Trump plays coy on his congressional subpoena

From: POLITICO Playbook PM - Friday Oct 14,2022 05:02 pm

Oct 14, 2022

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Donald Trump speaks into a microphone at the Minden Tahoe Airport.

Donald Trump blasted the select committee’s investigation and repeated debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud. | José Luis Villegas/AP Photo

BREAKING — “Judge bucks Trump, orders Pence aide to testify to Jan. 6 grand jury,” by WaPo’s Spencer Hsu, Josh Dawsey and Jackie Alemany: “In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge BERYL A. HOWELL ruled that former Pence chief of staff MARC SHORT probably possessed information important to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation.”

WILL HE OR WON’T HE? — After the House Jan. 6 committee’s surprise vote to subpoena DONALD TRUMP at its hearing Thursday, the former president responded with an enraged 14-page letter made public this morning — but he didn’t indicate whether he’ll comply.

Trump blasted the select committee’s investigation, repeated debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud, blamed Democratic leaders for Jan. 6 and included photos of the crowd of his supporters on that day. “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” the first line reads, falsely.

While Trump didn’t directly weigh in on the subpoena, this morning he posted a Fox News story on his Truth Social account with this headline: “Trump ‘loves the idea of testifying’ before Jan. 6 committee: source close to the former president.”

But our colleagues Kelly Hooper and Kyle Cheney have a reality check on that possibility : “[T]he former president appears unlikely to take the legal risk of testifying at a time when multiple criminal inquiries are pursuing evidence of Trump’s and his allies’ efforts to subvert the 2020 election.” Trump’s full letter

What we didn’t see Thursday: The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo has new details on some of the video footage of ROGER STONE the committee opted not to play at the hearing. When he learned on Jan. 20, 2021, that Trump wouldn’t pardon him, Stone was captured exploding by documentarians: “JARED KUSHNER has an IQ of 70. He’s coming to Miami. We will eject him from Miami very quickly; he will be leaving very quickly,” Stone said. “He has 100 security guards. I will have 5,000 security guards.” And this, regarding IVANKA TRUMP: “Fuck you and your abortionist bitch daughter.”

More from the committee: NBC’s Julia Ainsley reports that the panel asked the Secret Service for records of communications between an agent and the Oath Keepers. “The communications stop before a Dec. 12 rally. But unclear if another agent may have talked to them prior to Jan. 6.”

Who wasn’t watching: At the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial today, the 16 jurors were polled on whether they watched Thursday’s hearing, per Kyle Cheney . None of them did.

Another Jan. 6 read: “FBI official was warned after Jan. 6 that some in the bureau were ‘sympathetic’ to the Capitol rioters,” by NBC’s Ryan Reilly and Ken Dilanian: “‘There’s no good way to say it, so I’ll just be direct: from my first-hand and second-hand information from conversations since January 6th there is, at best, a sizable percentage of the employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol,’ and that it was no different than the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, the person wrote in an email to PAUL ABBATE, who is now the No. 2 official at the bureau.” The email

ELITE STRIKE FORCE TEAM — SIDNEY POWELL’s nonprofit Defending the Republic raised $16.4 million in the year after the 2020 election, as she propagated conspiracy theories about voter fraud, WaPo’s Jon Swaine and Emma Brown report . It spent roughly $8 million in that period. The detailed tax filings

Happy Friday afternoon. Reminder: The highly anticipated Georgia Senate debate kicks off from Savannah at 7 p.m. Bookmark this link

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THE BIG PICTURE

THE NEW ELECTORATE — A big new WaPo/Ipsos survey finds Hispanic voters supporting Democrats for Congress over Republicans by a 63% to 36% margin, Scott Clement, Emily Guskin, Amy Wang and Sabrina Rodríguez write . That’s pretty similar to JOE BIDEN’s 2020 margin with Latinos. It’s in line with other recent data points indicating that while the GOP hasn’t built on the gains it made with Hispanics two years ago, Democrats have failed to recoup their losses. In 2018 and 2016, Dems were up by about 40 points with the demographic bloc. The Post poll finds that rising prices are the No. 1 issue (31%), followed by abortion (20%).

The Atlantic’s @RonBrownstein : “With the highest inflation in 40 years Ds would take 63% of Hispanic voters, if they can actually manage that, in a heartbeat.”

BATTLE FOR THE SENATE

SHOW ME THE MONEY — Ohio Democrats are pleading with the national party to invest more resources in Rep. TIM RYAN’s bid stat, warning that D.C. risks losing a winnable seat, AP’s Steve Peoples and Julie Carr Smyth report . Ryan seems resigned to the lack of support, but local Democrats feel abandoned, and they say the party could rue a preventable narrow loss if it doesn’t double down. The Senate Majority PAC hasn’t ruled out further investments. “But there are no easy options for Democratic groups deciding where to dedicate their final round of resources,” AP writes.

