t the only controversial move that has paid off politically for DeSantis. The Florida governor rose to national prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic by taking a laissez-faire approach to the outbreak despite warnings from public health officials. 

“He made a gamble on COVID and it paid off,” Schale said. “In the eyes of the public, it was a successful win. The lesson here was: He can lean into these divisive issues and he doesn’t pay a penalty for it.” 

Schale said that DeSantis and his campaign have already bet that the support of the GOP’s conservative base will be enough for him to clinch a second term in November and that there’s little actual political risk in potentially turning off persuadable voters. 

“Guys on my side don’t always give him the credit he deserves,” Schale said. “They don’t think they need to win persuadable voters to win reelection. They made the calculus that they’re safe being in this space.” 

Ana Navarro, a longtime GOP strategist who is a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” agreed with Schale’s assessment that DeSantis is worried only about appealing to the most conservative voters — and that includes Republican voters who fled repressive foreign governments themselves. 

“Seems like his game plan is to raise his national profile and bring out as much of his base as possible and not really worry about appealing to those in the middle,” said Navarro, who is based in Miami. “Without a doubt, most of his base likes what he’s doing, sadly, including other Floridians who came to this country fleeing repression, but seem to have forgotten. I really don’t get it.” 

One poll from Morning Consult released on Wednesday found that while voters are split on the propriety of sending migrants to more liberal parts of the country, the tactic is still popular among Republicans. Sixty-six percent of GOP voters said that it is appropriate, while only 19 percent said it is improper.

That’s not to say that there couldn’t be consequences for DeSantis. In addition to the criminal investigation being carried out by Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar in Texas, some of the migrants who were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last week filed a class action lawsuit in Massachusetts on Tuesday, arguing that DeSantis and other state officials engaged in a “fraudulent and discriminatory scheme.”

The migrants are seeking unspecified damages in that case. 

DeSantis isn’t the only Republican governor who’s shipped migrants away from the U.S. southern border and into more-Democratic leaning parts of the country. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who’s also up for reelection, has been doing so for months, as has Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R). 

But what made DeSantis’s effort even more controversial was the fact that none of the 48 migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard had ever set foot in Florida. What’s more, the migrants were reportedly misled about their destination. 

DeSantis has defended the move, arguing that illegal immigration isn’t just an issue for border states to deal with. Officials in his administration have also argued that the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard were “homeless, hungry, sleeping outside in parking lots” prior to making the trip, seeking to put a humanitarian spin on the endeavor.

Still, DeSantis’s critics say there’s no moral ambiguity when it comes to what the governor did. Ferro, the Venezuelan American Caucus executive director, accused DeSantis of playing politics with a humanitarian crisis, saying that “people — even many Republicans — are mortified and disgusted.”

Amandi, the Democratic pollster, also said that Republicans he has spoken to in the state aren’t pleased. 

“In their heart of hearts, they know this will have repercussions,” he said. 

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McCarthy keeps right flank tight as he closes in on Speakership

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is giving the confrontational right flank of the GOP conference a seat at the table as he aims to shore up their support for Speaker if Republicans take the chamber next year.

McCarthy is eyeing having to manage a conference next year that is expected to tilt further to the right with a higher proportion of allies loyal to former President Trump. 

And he’s starting now by including controversial figures and members of the House Freedom Caucus in high-profile events in an effort to seemingly win them over — unlike some of his GOP predecessors.

Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will be at a rollout event outside Pittsburgh on Friday for McCarthy’s Commitment to America policy platform, a list of policy priorities inspired by the 1994 Contract with America.

“I’m really happy with it,” Greene said of the plan. “The reason why I’m involved in — going to be actively involved is to make sure that we can push to get the right things in there when it comes time to put the bills to the floor.”

The rollout of the plan marks not just a formal statement of policy priorities aimed at wooing voters, but the culmination of McCarthy’s work to unify an ideologically and stylistically diverse conference around his leadership.

More than a year ago, McCarthy formed several task forces intended to craft policies that members could run on during the midterms. The vast majority of such Republican members were on the panels, including Greene and House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (Pa.), among others.

That has helped McCarthy gain buy-in from the right for his vision of a GOP majority. 

McCarthy told reporters that the conference was “very much” unified around the Commitment to America plan, and that he “didn’t hear one negative word” about it.

“You know the conference, right? The different philosophical makeup. You could go from John Katko” — a more moderate New York Republican who is retiring — “to Marjorie Greene” he said, reflecting on the party’s political spectrum.

But some members have stopped short of giving full-throated support for the plan or his Speakership bid, raising questions about whether he would have enough votes should the chamber remain closely split in the new Congress.

“I think it’s a pretty good start. We’ve got a plan. I think we’ve got to put some — a little more meat on the bones. But it gives us a place to land, and all be kind of on the same page as we go after the last month here,” Perry said.

Asked whether she would support McCarthy for Speaker, Greene told reporters that she was not thinking about the leadership election yet.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) expressed approval of the plan for uniting the conference around a midterm message, but hinted at keeping up pressure on House GOP leadership.

“As someone who’s a conservative in the Freedom Caucus, part of my job is also accountability for the Republicans to do what we said we would do,” Roy said. “So, as we unite around a message to take our country back, I’ll be making sure that there’s some specificity and what that means should we win the majority.”

The plan also does not address some of the biggest demands from the right wing, like the potential of impeaching President Biden.

​​”I think the Republican controlled majority if they want to be successful, especially going at 2024, they’ll definitely make that a priority,” said Greene, who has introduced multiple impeachment resolutions against Biden.

