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Reports: FBI Searches Home of Prominent Texas Democratic Congressman Cuellar

FBI agents on Wednesday searched the home in Texas of prominent Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, media reported, with the bureau confirming it had conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” in the area. 

Cuellar said in a statement he “will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.” 

His office did not answer questions about the reason for the search. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was present in the “vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.”

Texas news site myrgv.com reported that more than a dozen agents visited Cuellar’s home in Laredo, near the Mexican border, and were seen taking “cases and other items” from his home. 

Reporter Valerie Gonzalez posted a photo on Twitter of two men in FBI T-shirts approaching a salmon-colored house on a tree-lined street. Gonzalez said agents had also visited Cuellar’s campaign office Wednesday afternoon. 

Cuellar, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives, represents a Texas district that hugs the banks of the Rio Grande River, just opposite Mexico. He is facing a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney. 
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Senate Panel Moves Forward With Bill Targeting Big Tech

Legislation that would bar technology companies from favoring their own products in a way that undermines competitiveness moved forward Thursday after a Senate panel voted to move the bill to the Senate floor. 

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act received bipartisan support in a 16-6 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

The bill targets Amazon; Alphabet, the parent company of Google; Apple; and Meta, which was formerly called Facebook. 

The companies had worked strenuously to sink the bill, arguing it could disrupt their services. 

Smaller tech companies that supported the bill argued it will benefit consumers through adding competition. 

“This bill is not meant to break up Big Tech or destroy the products and services they offer,” said Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the judiciary panel. “The goal of the bill is to prevent conduct that stifles competition.” 

Matt Schruers, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, was critical of the bill and said he thought it would not pass the full Senate. 

“Antitrust policy should aim to promote consumer welfare — not punish specific companies,” he said in a statement. 

Another bill aimed at Big Tech, which has bipartisan sponsorship, is also working its way through Congress. The Open App Markets Act would prevent the Apple and Google app stores from requiring app makers to use their payment systems. 

The House of Representatives is also considering versions of both bills. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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US Capitol Riot Probe Seeks Ivanka Trump’s Cooperation

The congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday asked former President Donald Trump’s daughter to voluntarily cooperate with its probe. 

In a letter to Ivanka Trump, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the panel wants her to tell them what she knows about her father’s efforts to thwart congressional certification that he lost the November 2020 election. They also want to know what he was doing as his supporters rampaged through the Capitol while lawmakers were in the initial stages of certifying Democrat Joe Biden as the new president.

It was not immediately known whether the former first daughter would cooperate with the investigation.

Thompson said the committee wants to meet with Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser to her father, because she was in direct contact with him at key moments on January 6, 2021, two weeks before Biden was inaugurated and Donald Trump left Washington. 

Thompson said the committee wants to know about the former president’s efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to block congressional certification of election results in key states where Biden outpolled Trump.

“One of the president’s discussions with the vice president occurred by phone on the morning of January 6th,” Thompson wrote in the letter to Ivanka Trump. “You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.” 

The committee also said it wanted to learn about Ivanka Trump’s efforts to get her father to call off rioters after they had stormed into the Capitol. At an earlier rally near the White House that day, then-President Trump urged supporters to go the Capitol and “fight like hell” to stop Biden from being declared the winner of the 2020 election. 

“Testimony obtained by the committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill,” Thompson wrote. 

Then-President Trump remained publicly silent for more than three hours about the rampage of hundreds of his supporters at the Capitol but late in the afternoon he released a short video urging them to leave. 

As he does to this day, Donald Trump mentioned in the video the false conspiracy theory that he won the election, saying, “I know your pain; I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.” 

After the Capitol was cleared of protesters, Congress certified Biden’s election victory in the early hours of January 7. More than 700 rioters have been charged with an array of criminal offenses, some as minor as trespassing and others with felonies, such as attacking police and vandalizing the Capitol. 

At a political rally last Saturday, Donald Trump called the arrests “an appalling persecution of political prisoners.” 

The investigative committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses and issued subpoenas to dozens more. This week, they included Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team who filed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election supporting the former president’s false claim that he had been cheated out of a second term.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the former president’s bid to keep the National Archives from sending hundreds of his White House documents related to the election and day of the riot to the investigative panel.
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Republican Filibuster Blocks US Voting Bill

Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights groups argued is vital for protecting democracy was blocked Wednesday by a Republican filibuster, a setback for President Joe Biden and his party after a raw, emotional debate.

