The Hill’s Morning Report — GOP goes on offense on Biden documents controversy

Republicans in charge of the House say they will investigate President Biden, his newly revealed possession of classified documents discovered at a Washington office building while also renewing vows to try to impeach a Cabinet secretary (The Hill).

The second week of the new year is awash in combative politics, headline-grabbing assertions and speculation, and repeated Washington references to former President Trump, which collectively energizes the new GOP majority, reports The Hill’s Emily Brooks. Welcome to 2023.

The Hill: GOP urges a “damage assessment” of classified documents found by Biden’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2 in an office he used after returning to private life after serving as vice president.

Republicans say they will demand to learn more about the classified documents Biden’s lawyers say they found in November less than a week before the midterm elections.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner of Virginia, said he also wants a briefing about the documents that most Americans knew nothing about until Monday (NBC News).

And Biden on Tuesday told reporters that while he had been “briefed” about the discovery of materials in his old office space, first reported by CBS News on Monday, he does not know “what’s in the documents” and was “surprised” (The Hill). CNN and The Washington Post reported the Biden-retained records were designated “sensitive compartmented information,” or SCI, and included briefing materials on foreign countries.

“People know I take classified documents, classified information seriously. When my lawyers were clearing out my office at the University of Pennsylvania … they found some documents in a box in a locked cabinet, or at least a closet. And as soon as they did, they realized there were several classified documents in that box and they did what they should have done,” Biden said.

“I’ve turned over the boxes, they’ve turned over the boxes to the Archives. And we’re cooperating fully, cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon. And there’ll be more detail at that time,” he added.

The Hill: The president gets a new political headache.

The classified materials from the Obama administration were turned over to the National Archives, according to the White House, which says it is cooperating with a Justice Department review of what transpired — a review unknown to the public until Monday and described as separate from a Justice Department investigation of presidential records seized from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and his club.

“Our system of classification exists in order to protect our most important national security secrets, and we expect to be briefed on what happened both at Mar-a-Lago and at the Biden office as part of our constitutional oversight obligations,” Warner said in a statement.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Tuesday complained that there is a double standard (ABC News).

“If then-Vice President Biden took classified documents with him and held them for years and criticized former President Trump during that same time that he had those classified documents, and only after it was uncovered, did he turn them back,” he told reporters, explaining why Trump and Republican lawmakers can now ask questions of the president.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage, The Memo: Biden documents deliver political gift for Trump.

Senate developments: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is in the eye of the 2023 political storm in the Senate, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Ahead are looming battles over raising the nation’s debt ceiling, keeping the government funded, clarifying the direction of the Republican Party and navigating politics amid Trump’s House GOP influence.

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) said Tuesday she is ready to compete for the Senate seat held by 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has not announced whether she will seek reelection in 2024, reports The Hill’s Al Weaver. “I think there’s plenty of people who could look in the mirror and say, ‘Why not me?’” said Andrew Acosta, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist. “Democratic Party politics in California is party politics on steroids.” 

The Hill’s Max Greenwood writes that Feinstein is expected to announce her retirement in coming months, opening a Senate seat for what would be a competitive race in a deep blue state. Porter previously made no secret of her ambitions.

The senator, in a barbed statement, reacted. “Everyone is of course welcome to throw their hat in the ring, and I will make an announcement concerning my plans for 2024 at the appropriate time,” she said. “Right now, I’m focused on ensuring California has all the resources it needs to cope with the devastating storms slamming the state and leaving more than a dozen dead” (Vox).

2024: Biden’s proposed rearrangement of the Democrats’ primary calendar next year may not happen because of GOP clout in Georgia and New Hampshire, which could mean the effort flops and the Democratic Party’s standard bearer appears weakened, Axios reported.

Related Articles

▪ The New York Times, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking in Sweden on Tuesday, distanced the central bank from taking sides on climate change, saying the independent Fed’s dual mandate centers on full employment and low inflation — while a warming planet is best left to lawmakers and politicians.  

