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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza and Eli Okun | | | |  Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) will take the lead today in laying out the details of the pressure campaign against VP Mike Pence. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | There are four key people to know about at today’s 1 p.m. hearing of the Jan. 6 committee. Here’s your pre-hearing reading guide: The Jan. 6 committee member in the spotlight … — Rep. PETE AGUILAR (D-Calif.) will take the lead today in laying out the details of the pressure campaign against VP MIKE PENCE. His presentation will highlight how President DONALD TRUMP put Pence’s life in danger on Jan. 6. This is a big moment for the California congressman. Aguilar will be 43 on Sunday, and is often talked about as part of the next generation of Dem leaders in the House. One political question that looms over Aguilar’s work that has not received much attention but is being talked about among committee insiders: How much of a hero does Aguilar turn Pence into, and how does the mythologizing affect Republicans in 2024? There’s been a lot of talk about how Pence world doesn’t want to relitigate Jan. 6. “The way he views it is, he did his duty, he doesn’t need to talk about it more,” former Pence chief of staff MARC SHORT told WaPo’s Josh Dawsey, Isaac Arnsdorf and Jacqueline Alemany. But on the committee, there’s another potential dynamic to watch: Does elevating Pence as the hero of Jan. 6 make it more difficult for Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) to run against Pence in a potential 2024 GOP presidential primary?
The man with a dangerous idea … — JOHN EASTMAN was the intellectual force behind the idea that drove events that day: that Pence had the authority to reject electors and have GOP-dominated state legislatures appoint new slates. Trump manufactured fraud claims and then used Eastman’s discredited view of the Electoral Count Act to turn Jan. 6 into a test of whether Pence would act to prevent the certification of JOE BIDEN’s victory. Trump and Eastman brought Pence, Short and Pence counsel GREG JACOB (for more on Jacob, see below) into the Oval Office on Jan. 4 for a pivotal meeting to try to convince Pence to reject electors or delay the count two days later. The select committee came to view this conduct as criminal , urging a federal judge to invalidate Eastman’s claims of attorney-client privilege over thousands of emails, in part by citing the likelihood of a criminal conspiracy. To understand the details of Eastman’s role, a great place to start is with two opinions by U.S. District Judge DAVID CARTER in that case, who rejected Eastman’s efforts to resist the Jan. 6 committee’s request for his emails.
- Read the second opinion here, in which Carter notes that “Dr. Eastman and President Trump’s plan to disrupt the Joint Session was fully formed and actionable as early as December 7, 2020.”
The witnesses … — MICHAEL LUTTIG is the former federal appeals court judge who advised Pence that, contrary to what Eastman was saying, the VP had no authority to reject electors on Jan. 6. Luttig also has connections to other key people related to today’s hearing. Both Eastman and JOHN WOOD, the committee’s senior investigative counsel, are former Luttig clerks. When President GEORGE W. BUSH was deciding whether to nominate Luttig to the Supreme Court, Liz’s father, VP DICK CHENEY, was his biggest champion inside the White House. (“Dick wanted Luttig because he was the most conservative,” Bush wrote in his memoir.)
- Read Luttig’s prepared statement here, in which he writes, “A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife’s edge.”
— GREG JACOB was Pence’s top lawyer. Internally, he pushed back against Eastman’s legal strategy, and externally, he recruited Luttig to serve as a respected source for Pence to cite when explaining what he would do on Jan. 6. Jacob testified to the select committee in February about Eastman's efforts, which continued even as the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. In an email exchange with Eastman on Jan. 6, a clearly distraught Jacob told Eastman, “thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.” He called Eastman’s fringe legal view “a serpent in the ear of the President,” and told him “it was gravely, gravely irresponsible for you to entice the President with an academic theory that had no legal viability” and “led us to where we are.” Jacob also wrote a set of memos that guided Pence’s thinking from Dec. 7, when Pence first asked for a baseline read of his duties and legal authorities, to Jan. 5, when Jacob concluded that Eastman’s plan was illegal. Read the Eastman-Jacob emails here Good Thursday afternoon. Stocks are plunging today; the Dow is down about 750 points, per the WSJ.