Democrats were poised to immediately pivot to voting on a Senate rules change as a way to overcome the filibuster and approve the bill with a simple majority. But the rules change was also headed toward defeat, as Biden has been unable to persuade two holdout senators in his own party, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to change the Senate procedures for this one bill.

“This is not just another routine day in the Senate, this is a moral moment,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The initial vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance over the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no for procedural reasons so Democrats can revisit the legislation.

The nighttime voting capped a day of piercing debate that carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation.

Voting rights advocates are warning that Republican-led states nationwide are passing laws to make it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.

Vice President Kamala Harris presided, able to cast a potentially tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 Senate.

Democrats decided to press ahead despite the potential for defeat at a tumultuous time for Biden and his party. Biden is marking his first year in office with his priorities stalling in the face of solid Republican opposition and the Democrats’ inability to unite around their own goals. But the Democrats wanted to force senators on the record — even their own party’s holdouts — to show voters where they stand.

“I haven’t given up,” Biden said earlier at a White House news conference.

Sinema and Manchin have withstood an onslaught of criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations, and they risk further political fallout as other groups and even their own colleagues threaten to withdraw campaign support.

Schumer contended the fight is not over and he ridiculed Republican claims that the new election laws in the states will not end up hurting voter access and turnout, comparing it to Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election.

The Democrats’ bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots — which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic — and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. It has passed the House.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation but are unwilling to change Senate rules. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority — Harris can break a tie — but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster.

Instead, Schumer put forward a more specific rules change for a “talking filibuster” on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But even that is expected to fail because Manchin and Sinema have said they are unwilling to change the rules on a party-line vote by Democrats alone. 
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Biden Draws Lines With Russian Leader Over Ukraine Moves

President Joe Biden ends his first year in office as tensions with Russia hit a fever pitch. He warned his Russian counterpart to choose a diplomatic resolution and to not invade neighboring Ukraine — a message his secretary of state also is pushing in Kyiv this week. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks
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Biden Confirms Harris Would Be Running Mate in 2024 

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election if he stood for office again.

“She’s going to be my running mate,” Biden said of Harris during a press conference held to mark the first year of his presidency.

In mid-December, Harris said she and Biden had not yet discussed the 2024 election, amid speculation she might not be in the running for the White House if Biden chose not to stand again.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, when asked about the possibility of Biden, 79, running again, Harris said: “I don’t think about it, nor have we talked about it.”

Harris, the first woman and first Black and Asian American person ever sworn in as vice president, initially seemed to be the heir apparent.

But her halo has slipped amid negative press alleging dysfunction among her staff, doubt on her standing within the administration and her frustrations over thorny assignments, such as minority voting access and the migration crisis at the southern border.

Biden defended Harris’ record on tackling voting rights, saying, “I did put her in charge. I think she’s doing a good job.” 

Biden is pressing Congress to pass two major bills broadening access to the ballot box, placing more onerous conditions on states attempting to change voting laws and protecting election officials from undue influence.

Democrats and voting rights activists have championed the measures as a necessary response to Republican efforts to restrict voting, especially among Black and Latino Americans.
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Biden: Federal Reserve Should ‘Recalibrate’ Policy as Prices Rise 

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said it was appropriate for the Federal Reserve to recalibrate the support it provides to the U.S. economy, in light of fast-rising prices and the strength of recovery. 

“Given the strength of our economy and recent price increases, it’s appropriate, as … Fed Chairman [Jerome] Powell has indicated, to recalibrate the support that is now necessary,” Biden told a news conference. 

“The critical job of making sure that the elevated prices don’t become entrenched rests with the Federal Reserve, which has a dual mandate: full employment and stable prices,” the president said. 

At the same time, he said, the White House and Congress could help contain inflation by moving to fix supply chain failures, encourage competition, and pass his Build Back Better spending bill that he says would cut child care and other costs for families. 

Fed policymakers have signaled they will raise interest rates several times this year, likely starting in March, to try to rein in inflation that’s rising at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years. A reduction in the Fed’s $8 trillion balance sheet could soon follow. 

At his renomination hearing earlier this month, Powell told lawmakers that he would not allow inflation to become entrenched and said a tighter policy stance was necessary to keep the economy growing. 

Biden also called on the U.S. Senate to confirm his recent nominations for key roles on the Federal Reserve Board “without any further delay.” 

Biden earlier this month nominated former Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin for the Fed’s top regulatory post and two Black economists, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson, to round out the Fed’s seven-member board. 