▪ The Hill: Five members of the far-right Proud Boys group, including leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, are on trial today charged with seditious conspiracy and eight other crimes in the latest case involving alleged participants and planners of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

▪ The Hill: Some lobbyists have access as advisers and fundraisers inside California Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s tight inner circle. 

▪ The Hill: Americans today see the Supreme Court as fundamentally partisan. Democrats believe the justices don’t mirror society, arguing six of nine were raised Catholic; Republicans say justices serve the Constitution and not public opinion.  

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS

The new House’s first big bipartisan win came Tuesday, when lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to create a select committee focused on U.S. competition with China, fulfilling a campaign promise Republicans made in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. The resolution passed in a 365-65 vote, with 146 Democrats joining Republicans in supporting the measure.

The select committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), plans to zero in on the Chinese Communist Party’s economic, technological and security progress and the strategic competition between Beijing and Washington. The group — which will be made up of seven Republicans and five Democrats — has the authority to hold public hearings (The Hill).

“I’ve heard my colleagues on both sides say that the threat posed by Communist China is serious. I fully agree,” McCarthy said during debate on the House floor Tuesday. “This is an issue that transcends political parties. And creating the select committee on China is our best avenue for addressing it.”

CNBC: GOP-led House creates a new committee to tackle threats from China, McCarthy’s first big bipartisan win.

When the Republican House majority passed new rules on Monday, it agreed to cap all new spending at 2022 levels, a rule that critics warn could cut defense spending by 10 percent, writes The Hill’s Brad Dress. The concerns come as Ukraine is expecting a long war with Russia and as Taiwan is under a growing threat from China. The fight over defense budget cuts, just days after the new Congress formed, could be foreshadowing clashes over spending throughout the next two years, as pro-defense lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have hammered Republican leadership for the potential spending cuts.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) denied accusations the GOP will “defund” the military.

“Republicans will not impact defense spending aside from efficiencies and waste,” Emmer said on Monday. “It’s the domestic spending we’re going to go after.”

As the cuts take effect, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan expressed little concern for the foreseeable future in terms of funding for Ukraine, noting the $45 billion for Ukraine that was included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill last year.

“I do not see that money getting taken away from us,” he said at a press gaggle on Monday. “It is there. It is rock solid through nearly all or all of 2023.”

▪ Politico: Unpacking the House GOP’s new rules: A handy guide to the changes.

▪ The Hill: Top Democratic appropriator says the GOP is “guaranteeing a shutdown.”

House Republicans are also retooling and forming several new oversight panels in the new Congress. The existing House panel investigating the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic will now be charged with examining the origins of the pandemic, including federal funding of gain-of-function research, better aligning with the majority party’s focus. The origins of the coronavirus have become intensely politicized, and Biden officials and outside scientists are bracing for a new wave of investigations.

The panel’s focus is a major change from how it operated under the Democratic-controlled House. Former Chairman James Clyburn (D-S.C.) prioritized looking into the early response and shortcomings from the Trump administration, as well as the former president’s political interference (The Hill).

▪ The Hill: Democrats planning to sit on all GOP select committees.

▪ Roll Call: Democrats ask ethics panel to probe Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) financial disclosures.

▪ The Hill: House Democrat planning legislation to allow C-SPAN cameras free range in chamber.

▪ Roll Call: Progressive Caucus starts year with bigger roster, focus on unity.

Also approved was a resolution to create a “weaponization” panel to investigate the federal government, giving the committee access to sensitive intelligence and the power to oversee ongoing criminal investigations. The panel’s creation is a victory for the House’s Freedom Caucus, which pushed for a body that would tackle several GOP gripes, carrying on panel chairman Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) prior claims that the Justice Department, and most particularly the FBI, has “ridiculed conservative Americans” (The Hill and Business Insider).

