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Multiple venues on the 2024 presidential campaign trail

Multiple venues on the 2024 presidential campaign trail

It would be like playing the Super Bowl at Churchill Downs. The Stanley Cup Finals at Fenway Park. Running the Indianapolis 500 in the old Boston Garden. The 2024 presidential campaign likely won’t unfold in all the old familiar places. THE SPEAKER’S LOBBY: LEGISLATION ON COLLEGE SPORTS RELEGATED TO THE JV The presidential proving ground for former President Trump may be in various courthouses, ranging from New York to Atlanta. But House Republicans hope the presidential validation field for President Biden in 2024 is in the halls of Congress. House Republicans didn’t accomplish much in 2023. But in mid-December, House GOPers finally conjured up the votes to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. That dynamic — emerging in an election year — could expose whether voters buy the GOP narrative that Mr. Biden, Hunter Biden and his family have something to hide about overseas business entanglements and financial dealings. Or, the maneuver could reveal whether Republicans came up with blanks. There is also the risk that voters believe the GOP is just engineering a not-so-shadow campaign to knife President Biden politically in 2024. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., began inching toward a House impeachment inquiry in late June and early July. But McCarthy never had the votes to officially launch an inquiry. And we all know what happened to McCarthy. There were two camps of Republicans in the House when it came to impeachment. Not so much on whether the House should impeach Mr. Biden, but on how long an impeachment investigation should take. One cohort of GOPers argued last summer they could wrap up the investigation soon and determine by fall whether they should impeach President Biden. They fretted about dragging things out into an election year. The other group didn’t set a timetable. Lawmakers appeared determined to let any inquiry run its course.  And so, here we are in 2024 — a presidential election year. Republicans burned valuable time through 2023 fighting over who should be Speaker of the House and potential rendezvous with government shutdowns and the debt ceiling. So is there any surprise impeachment drifted into 2024? And therein lies possible trouble. Of course, any impeachment investigation is dangerous for a sitting president. But historically, it has been just as dangerous for the party undertaking the impeachment investigation. Consider for a moment: what political benefit has any party ever reaped from an impeachment? Ever? And that includes the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. What do Democrats have to show with their two impeachments of former President Trump? Few consequences. Mr. Trump roared back stronger than ever after the Capitol riot and is the presumptive Republican nominee. CONGRESS’ FIGHT OVER IMMIGRATION REFORM COULD LAST A WHILE What did House Republicans get from their impeachment of former President Clinton in 1998? Well, Republicans almost lost control of the House. And the Republicans of 1998 churned through two House Speakers. The Clinton impeachment signaled the end for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. Gingrich’s intended successor — former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., never became Speaker. It was revealed the night before the House impeached former President Clinton for deeds related to his affair with Monica Lewinsky that Livingston had also had an affair. So Livingston stepped aside. This is why impeachments are risky. They often backfire. And while there’s a lot of turmoil, they don’t shift the political landscape. “Without evidence, you simply cannot persuade those suburban voters who will sometimes vote Republican and sometimes vote Democratic, that the Republicans are doing the right thing in the House,” said University of Mary Washington political scientist Stephen Farnsworth. “As much as the far right conservatives in the safe seats are going to want this impeachment inquiry to move forward, the reality is that doing so may very well cost the Republicans their majority.” We have no idea how or if House Republicans will actually impeach President Biden. It’s about the math. Republicans begin 2024 with a 220-213 advantage in the House. The already meager GOP majority could dwindle further. Republicans cannot lose more than three votes on any roll call and still pass something without assistance from the other side.  Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, will resign in mid-January. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is out until February recovering from cancer treatment. That means that in late January, Republicans effectively will have 218 operational votes in a 432-member House. They can lose two votes on any given roll call. Otherwise, the Democrats will prevail. So, it’s unclear if Republicans will ever have the votes to impeach President Biden. That presents the worst case scenario for the GOP. Here are three problems: If Republicans fail to impeach President Biden, the conservative base will be apoplectic. That’s because Republicans have talked and talked about impeachment since President Biden took office. They potentially raised the bar and failed to deliver. Their voters could turn tail on them. Then you have this mid-December impeachment inquiry vote. The average voter doesn’t follow the grand details of “impeachment” and the difference between an inquiry and actually impeaching the president. But all House Republicans — including those from battleground districts or the 18 districts President Biden won — are on the hook. That vote alone could be enough to torpedo many of those Republicans in the general election, regardless of how they try to finesse it. Finally, imagine Republicans not impeaching President Biden, but keeping impeachment on the table with regular hearings and days of closed-door depositions. The public wonders why Republicans are dithering. Their base is displeased that they didn’t impeach the President. Skeptics ask what Republicans are spending all of their time on. It could be a lose-lose-lose scenario. Never mind that Republicans run headlong into a legislative jumble later this month and February with possible government shutdowns. And utterly nothing is figured out about securing the border despite weeks of talks. That hamstrings the release of potential aid to Ukraine and Israel. Republicans linked President Biden’s international assistance package to border