Late last year Biden renominated Powell to lead the Fed for another four years and nominated Fed Governor Lael Brainard to serve as Fed vice chair. The picks would remake the Fed Board to be the most diverse in the central bank’s 108-year history.
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Bills Target Insider Trading by Members of US Congress

An effort to bar members of Congress from buying and selling stock in public companies is gaining momentum in Washington after a series of revelations that dozens of lawmakers violated financial disclosure requirements, often in ways that suggested they were profiting from advance knowledge of issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, Georgia Senator John Ossoff and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, both Democrats, introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, a proposal that would require members of Congress and their immediate families to place any stock they own into a blind trust, making it impossible for them to trade on knowledge gained through their work on Capitol Hill. 

The Senate proposal largely mirrors a House bill that has been working its way through the legislative process for a year. Sponsored by Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Texas Republican Chip Roy — two members who agree on little else in politics — it is called the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act. 

Both Democrats and Republicans appear to agree on the need for reform. In addition to the bipartisan team of Spanberger and Roy in the House, conservative Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation similar in intent to the Ossoff-Kelly bill. 

Questionable trades 

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, news reports have surfaced about members of Congress buying or selling shares of public companies before information, of which they had advance knowledge, was released to the public. 

One of the most striking examples is that of Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, who served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in early 2020, just as the seriousness of the pandemic was becoming clear. Burr, who had access to sensitive intelligence briefings, sold stocks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in mid-February 2020, before the seriousness of the pandemic was widely understood in the United States. 

Burr has claimed that he was acting on publicly available information, but his trades remain under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which seeks to root out manipulation of financial markets. He stepped down as Intelligence Committee chairman in May 2020. 

Burr was far from the only lawmaker whose trades attracted attention in the early days of the pandemic. A number of senators from both parties, including California Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, also were criticized for stock sales as the coronavirus was first taking hold in the United States, although the Justice Department closed brief investigations into both cases and chose to take no legal action. 

Such sales by lawmakers were well timed. From mid-February through mid-March of 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a key indicator of U.S. market performance, plummeted by roughly one-third. Millions of Americans’ net worth eroded severely, although the stock market has since recovered, and the Dow currently sits well above its pre-pandemic high. 

Failure to disclose 

Dozens of other lawmakers came under scrutiny early this year after a report by the publication Insider revealed that in 2021, 54 members of the House and Senate had failed to live up to reporting requirements set out in the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which became law in 2012 after a similar series of revelations about members of Congress trading on privileged information. 

The Insider account found that members of both parties had violated the law, some to a greater degree than others, by failing to report stock transactions or by reporting them far later than they were supposed to. 

In a statement this week, Spanberger said that she had been moved to act, in part, because Americans seemed to treat the news that members of Congress might be enriching themselves by trading on nonpublic information with resignation rather than outrage. 

“In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the public react to accusations of insider trading by lawmakers — not with shock, but with a shrug,” Spanberger said. “The perception of insider trading itself, let alone the practice of it, by members of Congress is damaging to our democracy.”

Appearance of impropriety 

Good governance organizations argue that even the appearance of impropriety in lawmakers’ personal investments is corrosive to the already low level of trust that many Americans say they have in Congress.

“Most members of Congress go into government service for the right reasons and don’t look to line their pockets,” said Donald Sherman, vice president and chief legal counsel for Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Current practices on Capitol Hill, however, raise obvious concerns, he told VOA. “It is totally reasonable for any constituent to question whether their member is making choices based on their stock portfolio as opposed to their constituents’ interests when they see that members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, for example, are invested in energy companies. You don’t have to be a cynic to raise questions about that.” 

Pandemic clarified differences 

Some groups calling for reform argue that the universal impact of the pandemic may have helped underscore the impropriety of members of Congress trading on insider knowledge for everyday Americans who might not normally pay much attention to such things.

“The pandemic has clarified the way that this problem can really manifest itself in an especially glaring and corrupt-looking kind of way,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager for the Project on Government Oversight.

“This is a huge event that is causing pain and disruption in everyone’s lives,” he told VOA. “And it looked like there were some members of Congress who had advance knowledge of how bad it was going to be, and tried to use that knowledge to make sure that they didn’t feel as much pain as the rest of us.” 

Progress unclear 

Whether the bills before Congress will become law is far from clear at this point. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, appeared to be dismissive of the effort in remarks last month. She said that rules were already in place to restrict conflicts of interest among lawmakers, and that she believes lawmakers ought to be allowed to “participate” in the United States’ free-market economy. 

