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Texas Primary: O’Rourke, Abbott Win Nominations for Governor

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott easily bested a group of conservative challengers to lock up his party’s nomination Tuesday and will face Democrat Beto O’Rourke in the November general election. 

O’Rourke, who nearly ousted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, will get the chance to try for an even bigger upset in November. He’ll be an underdog against Abbott, who began the campaign with more than $50 million and hardline positions on abortion guns and immigration. 

Some of those casting ballots, however, said they were worried that new restrictions on abortion, the toughest in America, go too far. 

“That’s where I think Greg Abbott and the current Republicans kind of crossed the line,” said Eric Medrano, 25, a longshoreman in Houston who voted for one of Abbott’s far-right challengers, Don Huffines. He added, “I don’t believe (abortion) should be banned at such an early, early stage.”  

In the GOP attorney general primary, incumbent Ken Paxton is facing several challengers, including Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the nephew of one president and grandson of another, and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert. Paxton led a failed lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election and has for years faced securities fraud charges and an FBI investigation into corruption allegations. He has broadly denied wrongdoing. 

Democrats face challenges of their own. Nine-term U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is hoping to avoid becoming the first Democratic member of Congress to lose a primary this year. He’s facing progressive Jessica Cisneros and is contending with the fallout of a recent FBI raid on his home, though he’s denied wrongdoing. 

Still, in America’s largest Republican state, much of the focus is on the GOP’s rightward lurch.  

Texas’ rapid growth — driven by more than 4 million new residents — has shifted once solidly red suburbs away from Republicans. But the GOP has countered that with redrawn maps that left fewer competitive congressional districts along with dramatic new voting restrictions. 

Thousands of mail-in ballot applications — and actual ballots — were rejected under the new requirements. Most of those were because voters did not include newly mandated identification, worrying local elections officials that many won’t correct problems to have their vote count. 

Absent poll workers and technical hiccups also caused isolated delays in two major cities on Tuesday. 

In Houston, morning voters were left standing in line or looking for polling places after a Harris County website that directs people to nearby voting sites went down temporarily. 

Also, a handful of Democratic poll workers in Fort Worth did not show up as scheduled, delaying the opening of some party polling places in Tarrant County. New state law requires each party to have a separate setup at voting sites. 

The primary is also a first test of the Republicans’ more aggressive courting of Hispanic voters — and even before polls closed, they were celebrating. 

Counties along the state’s border with Mexico, long a stronghold for Democrats, were on track to smash Republican turnout levels compared with recent elections. It is the latest warning sign for Democrats who are trying to hold the line with Hispanic voters who swung toward former President Donald Trump in 2020. 

After Texas, primaries in other states won’t resume until May. That means results here could be viewed for months as a measure of the nation’s political mood.  

Republicans are betting that Texas’ primaries will be the first step toward them retaking Congress in November, pointing to President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, spiking inflation and anger about the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. 

History is also on the GOP’s side. The party controlling the White House has lost congressional seats in the first midterm race every election cycle this century except in 2002, after the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

 
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Many Capitol Riot Cases Could Hinge on 1st Trial’s Outcome

The Justice Department launched one of the largest and most complex criminal investigations in its history after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol over a year ago. Now it’s time for a jury to hear some of the government’s evidence about the unparalleled attack on American democracy.

The first trial for one of the hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions begins this week, with jury selection starting Monday in the case against Guy Wesley Reffitt. The Texas man is charged with bringing a gun onto Capitol grounds, interfering with police officers guarding the building, and threatening his teenage children if they reported him to authorities. Jurors could hear attorneys’ opening statements as soon as Tuesday.

Reffitt’s trial may be a bellwether for many other Capitol riot cases. A conviction would give prosecutors more leverage in plea talks with rioters facing the most serious charges. An acquittal may lead others to wait for their own day in court.

Reffitt “truly is the canary in the coal mine,” said Gregg Sofer, a former federal prosecutor who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas from October 2020 to February 2021.

