GOP Admit Losing Energy on Two Soap Opera, Biden's Impeachment and Hunter Biden, then, Forget About Trump Indictment

DC 11.11am / Reno Nevada 8.11am / London 4.11pm

Some Republicans fear they may be focusing too much on two soap opera: the Hunter Biden ‘soap opera and impeachment ‘soap opera, and losing energy to rocketing electability toward 2024. Several GOP elites starting to notice that's (2 issues) not really connecting with voters. GOP lawmakers and operatives want to tap the brakes on the matter. Trump lawyers arrive at DOJ for a final meeting. An indictment will follow in short order, perhaps even today.

Schumer say “No one is above the law, including Donald Trump. This indictment must now play out through the legal process without any outside political or ideological interference. We encourage Mr. Trump's supporters and his critics to let this case proceed peacefully.”

Actually, busy day between Capitol and DC, because Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni already at the Capitol. No detail about Meloni - Biden meeting (so far) in the White House.

In other side, lawyers for former President Trump have arrived at special counsel Jack Smith's offices this morning for a meeting as a potential indictment looms. The members of Jack Smith's federal grand jury in DC have just arrived at the Elijah Barrett Prettyman Jr. Federal Courthouse (333 Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S.). Trump knew he lost 2020. He and his team knew there was no hope and all legal challenges had been exhausted. But they lied and scammed donors out of $250 million. And they’re doing it again now for his legal fees.

(11.14am DC, or around 3 minutes after I finished my note)

Self-executing rules were also something that most conservatives who were Speaker Kevin Owen McCarthy (R-Calif.) skeptics said they would never accept the leadership using. now they want to use it. GOP House is blaming the White House for an "unwillingness to compromise" in negotiations. HFC has worked out a deal with leadership on apropos reaching an agreement on the US$1.4T top line number with no recissions. Roughly US$200 billion below the deal Biden and McCarthy cut, if you needed an illustration about just how messy the 2024 spending process will be.

Corny explained “unfortunately what goes around comes comes around, obviously the stuff that the House is revealing about the Biden family business is very disturbing.” Amid concern about his healthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says an impeachment inquiry into President Biden would “not be good for the country” but he “can understand” why House Republicans are open to it, “after the way they’ve been treated.” 19 seconds of silence, quickly turning to concern for the health of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who appeared to freeze up as he began a news conference. McConnell tripped and fell while disembarking from a plane at DCA earlier this month, according to two sources familiar with the incident. McConnell was not seriously hurt.

Back again impeachment. Speaker Kevin Owen McCarthy (R-Calif.) denies promising Trump he would hold a vote on expunging Trump’s impeachments “They did it for purely political purposes. I support expungement but there's no deal out there.” Signaled he believes it’s the only way to get certain information he’s seeking. Self-executing rules were also something that most conservatives who were McCarthy skeptics said they would never accept the leadership using. Now they want to use it.

The problem for other GOP candidates is (most) spent the past 2.5 years validating Trump's claim that he won the 2020 election, priming their base to believe he is a proven winner against Biden. They now have only a few months to try to undo that perception.

The White House on Thursday bashed Speaker Kevin Owen McCarthy (R-Calif.) over pushback from fellow Republicans in his conference over his floating the idea of pursuing impeachment.

The White House, in a statement exclusively obtained by The Hill, called McCarthy’s comments “a ridiculous, baseless stunt, intended to attack the President at a time when House Republicans should instead be joining the President to focus on the important issues facing the American people.”

(Same minute, 12.14pm - still live, Biden on teleconference about scorch / climate; McCarthy with PM Meloni)

“But just as soon as McCarthy floated this stunt, he was met with resistance — from members of his own party and even his own caucus,” the statement continued.

The statement highlights quote from Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who called McCarthy’s move “impeachment theater” on CNN; Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), who told reporters “No one is seriously talking about impeachment”; and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who told reporters that people in his district are worried about “real issues” like inflation and the border.

“The American people want their leaders in Congress to spend their time working with the President on important issues like continuing to lower costs, create good-paying jobs, and strengthen health care,” the White House statement read. “Regardless of these baseless stunts, President Biden will always be focused on delivering real results that improve the lives of the American people.”

The House GOP has launched investigations into Biden’s family business dealings while Republicans in the Senate have largely distanced themselves from the efforts. In same time, Rudy Giuliani concedes in a court filing that he made “false” statements about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and no longer contests the factual allegations in their defamation lawsuit.

The Biden campaign spent only $1.1 million in the 2nd quarter, and had only four people on payroll through end of June. Advantages of incumbency and the close coordination with DNC. Dems sweat out 2024. Reelect touting cash on hand and close coordination with DNC. We'll learn more when the full FEC paperwork lands. Biden camp spent less than 10% of what DeSantis, Trump each did on payroll. Even RFK Jr spent more on staff, per data pulled by NBC Political Unit. Those numbers change, of course, when you bring in DNC staff and consultant expenditures made by committees. Contrary, Trump, in latest fundraising email, says "Any day now, the Biden Department of Justice may INDICT and ARREST me once again ... There’s a very good chance that I will learn about the fate of my FREEDOM from a LEAK by the press.

The White House on Wednesday released a memo arguing that Republicans’ attacks against Biden are disjointed and a “clown carousel.”

The memo was titled “The message behind Republicans’ haphazard non-message: they can’t beat Bidenomics,” reflecting the Biden argument that the GOP is stepping up attacks on Hunter Biden and talk of impeachment because the economy is getting stronger and is now a less effective avenue for attack.

“If anybody deserves to be impeached, I believe it’s Biden for what he has done," said Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), although he offered no specifics on those allegations. "At the same time, we’ve got to look to 2024 – we’ve got to get this White House back, we’ve got to get the Senate back.”

“If I was running for president," Williams added, "I would focus on what I can do for 2024 and get this economy going again.”

David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, said polling conducted earlier this month found 69 percent of respondents believed the president should publicly acknowledge a 4-year-old granddaughter whom Hunter Biden initially denied fathering before reaching a child support settlement with her mother, while 63 percent said it was problematic that cocaine had been found in the White House.

“I was a little surprised it was that high,” McIntosh said, adding the questions on those topics had been "thrown in" just to "see what people say."

But McIntosh, who has publicly come out against Trump as he seeks re-election, doesn't think Republicans should center their message around Hunter Biden or the "Biden crime family," while the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee thinks candidates should focus on issues that matter to voters in their home district.

“I think when we get home, the focus is the economy, the border, crime,” said Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who leads that GOP group. “These are the issues that matter and these are the issues we’re talking about.”

Only one GOP presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, has spent any money on ads targeting Hunter Biden, and that was just $907 on a digital ad in late June, and just one national conservative group, Judicial Watch, did the same, spending less than $3,000 on a digital ad hitting the president's son.

“[It] just smells like Benghazi,” said GOP strategist Mike Madrid. “Republicans trying desperately to make a story. It’s always, ‘We’ve got a witness coming, we’ve got more coming.’ It’s always next week. It’s like a soap opera, ‘Tune in next week.’”

A poll from last month found half of Americans believe Hunter Biden received favorable treatment from federal prosecutors due to his father, but 60 percent -- including 59 percent of independents -- believe the president is being a "good father" for supporting his son through his legal problems.

“Do they look at Donald Trump, with nuclear codes, as worse than Joe Biden having a conversation with Burisma?” Madrid said. “Neither of them matter as much to independents as, ‘Does a woman have a right to abortion services?’ I just don’t think that these stories penetrate into public opinion the way that they used to. They really haven’t in modern times, since at least 1998.”

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