Last week, a spokesperson for Pelosi told The Washington Post that the speaker had requested that the Committee on House Administration, which oversees House members’ compliance with the stock trading rules, consider whether stricter enforcement and higher penalties are needed. 

Also last week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said that if Republicans take over the House following the 2022 elections, he will consider banning members from owning stocks. As minority leader, McCarthy is seen as the most likely person to become House Speaker in the event of a Republican takeover. 
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US Senators to Discuss Russia-Ukraine Tensions

A group of Republican U.S. senators is due to speak to reporters Wednesday in Washington about U.S. concerns of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The group includes Republicans from the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. 

Three of those members — Senators Kevin Cramer, Roger Wicker and Rob Portman — were part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that met with Ukrainian officials this week to reinforce U.S. support for Ukraine and its defensive needs. 

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who was also on the trip, told reporters Monday after the lawmakers met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the United States was ready to both impose economic sanctions on Russia and to provide additional arms to Ukraine. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans have each introduced legislation to carry out such support for Ukraine. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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Harris Still Struggling to Define Herself 1 Year Into Vice President’s Job

President Joe Biden put the full weight of his presidency behind voting rights action last week, heading to Capitol Hill to push Democrats to change Senate rules to pass legislation. 

Vice President Kamala Harris — whom Biden tapped to take the lead on passing voting rights legislation in June — wasn’t there. 

Both White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Harris aides had no clear answer when asked why the vice president hadn’t joined Biden in the meeting. 

It was yet another example of the difficulty Harris has faced throughout her first year in office, as she’s struggled to define herself and her role.  

Harris has grappled with an expansive portfolio of difficult assignments, fielded questions about her relationship with the president, and faced what allies say is unprecedented scrutiny for a vice president — without, some worry, adequate support from the White House. 

And she’s navigated all that within the constraints of a global pandemic and a duty to act as the tiebreaking vote in an evenly divided Senate, both of which have restricted her ability to travel beyond Washington. 

“It’s tough for any vice president to shine — even in the best of times. And these aren’t the best of times,” said Roy Neel, who served as chief of staff for former Vice President Al Gore. “You not only serve at the pleasure of the president, for any public activities, but there’s a limit to how much you can do to take the lead role on the major issue of the day, whatever that is, and to go out and look like you’re killing it.” 

Supporters frustrated 

Indeed, Harris’ aides say privately that the vice president is careful not to get ahead of the president, never wanting to take credit for the administration’s successes. She will also often say that while she offers her frank opinions to the president privately, her public role is to ensure he is successful. 

But that’s left some Harris supporters, who warmed to her as an outspoken progressive voice in the Senate on issues ranging from police reform to voting rights, frustrated at what they see as her absence on key issues. During a recent interview with media personality Charlamagne Tha God, when Harris dropped her typically pleasant demeanor and sharply defended Biden, Charlamagne took note. 

“That Kamala Harris? That’s the one I like,” he said. “That’s the one I’d like to see out here more often in these streets.” 

Many of the issues on Harris’ plate have no clear solution or immediate payoff. She’s been tasked with pushing broadband access, leading the Space Council, driving for passage of the voting rights bill and addressing the root causes of migration to the U.S. southern border. Republicans in particular have targeted Harris for her work on immigration, charging she hasn’t done enough as a significant increase in migrants at the border has bedeviled the administration.  

She has also drawn criticism from the left for her work on immigration. “Do not come” to the U.S., she told migrants during her trip to Guatemala and Mexico last year. In response, progressive Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted that Harris’ comments were “disappointing to see.” 

Domingo Garcia, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he wanted to see more from the former progressive senator during that trip, calling it “a day late and a dollar short.” 

“She went to Central America; she took no meetings with community groups or civic groups involved in the issue. And so it’s almost like they don’t have a sounding board, and they’re groping around in the dark for a solution,” he said. 

Harris, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has dismissed questions about the difficulty of her portfolio, insisting she relishes taking on difficult assignments. But privately, some of her allies have complained that not only does the vice president have some of the administration’s most thankless tasks, but that she also has not been given enough support or resources from the White House to deliver on them. 

And the grind of the office has clearly taken its toll. Harris has drawn negative headlines in recent weeks for an exodus of top aides, including her former communications director and former chief spokesperson, with anonymous aides complaining of a difficult work environment and an overly tough boss. 