“It’ll really be interesting to see how strong a case the government has and whether or not they’re relying on evidence that, when pushed and tested, stands up. It’s going to have a huge impact going forward,” added Sofer, now a partner at the law firm Husch Blackwell.

Reffitt is a member of a militia-style group called the “Texas Three Percenters,” according to prosecutors. The Three Percenters militia movement refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought in the Revolutionary War against the British.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Reffitt was armed with a handgun in a holster on his waist, carrying zip-tie handcuffs and wearing body armor and a helmet equipped with a video camera when he and others charged at police officers on the west side of the Capitol, according to prosecutors.

“This action caused the police line guarding the building to retreat closer to the building itself; soon after this, law enforcement was overwhelmed, and rioters flooded the building,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Reffitt retreated only after an officer pepper sprayed him in the face, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors believe Reffitt took at least two firearms with him to Washington: an AR-15 rifle and a Smith & Wesson pistol. When FBI agents searched Reffitt’s home in Wylie, Texas, they found a handgun in a holster on a nightstand in the defendant’s bedroom. Prosecutors say photos and video of Reffitt during the riot show a handgun holster on his right hip, with what appears to be a silver object inside the holster.

On the morning of Jan. 6, Reffitt said he planned to “do the recon and then come back for weapons hot” and sent messages about meeting at a “rendezvous point,” according to prosecutors.

“These messages, along with the weapons that Reffitt carried and the gear he wore, make clear that the defendant did not come to D.C. with the intention to engage in peaceful activity,” prosecutors wrote.

The siege resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer. The Justice Department says more than 235 rioters have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, injuring over 100 officers. Rioters caused over $1 million in damage to the Capitol.

The Justice Department says its investigation has generated an unprecedented volume of evidence, with hundreds of thousands of documents and thousands of hours of videos to share with defense attorneys. Shared files total more than nine terabytes of information and would take over 100 days to view, the department says.

More than 750 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot. Over 200 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors carrying a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment. More than 100 riot defendants have been sentenced. And at least 90 others have trial dates this year.

Philadelphia-based defense attorney Justin Danilewitz, who was a federal prosecutor in New Jersey from 2012 to 2017, said a conviction in Reffitt’s case may lead to a flurry of guilty pleas by other riot defendants.

“And that can benefit defendants on occasion because it’s better than the alternative if the alternative is a conviction following a trial,” Danilewitz added.

An acquittal could inspire other defendants to “dig in their heels” and either push for a better plea offer from prosecutors or gamble a trial of their own, he said.

Defense attorney William Welch has said there is no evidence that Reffitt damaged property, used force or physically harmed anybody. In a May 2021 court filing, Welch said none of the videos or photos shows a gun in Reffitt’s possession at the Capitol.

“In fact, neither of the police officers interviewed by the government said anything about a firearm,” he wrote.

Reffitt has been jailed since his arrest in Texas less than a week after the riot. He faces five counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, being unlawfully present on Capitol grounds while armed with a firearm, transporting firearms during a civil disorder, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and obstruction of justice.

The obstructing justice charge stems from threats that he allegedly made against his son, then 18, and daughter, then 16, after returning home from Washington. Reffett told his children to “choose a side or die” and said they would be traitors if they reported him to law enforcement, prosecutors said.

“He predicted future political violence in statements both to his family and to fellow militia members, bragged to fellow militia members about his involvement in the riot, recruited other rioters into the militia, and ordered bear spray and riot shields to his home to prepare for further violence,” prosecutors wrote.

Messages recovered from Reffitt’s cellphone indicate he planned to join an armed insurrection on Jan. 6 and intended to occupy the Capitol, prosecutors said.

“We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial,” he wrote, according to prosecutors.

Presiding over Reffitt’s trial is U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2017. Friedrich already has sentenced nine rioters who pleaded guilty.