| | | | A message from Amazon: In America, only 23% of workers have access to paid parental leave and that number is even lower for hourly workers—which means many new parents miss out on bonding with their families. Amazon offers up to 20 weeks of fully paid leave for hourly employees like Kiddrick and his wife, Julie. "It was a relief to know we didn't have to worry about work during a very stressful time,” Julie said. | | | MORE JAN. 6 NEWS — Incoming: The committee will soon seek testimony from VIRGINIA THOMAS, the activist and wife of Justice CLARENCE THOMAS, in the wake of revelations that she emailed Eastman as she tried to overturn the 2020 election, Chair BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) told reporters today. That’s a change from the panel’s previous stance on Thomas, before the latest emails came to light. More from WaPo — What will Pence’s Jan. 6 legacy be? Yahoo’s Tom LoBianco asked more than 100 historians, journalists and politicos and found that “the answer seems to fall somewhere between ‘savior of the republic’ and ‘traitor to the cause,’ though the most common assessment so far has been a reserved yet declarative, ‘He did the right thing.’” — The latest polling: The committee’s investigation into Jan. 6 has pretty wide support in a new Navigator poll from Global Strategy Group, with Americans supporting the probe by a 64%-28% margin. THE WHITE HOUSE ABORTION FALLOUT — The White House is weighing some extraordinary executive actions if and when the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, including declaring a national public health emergency, reports NYT’s Charlie Savage. The administration is bracing for potential mass unrest in the wake of the ruling — as well as the possibility that it will arrive while Biden is in Europe. Involved in the discussions and strategy: DANA REMUS, JENNIFER KLEIN, SUSAN RICE and ANITA DUNN. The ideas under consideration range from small and likely (having the FTC tell menstrual tracking apps to warn users about data privacy) to big and risky (having abortion doctors perform the procedure at military bases in red states). WHAT KAMALA HARRIS IS UP TO — The VP today is kicking off a new White House task force that seeks to tackle abuse and harassment on the internet. The interagency initiative will cover everything from the disproportionate impact of harassment on women and queer people to the link between online abuse and real-life violence (as in recent mass shootings). Recommendations are due in half a year. More from CNN DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — A potential call this summer is in the works between Biden and Chinese President XI JINPING, Bloomberg’s Peter Martin and Jennifer Jacobs scooped.
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | CONGRESS GUN NEGOTIATIONS LATEST — The two main hurdles that have emerged as Senate negotiators try to put together a gun reform package are money for state “red-flag” laws and closing the so-called boyfriend loophole. Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) said this morning that they’ve made good progress on the former, but language on the latter remains elusive — and it could be axed, report WSJ’s Natalie Andrews and Lindsay Wise. Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) remained optimistic that it would stay in the bill, though. Negotiators will meet again at 1:30 p.m. ANNALS OF INFLUENCE — An unusual constellation of members of Congress — Reps. JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine), KATIE PORTER (D-Calif.) and PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) — are introducing a bill today that would permanently bar former members and top administration officials from lobbying for foreign countries, WaPo’s Isaac Stanley-Becker scooped. The legislation also aims to reduce the impacting of foreign influence on U.S. policymaking more broadly. The provisions include forcing think tanks and other tax-exempt groups “to disclose high-dollar donations and gifts from foreign powers and [requiring] political campaigns to verify that donors have a valid U.S. address.” WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE — House Dems don’t sound happy with the briefing they got from White House economic staffers today, per Sarah Ferris: “No new strategy/message, WH team was delayed getting there, and very little time for Qs.” ALL POLITICS ANOTHER GEORGIA BOMBSHELL — Two secret sons in two days? That’s where HERSCHEL WALKER’s GOP Georgia Senate campaign stands after Walker confirmed to The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger that he fathered a boy who’s now 13, in addition to the 10-year-old whose existence Sollenberger revealed the day before. It’s not clear how active Walker’s been in the 13-year-old’s life; he’s made fatherlessness in the Black community a frequent target of his public criticism. “I have four children. Three sons and a daughter. They’re not ‘undisclosed’ — they’re my kids,” Walker said in a statement, noting that he’d listed them all on a public form in 2018. LOOK WHO’S BACK — MATT DOLAN couldn’t pull out a win over J.D. VANCE in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, but that’s not stopping him from pressing forward in his “quest to push the GOP — in Ohio and elsewhere — past its obsession with Trump,” Natalie Allison reports this morning. “In an interview, Dolan told POLITICO that his plan includes launching a federal leadership PAC and likely making another bid for statewide office.” 2022 WATCH — Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-Nev.) has a tough fight on her hands to stay in office this fall, NYT’s Jazmine Ulloa reports in a table-setter for the Nevada Senate general election from Las Vegas. You’ve read before about many of the currents blowing against Cortez Masto, but Ulloa notes one other: The vaunted HARRY REID machine isn’t as powerful as it once was in the state. Still, Dems are projecting confidence about her standing among Spanish-speaking voters, and they see Reid’s 2010 victory over SHARRON ANGLE as a model for Cortez Masto against another hard-right challenger, ADAM LAXALT. POLL OF THE DAY — Despite (or because of?) his recent FBI arrest on Jan. 6-related charges, RYAN KELLEY is leading the Michigan GOP gubernatorial field in a new Detroit Free Press poll. But several others are in the mix too. HISTORY LESSON — In WaPo, James Robenalt reveals that former Attorney General JOHN MITCHELL was the official who approved the Watergate break-in, according to an H.R. HALDEMAN audio diary.