Factors limit activities  

Still, some of Harris’ biggest constraints are out of her control: the pandemic, and the demands on her time as a tiebreaking vote in the Senate. Harris has not been able to do as many in-person public events as she and her aides would like because of the pandemic, and she has done only a fraction of the international travel typical of a vice president, which has reduced her diplomatic engagements to virtual meetings or phone calls. 

She is also tethered to Washington because of the unpredictability of the Senate schedule. Harris has cast 15 tiebreaking votes so far, the most of any modern vice president, and must stay in Washington most weeks in case a nomination comes up for a vote. 

“It really isn’t a source of power or influence, because really, all she’s doing is voting the administration line,” said vice presidential historian Joel Goldstein. “It’s really a constraint, because it restricts her ability to do other things.” 

Early in the year, it seemed like Harris was a bigger target for Republicans than Biden. Now that’s less so. A Gallup poll in December showed that 44% of Americans said they approve of how Harris is handing her job as vice president, and 54% disapprove. That was similar to Biden’s rating in the survey. 

Harris’ aides say that she has played an active role in some of the president’s toughest policy choices, including his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. 

They also argue that some of her diplomatic work hasn’t gotten the credit it deserves, pointing to early investments she secured from companies in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of her work there, as well as a gaffe-free trip to France aimed at smoothing over relations with the nation earlier this year. 

They tout the ways in which her perspective as the first woman and first Black and Indian American person in the role has helped elevate issues they say wouldn’t typically draw the attention of the White House, such as maternal mortality. And they say she also was helpful in keeping key Congressional Black Caucus members on board during the infrastructure negotiations. 

But allies say her historic position has also brought her outsized scrutiny and at times distorted the coverage of her accomplishments. 

“There has been an unprecedented level of interest in her and excitement about her as a historic first. She’s the first vice president to have such a large press corps,” said Democratic strategist Karen Finney, a Harris ally. 

Finney, who is Black, said there is a level of “sexism and racism” to coverage of Harris, pointing in particular to stories focused on times Harris has laughed when asked questions in interviews. 

“The coverage focuses on style over substance,” she said. 
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Rudy Giuliani Among Trump Allies Subpoenaed By Jan. 6 Panel

The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas Tuesday to Rudy Giuliani and other members of Donald Trump’s post-election legal team who filed multiple lawsuits claiming election fraud that were roundly rejected by the courts but gave rise to the lie that Trump did not really lose the 2020 presidential contest. 

The committee is continuing to widen its scope into Trump’s orbit, this time demanding information and testimony from Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn. All four publicly defended the president and his baseless voter fraud claims in the months after the election.  

“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, said in a statement.  

The committee said it is seeking records and deposition testimony from Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership after 9/11, in connection to his promotion of election fraud claims on behalf of Trump. The panel is also seeking information about Giuliani’s reported efforts to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results. 

A lawyer for Giuliani did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. 

Giuliani took on a leading role in disputing the election results on Trump’s behalf after the 2020 presidential election, even visiting states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where he claimed ballots “looked suspicious” and Biden’s electoral win was a fraud.  

To this day, not a single court has found merit in the core legal claims made by Trump, Giuliani and the other three subpoenaed Tuesday.  

The nine-member panel is also demanding information from Trump legal adviser Ellis, who the lawmakers say reportedly prepared and circulated two memos that analyzed the constitutional authority for then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject or delay counting the electoral votes from states that had submitted alternate slates of electors.  

Besides Giuliani, Sidney Powell was the most public face of Trump’s attempts to contest the election, routinely making appearances on behalf of the president.  

In numerous interviews and appearances post-election, Powell continued to make misleading statements about the voting process, unfurled unsupported and complex conspiracy theories involving communist regimes and vowed to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” court filing. 

Ellis and Powell appeared with Giuliani at press conferences, pushing false claims of election fraud. Powell was eventually removed from the team after she said in an interview she was going to release “the kraken” of lawsuits that would prove the election had been stolen. 

Powell did not immediately return an email seeking comment. 

The last person subpoenaed Tuesday by the committee is Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump campaign strategic adviser, who reportedly attended meetings at the Willard Hotel in the days leading up to the insurrection. The committee said Epshteyn had a call with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, to discuss options to delay the certification of election results in the event of Pence’s unwillingness to deny or delay the process. 
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Biden Faces Tepid Approval at Start of Year 2, Pandemic Year 3

U.S. President Joe Biden began his term under the long shadow of the January 6 Capitol riot, a grinding pandemic and an increasingly divided America.