Friedrich individually questioned more than 30 prospective jurors on Monday, asking them how closely they have followed news coverage of the Capitol riot. Some said they had formed strong, negative opinions about the events of Jan. 6 but could strive to be fair and impartial.

The judge disqualified several members of the jury pool who said they would have difficulty setting aside their opinions or emotions about the riot. One of them, a man who lives near the Capitol, said the riot felt like “an attack on my home in some sense.”

“It was a very scary time,” he told the judge.

Jury selection is scheduled to resume Tuesday. The judge said she hopes to empanel a jury to hear opening statements later in the day.

Prosecutors expect to call about a dozen witnesses, including three Capitol police officers who interacted with Reffitt and an officer who was in charge of the U.S. Capitol Police command center.

Jurors will see videos that captured Reffitt’s confrontation with police. Prosecutors also have audio recordings of Reffitt talking about the riot inside his home after returning home.

“We made a point. That was a historic day,” Refffitt said during one of the recorded conversations, according to prosecutors. “And guess what? I’m not done yet. I got a lot more to do. That’s the beginning.”

Reffitt’s son, daughter and a fellow Texas Three Percenter group member also are listed as government witnesses. The group members traveled with Reffitt to Washington and back to Texas between Jan. 4 and Jan. 8, 2021.

“During the drive (to Washington), Reffitt talked about ‘dragging those people out of the Capitol by their ankles’ and installing a new government,” prosecutors wrote.

A court filing that refers to the other militia member by the initials “R.H.” says the man will tell jurors he was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.

Welch has said Reffiitt worked as a rig manager and as a consultant in the petroleum industry before COVID-19 restrictions effectively shut down his business. 
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Capitol Ditches Mask Requirement Ahead of State of the Union

Face coverings are now optional for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday, as Congress is lifting its mask requirement on the House floor after federal regulators eased guidelines last week in a rethinking of the nation’s strategy to adapt to living with a more manageable COVID-19.

Congress’ Office of the Attending Physician announced the policy change Sunday, lifting a requirement that has been in place for much of the past two years and had become a partisan flashpoint on Capitol Hill. The change ahead of the speech will avoid a potential disruptive display of national tensions and frustration as Biden tries to nudge the country to move beyond the pandemic.

The nation’s capital is now in an area considered low risk under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new metrics, which place less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening in community hospitals. The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Healthy people in those risk areas can stop wearing masks indoors, the agency said.

Mask-wearing will still be a personal choice in Congress and special precautions will be in place for Biden’s speech, which unlike last year’s joint address will be open to all members of Congress. All attendees will be required to take a COVID-19 test before entering the chamber ahead of Biden’s address.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced initial guidelines earlier this month from the Office of the Sergeant at Arms that included a threat that violation of guidelines for social distancing and mask wearing during the event would “result in the attendee’s removal.”

The new policy eases the fears of some Biden allies who had been gearing up for potentially disruptive protests from Republicans to the policies. Some GOP lawmakers have racked up thousands of dollars in fines for violating mask-wearing mandates on the House floor.

The relaxed guidance comes as Biden aims to use his remarks to highlight the progress against COVID-19 made over the last year, including vaccinations and therapeutics, and guide the country into a “new phase” of the virus response that is not driven by emergency measures and looks more like life pre-pandemic.

Seating for Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress, last April, was capped at about 200 — about 20% of usual capacity for a presidential presentation — and White House aides fretted that a repeat would be a dissonant image from the message the president aimed to deliver to the American people.

“I think you’re going to see it look much more like a normal state of the union than the president’s joint address,” White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Saturday. “It’s going to look like the most normal thing people have seen in Washington in a long time.”

The Capitol move comes just a day before Washington’s mask mandate expires on Monday, and as a host of states and local governments have begun implementing the new CDC guidelines and lifting mask-mandates indoors and in schools.

Caseloads across the country have dropped precipitously since their early January peak, with the omicron variant proving to be less likely than earlier strains to cause death or serious illness, especially in vaccinated and boosted individuals.
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