[guest post by Dana]

An interesting little tidbit from the Jan. 6 Committee:

Ten Republican members of Congress attended a Dec. 21 White House meeting focused on efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to help overturn the 2020 election, according to the Jan. 6 committee.

The revelation underscores how deep the involvement of some lawmakers were in former President Trump’s schemes to overturn the election even after the electoral college met to affirm President Biden’s victory.

So which Republicans were at the meeting? Exactly who you would expect:

Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) said at a hearing on Tuesday that White House visitor logs reveal 10 members were physically in attendance::

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas)
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
Now-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

Additionally, behind a closed-door meeting:

[Cassidy] Hutchinson noted that “they dialed in a few Members over the course of that meeting.”

She mentioned two members – Reps. Mo Brooks (R-Ga.) and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) – who were not in the visitor logs cited by Murphy.

Of the aforementioned group, Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert, Scott Perry and Marjorie Taylor Green are reported to have sought pardons, either directly or through another member from then-President Trump. (Biggs and Perry deny this.)

If you recall, Jim Jordan was tapped by House Leader Kevin McCarthy as one of five Republicans to sit on the Jan. 6 Committee. Two of his nominees to the committee, Jordan and Jim Banks, had voted against certifying Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for Biden in 2020. Of course Nancy Pelosi had to reject their selection. As a result, McCarthy pulled the rest of his Republican nominees from the committee.

Another interesting tidbit from today: Rep. Cheney announced at the end of today’s hearing that Donald Trump had attempted to contact one of the committee’s witnesses:

“After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation, a witness you have not yet seen in these hearings. That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump’s call.”

Cheney went on to say that the witness “did not answer or respond to President Trump’s call, and instead alerted their lawyer to the call.” The person’s lawyer then notified the committee. Cheney followed up, saying that the committee had informed the Department of Justice about the attempt to contact the witness.

Taylor Budowich, the director of communications for former President Donald Trump, attempted to push back on Cheney’s claim, but he didn’t directly deny it:

The media has become pawns of the Unselect Committee. Liz Cheney continues to traffic in innuendos and lies that go unchallenged, unconfirmed, but repeated as fact because the narrative is more important than the truth. https://t.co/HbPiDIk7jb

— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) July 12, 2022

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Bad news for the top 2024 wannabes.

Looking where former President Trump is at with Republicans:

Nearly half of all Republican primary voters want a candidate other than former President Donald Trump as president in 2024, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released on Tuesday, the latest sign the former president’s grip on the Republican party may be slipping as the January 6 committee continues to spotlight bombshell revelations about Trump’s actions during the Capitol riots.

Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters under 35 as well as adults with at least a college degree said they would not vote for Trump in a presidential primary, according to the poll, which was conducted from July 5 to 7.

Roughly 16% of GOP voters said they would support Democratic President Joe Biden, a third party candidate or would abstain from voting altogether if Trump were the Republican nominee, in what would be a jump from 2020, when 9% of R

Republicans voted for a candidate besides Trump, according to AP VoteCast.

[…]

The poll is the latest indication Trump’s sway among the Republican party may be weakening. It comes after several Congressional and gubernatorial candidates endorsed by Trump have lost to their non-Trump-backed opponents—at times, by a landslide—though Trump has seen some wins among endorsees. The survey also follows six public hearings from the House panel tasked with investigating the January 6 riots.

Besides his preferred candidates’ losses and some shocking allegations made at the Jan. 6 Committee hearings, another reason why Trump’s influence and popularity may understandably be waning is that he has simply exhausted Americans with his endless drama and non-stop lies about the 2020 election.

As for President Biden, well, yikes:

President Biden is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, with 64 percent of Democratic voters saying they would prefer a new standard-bearer in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, as voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33 percent job-approval rating.

Widespread concerns about the economy and inflation have helped turn the national mood decidedly dark, both on Mr. Biden and the trajectory of the nation. More than three-quarters of registered voters see the United States moving in the wrong direction, a pervasive sense of pessimism that spans every corner of the country, every age range and racial group, cities, suburbs and rural areas, as well as both political parties.

Only 13 percent of American voters said the nation was on the right track — the lowest point in Times polling since the depths of the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

[…]

[O]nly 26 percent of Democratic voters said the party should renominate him in 2024.

President Biden has a number of issues confronting him that he just can’t seem to get a handle on. A lack of solid response to the abortion issue is frustrating his supporters, as well as concerns about the economy, high gas prices, crime, etc. And then there is the plain fact that many young voters think that Biden is just too old to run again:

“I’m just going to come out and say it: I want younger blood,” said Nicole Farrier, a 38-year-old preschool teacher in East Tawas, a small town in northern Michigan. “I am so tired of all old people running our country. I don’t want someone knocking on death’s door.”

Ouch!

So, who’s in the wings? Well, setting Trump aside, Gov. DeSantis is polling at the top for the GOP – and by a longshot. But on the left side of the aisle, it’s anybody’s guess. Vice-president Kamala Harris said recently that she will be Biden’s “ticket-mate” in the 2024 election. However, if Biden opts out and Harris herself runs for the presidency, she’ll likely have an uphill battle, given her unpopularity. So, who might be itching to take get an early foothold on the Democratic ticket? I don’t know, but I do know that Gov. Newsom of California isn’t trolling Florida’s Gov. DeSantis of Florida just for the fun of it.

A sampling of other possible candidates whose names are being bandied about: Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, Kristi Noem, J.B. Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, and…Bernie Sanders (he would be 83 by Inauguration Day 2025!).

–Dana