As he now rounds the one-year mark, he faces many of those same challenges – all as he tries to push through a sweeping and expensive legislative agenda.

The difficulty of governing through the triple threat of a seemingly never-ending pandemic, increasing consumer prices and political polarization from Congress to city halls across America is neatly reflected in Biden’s approval ratings, which hover around 45%. Since he took office on January 20, his approval ratings have weakened, with 50% of Americans now disapproving of his performance, according to the most recent Ipsos poll.

That, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, comes with the territory.

“You have every challenge at your feet — laid at your feet, whether it’s global or domestically,” she said this month, as Biden’s proposed voting rights legislation stalled in Congress.

“And we could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream, but that wouldn’t be very rewarding to the American people. So, the president’s view is we’re going to keep pushing for hard things, and we’re going to keep pushing the boulders up the hill to get it done,” she said.

It’s the economy – and the pandemic

There are two main drivers of this discontent, said Mallory Newall, vice president of public polling at Ipsos: the economy and the pandemic.

Biden campaigned on a platform of addressing the pandemic and healing the wounded economy. As inflation recently hit a 39-year high, the economy has taken the lead, Newall said.

“The economy – and certainly inflation as part of that, has started to surge as a main issue,” she said. ”We see that in our Ipsos core political data. We see that as the top issue for the American public right now. And the president’s approval rating on the economy is underwater, meaning more disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve.”

And then there’s the pandemic, which has long overstayed its welcome with humanity.

“The longer the pandemic goes on, the more uncertainty and the more frustration the American public has in general, but they are starting to look at the top,” she said. “Especially considering that President Biden campaigned so strongly on COVID-19 and tackling the coronavirus once he was in office.”

Amid those challenges, Biden has tried – so far, without success – to leverage his party’s slim Congressional majority to back trillions of dollars’ worth of legislation that he says is necessary for the U.S. to keep pace with the rest of the world. That includes a stalled spending plan worth about $2 billion that aims to address everything from child and elder care to environmental justice, affordable housing and paid family leave.

WATCH: Biden has low approval ratings 

Do this, not that

Biden’s critics say he should focus more on healing the ailing economy.

“The Biden administration is acting as though it can ignore fundamental economic problems forever,” Andrew Puzder, a visiting fellow in business and economic freedom at the conservative Heritage Foundation, wrote on the organization’s website. “News flash — it can’t. The longer we wait to seriously address inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems, the worse the threat of an inevitable and deep recession becomes.” 

Critics also dislike Biden’s handling of the pandemic, with conservative columnist Jarrett Stepman describing Biden’s vaccination mandates as “draconian COVID-19 policies of increasingly dubious effectiveness,” on the website the Daily Signal.

Think of the puppies

Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the White House’s own messaging is also to blame. He noted that the Biden administration has missed opportunities to tout successful legislation, such as a new bill – passed within five months, with little fanfare – that gives wounded veterans access to emotional support puppies.

“A lot of the conversation coming out of the White House and done in coordination with Democratic leadership in both chambers has been focused on the things that they haven’t been able to get done,” Kosar said.

“And a lot of it has been kind of a circular firing squad, where they’re pointing at, you know, their own senators, and complaining that these people will not get on board, and why are they holding things up? And then trashing Republicans in the process. And for the most part, Americans don’t well respond to that. They don’t like hearing toxic partisan talking points, or like hearing excuses,” he said.

New year reset?

As Biden begins his second year in office, and the pandemic begins its third year, “the mood in the country is tough,” Newall said.

“There’s this collective pause, and with that pause, comes frustration. And with it comes questions and uncertainty. And particularly when this was the number one issue that the president campaigned on, you know, for him to be losing ground on COVID, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for other issues either, because the collective mood is one of questioning and frustration,” she said.

She added: “And I think that does spill over into issues related to the economy, getting back to work, curbing inflation, dealing with other domestic policies. As we enter this collective pause, that’s going to spill over and have a ripple effect.”

Both Biden’s critics and supporters have suggested a reset, but Psaki said the White House is committed to its current path.

“We are still continuing to work with members to determine the path forward on Build Back Better; that we have the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate supporting voting rights,” she said. “That’s a path forward for us. And our effort is to do hard things, try hard things, and keep at it.” 

Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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Big Voting Bill Faces Defeat as 2 Democrats Won’t Stop Filibuster

Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital for protecting democracy appeared headed for defeat as the Senate opened debate Tuesday, a devastating setback enabled by President Joe Biden’s own party as two holdout senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster. 

