“House Democrats are already sizing up the 2024 election map, circling Republicans in districts that mostly voted for President Biden as their top early targets,” Axios reports.
“The early primer of the 2024 battleground could influence how certain House Republicans vote and comport themselves, as well as where presidential candidates spend their time and parties focus their resources.”
“Donald Trump reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010, his longtime accountant testified Tuesday, confirming long-held suspicions about the former president’s tax practices,” the AP reports.
“Donald Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Trump’s personal tax returns, said Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through his Trump Organization.”
“House Republicans will soon inherit a legacy of subpoena defiance and delay that many of them cheered on while Democrats pursued sprawling investigations into the Trump administration,” Axios reports.
Donald Trump ripped into former Attorney General Bill Barr on Truth Social after Barr wrote an opinion piece urging Republicans to move on from Trump.
Said Trump: “Sloppy Bill Barr was a weak and ineffective Attorney General who was fired (he didn’t quit!), and now he’s nothing more than a disgruntled former ’employee.’ Barr was a ‘Bushie’ who was petrified of being Impeached, which the Dems were going to do until he changed course on the Rigged Election.”
He added: “He knows nothing about the Document Hoax, & as a lawyer & former A.G., shouldn’t be talking. Weak RINO Bill Barr always caved to the Dems, & is a disgrace to the Republican Party, & our Nation!”
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that GOP lawmakers will consider impeachment next year if he does not step down,” The Hill reports.
Said McCarthy: “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate, every order, every action and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry.”
“Former Vice President Mike Pence is building out his political staff, the latest indication that he’s prepping a White House bid that will pit him against his former boss, ex-President Donald Trump,” Politico reports.
“Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has challenged the election he lost last month to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, arguing votes from some machines should be ‘invalidated’ in a complaint that election authorities met with initial skepticism,” Reuters reports.
“Bolsonaro’s claim seems unlikely to get far, as Lula’s victory has been ratified by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and acknowledged by Brazil’s leading politicians and international allies. Still, it could fuel a small but committed protest movement that has so far refused to accept the result.”
“Florida’s top Republican leaders say they are willing to change state law to smooth the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president in 2024,” Politico reports.
“Both House Speaker Paul Renner (R) and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R), both of whom were sworn into their new posts on Tuesday, agreed it would be a ‘good idea’ to make it clear that DeSantis would not have to resign if he wound up becoming the GOP nominee.”
“White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that he’s ready to face Republicans in Congress next year as they gain control of the US House and have pledged renewed COVID-19 oversight,” Insider reports.
Said Fauci: “I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress if asked. I have testified before the Congress a few hundred times over the last 40 years or so, so I have no trouble testifying. We can defend and explain and stand by everything that we’ve said. I have nothing to hide.”
“The Biden administration on Tuesday extended the pandemic-era student loan payment pause and interest accrual until June 2023 while the administration faces legal challenges to its forgiveness plan,” The Hill reports.
Florida prosecutors have dropped charges against one of the 20 people accused by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of voting illegally in 2020, the Miami Herald reports.
The decision means state officials avoid potentially having a second voter fraud case thrown out by a judge in as many months.
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied former president Donald Trump’s efforts to block the release of his tax records to a congressional committee that has sought the information for years,” the Washington Post reports.
“The court’s order means that the Treasury Department may quickly hand over six years of tax records from Trump and some of his companies to the House Ways and Means Committee.”
“There were no recorded dissents in the court’s order.”
The second woman who claimed Herschel Walker (R) pressured her to have an abortion will hold a press conference and offer new evidence of her relationship with Walker — including audio recordings, the Daily Beast reports.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) released a new ad featuring featuring Herschel Walker’s former teacher and football coach, Curtis Dixon.
Said Dixon: “The biggest difference between the two candidates — we’re talking about the skill sets. I feel Herschel is — he has the minimum requirement, but he does not have the criteria to be a representative to serve the people.”
Columbia Journalism Review: “A high proportion of the 219 candidates Trump endorsed for Senate, House, and gubernatorial races did not even appear to have an account on Truth Social, let alone post actively, with 68 percent appearing not to have opened an account. Others who had registered accounts had not posted in months.”
Adam Serwer: “This latest break with Trump, in other words, may not be permanent. National Review was famously Never Trump in 2016, before becoming Please, Mr. Trump, may I have another after he won the primary. This latest break with Trump is not about morality or principle, but about the possibility that his influence is harming the GOP’s electoral prospects. Trump’s bigotry, his authoritarianism, even his fomenting an insurrection were not deal-breakers. But hurting Republican electoral prospects? That might be.”
“In some sense, that’s logical. Even in a democracy, it is foolish to expect politicians of any party or ideology to act consistently on principle rather than self-interest. If Republican perception of their self-interest leads them to abandon an unstable, corrupt, and cruel leader, well, that’s better than the alternative of not abandoning him at all.”
“But precisely because the rejection of Trump is a matter of political interest and not principle, it’s easy to imagine all of these Republican elites reversing themselves once again if circumstances demand, and returning to their previous role as loyal Trump sycophants, if that perception changes.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Semafor that American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten is more dangerous than Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Said Pompeo: “I get asked, ‘Who’s the most dangerous person in the world? Is it Chairman Kim, is it Xi Jinping?’ The most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten.”
He added: “It’s not a close call. If you ask, ‘Who’s the most likely to take this republic down?’ It would be the teachers’ unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids, and the fact that they don’t know math and reading or writing.”
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.