McCarthy has watched up close the right-wing turmoil that previously plagued GOP House leadership.

“I’ve learned from the other mistakes,” McCarthy, in a March interview with Punchbowl News, said of former GOP Speakers John Boehner (Ohio) and Paul Ryan (Wis.).

Boehner, for his part, was punished by those in the right flank who publicly challenged him, such as former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a founding member of the Freedom Caucus which was formed around that time. Meadows was removed from a subcommittee chairmanship after clashing with the Speaker on a procedural vote. 

More procedural moves from Meadows helped propel Boehner to a surprise retirement in 2015, stunning Washington one year after former Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor became the first sitting House majority leader to lose his congressional seat to a political newcomer, and eventual Freedom Caucus member, Dave Brat.

Ryan spent much of 2016 doing a delicate dance around Trump’s candidacy — despite at times getting hammered by the Republican presidential nominee over the course of the election and during his early tenure in the White House before Ryan himself retired. 

The Wisconsin Republican often had to tread between voicing support of his party’s president while disavowing some of Trump’s more inflammatory remarks on immigration and minority groups.

That type of intraparty turmoil seems to have evolved under McCarthy, unlike other previous leaders of the GOP conference.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), another founder of the House Freedom Caucus, challenged McCarthy to lead House Republicans four years ago. But instead of being banished by leadership, he has been elevated. 

Jordan is now ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee and eyeing leading numerous probes as chair of the panel in a majority. He has repeatedly said he is supporting McCarthy for Speaker. 

Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker who was the architect of the 1994 Contract with America that preceded a massive midterm win for the party, had high praise for McCarthy’s handling of the diverse caucus as he walked out of a House GOP meeting unveiling the plan to members.

“He’s a much better manager than I was,” Gingrich said. “I was amazed at members who normally find some reason not to be together getting up and saying, ‘We’re on the same team.’”

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Trump declassification claims hit roadblocks in court

After some initial success, former President Trump’s claims he declassified the records found in his Mar-a-Lago home are beginning to hit roadblocks in court.

Authorities have recovered some 300 classified documents from Trump’s Florida home over the course of this year, including 100 seized during the August search.

Trump doubled down on his claim he declassified the records in the Wednesday night interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

“I did declassify,” he said. ​​“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it.”

He also implied there would be no evidence of such a decision, even though a presidential declassification triggers a number of actions from various intelligence agencies.

“There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president. You make that decision. So when you send it, it’s declassified,” Trump added.

In court however – where Trump’s lawyers have insinuated he may have declassified the documents but stopped short of fully making the assertion – judges this week pushed back.

A Florida judge initially looked more positively to that argument and others, awarding Trump’s request for a special master, but subsequent judges haven’t responded as favorably.

Trump’s legal team resisted a request from Judge Raymond Dearie, the candidate they forwarded to be special master who is now serving in the role, to elaborate on a filing noting that Trump could have declassified the records. Their failure to do so seemed to irk the judge when both parties met with Dearie on Tuesday.

And an appeals court on Wednesday ruled in favor of the Justice Department, striking down a lower court’s denial of their request to exempt the classified records from the special master process.

Trump’s declassification claims featured in the ruling.

“Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents,” a three-judge panel that included two Trump appointees ruled for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Declassification would not excuse the crimes listed on the warrant to search Trump’s home. The Espionage Act deals only with “national defense information” while another deals with concealing government records. 

The court also questioned why the Trump team was making the claim, noting that regardless, he has no reason to claim declassified records are his personal property.

“In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them,” the judges wrote.

“For our part, we cannot discern why plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings.”

The tranche of documents found at Trump’s home include some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets, including those that can only be accessed by those with a “need to know.”

“This requirement pertains equally to former presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion, chooses to waive that requirement,” the court wrote.

In their first conference with Dearie, the special master, the Trump team balked at a request to explain the declassification claim, arguing they should only have to do so if criminal charges are filed and they file a Rule 41(g) that allows for recovery of seized property.

James Trusty, an attorney for Trump, said they were “not in a position” to explain further.

“We have the concerns that we’ve already talked about basically about declassification defense and when and how that should be borne out if it’s going to be, meaning, that we shouldn’t be

in a position to have to disclose declarations, witness statements, whatever it might be, to substantiate that until a Rule 41(g) is filed,” Trusty said.

“Well, you did bring the lawsuit and make that claim,” Dearie responded. 

“What we’ve done is we’ve raised the issue. We have not been in a position, nor should we be at this juncture, to fully disclose a substantive defense relating to declassification until we see the documents,” Trusty said. 

But Dearie did not appear satisfied by that answer, adding later, “You can’t have your cake and eat it.”

Whether or not Trump declassified the documents is no longer at issue in the special master review — the 11th Circuit granted DOJ’s request to exempt the classified records from the review so it could continue its national security and criminal investigation connected to the documents.  

But another one of Trump’s claims has also been pulled into the special master’s review.

In a plan for reviewing the more than 10,000 documents taken as the property, Dearie asked Trump’s team to account for the former president’s claims that the FBI may have “planted” evidence.

Trump made the insinuation just two days after his home was searched. 

“Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be alone,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform, “without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting.’”

Trump again made the assertion during his Fox interview this week. 

“The problem that you have is they go into rooms — they won’t let anybody near — they wouldn’t even let them in the same building. Did they drop anything on those piles? Or did they do it later?” he said.

Dearie’s plan asks Trump’s team for a declaration with “a list of any specific items set forth in the [FBI’s] detailed property inventory that plaintiff asserts were not seized from the premises.”

Source: TEST FEED1