TAKE with Rick Klein
The first of many congressional hearings on the Capitol siege revealed how much is still unclear about what happened on January 6 – even after an impeachment trial, evidence unearthed in dozens of lawsuits and countless hours of video from the attack itself.
Perhaps the most obvious blind spot is what former President Donald Trump knew and what he did about it in real time.
This is important for President Joe Biden and his future attorney general, members of Congress trying to fix what was obviously broken last month and the Republican Party while looking for a post-Trump future that is still being shaped by the former president.
Tuesday’s hearing raised a number of issues that directly involve the previous government. Current and former law enforcement officials are unsure why the FBI’s intelligence did not reach the leadership of the Capitol Police or why the resources of the National Guard and the Pentagon did not arrive any faster when it became clear how dire the situation was.
The audience also demonstrated how the incomplete January 6 story is already being rewritten. Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Read a passage from an opinion article suggesting that the violent turn was due to “bullies”, saying that only “very few did not share the jovial, friendly and serious behavior of the vast majority” of who attended the rally.
Judge Merrick Garland plans to make the January 6 investigations his first priority after becoming attorney general. And even with additional hearings on Wednesday, Thursday and beyond, the concept of a bipartisan commission to investigate the events leading up to and during the siege is gaining traction on Capitol Hill.
Many of the most important questions remain with Trump – assuming he is put in a position to have to answer them.
RUNDOWN with Alisa Wiersema
Wednesday could be a decisive day in Neera Tanden’s confirmation process, as the main Senate commissions are preparing to vote if they advance their nomination to lead the Office of Administration and Budget. So far, she has faced the most intense scrutiny from any of Biden’s nominees and has already lost the support of a Democrat, but the White House remains with her choice.
“There is a candidate to head the Budget Department, her name is Neera Tanden,” said press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday, although she did not say whether the president intervened on behalf of Tanden in his talks with senators.
Less directly, Biden also showed his confidence. “We are going to push. We still think there is a shot, a good shot,” he said.
But the opportunity to see through Tanden’s appointment has become more difficult in the past few days after Sens. Susan Collins, Mitt Romney and Joe Manchin expressed their opposition. Tanden’s path now largely depends on Sens’s centrist voting trends. Lisa Murkowski and Kyrsten Sinema.
Regardless of how the two senators vote, their actions are likely to add another element to the discussion of political sexism stemming from the criticism that Tanden faced during the process of confirming his previous tweets. Online, the hashtag #YesNeera took off among Democratic supporters who suggested that Tanden is facing a double standard as a black woman. Some are noticing the hypocrisy of Collins and Manchin, who voted in favor of Richard Grenell’s confirmation as Germany’s ambassador, despite his intense party activity on Twitter.
The White House did not enter directly into this discussion. Asked whether the Biden government sees “a double standard at stake”, Psaki told reporters that the president believes that senators on both sides of the corridor will consider his nominees “with the best of intentions”.
The TIP with Quinn Scanlan
David Perdue’s decision to forgo a 2022 return offer came with a promise that echoed the present political will among Georgia’s Republicans, following his recent statewide losses. He said he would do everything he could to help “correct inequalities in our state laws and electoral rules”.
The state of Peach has become ground zero between state legislatures for bills that would change the voting and election processes, with more than a dozen presented at the General Assembly. Republicans are at the forefront of this effort, citing the need to restore confidence in the elections. But Democrats see it differently, accusing the Republican Party of trying to restrict voter access and suppress historically underprivileged communities, such as colored voters, under the guise of electoral security.
Perdue’s promise came a day after his former running mate, Kelly Loeffler, announced his new organization that, among other priorities, will defend the kind of electoral reforms that Republican state lawmakers are currently pursuing.
Many are charging the organization, Greater Georgia, as a counterpoint from the Republican Party to Fair Fight, the voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams after his 2018 election defeat to Governor Brian Kemp. And Fair Fight – vehemently against the proposals that Loeffler’s group would advocate – launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign On Tuesday, he said, “how the unconstitutional attacks by Republicans of Georgia on voting by mail have a negative impact on Republican voters who trust ballots in the mail.”
The 2022 campaigns have barely begun, but with elections for the Senate, Secretary of State and governor on the ballots for the next cycle in Georgia, the focus on the vote – largely coming from potential candidates for these disputes – is unlikely to diminish.
THE PLAYLIST
ABC News “Start Here” Podcast. The Wednesday morning episode features senior ABC News reporter in Washington, Devin Dwyer, who tells us what happened during the first public hearing about Capitol security breaches surrounding the January 6 attack. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tells us what we know so far about Tiger Woods’ serious car accident in Los Angeles. And Jordana Miller of ABC News came from Jerusalem, where health officials are getting a glimpse of what post-vaccine life might look like for the rest of the world. http://apple.co/2HPocUL
ABC News “Powerhouse Politics” podcast. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Joins ABC News political director Rick Klein and Washington chief correspondent Jonathan Karl on the podcast. https://bit.ly/3dqyKZ3
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