▪ The New York Times: Republicans pushed through a measure to create a powerful new committee to scrutinize what they have charged is an effort by the government to target and silence conservatives.

▪ The Washington Post: Democrats describe the panel as an unprecedented breach of protocol.

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) on Monday introduced articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. McCarthy had previously threatened a potential “impeachment inquiry” into Mayorkas over the secretary’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border if Mayorkas didn’t resign — making the move in a nod to the GOP conference’s right flank that ultimately undermined his speakership bid (Axios). Fallon has accused Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in his role as Homeland Security chief. The articles have since been referred to the House Judiciary Committee (NBC News).

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico on Tuesday wrapped up a three-way North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City, where they discussed issues including economic cooperation, climate change and the movement of people and drugs across the southern U.S. border.

“We’re true partners, the three of us,” Biden said at a news conference after a roughly two-hour meeting at Mexico’s National Palace. “There can no longer be any question, none, in today’s interconnected world; we cannot wall ourselves off from shared problems.”

The agenda for the meeting was wide-ranging, but White House aides said that the broad challenge of how to secure the border was his top priority at the summit. A record-breaking flow of migrants throughout the region has strained both the U.S. and Mexico, and even before the meeting, administration officials said that the three leaders had agreed to continue working together toward “safe, orderly and humane migration” (The New York Times).

▪ Politico: Classified documents, Brazilian protests overshadow Mexico summit.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Biden, López Obrador, Trudeau reach deals on chips, climate, immigration.

▪ Global News: Biden to visit Canada in March, White House says.

▪ The Washington Post: U.S. and Japan set to announce shake-up of Marine Corps units to deter China.

The Department of Education proposed regulations Tuesday that would reduce the monthly bills for certain federal student loan borrowers. Under the proposal, the Biden administration would overhaul one of the existing income-driven repayment plans, known as Revised Pay As You Earn or REPAYE, which caps borrowers’ bills at a percentage of their discretionary income.

“We cannot return to the same broken system we had before the pandemic, when a million borrowers defaulted on their loans a year and snowballing interest left millions owing more than they initially borrowed,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement (CNBC).

The White House is attempting to use the Republicans’ references to cutting Social Security and Medicare as a political weapon, a strategy that builds off their messaging in the midterm elections,  report The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels. “Saving Social Security” and protecting Medicare from GOP encroachment are popular refrains with voters across party lines. It’s political terrain Democrats know well over decades.

“They are going to try to cut Social Security and Medicare. It could not be clearer,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted Monday in response to a clip of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) saying on Fox Business Network that major spending cuts would require changes to entitlement programs. Klain worked for former President Clinton during an earlier era of Democrats’ prominent confrontations with Republicans over Social Security.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

The Pentagon is planning to bring Ukrainian troops into the United States for training on the Patriot missile defense system, U.S. officials said Tuesday, signaling the White House’s latest test of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threshold for Western intervention in the conflict.

The training will occur at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and could begin as soon as next week. The base is home to the U.S. military’s basic Patriot missile defense training program and another curriculum designed to teach American personnel field artillery maneuvers (The Washington Post).

Reuters: Russian force claims control of Soledar as east Ukraine battle heats up.

At least 17 people were killed in southern Peru on Monday amid ongoing protests over the ouster of the former president, an extraordinary bout of violence that led to criticism of excessive force by the military and the police. Monday’s fatalities bring the total death toll since the protests started in December to 47; following the country’s leftist president, Pedro Castillo’s, attempt to dissolve Congress and rule by decree (The New York Times).

▪ The Washington Post: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s new life as a Florida man: Fast-food runs and selfies.

▪ The New York Times: The Marcos-Duterte ticket won. Can this Philippine alliance last?

▪ The Norman Transcript and AP: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in an interview, cited discussions with the U.S. about joint planning potentially involving U.S. nuclear assets. ”I think it’s right for South Korea and the United States to cooperate because both of us are exposed to the North Korean nuclear threat,” Yoon said.

