Rep. George Santos (R-NY) doubled down on claims that his mother died due to 9/11 and dismissed immigration records showing that she was in Brazil when the attack occurred, Insider reports.
Republican Appetite for Earmarks Grows
New York Times: “Even as Republicans, newly empowered after taking control of the House, call for deep government spending cuts and accuse Democrats of profligacy with taxpayer dollars, a growing number of them have joined Democrats in helping themselves to larger amounts of cash for their states and districts in the form of earmarks — now rebranded as ‘community project funding’ — that allow lawmakers to direct federal money to pet projects.”
“A review by The New York Times of the nearly $16 billion in earmarks included in the $1.7 trillion spending law enacted in December — more than 7,200 projects in all — revealed that earmarks requested by members of both parties skyrocketed over the last year. And while Democrats secured a greater amount of spending on pet projects overall than Republicans did, the increase in G.O.P. earmarks since last spring was larger.”
Trump Let Three Chinese Balloons Fly Over U.S.
Associated Press: “U.S. officials said Saturday that similar Chinese balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the Trump administration and once that they know about earlier in the Biden administration.”
Nonetheless, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted last night that she just spoke with Trump and he said “would have shot it down before it entered the U.S.”
Biden Will Lay Out Contrasts in State of the Union
“President Joe Biden is planning to use his second State of the Union address to paint the broad strokes of a likely campaign ahead, contrasting his notion of steady leadership with the newly elected, likely chaotic Republican House,” Politico reports.
“Privately, aides are hoping the GOP lawmakers in attendance will help him achieve the contrast.”
Weekend Listening
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Russia and Iran Team Up to Build Drones
“Moscow and Tehran are moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia that could make at least 6,000 Iranian-designed drones for the war in Ukraine, the latest sign of deepening cooperation between the two nations,“ the Wall Street Journal reports.
“As part of their emerging military alliance, the officials said, a high-level Iranian delegation flew to Russia in early January to visit the planned site for the factory and hammer out details to get the project up-and-running. The two countries are aiming to build a faster drone that could pose new challenges for Ukrainian air defenses.”
China Aids Russia’s War in Ukraine
“China is providing technology that Moscow’s military needs to prosecute the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine despite an international cordon of sanctions and export controls,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Quote of the Day
“Taking it down over the Atlantic is sort of like tackling the quarterback after the game is over.”
— House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner (R-OH), on Meet the Press, talking about the U.S. shooting down the Chinese spy balloon.
Sununu Mulls Presidential Bid
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told ABC News that he is considering a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Said Sununu: “I’m definitely thinking about it.”
Koch Network to Move Against Trump
“The donor network created by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch is preparing to get involved in the presidential primaries in 2024, with the aim of turning ‘the page on the past’ in a thinly veiled rebuke of former President Donald Trump,“ the New York Times reports.
“The network, which consists of an array of political and advocacy groups backed by hundreds of ultrawealthy conservatives, has been among the most influential forces in American politics over the past 15 years, spending nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates and conservative policies in the 2020 election cycle alone. But it has never before supported candidates in presidential primaries.”
Washington Post: “The return of one of the biggest spenders in American politics to the presidential primary field poses a direct challenge to the former president’s comeback bid.”
Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Trump has been critical of the Kochs, branding them globalists and a ‘total joke,’ within a GOP he infused with more populist and isolationist policies.”
Settlement Invalidates 2016 Trump Campaign NDAs
“Former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign will pay $450,000 as part of a settlement of a long court fight over its use of nondisclosure agreements,“ the New York Times reports.
“The proposed settlement with Jessica Denson, a former campaign aide whom the campaign tried to silence as she claimed she was the target of abusive treatment and sexual discrimination by another campaign member, effectively invalidates the nondisclosure agreements that hundreds of officials from Mr. Trump’s first presidential run signed.”