The Democratic senators, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, faced strong criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations for failing to take on what critics call the ” Jim Crow filibuster.”

The debate carries echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation. It comes as Democrats and other voting advocates nationwide warn that Republican-led states are passing laws making it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the current bill’s likely defeat this week. But he said the fight is not over as he heeds advocates’ call to force all senators to go on record with their positions. 

“The eyes of the nation will be watching what happens this week,” Schumer said as he opened the session Tuesday.

This is the fifth time the Senate will try to pass voting legislation this Congress. 

The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act combines earlier bills into one package that would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots — which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic — and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. 

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the package, which has passed the House, but they are unwilling to change the Senate rules to muscle it through that chamber over Republican objections. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority — Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie — but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who led his party in doing away with the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees during Donald Trump’s presidency, warned off changing the rules again. He said Tuesday it would “break the Senate.” 

Democratic senators countered in speeches from the Senate floor that with Republicans objecting to the voting legislation, they have no choice. 

Just as Manchin and Sinema blocked Biden’s broad “Build Back Better” domestic spending package, the two senators are now dashing hopes for the second major part of Biden’s presidential agenda. They are infuriating many of their colleagues and faced a barrage of criticism during Martin Luther King Jr. Day events. 

Martin Luther King III, the son of the late civil rights leader, compared Sinema and Manchin to the white moderates his father wrote about during the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s — who declared support for the goals of Black voting rights but not the direct actions or demonstrations that ultimately led to passage of landmark legislation. 

“History will not remember them kindly,” the younger King said, referring to Sinema and Manchin by name. 

Once reluctant himself to change Senate rules, Biden used the King holiday to press senators to do just that. But the push from the White House, including Biden’s blistering speech last week in Atlanta comparing opponents to segregationists, is seen as too late, coming as the president ends his first year in office with his popularity sagging.

“The president’s view is that the American people deserve to see where their leaders stand on protecting their fundamental rights,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. 

The Senate launched what could become a days-long debate, but the outcome is expected to be no different from past failed votes on the legislation. Biden has been unable to persuade Sinema and Manchin to join other Democrats to change the rules to lower the 60-vote threshold. In fact, Sinema upstaged the president last week, reiterating her opposition to the rules changes just before Biden arrived on Capitol Hill to court senators’ votes. 

Senators have been working nonstop for weeks on rule changes that could win support from Sinema and Manchin. The two, both moderates, have expressed openness to discussing the ideas but have not given their backing. 

Both Manchin and Sinema have argued that preserving the filibuster rules, requiring the 60-vote majority to pass most legislation, is important for fostering bipartisanship. They also warn of what would happen if Republicans win back majority control, as is distinctly possible this election year. 

McConnell has argued the legislation is a federal overreach into state-run elections, and he harshly criticized Biden’s speech last week as “unpresidential.” 

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson wrote in an open letter to the Senate, “We cannot think of a time more defining to the American story than the chapter you are presently writing.” 

“What country will your children and grandchildren be left with, given the relentless assaults on American freedom and democracy?” 

Leading sports figures from Manchin’s home state of West Virginia also have weighed in. In a letter last week, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West and others urged him to support the legislation. 

Manchin spokeswoman Sam Runyon said in a statement late Monday that the senator believes the right to vote “must be protected by law. He continues to work on legislation to protect this right.” 

Sinema’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

Before Republicans lowered the vote threshold for Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, Democrats had similarly dropped it to a simple majority for confirmation of administrative positions and lower court nominees. 

The voting bill was the Democrats’ top priority this Congress, and the House swiftly approved H.R. 1, only to see it languish in the Senate. 

 
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Republicans Mull Trump’s Continuing Grip on Their Party 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently addressed 15,000 ardent supporters in Arizona, making his first major public appearance since the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that sought to keep him in office despite having lost the 2020 presidential election. 

In 93 minutes of remarks late Saturday, Trump repeated the false claim that the election had been stolen from him and predicted a Republican victory in the 2024 presidential contest, hinting at what political observers already assume: that he is planning a bid to return to the White House. 

Trump is expected to hold more rallies in the months leading up to midterm elections in November that will determine control of Congress for the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term in office. In state after state, Trump aims to boost the fortunes of Republicans seeking office who are loyal to him and repeat his claims. 

Voters are taking notice. 

“He’s going to remain a factor in American politics for the next several presidential terms,” Robert Ellis, a New Orleans-based lawyer who voted for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, told VOA. “And he should remain a factor. He got results while president, and the more we see Biden’s failures, the more we see Donald Trump was correct.” 

