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Trump wing in House GOP set to grow

Expect a Trumpier U.S. House of Representatives next year.

House Republicans are not only forecast to win control of the lower chamber in November’s midterm elections, they’re also poised to bring with them a roster of new arrivals who have embraced the former president and his false claims of fraud surrounding his 2020 defeat. 

A number of Trump loyalists have bumped off more moderate Republicans in the summer primaries — a list that grew longer on Tuesday with conservative victories in Florida and New York — while a number of other centrists are stepping into retirement.

The combination foreshadows a power shift in the House GOP that has the potential to complicate any bipartisan compromise with President Biden, while creating headaches for Republican leaders who will face pressure to demonstrate their governing chops in a new majority. 

“I believe that [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy [Calif.] would have a rough time of it,” said David Mayhew, a political scientist at Yale University.

Joe Kent, a former Green Beret, defeated pro-impeachment Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in a Washington GOP primary earlier this month with the help of an endorsement from Trump. Running as an “America First” Republican, he railed against the “establishment” and publicly said that McCarthy, the House GOP leader, should not be Speaker.  

And he’s hardly alone. 

In the most recent round of primaries, winners in safe Republican House seats include former Trump appointee to the Pentagon Cory Mills, who has said that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Mills would replace outgoing Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.).

New York State GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy, who heavily touted his previous support from Trump in the primary despite not getting a formal endorsement for the race, also won a primary in a safe GOP district on Tuesday. Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.) ended his reelection bid for that seat due to blowback to his support for an assault weapons ban.

One of the starkest signs that incoming House Republicans will be friendlier to the former president is that Mills and Langworthy were considered the less extreme candidates in their races. 

Langworthy defeated Carl Paladino, a gaffe-prone Trump supporter who was endorsed by Trump allies Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), and Elise Stefanik (N.Y.). And Mills faced Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who was also supported by Gaetz and Greene and accused Mills of being a “RINO,” an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

Sarah Chamberlain, president and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership that supports “governing Republicans” who are willing to work across the aisle, pointed to the defeats of Paladino and Sabatini to argue that loyalty to Trump may not be a defining feature of incoming Republicans.

“When the members sit around a table, Donald Trump is not what they discuss. They discuss Joe Biden and getting things done to help the American people,” Chamberlain said of the candidates supported by her group. “They’re not against them by any means. They voted for him. But he is not a topic of conversation.”

Still, several of the candidates highlighted as “Young Guns” by the National Republican Congressional Committee have also expressed skepticism about the 2020 election, even if they did not make loyalty to Trump a key part of their candidate pitch this year.

Derrick Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL seeking to replace retiring Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but has said he never entered the Capitol and has since distanced himself from the events of that day.

Contributing to the likely power shift, many House Republicans who were critical of Trump or did not overtly embrace him will not be returning in 2022.

Eight of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack either declined to run for reelection or lost their primaries. Others, like Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), lost in primaries against other Trump-backed members after being put up against each other due to redistricting.

Meanwhile, Trump allies like Gaetz and Greene sailed through their primaries.

The House Freedom Caucus, the group of hard-line conservatives, is likely to grow. A PAC affiliated with the group, the House Freedom Fund, is supporting Trump-endorsed newcomers Anna Paulina Luna in Florida, Bo Hines in North Carolina, and Jim Bognet in Pennsylvania.

If history is any guide, Republican leaders will have a delicate line to walk if they win back House control with a more conservative majority.

GOP leaders embraced the Tea Party movement in the late aughts, which provided the burst of energy leading directly to their House takeover in 2010. But it was those same conservative majority-makers — and eventual Freedom Caucus founders — who fought their own leadership over everything from government spending to the proposed impeachment of President Obama. 

The far-right pressure pushed former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) into retirement, prevented McCarthy from rising to the Speakership in 2015 and was a thorn in the side of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) during his short stint with the gavel. 

Some congressional experts predict the new wave of Trump loyalists will create similar headaches for GOP leaders next year — unless leadership jumps on board. 

“Donald Trump was the first Republican candidate for president who truly understood what the Tea Party was all about. The Paul Ryans of this world thought it was about small government. Wrong! It was a populist uprising,” said Bill Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Trump got it right; everybody else got it wrong. And so he has now elevated that big Trump party, which is socially conservative but economically inclined to big government that serves their interests. 

“These are not libertarians; they’re anti-libertarians in all sorts of ways,” Galston added. “And that’s the Republican Party now.”