Republicans, Democrats finalize candidate lineups for Kentucky elections in 2024

Republicans, Democrats finalize candidate lineups for Kentucky elections in 2024

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky‘s congressional and legislative campaigns came into focus Friday as Republicans and Democrats completed candidate lineups for 2024 elections lacking a marquee race for statewide office unlike last year, when the state was in the limelight with its hotly contested gubernatorial contest. All six Kentucky congressmen — five Republicans and one Democrat — filed for reelection. They all will be challenged, either in the spring primary or the November general election. KENTUCKY GOVERNOR BACKS LONGER LIST OF CONDITIONS ELIGIBLE FOR TREATMENT UNDER MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW Democrats again failed to field legislative candidates across swaths of rural Kentucky, while a number of Republican state lawmakers will encounter primary challenges. It reflects the diminished Democratic brand in much of rural Kentucky and the GOP’s continued growth, leading to competitive primaries. Republicans have amassed supermajorities in both the Kentucky House and Senate. “Kentucky continues to trend toward the Republican Party,” GOP House Speaker David Osborne told reporters several hours before the candidate filing deadline. “Therefore more and more seats are determined in the Republican primary.” Candidates, political strategists and reporters clustered outside the secretary of state’s office in the final hours before the deadline. Popcorn was offered as a snack. When the deadline arrived, Secretary of State Michael Adams ceremoniously closed the door to the office where candidates file their paperwork. It lacked the drama of the deadline a year ago, when former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin teased a bid for a political comeback. Bevin arrived at the statehouse, gave a speech to a throng of media and then left without filing. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who ousted Bevin in 2019, went on to win reelection over GOP challenger Daniel Cameron in one of the most closely watched elections of 2023. In 2024, congressional and statehouse candidates will run in districts drawn by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature. Democrats challenged the maps for congressional and state House districts, but Kentucky’s Supreme Court upheld the boundaries in a ruling last month. The legislature convened its 60-day session this week, and crafting the next two-year state budget will be at the top of the agenda. In the presidential contest, President Joe Biden will be on the primary ballot in Kentucky along with fellow Democrats Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson. On the GOP side, former President Donald Trump will be on the Kentucky ballot in a field that includes Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump easily carried Kentucky in the last two general elections for president. In legislative races, Republican incumbents drawing primary challengers ranged from relative newcomers to veteran state Reps. Kimberly Poore Moser and Michael Meredith who lead House committees. With their lineup now complete, Republicans said they enter this year’s campaigns with momentum on their side, despite losing the state’s marquee gubernatorial election last year. “From the candidate filings, one thing is clear: there is more energy within the Republican Party than ever,” state GOP Chairman Robert Benvenuti said in a statement. Democrats, hoping to cut into the GOP’s lopsided legislative majorities, said they targeted suburban and rural districts where Beshear ran well last year. State Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge offered a preview of his party’s agenda heading into the campaigns. “This November, public education, healthcare access, infrastructure, the opportunity to lift everyone up and move Kentucky forward, all of that is on the line and the Kentucky Democratic Party intends to fight for it,” Elridge said in a statement. Seeking new terms from Kentucky’s congressional delegation will be Republican Reps. James Comer, Brett Guthrie, Thomas Massie, Hal Rogers and Andy Barr, as well as Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey. The lead up to the filing deadline was dominated by announcements from some prominent state lawmakers that they would not seek reelection in 2024. Among the lawmakers stepping down after this year are Republican Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, GOP state Rep. Kevin Bratcher and state Rep. Derrick Graham, the top-ranking Democrat in the House.

