Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) announced that he and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) formed three screening conferences that will recommend candidates to fill federal judicial openings as well as vacant U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal positions in their state, Fox News reports.
One problem: Hastings was impeached and removed as district judge for bribery and perjury in 1989. The vote in the Democratic-controlled House to impeached Hastings was 413 to 3.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) filed a lawsuit against former President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-SC) alleging that they and others are “responsible for the injury and destruction” of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Axios: “The lawsuit adds to the mounting legal exposure Trump has found himself facing since leaving office.”
This is extraordinary: Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA) office went through the social media posts of all the House Republicans who objected to the certification of now President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on Jan. 6.
No conclusions were made in the report, probably because the tweets speak for themselves.
Politico: “Some fear that if the conference — which just ushered in a historically diverse freshman class — doesn’t stomp out those political brush fires now, there’s a risk they will spread and engulf the party. Democrats are already trying to make QAnon, the far-reaching conspiracy theory labeled as a domestic terrorism threat by the FBI, the face of the GOP ahead of the midterms.”
Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) failed to publicly disclose dozens of personal stock trades, an apparent violation of the federal STOCK Act, Insider reports.
“Federal investigators are examining records of communications between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol, as the investigation moves closer to exploring whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists,” CNN reports.
“The data gathered so far includes indications of contact with lawmakers in the days around January 6, as well as communications between alleged rioters discussing their associations with members of Congress.”
Richard Barnett, the man who had his feet on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 insurrection, had an outburst in court Thursday, yelling at the judge that it isn’t “fair” he is still in jail, KNWA reports.
Said Barnett: “I’ve been here a long time… another month… It’s not fair. You’re letting everyone else out. I need help.”
Barnett is also accused of carrying a stun gun into the Capitol.
The final House vote on the police reform bill contained a big surprise: Just one Republican, staunch Trump ally and conservative Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), voted in favor of the act, the Washington Post reports.
Explained Gooden, in a since deleted tweet: “I accidentally pressed the wrong voting button and realized it too late. I have changed the official record to reflect my opposition to the partisan George Floyd Policing Act.”
“U.S. Capitol Police have requested a 60-day extension of some of the 5,200 National Guard members activated in the District of Columbia in response to security threats and the Jan. 6 assault on Congress,” the Washington Post reports.
“The House late Wednesday night passed expansive legislation to create uniform national voting standards, overhaul campaign finance laws and outlaw partisan redistricting, advancing a centerpiece of the Democratic voting rights agenda amid fierce Republican attacks that threaten to stop it cold in the Senate,” the Washington Post reports.
“The bill’s voting provisions would guarantee no-excuse mail voting and at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections; require states to use their existing government records to automatically register citizens to vote; restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences; and mandate the use of paper ballots.”
“Other provisions would create new disclosure requirements for ‘dark money’ donations to political groups; require states to appoint independent commissions to draw congressional districts; and create new federal standards for election equipment vendors.”
“The House on Wednesday passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, an expansive police reform measure named for the 46-year-old Black man who died last Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against his neck for more than eight minutes,” the Washington Post reports.
“The bill passed 220-212 along mostly party lines with two Democrats voting against it and one Republican voting for it.”
Associated Press: “The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police says there has been a more than 93% increase in the number of threats received by members of Congress in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year.”
Related in The Hill: Threats to Capitol prompt House to change schedule.
Associated Press: “The U.S. Capitol Police say they have intelligence showing there is a ‘possible plot’ by a militia group to breach the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. The revelation was detailed in a statement from the Capitol Police. It comes at the same time the acting police chief is testifying before a House subcommittee.”
William Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, will testify that it took three hours and 19 minutes for the Pentagon to approve a request for National Guard assistance during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“The Department of Defense inspector general has issued a scathing review of Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) during his time serving as the top White House physician, concluding that he made ‘sexual and denigrating’ comments about a female subordinate, violated the policy for drinking alcohol while on a presidential trip and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted concerns from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper care,” CNN reports.
“Jackson claimed the report was politically motivated in a statement to CNN on Tuesday, saying the inspector general ‘resurrected’ old allegations against him because he refused to ‘turn my back on President Trump,'”
“House Democrats are pursuing an ambitious agenda to approve several progressive bills supported by President Biden in the coming weeks, but these measures face an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate, where most legislation will require support from Republicans to advance,” CBS News reports.
“Several of these measures have previously passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, as then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring them to the floor for consideration. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had referred to McConnell as the ‘grim reaper,’ overseeing the ‘legislative graveyard’ of the Senate. However, even with Democrats now nominally in control of the Senate, many of these bills still face an uncertain future.”
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) “has lost her chief of staff, communications director and legislative director already. And she’s only been in Congress for 57 days,” Punchbowl News reports.
“Van Duyne fired chief of staff Brendan Belair and legislative director Erica Barker. Van Duyne’s spokeswoman Amanda Gonzalez Thompson also quit last week.”
“Turnover isn’t uncommon on Capitol Hill, especially for a new lawmaker, but this level of churn this early in a congressional career is quite notable, and it’s very strange.”
But this is even stranger: “On Feb. 10, Christian Dillard, the former spokesperson for Van Dyune’s campaign and a longtime acquaintance of the congresswoman, shot and killed himself outside Van Duyne’s home. Van Duyne was home at the time of the incident.”
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.
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