The influence of aggressive, Trump-loving House members and the number of headaches they create for GOP leadership next year may depend on how successful Republicans are in House races overall in this year’s midterms. Many of the newcomer GOP candidates in competitive races trying to unseat Democrats are more centrist, and largely do not talk about the former president.

The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC aligned with McCarthy, has also swooped in to support incumbent members who fought off more extreme challengers. 

The CLF deployed a last-minute $50,000 in phone calls to support Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) on Tuesday as he fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from far-right, anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer, who has been banned from multiple social media platforms.

It also helped centrist Republican Rep. David Valadao (Calif.), who voted to impeach Trump, and Rep. Young Kim (Calif.) advance to the general election as they faced more conservative challengers.

Source: TEST FEED1

Student loans received after June 30 not eligible for relief

Student loans received after June 30 are not eligible for relief under President Biden’s new initiative canceling a certain amount of debt per borrower.

White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice confirmed June 30 of this year was the cutoff date during a Wednesday briefing that discussed the new relief initiative.

The Biden administration will cancel $10,000 per borrower for Americans who make less than $125,000 a year, while recipients of the Pell Grant with the same income cap are eligible for $20,000 in relief.

Meanwhile, the student loan payment pause will end December 31, ending a freeze that lasted roughly two years.

The move was long awaited by Democrats and activists who say canceling the debt will help ease the cost of living for the more than 44 million Americans who owe a combined $1.7 trillion in debt.

The Department of Education has information available about the debt relief posted on studentaid.gov.

For now, borrowers are instructed to sign up for email updates on when the applications for the debt relief are officially open.

Source: TEST FEED1

US troops wounded in Syria rocket attacks

Three U.S. troops were injured in two separate rocket attacks on bases housing American service members in Syria, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.   

One service member was treated for a minor injury and was returned to duty, while two others are under evaluation for “minor injuries” following rocket attacks at Conoco and Green Village in northeastern Syria, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. 

U.S. forces quickly responded to the attacks, which began at 7:20 p.m. local time, destroying three vehicles and equipment used to launch some of the rockets with attack helicopters, Centcom said. 

“Initial assessments indicate that two or three suspected Iran-backed militants conducting one of the attacks were killed during the U.S. response,” the statement notes.  

Centcom head Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said forces are “closely monitoring the situation” and “have every confidence in our ability to protect our troops and Coalition partners from attacks.” 

The individual returned to duty had been injured at Conoco, but the statement did not say where the other two service members had been located. The release also did not say whether either location had damage to structures or equipment. 

No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but a day earlier, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on infrastructure in Syria that Washington claimed was used by Iran-backed groups. 

The strikes targeted “infrastructure facilities” in the city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria that were used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Centcom’s top spokesman, Col. Joe Buccino. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Uvalde school board fires police chief who led response to mass shooting

The Uvalde school board on Wednesday fired Pete Arredondo, the school district’s police chief who led the law enforcement response to a May 24 mass shooting at an elementary school that left 19 children and two adults dead.

The Uvalde Independent Consolidated School District unanimously fired Arredondo during a termination hearing, which was held behind closed doors. Local residents gave emotional testimony about the loved ones they lost in the school shooting in the auditorium while they waited for the school board to make the final decision.

Families of the victims have long called for Arredondo’s termination. Many residents showed up on Wednesday with signs, including those reading “If you did not do your job, give up the badge.”

Arredondo did not show up for the termination hearing, citing threats made against his life. In a 17-page statement published by the Texas Tribune, his lawyers wrote their client “will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching” and requested that Arredondo be reinstated with full backpay. 

His attorneys laid the blame for the shooting on what they called a host of other failures, including an accusation that the school district did not heed his call last year to prepare for a school shooting. They said if Arredondo had better equipment or the school had taller fences and doors that properly locked, “it could have been different.”

“Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved, instead of vilified for those they couldn’t reach in time, and not for lack of effort,” the statement reads. “The ‘perfect storm’ of circumstances had to culminate to cause such a tragedy. There was only one person that caused this – the shooter.”

Around 376 officers from multiple agencies, including Border Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Uvalde school district, responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School while a gunman opened fire inside two classrooms. 

Police did not take the shooter down for more than an hour despite gathering inside the hallway outside the classrooms.

Arredondo, who was the commanding officer on site, has defended himself and claimed that he believed the situation had evolved into a barricaded suspect, not an active shooter situation. 

Despite writing the school district’s active shooter response plan that installs him as the incident commander, Arredondo has also claimed he “could not have served as the incident commander” that day because he was on the front lines of the response.