THE WAGES OF SCANDAL — The recent reporting that Georgia Republican HERSCHEL WALKER paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion (which Walker denies) seems to have made a small but meaningful impact on the polls: He’s dropped by about 2.5 points on average, NYT’s Nate Cohn writes , which may be enough to swing the election and ultimately control of the Senate.

— The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger has new reporting on Walker’s family history: He got Walker’s child support agreement for his youngest son, which shows that he pays $3,500 a month (about 1% of his income) and has no visitation rights: “[W]e shared the details with five experienced New York family lawyers. Their verdict was unanimous: The mother got a raw deal.”

WAKING UP IN VEGAS — Another story to file under “Democrats in trouble in Nevada”: Vox’s Christian Paz reports from Las Vegas that a loss by Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO would flash warning signs for Democrats nationwide with working-class and Latino voters. Seen as a moderate workhorse, Cortez Masto is pitching the state on her under-the-radar record — and trying to use her Hispanic identity both to connect with voters and to break with her party’s brand. Paz finds abortion and the cost of living top of mind for many Henderson voters — and a general lack of enthusiasm about voting, which could mean turnout disaster for Dems.

KEYS TO THE KEYSTONE — Pennsylvania Democrat JOHN FETTERMAN is going up with a new TV ad tackling questions about his health head on, “in which he ties his thoughts about his family after his stroke to the daily struggles of Pennsylvanians,” per PennLive’s J.D. Prose . The 30-second spot

— Republican MEHMET OZ made a few moves to the center on drugs and crime in an interview with NBC’s Dasha Burns : He backed Biden’s recent marijuana pardon announcement and said he opposes federal mandatory minimums. Burns also pressed Oz on whether the buck stops with him after his campaign mocked Fetterman’s health. “I accepted responsibility and I deal with issues as they come up,” Oz said. “But he has his own set of issues. And I think we need to look, again, eye to eye and say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do going forward.’ We should have had a debate already.”

— Oz is focused on winning moderate crossover voters who won’t support DOUG MASTRIANO, The Hill’s Al Weaver reports from Philadelphia. “I’ll work with whoever I have to,” Oz told him. “I don’t stand for the extremes on these positions so I look right up the middle and see what would actually work to deal with the crises.”

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE

THE RED WAVE — The high number of open Democratic-held seats is one of the party’s biggest vulnerabilities in November, writes The Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman . Dems have three times as many difficult races without an incumbent as do Republicans, baking in a crucial structural benefit for the GOP. He also shifted two ratings, moving New York’s 4th District from likely to leaning Democratic and Tennessee’s 5th from solid to likely Republican.

NEVER TWEET — New Mexico Democrat GABE VASQUEZ has been running to the center in his bid to take down Rep. YVETTE HERRELL, but CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck dig up old tweets that he’s deleted that advocated more liberal positions. Vasquez deleted tweets (fairly standard for progressives) that said the fossil fuel industry was “extremely toxic,” “irresponsible” and “moribund”; that used the hashtag “#AmeriKKKa”; and that promoted the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

BATTLE FOR THE STATES

THE REBRAND ATTEMPT — Former Kansas Secretary of State KRIS KOBACH became a national lightning rod for his outspoken conservative stances on immigration and voter ID. Then he lost two statewide races. Now, as the GOP nominee for AG, Kobach is staying on message with a lower-key approach, AP’s John Hanna reports from Topeka. Both parties see the race as a toss-up.

DOWN BALLOT — Voters look poised to pass a ballot referendum in South Dakota expanding Medicaid this fall. That would make it the seventh red state to do so, a lingering legacy of Obamacare — but don’t expect more to join their ranks anytime soon, Megan Messerly reports . Among the holdouts, only Florida, Mississippi and Wyoming even have the option for such a referendum, and there don’t appear to be near-term plans in the works.

HOT POLLS

— Illinois: Statewide Democrats are in good shape in the latest Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ poll : Gov. J.B. PRITZKER leads DARREN BAILEY 49% to 34% (winning even downstate), and Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH is beating KATHY SALVI 50% to 36%.

HOT ADS
Via Steve Shepard

— Pennsylvania: A down-ballot boogeyman? The DCCC’s latest ad backing Rep. SUSAN WILD in the Lehigh Valley seeks to tie GOP challenger LISA SCHELLER to Mastriano, who is trailing in the polls.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

PRICE POINT — Biden today is signing an executive order directing HHS to make plans that will lower prescription drug prices, per Reuters’ Trevor Hunnicutt . The department will have three months to detail its proposals for “new models of care and payment,” which Biden is linking to his administration’s broader efforts to fight inflation.

MORE POLITICS

STORY OF OUR TIMES — One conspiracy theory gaining purchase on the fringes of the right lately is the idea that schools are stocking litter boxes for students who identify as cats, which has been repeated by everyone from Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.) to JOE ROGAN to Minnesota gubernatorial nominee SCOTT JENSEN. NBC’s Tyler Kingkade, Ben Goggin, Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny dug into the origins of this myth — and uncovered that while it has no basis in truth, there is one sad source for the confusion: The Colorado school district that includes Columbine High does stock classrooms with some cat litter — “as part of ‘go buckets’ that contain emergency supplies in case students are locked in a classroom during a shooting.”

