“I didn’t fear for my life, but yeah, there was a moment where I’m in my office, I’m armed, and I kind of think maybe I’m going to have to use my gun.”
— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), in an interview on The Circus, recounting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Politico: “Torn between demands of the GOP’s pro-Trump base and traditionalists mortified by Trump’s post-election behavior, senators like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton will be forced to strike a balance. That means calibrating their defense of Trump for a primary electorate whose level of devotion to the former president three years from now remains unknown.”
“Their effort will be complicated by one obsessive viewer, in particular: Trump… There’s broad consensus among Republican strategists about one thing: the trial is politically disadvantageous for the Senate’s 2024 contenders, distracting from hearings in which senators can object without reservation to President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees — something with near-universal GOP appeal.”
President Joe Biden will eventually invite Donald Trump to the White House for a presidential portrait unveiling, Politico reports.
Trump refused to extend this traditional courtesy to Barack Obama, but Biden will restart it.
Said press secretary Jen Psaki: “I have not been given any indication that we would break with tradition in that regard.”
Aaron Blake calculates that Republicans came within 90,000 votes — 43,000 votes for president, 32,000 votes for the House and 14,000 votes for the Senate — from controlling all of Washington.
In case you missed it, the video timeline of the January 6 insurrection as presented by the House impeachment managers at former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is devastating.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) after the video: “You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our Constitution? That’s a high crime and misdemeanor. If that is not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing.”
Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) avoided censure by Republican leaders in his west Michigan district after they deadlocked 11-11 Monday night, causing the censure resolution to fail, the Detroit News reports.
“For years, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden wrestled over the Democratic Party’s future in a public tug of war that spanned three elections, two administrations and one primary contest,” the New York Times reports.
“But when Mr. Sanders walked into his first Oval Office meeting with the new president last week and saw the large portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt opposite the Resolute Desk, the liberal luminary felt as if he were no longer battling Mr. Biden for the soul of the party.”
“After a 15-month primary contest that highlighted deep divides within the party, Mr. Biden and his fractious Democratic coalition are largely holding together. United by a moment of national crisis and the lingering influence of his predecessor, the new president is enjoying an early honeymoon from the political vise of a progressive wing that spent months preparing to squeeze the new administration.”
“The White House confirmed Tuesday that President Joe Biden intends to keep the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, where it was relocated during the Trump administration,” Roll Call reports.
“Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, apologized Tuesday for her Twitter feuds with Republicans and pledged her role as an ‘impassioned advocate’ would change if confirmed as White House budget chief,” USA Today reports.
The U.S. Senate has convened to hear the impeachment case presented by House Democrats that former President Donald Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to disrupt the counting of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.
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“Prosecutors in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will present new evidence, and will show that he spent weeks laying the groundwork for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and that he also ‘incited it further’ once the violence began,” CNBC reports.
Said one House aide: “The evidence of Trump’s guilt in this case is overwhelming.”
Washington Post: Trump’s lawyers say he was immediately “horrified” by the Capitol attack. Here’s what his allies and aides said really happened that day.
“The Phoenix man who took part in the Jan. 6 raid on the U.S. Capitol wearing a fur hat with horns, apologized on Monday for entering the building and expressed disappointment in former President Donald Trump, at whose behest he had traveled to D.C,” the Arizona Republic reports.
Said Jake Angeli: “I was wrong. Period.”
He added: “I am deeply disappointed in former President Trump. He was not honorable. He let a lot of peaceful people down.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) argues in the Washington Post why his fellow Republicans must hold Trump accountable for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Writes Kinzinger: “If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past few years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again.”
“Then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed more than 100 times that Democrats had “rigged” or “stolen” the 2020 election ahead of January’s deadly insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol,” a HuffPost analysis found.
“The Justice Department has abandoned an arguably unprecedented lawsuit seeking to confiscate the proceeds of a book written by an aide to former First Lady Melania Trump,” Politico reports.
“The House Democrats prosecuting Donald Trump’s impeachment will mount arguments akin to a ‘violent crime’ case, constructing a ‘succinct’ narrative of the Jan. 6 insurrection that begins weeks earlier as the former president mounted a campaign to delegitimize his 2020 election defeat,” Politico reports.
“The aides, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe mechanics of the Senate’s trial, emphasized that they intend to present a visually gripping version of events that draws on the personal experiences that will resonate with many of the lawmakers who fled the violent insurrectionists.”
Earlier for members: What to Watch For In Trump’s Impeachment Trial
“One of the nation’s biggest real-estate investors, which is run by a longtime friend of Donald Trump, is exploring ways to end a lucrative partnership with the former president’s real-estate company,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The partnership includes two of the Trump Organization’s most valuable assets. Losing them would shrink the Trump Organization’s business, just as it has struggled with the decline in travel and leisure spending due to the coronavirus pandemic. A sale could benefit Mr. Trump’s businesses, which have more than $400 million in debt due in the next few years.”
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.