The former police chief was placed on paid administrative leave in June and has been on unpaid leave since July 19. At the hearing, the Uvalde school board decided not to pay him for the time he was on unpaid leave.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and a Texas state House committee launched investigations into the law enforcement response. A July report from the Texas committee found “egregious failures” from both the school board and the police. 

Security camera footage leaked last month also showed police officers crowded into a hallway outside the classrooms for more than an hour.

Arredondo, an Uvalde native, was hired as the school district’s police chief in 2020. He previously worked for the Uvalde Police Department and other departments in Texas, including Laredo and Webb County.

Source: TEST FEED1

Judge blocks Idaho's abortion ban after DOJ lawsuit

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Idaho’s abortion ban from taking effect, ruling that it conflicts with federal law.

US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill wrote the state’s six-week abortion ban violates the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a law that requires providers to offer medically stabilizing treatment in an emergency, even if that care is an abortion. 

The abortion ban, which was scheduled to take effect Thursday, will be put on hold while the lawsuit from the Justice Department is argued. 

Developing

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Amazon shutting down its virtual health care service

Amazon is shutting down its virtual and in-home healthcare service Amazon Care by the end of the year, citing issues with the program’s ability to connect with larger companies and more customers.

Neil Lindsay, Amazon Health Services senior vice president, sent an email to Amazon Care employees on Wednesday announcing the move, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill. Lindsay said the decision to close the service was made after “many months of careful consideration.”

“Although our enrolled members have loved many aspects of Amazon Care,” Lindsay wrote in the memo, “it is not a complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers we have been targeting, and wasn’t going to work long-term.”

Amazon Care, which launched in 2019 as a pilot program for employees in Seattle, Wash., provides telehealth and on-demand services from a diverse team of clinicians. Nurses and providers do not have physical locations or offices to work out of.

Amazon has grown increasingly focused on the healthcare sector, acquiring the company PillPack and rebranding it as Amazon Pharmaceuticals in 2020.

Last month, Amazon acquired One Medical for nearly $4 billion. One Medical operates 188 medical offices in 25 markets.

Amazon Care has also remained a focus until Wednesday’s announcement. In February, Amazon announced the healthcare service was rolling out nationwide virtually and in-person care would extend to 20 cities in the country.

And in an April letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy listed Amazon Care as an “iterative innovation.”

Still, Amazon Care faced competition from Aetna, Cigna, Humana and Kaiser Permanente, which also have virtual services.

The Washington Post reported about internal strife at Amazon Care last week. Some employees have complained about the company prioritizing the business over healthcare services.

Several nurses told the newspaper they grew alarmed over Amazon Care’s inability to actually help patients because they did not have adequate resources or physical locations to operate from.

In Wednesday’s memo, Lindsay said employees should be proud of what they have accomplished, but noted the decision was based on the fact the service was not the “right long-term solution for our enterprise customers.”

“Our work building Amazon Care has deepened our understanding of what’s needed long-term to deliver meaningful health care solutions for enterprise and individual customers,” Lindsay wrote. “I believe the health care space is ripe for reinvention, and our efforts to help improve the health care experience can have an immensely positive impact on our quality of life and health outcomes.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Facebook and Twitter remove accounts pushing 'pro-Western narratives’

Facebook and Twitter took down two overlapping sets of accounts over the past two months for promoting “pro-Western narratives” in the Middle East and Central Asia, according to a report released Wednesday. 

The social media analytics firm Graphika reported that Twitter and Meta, the company that owns Facebook, took down the accounts over a “series of covert campaigns” over a period of five years. 

Twitter said the accounts violated its policies on “platform manipulation and spam,” and Meta said it conducted “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The platforms provided portions of the accounts’ activity to Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory. 

“This activity represents the most extensive case of a covert influence operation advancing pro-Western narratives that has been publicly documented to date,” Jack Stubbs, vice president of intelligence at Graphika, told The Wall Street Journal.

The Hill has reached out to Meta and Twitter for comment.

A joint investigation revealed that an interconnected web of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and five other social media platforms used “deceptive” strategies to back Western narratives in the regions. 

The accounts promoted the interests of the United States and its allies while opposing those of countries such as Russia, China and Iran. They more recently criticized Russia for the deaths of civilians in Ukraine and the actions that Russian soldiers have taken as the war has continued. 

The accounts created fake personas and posed as independent news outlets, using memes and short videos, trying to start hashtag campaigns, and launching petitions to favor a cause. 

Graphika said in its analysis that the study of influence operations has mostly focused on those from “authoritarian regimes” such as Russia and China, but the report indicates that additional actors take part in these types of operations. 