Lawsuit says Georgia’s lieutenant governor should be disqualified for acting as Trump elector

Lawsuit says Georgia’s lieutenant governor should be disqualified for acting as Trump elector

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge rejected a lawsuit Friday that sought to disqualify Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones from holding office because of the Republican’s participation as an elector for Donald Trump in 2020. Butts County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson ruled that the four voters who sued couldn’t use the kind of legal action they filed to attack actions Jones took in 2020 while he was a state senator. SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF TRUMP BANNED FROM COLORADO BALLOT IN HISTORIC CASE The suit echoed other efforts elsewhere to keep Trump and some of his supporters off ballots and to prosecute people who falsely claimed to be valid Trump electors in states Joe Biden won. Richard Rose, a civil rights activist who is one of the plaintiffs, said Friday that he had expected Wilson to rule against him and that he anticipates an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Jones “violated his oath of office, because he lied and said he was a duly qualified elector from state of Georgia, which is not true,” Rose said. (Missing word “the” or CQ?) Jones says the suit is an illegitimate effort by Democrats to unseat him. “Democrat activists in Georgia are trying to use the legal system to overrule the will of the voters, just like liberal activists in places like Colorado and Maine are trying to do to President Trump,” Jones said in a statement. “I’m glad to see the court throw out this ridiculous political attack.” The lawsuit came as a decision remains in limbo on whether to prosecute Jones on state charges, due to a lack of a special prosecutor willing to take the case. The plaintiffs asked a judge in December to declare Jones ineligible to hold office in Georgia, alleging that he violated his oath of office as a state senator by signing his name as a Trump elector. Biden was certified as winning Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in 2020’s election. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Trump’s appeal of a Colorado court ruling keeping him off the 2024 presidential ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the post-Civil War 14th Amendment barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. In Georgia, challengers argued the same clause prohibits Jones from holding office and called him “an insurrectionist against the Constitution of the United States of America.” Jones’ lawyer argued the challenge lacked evidence to prove insurrection, a position the judge agreed with. Jones was one of 16 Republicans who gathered on Dec. 14, 2020, at Georgia’s Capitol, claiming to be legitimate electors. The meeting is critical to the prosecution of Trump and 18 others who were indicted by a Georgia grand jury in August for efforts to overturn Biden’s narrow win. Of those in Georgia indicted in August, only three acted as Trump electors, and all were indicted for crimes beyond that. Michigan and Nevada have also criminally charged Trump electors. In Wisconsin, 10 Republicans settled a civil lawsuit last month and admitted their actions sought to overturn Biden’s victory. An earlier special Georgia grand jury recommended Jones face felony charges. But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from indicting Jones. A judge ruled Willis, an elected Democrat, had a conflict of interest because she hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat who lost to Jones in 2022’s election for lieutenant governor. The state Prosecuting Attorneys Council is supposed to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Jones’ actions were criminal, but hasn’t yet acted.