By contrast, many moderate Republicans and independent voters – who are often pivotal in close elections – aren’t sure the former president’s continued politicking is good for the country or the Republican Party. 

Chelsea Jaramillo, an entrepreneur in Denver, is one such independent voter. 

“Honestly, I believe his presence hurts the Republican party,” she said. “Even many Republicans seem tired of his bull—- all the hate and blame that don’t benefit anyone but him.” 

Trump’s supporters 

In his remarks Saturday, the former president attacked his Democratic successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. economy and international affairs. He also took gleeful aim at the handful of Republican lawmakers who voted with Democrats to impeach him after the Capitol riot and have either announced they will not seek reelection or face a bumpy road to remain in office. 

“They’re falling fast and furious. The ones that voted to impeach, we’re getting rid of them fast,” Trump said.

Robert Collins, professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans, said there wasn’t much in the speech he found surprising. 

“It was a lot of the same stuff from him,” he said. “But where it got interesting to me, is you could hear the crowd get excited when they perceived Trump was talking about running for president again in 2024.” 

A recent Marquette Law School Poll found that 60% of Republican voters believe he should run for president again in 2024.

“That’s more than enough voters to win the Republican nomination,” Collins said, “so it’s a real possibility should he decide to run.” 

Brandon Legnion, a New Orleans-based nurse, is open to the idea. His priorities, he said, include the issue of abortion and how America handles the pandemic. 

 “I don’t believe vaccines and masking are ‘anti-freedom’ like a lot of other conservatives seem to believe,” he told VOA, “but I do think Republican voters are more likely to listen to Trump instead of Biden when it comes to unifying around fighting COVID-19. I’d probably vote for him if he ran in 2024.” 

Turning the page 

While the large majority of Republican voters say they would vote for Donald Trump if he secured the party’s presidential nomination, some say they hope a different candidate emerges to lead the party. 

“Trump’s independent, patriotic attitude, and his work on border control, jobs and our economy, have all earned him a leading voice in our party,” said Republican voter Jerry Bell of Indiana, “but I do feel there should be a new presidential torchbearer in 2024. New blood to repatriate our conservative vision of governance so we can ‘Make America Great!’” 

A University of Massachusetts at Amherst poll conducted December 14-20 showed that 71% of Republicans falsely believe Joe Biden’s election was illegitimate – a contention Trump’s critics often refer to as “The Big Lie.” 

Trump addressed the label head-on in Arizona on Saturday, opening the rally by declaring, “The Big Lie is a lot of bull—-,” to wild applause from raucous crowd.

Legnion sees the focus on the past as counterproductive. 

“It’s time to move on,” he said. “To continue to beat past elections to death is not at all unifying for America.” 

Helping or hurting? 

Whether the former president and his obsession with the 2020 election helps the Republican Party in the midterms and in the next presidential election is a matter of ongoing debate among experts, politicians and voters. 

“The sitting president’s political party almost always loses the House of Representatives in the midterm elections during their first term,” explained Robert Collins of Dillard University. “So regardless of Trump’s involvement, you can pretty much bet everything you’ve got that that will happen this year.” 

The Senate is less of a certainty, he said.

“While every seat in the House is up for election every two years, only one third of the Senate is,” Collins said. “And among those, probably only five to eight of those seats will be competitive elections. Trump’s impact is more likely to be felt there.” 

The prevailing thought among experts such as Collins is that while Trump can generate excitement and voter turnout for Republican candidates who are loyal to him, some of those candidates – including several he lauded at the rally in Arizona – could struggle to win in swing states and districts with a more moderate electorate. 

“I’m not opposed to Donald Trump supporting midterm candidates,” said Ronald Robichaux of Tampa, Florida, who said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, “but I am fearful he’ll bring up voting irregularities that have thus far been unfounded and that that might turn some voters off. He can’t seem to bury the hatchet.” 

Collins suggested less bombast from Trump would be helpful for his political fortunes and those of Republicans more broadly. 

“People seem to forget that when Trump’s involved, elections tend to be an up or down vote on Trump,” he explained. “If I was working on his campaign, I’d spend time trying to rehabilitate his image and reign him in. But based on Saturday’s speech, that doesn’t seem to be their strategy,” he said. 

Collins added, “So if you’re a candidate running for office in the midterms, all that can be done now is decide if you want to keep your distance from Trump, or if you want to embrace him.”
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