But Graphika said the effectiveness of the campaigns was limited, and most posts received no more than a handful of likes. Less than 20 percent of “covert assets” had more than 1,000 followers.

Source: TEST FEED1

Kobe Bryant widow awarded $16M in trial over crash photos

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal jury found Wednesday that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant’s widow $16 million for emotional distress caused by deputies and firefighters sharing photos of the bodies of the NBA star and his daughter taken at the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed them.

The nine jurors who returned the unanimous verdict agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that the photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna invaded her privacy and brought her emotional distress.

The jury deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before reaching the verdict. Vanessa Bryant cried quietly as it was read.

An attorney for the county declined comment on the verdict outside the courtroom.

The pictures were shared mostly between employees of the LA County sheriff’s and fire departments including by some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. They were also seen by some of their spouses and in one case by a bartender at a bar where a deputy was drinking.

Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter, and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that they might still be out there.

“I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up,” she testified. “I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.”

Her co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter were also among the nine people killed in the crash, was awarded $15 million.

Vanessa Bryant’s attorneys did not give jurors a dollar amount they thought their client deserved, but Chester’s attorney gave them suggested guidelines that would have meant tens of millions for each plaintiff.

Vanessa Bryant’s lawyer Luis Li told jurors that the close-up photos had no official or investigative purpose, and were mere “visual gossip” shared out of a gruesome curiosity.

County attorney J. Mira Hashmall argued during the trial that the photos were a necessary tool for assessing the situation.

She acknowledged that they should not have been shared with everyone who saw them. But she emphasized that the photos had never appeared publicly, and had never even been seen by the plaintiffs. She said that meant that Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other officials had taken decisive and effective action when they ordered those who had the photos to delete them.

Kobe Bryant, the former Lakers star, five-time NBA champion and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was traveling with Gianna and seven others to a youth basketball game when the helicopter they were aboard crashed into hills in Calabasas west of Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020.

Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the crash.

The jury returned its verdict on Kobe Bryant Day, which is celebrated on Aug. 24 because it uses both of his jersey numbers — 8 and 24 — and is the day after his birthday. Tuesday would have been Kobe’s 44th birthday.

Source: TEST FEED1

Hillicon Valley — Twitter whistleblower to testify in Senate

The Twitter whistleblower alleging major security deficiencies at the company will testify before a Senate panel when lawmakers return from recess in September.  

We’ll also take a look at how the whistleblower’s accusations are impacting Elon Musk’s argument in his case against Twitter seeking to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy the company.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

(Another) tech whistleblower heads to DC

Twitter’s former security chief, who alleged the company has major security deficiencies in a bombshell whistleblower disclosure, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, the committee said Wednesday.  

The whistleblower, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, will participate in a hearing aimed at examining the allegations of security failures at Twitter.  

“Mr. Zatko’s allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns.  If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a joint statement. 

“The Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate this issue further with a full Committee hearing this work period, and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations,” the senators added.

Read more here. 

The Musk factor

A bombshell Twitter whistleblower complaint alleging the company has major security deficiencies is adding fuel to Elon Musk’s core argument in his case against Twitter as he tries to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy the platform.  

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko’s complaint, made public Tuesday, complicates the legal challenge for the social media platform. Twitter is suing in an effort to force Musk to complete his acquisition of the company after he walked away from his binding offer over accusations that Twitter breached the agreement by failing to provide him with sufficient data about spam accounts. 

• Zatko has had no contact with Musk, and the drafting of the complaint predates Musk’s involvement with Twitter, according to Whistleblower Aid, the group representing Zatko.  
• Nonetheless, key portions of the redacted 84-page complaint, published by The Washington Post, appear to bolster Musk’s accusations, even referencing tweets from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to Musk about the number of bots on the platform as a “recent example of misrepresentations.” 
• Musk’s legal team is already leaning into using Zatko’s complaint as the Musk-Twitter case heads to an October trial. 

Read more here.  

DON’T COMPLAIN TO MUSK  

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told a customer not to “complain” about the self-driving bug issues with Tesla vehicles.  

A Tesla customer on Tuesday posted a series of videos on Twitter showing how the company’s new beta version of its Full Self-Driving service, 10.69, has difficulty making signaled turns, changing driving lanes and other basic tasks.  

The customer also wrote in a tweet that he had to pay more than $32,000 to receive the latest updates for the vehicle’s system.  

“Unfortunately I have to say I’m still having to intervene to correct #FSDBeta 10.69 in my area. Still lots of work to go,” the customer wrote. “I know this is probably not a popular opinion but the focusing on the ‘Chuck’ complex left is getting ahead of the needs of some more basic control issues.” 

