House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) denied Hunter Biden’s request to testify publicly, saying that he wants the president’s son to sit down for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, the Daily Beast reports.
Meanwhile, The Hill reports Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) ripped his GOP colleagues for rejecting Biden’s request for an open hearing, calling it an “epic humiliation” for Republicans.
“More than 800,000 student loan borrowers are set to receive a message from President Biden Tuesday afternoon,” Axios reports.
“The email is a direct appeal from the president to beneficiaries of his administration’s debt forgiveness push, as his approval rating among Democrats hit a record low last month, jeopardizing his 2024 re-election bid.”
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has called Donald Trump “fucking crazy,” but told Puck he would still vote for Trump over Joe Biden, NH Journal reports.
Said Sununu: “I’m a Republican… I just want Republicans to win; that’s all I care about.”
Philip Elliot: “Americans love a comeback story, and there will always be room on far-right platforms to reward a panderer, no matter how ridiculous the record.”
“Doubt it? A 91-times-charged ex-President who has his own tenuous relationship with reality is the far-ahead leader of the current Republican Party and, just seven weeks from the Iowa caucuses, is seemingly unreachable. If Trump can make a comeback while fighting four separate criminal cases and a raft of other legal troubles in the wings, Santos might believe he could do the same in miniature.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) plans to notice the privileged resolution to expel fellow Rep. George Santos (R-NY) at 2 p.m. this afternoon, Semafor reports.
The procedural move would force a vote on the expulsion measure to come to the House floor within two legislative days, though House leaders could call it up sooner.
“I’m not down on the institution. I’m not down on our ability to make decisions, but we’ve been in a particularly dumb chapter.”
— Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), quoted by the Washington Examiner.
“When both sides of a negotiation are publicly taking shots at each other, that’s usually a sign that a deal is close,” Punchbowl News reports.
“That’s what’s happening today in the Senate, where a bipartisan group negotiating border policy changes is inching closer to an agreement. A deal on border policy would unlock GOP support for a massive $100 billion-plus foreign-aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.”
“As Democrats hammer Republicans for even trying to link further Ukraine funding to a border fix, GOP leaders are pushing back.”
A giant balloon featuring a likeness of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was flying in front of the Capitol today.
Chris Christie knocked Nikki Haley and accused her of not actually running against Donald Trump, who remains the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary, The Messenger reports.
Said Christie: “Come on. Either run against him or don’t run against him. If you’re running for second place, tell everybody you’re running for second place.”
He added: “I’ve been offered cabinet positions in the Trump administration and turned them down. I was offered White House chief of staff and turned it down. I’m not interested in working for Donald Trump.”
Rupert Murdoch is being deposed in the $2.7 billion Smartmatic defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. over allegedly damaging election lies, CNBC reports.
It is the second time this year that Murdoch has been deposed in a high-stakes defamation lawsuit accusing Fox News of airing damaging lies about the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides for a long-term cease-fire that would prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war altogether,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails… And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas’s top leadership… Hamas could also have to accept demilitarization.”
“A pair of Jewish House Democrats is introducing a resolution on Tuesday condemning a Republican bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S.,” Axios reports.
“While lawmakers often condemn or censure each other for controversial rhetoric, it’s rare for legislation to spark a formal rebuke.”
“The two-page resolution, a copy of which was first shared with Axios, is being introduced by Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), both of whom are Jewish and steadfastly pro-Israel.”
“Argentina’s right-wing President-elect Javier Milei will meet with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser on Tuesday in Washington,” the AP reports.
“Biden, who will be traveling on Tuesday to Georgia for a memorial service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter and then to Colorado, will not meet with Milei.”
“Climate envoy John Kerry previewed new U.S. ambitions for producing nuclear fusion energy during a visit to Massachusetts on Monday,” Axios reports.
“The full announcement at the COP28 summit later this month is expected to coincide with a renewed U.S. effort to deploy nuclear energy — a campaign whose targets may be hard to achieve without fusion projects.”
“The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be called before Congress next week to address antisemitism on their campuses,” Bloomberg reports.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) was interviewed on Fox Business by Maria Bartiromo:
BARTIROMO: Have you been able to identify any actual policy changes that Joe Biden made as a result of getting money from China?
McCLAIN: The short answer is no.
“Fulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and at least two high-level co-defendants charged in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, preferring instead to force them to trial,” The Guardian reports.
“The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.”
“Aside from those three, the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis has opened plea talks or has left open the possibility of talks with the remaining co-defendants in the hope that they ultimately decide to become cooperating witnesses against the former president.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.