| | | | A message from Amazon:   Amazon’s paid leave policy gives parents peace of mind. “My parental leave was paid, so we didn’t have to worry about anything,” said Kiddrick. | | | WAR IN UKRAINE BEHIND THE SCENES — Biden warned Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN and Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN in April to dial down their anti-Russia rhetoric for fear of risking escalation, NBC’s Carol Lee, Courtney Kube, Ken Dilanian and Abigail Williams reveal. That was the moment at which Austin was generating headlines for saying the U.S. wanted Ukraine to win and to weaken Russia so it couldn’t mount such an attack again. Where things stand: The whispers among the administration now are that Ukraine may eventually have to cede some territory to end the war, per NBC. ALEXANDER VINDMAN: “This is consistent with what I’m seeing & hearing. There are 2 camps on the war. There’s the Russian exceptionalism camp & there’s the need a new strategy camp.” THE ECONOMY THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — New jobless claims last week dipped slightly to 229,000, a softer fall than was expected and possibly an indicator of “some cooling in the labor market,” per Reuters.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS OUT AND ABOUT — First partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom hosted a screening of her new documentary, “Fair Play,” at Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market on Wednesday night. SPOTTED: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Eve Rodsky and Nicole Collier. — SPOTTED on Wednesday night at a screening of the documentary “Alan Pakula: Going For Truth” hosted by Sally Quinn, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein at the U.S. Navy Memorial Burke Theater: Mathew Miele, Ann Hornaday, Bob Boorstin, Debby Maisel, Donald Graham, Amanda Bennett, Steve Graham, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Barnett and Rita Braver, Robert Costa and Tammy Haddad. — SPOTTED at a dinner celebrating the commemorative stamp issued in honor of the late WaPo publisher Katharine Graham at the Library of Congress on Tuesday night, hosted by Lally Graham Weymouth, Donald Graham and Stephen Graham: Justice Stephen Breyer, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), British Ambassador Karen Pierce and Sir Charles Roxburgh, Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog and Shirin Herzog, Alan Greenspan, Elaine Chao, Sally Buzbee, Fred Ryan and Margaret Carlson. — Substack’s Hamish McKenzie and Lulu Cheng Meservey hosted an event celebrating the platform’s independent writers at the Little Pearl on Tuesday night. SPOTTED: Bill Bishop, Charlotte Clymer, James and Deb Fallows, Derek Thompson, Jonathan Moroz, Greg Lukianoff, Hannah Yoest, Judd Legum, Justin Peligri, J.P. Friere, Mary Katharine Ham, Matt Rosenberg and Nico Perrino. — Squire Patton Boggs welcomed nearly 400 people to a cocktail reception at District Winery on Wednesday night, co-headlined by Rodney Slater and John Boehner. SPOTTED: Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Billy Long (R-Mo.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Julia Letlow (R-La.), Garret Graves (R-La.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Randy Weber (R-Texas), Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), David Rouzer (R-N.C.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), August Pfluger (R-Texas), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Mike Carey (R-Ohio) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Rodney Emery, Peter Robertson, Caren Street and Tommy Andrews. MEDIA MOVE — Alfred Ng will be a technology reporter at POLITICO. He most recently was an enterprise reporter covering privacy at The Markup. TRANSITIONS — Patrick Halley will be the next president and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association. He currently is SVP of policy and advocacy and general counsel at USTelecom – The Broadband Association. … Erin Hatch Thomas will be director of policy comms at Boeing. She most recently was comms director for House Ways and Means, and is a Joaquin Castro and Cory Booker alum. … … GOP policy strategist Ian Foley has joined Invariant. He most recently was legislative director for then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), and is a Ken Calvert alum. … Janay Cody is now senior adviser for data equity at Catalist. She is principal behavioral data scientist for J. & J. David LLC and previously worked for the Analyst Institute. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Katie Grant Drew, a principal at Monument Advocacy and a Steny Hoyer alum, and Justin Drew, a professional classical musician who teaches at the University of Maryland, recently welcomed Benjamin Jordan Drew. Pic by Sanders Media … Another pic
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