Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) was asked by Sandra Smith on Fox News whether he’s worried “about the precedent” set by releasing the recording of his call with President Trump over the weekend:
SMITH: Why put into jeopardy our country by leaking a phone call of that nature?
RAFFENSPERGER: I don’t understand how truth would ever jeopardize the country.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) claimed that “Antifa scumbags” threatened his wife and newborn daughter while demonstrating outside the family’s Washington, D.C., residence.
He said protesters “screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door.”
The Hill: “Video of the event shared on Twitter showed a handful of protesters holding what was billed as a ‘candlelight vigil’ outside the residence, while largely remaining on the street. At one point, several protesters are seen carrying a sign to the front door of the residence and ringing the doorbell while an activist speaks over a megaphone. A woman is seen inside looking out the window, but not answering the door.”
“I don’t do rallies for other people. I do them for me.”
— President Trump, quoted by the Associated Press, at a rally supposedly for the two Republican Senate candidates in Georgia.
“Following the abrupt Monday resignation of Byung Jin ‘BJay’ Pak, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, the Trump administration is bypassing his first assistant, a career prosecutor, to name a new acting leader from outside the office,” TPM reports.
“The new acting U.S. attorney in Atlanta will be Bobby Christine, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia… Christine will continue simultaneously in both roles.”
Sen. Ted Cruz and about nine or 10 other senators joined Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) on a 50-minute phone call to discuss their plans to challenge the Electoral College vote, Politico reports.
While the plans are not set in stone, here’s what they discussed:
Most interesting: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was not on the phone call, with a source describing him as a “wild card” in this process.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “With Election Day voting underway in the crucial Senate runoffs in Georgia, we continue to see both races as Toss-ups. But after an early-voting period where Democrats may have performed better than they did in the lead-up to the November election, Republicans may need to follow suit with an impressive day-of-election performance to defend Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) against challengers Jon Ossoff (D) and Raphael Warnock (D), respectively.”
NBC News: “Their calibrated closing arguments centered on a pocketbook pitch to approve $2,000 stimulus payments to Americans, a popular issue backed by Democrats and President Trump but opposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, McConnell allowed an effort approve the checks die in Congress.”
“The next two days look to be the most tumultuous and telling of the wild, never-ending 2020 election,” Axios reports.
“Twin runoffs in Georgia today determine control of the U.S. Senate. And perhaps half or more of the Republicans in Congress will cast an unprecedented number of votes to invalidate President-elect Biden’s clear win, as the House and Senate meet to certify the Electoral College votes.”
“It’s insane and revealing that those joining the protest — more than 100 House members (and perhaps 140+), plus 13 senators — could amount to more than half of Capitol Hill’s Republicans. This shows the political strength could maintain in exile, tormenting Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other establishment Republicans.”
“People who collected unemployment will receive smaller — or nonexistent — tax refunds this coming year because of a tax law quirk that counts unemployment as taxable income,” Axios reports.
“Tens of millions of Americans who arguably need the refund the most will wind up financially short for yet another year.”
Politico: “The dynamic could turn awkward over the next two years as younger members begin maneuvering to seize their shot at the top while trying not to alienate the leader they all want to replace. Pelosi still hasn’t definitively said this is her last term but has signaled as much, and is eager to seal her legacy without losing any leverage.”
“While Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are setting themselves up as the chief spokesmen for challenging certification of the Electoral College vote, aligning themselves with President Donald Trump, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse are staking out the opposite turf. Other Republicans, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Vice President Mike Pence, are playing it safe and saying little,” Politico reports.
“The debate underscores how fealty to Trump — who might run again himself in 2024 — has emerged as the defining battle line in the fight over the Republican Party’s future. While past primaries have revolved around hot-button issues like health care or immigration, the forthcoming contest is being propelled, so far, by a single question: How loyal should one be to Trump?”
For members: Tom Cotton Has Learned Trump’s Loyalty Lesson
“Mitch McConnell explicitly warned Senate Republicans not to challenge Joe Biden’s presidential win. But now that a dozen of his members are going there, the GOP leader is taking his thumb off the scale,” Politico reports.
“Senators and aides say he is not actively whipping his members to side against Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), who are leading the electoral objections in the Senate. Instead, he’s offering guidance when it’s sought, fielding calls from at least half the Senate GOP conference.”
NBC News: “According to the most recent USPS filings in federal court, the agency was processing just 76% of ballots on-time, as of Dec. 21, in their Atlanta metro region, which covers most of the northern – and most populated – half of the Peach State.
“That means some ballots mailed by Georgia voters 3-5 days before this week’s run-off elections – and even some ballots mailed prior to New Year’s — may not make it to elections offices before the state’s Jan. 5 deadline for the votes to count.”
Politico: “Biden’s advisers are privately skeptical about Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock’s chances, Democrats say. And though confidants say that the incoming team’s core priorities for that 100-day agenda will remain the same regardless of the outcome — the pandemic, the recession, climate change and racial inequality — they concede that the scale of their plans could change dramatically come Tuesday evening…”
“Regardless of the outcome, Biden’s top legislative priority will be a stimulus package aimed at distributing funds for states to vaccinate Americans, among other Covid-related priorities. … Items that stand a chance of passage under a Democratic Senate, such as an ambitious government ethics reform package previously crafted by House Democrats, will go nowhere if the Senate is still run by Sen. Mitch McConnell.”
Axios: Nearly $500 million spent on ads for Georgia Senate races.
“And I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great Vice President comes through for us, he’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much…”
— President Trump, at a rally in Georgia, on Mike Pence overseeing the electoral vote tally in the U.S. Senate.
Tom Nichols: “Forget all the whispered denials and the off-the-record expressions of concern in private; ignore the knowing smirks on camera from GOP officials who are desperately trying to indicate that they’re in on the joke. Brush aside the caviling of the anti-anti-Trump writers who would rather talk about that time in 2017 when some Democrats objected to the Electoral College vote (and were gaveled down by Joe Biden himself).”
“This is sedition, plain and simple. No amount of playacting and rationalizing can change the fact that the majority of the Republican Party and its apologists are advocating for the overthrow of an American election and the continued rule of a sociopathic autocrat.”
Associated Press: “At first, he privately accepted that he had been beaten even as he publicly protested, hoping to show his loyal supporters that he was still fighting while eyeing his own future, politically and financially.”
“But as the weeks have gone on, Trump has embraced the narrative that his victory was stolen. His shrinking inner circle is now largely populated by those peddling conspiracy theories. The president lives in a media echo chamber made up of conservative television and social media voices amplifying his claims of fraud.”
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.