OPINION

■ Biden’s classified-records headache is Garland’s special-counsel nightmare, byJonathan Turley,opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3X3p6PK

■ Four questions soon to be answered in Georgia’s probe against Trump, by Jennifer Rubin, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3Zrcq73

WHERE AND WHEN

👉 The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will meet at 10 a.m.

The Senate will convene Friday at 1:30 p.m.. for a pro forma session.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 1 p.m.

Vice President Harris at 3 p.m. will host climate and environmental leaders for a discussion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken co-hosts the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee at 2 p.m. with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada at the State Department. Blinken holds a 5 p.m. press availability with Austin, Hayashi and Hamada before his meeting at 6 p.m. with Hayashi.

First lady Jill Biden will head to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for Mohs outpatient surgery as a precaution to remove a skin lesion over her right eye.

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2 p.m.

ELSEWHERE

➤ STATE WATCH

Baltimore’s water issues are symptoms of a growing national problem, and the federal government has “waited too long” to invest in water infrastructure, EPA chief Michael Regan told NBC News in an interview.

“No community should ever experience what Flint [Michigan] experienced,” he said. “No community should ever experience what Jackson, Mississippi, is experiencing right now. We do have to have a proactive strategy to prevent cities from getting to that point.”

Thousands of Californians fled their homes on Tuesday as severe weather continued to batter the state, leaving one dead, a child missing and massive swaths of power outages. Moderate to heavy rains were expected to continue to hammer much of the Golden State on Tuesday as a new low-pressure system barreled toward the coast as part of a “parade of cyclones” that prompted a string of rescues Monday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 182,000 utility customers were without power across California, according to PowerOutage.us. At least 11,800 of those were in Sacramento County alone, according to the outage tracker (NBC News).

San Francisco Chronicle: California storm: death toll rises to 15; high winds and hail for Bay Area cities.

➤  HEALTH & PANDEMIC

💉 When the Biden administration renews the COVID-19 public health emergency this week for the 11th time, it may mark the last time since the coronavirus pandemic began that the government declares its presence a national crisis. Senior Biden officials are targeting an end to the emergency designation for COVID-19 as soon as the spring, Politico reports.

The decision, which has not yet been finalized amid more immediate efforts to manage a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, would trigger a complex restructuring of major elements of the federal response, and set the stage for the eventual shifting of greater responsibility for vaccines and treatments to the private market.

👴 It’s not just stress, underlying medical conditions and poor diet that contribute to hair loss. A group of Chinese scientists have found that men who drink cans of energy drinks, soda, sports drinks — and even sweetened tea and coffee — are at greater risk of suffering from hair loss. Experts from Tsinghua University in Beijing gathered 1,000 men who were required to consume between one and three liters (close to one and three quarts) of the drinks each week, and found those who consumed more than one sweetened drink each day were at a 42 percent greater risk of experiencing hair loss, in comparison to men who did not drink any (The Independent).

Doctors are renewing warnings and urging people to disclose marijuana use to their physicians before surgical procedures. Cannabis use, particularly when it’s regular and heavy, can leave patients in more pain than normal after surgery and getting high just before an operation can put a patient at risk for heart problems, even a heart attack, Samer Narouze, president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, told USA Today.

Information about COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot availability can be found at Vaccines.gov.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,097,660. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 2,731 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🔭 Astrophotographers are a competitive lot and there’s a photo contest just for them with a March 3 deadline. Judges are in search of “the most striking images of our cosmos.”

Space has not been boring in the past year for those with telescopes and cameras. The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s 15th annual Photographer of the Year competition invites young shutter bugs as well as seasoned experts from around the world to submit up to 10 space-related images depicting the cosmos in various categories, such as comets, nebulas, skyscapes and “people and space,” to compete for cash prizes as well as the “wow” factor (Space.com). Submitted images must have been taken after Jan. 1, 2022.

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