How the U.S. Shot Down the Chinese Balloon
David Ignatius: “The public spectacle of a spy balloon floating over America has been an embarrassment for the Biden administration, to be sure. But the administration can claim that it waited for the most opportune moment to destroy the balloon and capture its secret payload — and that the strange affair was a net intelligence plus for the United States…”
“The secrets part of the story should be clearer if the Pentagon recovers the intelligence-collection pod that the balloon was carrying, as officials expected on Saturday would be possible. The pod apparently fell into the Atlantic largely intact, the official said, and it should provide a useful opportunity to examine and reverse-engineer Chinese intelligence and communications systems.”
“Thus, from an intelligence standpoint, Pentagon officials believe that the strange week-long balloon voyage was ultimately of more benefit to the United States than to China. By waiting until the balloon was over U.S. territorial waters, the Biden administration was able to maximize the likelihood that the pod could be recovered while minimizing the risk that Americans would be injured by falling debris.”
Biden’s Speech Will Make His Case for Re-Election
NBC News: “The 2024 presidential race looms large over Biden’s State of the Union address, even though he has yet to announce whether he’s running for re-election. With a captive audience that traditionally assembles once a year, he isn’t about to pass up the chance to explain why voters should give him a second term.”
“Biden will use the speech to reach a wider audience that may have only a passing interest in politics and policy, and assure its members that he’s enacted plans that will make their daily commutes shorter and their prescription drug bills lower, a person close to the White House said.”
The Hill: Five things Biden is likely to say and not say in the State of the Union.
Americans Don’t Want a Biden-Trump Rematch
“President Biden and former president Donald Trump may have each drawn a record number of votes in 2020, but at this early stage in the 2024 election cycle, Americans show little enthusiasm for a rematch between the two well-known yet unpopular leaders,” according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
“Neither Biden nor Trump generate broad excitement within their own party, and most Americans overall say they would feel dissatisfied or angry if either wins the general election.”
Also important: “Financially, more Americans say they are not as well off since Biden became president than those who say they are better off (41 percent to 16 percent). Another 42 percent say their financial situation is about the same under Biden as it was before he was sworn in.”
Republicans Aim to Decimate Abortion Access
Washington Post: “The showdown in North Carolina reflects similar efforts underway in several conservative states that have become destinations for post-Roe abortion care. In Florida and Nebraska — where laws still allow the vast majority of abortions to continue — conservatives are also pushing for six-week bans, which, together with the same kind of ban in North Carolina, could dramatically reshape the national abortion landscape once again.”
George Santos Accused of Sexual Harassment
“A prospective congressional aide has accused Representative George Santos of ethics violations and sexual harassment, according to a letter the man sent to the House Committee on Ethics and posted to Twitter on Friday,” the New York Times reports.
“The man, Derek Myers, briefly worked in Mr. Santos’s office before his job offer was rescinded earlier this week, according to the letter.”
“Mr. Myers said in the letter that he was alone with Mr. Santos in his office on Jan. 25 when the congressman asked him whether he had a profile on Grindr, a popular gay dating app. Then, he said, Mr. Santos invited him to karaoke and touched his groin, assuring him that his husband was out of town.”
U.S. Shoots Down Chinese Balloon
“The United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday that had spent the last week traversing the country, American officials said, an explosive end to a drama that put a diplomatic crisis between the world’s two great powers onto television screens in real time,” the New York Times reports.
“The balloon, which spent five days traveling in a diagonal southeast route from Idaho to the Carolinas, had moved off the coast by midday Saturday and was over the Atlantic Ocean.”
President Biden had hinted at the move earlier on Saturday: “We’re going to take care of it.”
Republicans Suddenly Embrace Mainstream Media
Washington Post: “On any given day now, the new GOP majority posts a half-dozen or more members on CNN and MSNBC — two networks that increasingly became no-go zones for conservative lawmakers in the Trumpian era of ‘fake news’ attacks. Republicans have appeared on streaming network news shows online and done interviews on those nightly news shows for cable.”