Three years on, January 6 Capitol riot reverberates in US courts, 2024 race

Three years on, January 6 Capitol riot reverberates in US courts, 2024 race

Shattered glass. Clashes with police. Angry protesters scaling walls outside the United States Capitol. The images from the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, remain some of the most memorable in modern political history. That day saw thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump storm the building in an effort to overturn his election defeat, forcing legislators to flee for safety. But three years on, the country continues to grapple with the ramifications. On Friday, the eve of the riot’s anniversary, current President Joe Biden evoked the violence in a campaign speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, warning of its enduring effects on US democracy. “Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol,” he said. “For the first time in our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power in America — the first time.” Biden also took a jab at Trump, calling him out for inaction on January 6 and election-related lies. “It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.” How the insurrection is viewed remains a bitter point of contention, dividing the US public largely along partisan lines. Trump has maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, a falsehood that helped fuel the Capitol riot. This March, Trump faces a federal indictment for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 results. He is currently seeking a second term in the 2024 presidential race, as is Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020. In addition to Trump’s case, lengthy prison sentences continue to be handed down to participants in the Capitol riot. On Thursday, Christopher Worrell, a member of the far-right Proud Boys group, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in helping to breach the Capitol. He joined other prominent far-right figures — including ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers militia — in facing a decade or more in prison. On the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, here’s all you need to know about how the insurrection continues to reverberate across the US. Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing in the Capitol riot, is the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner [File: Scott Morgan/Reuters] Trump case In August, the former Republican president was indicted in a federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, a former prosecutor appointed to investigate his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump faces four criminal counts as part of the indictment: conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy against rights, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstructing an official proceeding. US prosecutors argued that Trump “attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them, based on knowingly false claims of election fraud, to delay the certification” of the election results. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing. The ex-president has also accused prosecutors of conducting a politically motivated “witch hunt” to derail his 2024 re-election bid. The federal case is set to begin on March 4, a day before “Super Tuesday”, when more than a dozen states are expected to hold their 2024 election primaries. Criminal charges In early December, the Department of Justice released its most recent tally of the criminal charges that resulted from the January 6 riot, noting that more than 1,237 people have been charged. Of those, more than 700 defendants pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. About 450 have been sentenced to prison. So far, the most serious riot-related charge has been seditious conspiracy. A relatively rare charge dating to the Civil War era, seditious conspiracy is used to prosecute two or more defendants accused of plotting to overthrow the US government, launch a war against it or hinder its authority, including the execution of its laws. Seditious conspiracy is notoriously difficult to prosecute. Nevertheless, Rhodes and Tarrio were both convicted of it last year, receiving 18- and 22-year prison terms respectively — the longest sentences to date. On Thursday, in an address ahead of the January 6 anniversary, US Attorney Matthew Graves described “scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle”, where police were forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat with rioters armed with “dangerous weapons, including firearms”. “The siege of the Capitol is likely the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history,” Graves said. He noted that the 140 reports of physical injury among police officers likely represent an undercount. Political polarisation Meanwhile, a notable percentage of Americans continue to believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voter fraud — an idea spread by Trump and his allies. Critics say this belief helped motivate the thousands of rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that 36 percent of respondents still “do not accept Biden’s victory as legitimate”. Eight in 10 Trump voters and 72 percent of Republicans overall said they believed too much was made of the riot and it is “time to move on”. That contrasts with only 14 percent of Democrats, the poll found. Respondents were also starkly divided over whether Trump is guilty of conspiracy to defraud the US, the charge accusing him of lying to illegally try to overturn the election. While 56 percent of Americans overall said they believe Trump is “probably/definitely guilty” of the conspiracy charge, only 18 percent of Republicans agreed, compared with 88 percent of Democrats, the survey said. Rioters attacked the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Electoral College votes [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo] Effect on 2024 race Trump is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 race, leading his party rivals by a wide margin. That means he is likely to face Biden again in November, though the four criminal indictments he faces could complicate his campaign. Meanwhile, the top court in

Sudan’s army chief al-Burhan says ‘no reconciliation’ with paramilitary RSF

Sudan’s army chief al-Burhan says ‘no reconciliation’ with paramilitary RSF

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejects latest peace efforts, saying RSF fighters are ‘committing war crimes’ across country. Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has promised to continue a nine-month war between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rejecting the latest peace efforts. RSF head Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo agreed earlier this week to a ceasefire proposed by civilian groups, contingent on the military also agreeing. But observers responded sceptically in light of the paramilitary force’s prior unfulfilled promises. “The whole world witnessed these rebel forces committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in West Darfur and the rest of Sudan. For that reason, we have no reconciliation with them, we have no agreement with them,” al-Burhan, who is also Sudan’s head of state, told troops gathered in Port Sudan in video released by his office on Friday. He was referring to ethnic cleansing in and around the West Darfur city of El Geneina. The United States has accused both the army and RSF of war crimes, and it says the RSF is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The war that began on April 15 has devastated wide swaths of Sudan and displaced more than 7.5 million people. ‘Coward’ With the RSF appearing to gain the upper hand in the fight, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an African trade bloc, got al-Burhan and Dagalo last month to agree to an in-person meeting. But al-Burhan on Friday ruled that out and called his rival a “clown”, “traitor” and “coward”. He rejected the ceasefire deal Dagalo signed in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, this week. Al-Burhan also criticised leaders of African countries including South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya who received Dagalo as a statesman during visits this week and Sudanese politicians who met him in Ethiopia. “He is humiliating the Sudanese people, he is killing them, insulting them, and some people are clapping for him and laughing with him,” al-Burhan said. The RSF has faced growing popular resistance in northern Sudan after it last month raided Gezira state and ransacked farming villages. Al-Burhan said he would arm Sudanese people who wanted to fight the RSF and urged them to join the military. The country faces the threat of falling under “bondage and colonialism”, al-Burhan said. It was an apparent reference to the United Arab Emirates, which the army accuses of supporting the RSF. Dagalo has shared photos in which he was disembarking from a jet owned by an Emirati airline that flight records show has gone to the places on his regional tour. Adblock test (Why?)