Read more here.

ZUCKERBERG DROPPED FROM FTC VR SUIT 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered an agreement with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday to drop him from an ongoing antitrust lawsuit attempting to block the company’s purchase of a virtual reality company. 

A joint court filing stipulates that Zuckerberg will not purchase the company, Within Unlimited, as an individual or through any entity controlled by Zuckerberg in exchange for being removed as a defendant in the suit. 

The lawsuit, filed by the FTC late last month, accuses Meta of a years-long “campaign to conquer VR” that began as early as March 2014, when then-Facebook acquired headset-maker Oculus VR. 

The suit targets Meta’s attempt to buy Within Unlimited, a virtual reality developer that designed fitness app Supernatural. The app enables users to participate in workout sessions set to music from prominent artists while in a virtual reality environment that mimics destinations across the globe. 

Read more here. 

CISA HIGHLIGHTS THREATS FROM QUANTUM COMPUTING 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released new advice Wednesday on ways critical infrastructure should prepare for potential security risks stemming from quantum computing. 

While quantum computing provides greater speed and power than classical computers, the emerging technology comes with potential risks, including data breaches, that could threaten the security of business transactions, secure communications, digital signatures and customer information. 

“While post-quantum computing is expected to produce significant benefits, we must take action now to manage potential risks, including the ability to break public key encryption that U.S. networks rely on to secure sensitive information,” Mona Harrington, acting assistant director for CISA’s National Risk Management Center, said in a statement. 

“Critical infrastructure and government leaders must be proactive and begin preparing for the transition to post-quantum cryptography now,” Harrington added. 

Read more here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: More than networks, America needs better cybersecurity 

Notable links from around the web: 

Meta Learned Via a Tweet of FTC’s Suit to Block VR Deal (Bloomberg / Alex Barinka, Leah Nylen and Sarah Frier) 

How Ukraine used Russia’s digital playbook against the Kremlin (Politico / Mark Scott) 

Google is launching an experiment to curb anti-Ukraine misinformation in Europe. It just might work. (Protocol / Issie Lapowsky) 

🐕 Lighter click: Where’s our invite? 

One more thing: Walking it back

Capitol Records has announced that it is walking away from an artificial intelligence rapper project after receiving backlash for the AI model’s “gross stereotypes” of the Black community.  

“CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,” the Capitol Music Group said in a statement on Tuesday. “We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it. We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days — your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project.” 

FN Meka, a virtual rapper powered by AI, was first created by Factory New in 2019, according to The New York Times. The virtual rapper has amassed more than 10 million followers on its TikTok profile. 

Read more here.  

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Trump calls for McConnell to be ousted as GOP leader 'immediately'

Former President Trump on Wednesday called on Republicans to boot Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his post as Senate minority leader, accusing the senator of being a “pawn for the Democrats.”

In a statement, Trump cited a Wednesday story from The Federalist about McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao’s alleged ties to China in calling for the senator’s ouster from his longtime leadership post.

“Mitch McConnell is not an Opposition Leader, he is a pawn for the Democrats to get whatever they want,” Trump said in his statement. “He is afraid of them, and will not do what has to be done. A new Republican Leader in the Senate should be picked immediately!”

Trump has feuded with McConnell, who he has dubbed “Old Crow,” since the Senate leader denounced the former president in Congress for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Over the weekend, the former president slammed McConnell for making remarks last week about “candidate quality,” in a reference to Republicans running for Senate, a number of whom were hand-picked by Trump. McConnell has said the race for Senate control in November will be close.

Trump also took a dig at Chao, his former Transportation secretary who resigned from office one day after the Jan. 6 attack, calling her McConnell’s “crazy wife.” In Wednesday’s message, he called her “Coco.”

Last year, Trump also called for Republicans to select a new Senate leader to boost the party’s chances of retaking Congress in 2022.

“I think we’re going to do very well,” Trump said at the time. “We need good leadership. Mitch McConnell has not done a great job — I think they should change Mitch McConnell.”

In Wednesday’s statement, Trump accused McConnell of giving the “Radical Left the Trillions and Trillions of Dollars that they constantly DEMAND” and faulted him for failing to stop passage of the landmark tax, climate and healthcare law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

In fact, Democrats have had to find routes around staunch GOP opposition for their major spending programs, such as passing the Inflation Reduction Act through the budget reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster, and President Biden using executive authority to forgive student debt this week.

Source: TEST FEED1