THE ECONOMY

BY THE NUMBERS — U.S. retail sales numbers were unchanged in September following a 0.4% increase in August, an indicator of some cooling in the economy amid high prices and interest rates, per WSJ’s Austen Hufford . Economists had expected retail sales to keep rising. The Commerce Department numbers are not adjusted for inflation, but they reflect consumers cutting back on some discretionary purchases.

INFLATION NATION — High prices have spread so thoroughly through the economy that they’ll be much more difficult for policymakers to dislodge, AP’s Christopher Rugaber reports . Even as some of the early drivers of this wave of inflation, like gas prices, fall, rising prices in arenas like health care and housing are propping up overall numbers. The service sector and consumer spending have shown stubborn persistence, complicating the Fed’s task.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “Xi Jinping’s Endgame: A China Prepared for Conflict With the U.S.,” by WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng: “Mr. Xi has made clear that his overarching goal is to restore China to what he believes is its rightful place as a global player and a peer of the U.S. As a consequence, he has come to see the possibility of a showdown with the West as increasingly likely, according to people familiar with his thinking.”

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE — “It’s unlikely that we will support any additional arms sales to the Saudis,” warned Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a top Biden ally, on CNN this morning. It was the latest evidence that Saudi Arabia’s move to slash oil production with OPEC+ could transform its standing in Washington. “This was a punch in the gut,” Coons said.

Both countries are stewing, misunderstanding each other and causing potentially irreparable damage to their relationship, Bloomberg’s Courtney McBride and Annmarie Hordern report . “The remarkably public contretemps reflects brewing impatience within the White House now that it has little to show for Biden’s outreach to the Saudis … That frustration is shared by the Saudis. One Gulf official said there’s a real sense of grievance that the US didn’t help Saudi Arabia during periods of low oil prices but is asking for its help now.”

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BEYOND THE BELTWAY

ILLUMINATING READ — “Cops say a Trump supporter attacked Biden fans in Miami. Does an impartial jury exist?” by the Miami Herald’s Bianca Padró Ocasio: “[E]fforts to find an impartial jury to decide [EDUARDO] ACOSTA’s fate have provided a window into how politically divided Miami remains … As Acosta’s attorneys and prosecutors vetted potential jurors Tuesday, one man answered questions about why he listened to the podcast hosted by Joe Rogan … A woman was asked to explain why she liked a tweet by Trump’s cousin, MARY TRUMP, calling the former president ‘a traitor’ almost two years ago. Another confessed outright that political conversations gave her anxiety and she wouldn’t be able to sit through the trial.”

WAR IN UKRAINE

THE LATEST TRANCHE — The next package of U.S. security aid to Ukraine, totaling $725 million, likely will “include munitions and vehicles but not significant new capabilities or counter-air defenses,” Reuters’ Mike Stone and Humeyra Pamuk report . It could be announced as soon as today.

PLAYBOOKERS

OUT AND ABOUT — Marcy Carsey co-hosted an event at her home Wednesday night with Donna Langley and Gerry Laybourne to introduce the LA creative community to D.C.-based nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership, the night before President Joe Biden headlined a fundraiser at Carsey’s home. SPOTTED: Jim Burtson, Vanessa Pappas, Alexandra Figueroa, Cheryl Hines, Beth Hubbard, Holly Goline, Shawna Jackson, Emmy Laybourne, Jarl Mohn, Alyse Nelson, Liam Dall and Linda Roth.

— SPOTTED at NJI Media’s 15th anniversary party at the Kreeger Museum: Daniel Eubanks, Paul Lindsay, Mbessin Sonko, Hope Randall, Brian Wohlert, Tom Michael, Priscilla VanderVeer, Jonny and Margaret Hiler, Ed Mullen, Nate Politi, Sarah McDonald, Kelley Gannon, Adam Sotomayor, Nathan Imperiale, Sarah Fritz, Josh Shultz, Lara Kline, Megan and Rob Cumming, Amos Snead, Michael Kaplan, Scott Sadlon, Gary Barton, Scott Wilkerson, Geoff Hill, Garrett Carlough and Megan Van Etten.

MEDIA MOVES — Konstantin Kakaes is now senior editor at Quanta Magazine. He most recently was deputy tech and cybersecurity editor at POLITICO, and is an MIT Technology Review and Economist alum. … Aya Batrawy will be a Middle East correspondent for NPR. She most recently has been global economy and mobility reporter at the AP, per Talking Biz News .

TRANSITIONS — Karen Bailey-Chapman is now SVP for public and government affairs in the Specialty Equipment Market Association’s D.C. office. She most recently was SVP of external affairs for the American Beverage Association . … Hannah Barr is now scheduler for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). She most recently was scheduler for Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.).

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