The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Appeals court delays Trump document ruling; Biden to meet Xi

 

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Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. It is Friday! We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the co-creators. Readers can find us on Twitter @asimendinger and @alweaver22. Please recommend the Morning Report to friends and let us know what you think. CLICK HERE to subscribe!

 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths each day this week: Monday, 754,431; Tuesday, 755,643; Wednesday, 757,409; Thursday, 759,060; Friday, 759,677.

 

A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the National Archives from handing over Trump administration records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and agreed to fast-track former President Trump’s request to deny them altogether.  

A three-judge panel from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction to block the administration records ahead of today’s deadline to produce them. The decision gives the appeals court time to consider Trump’s claims of executive privilege, which he is using in an attempt to keep the records out of the hands of investigators. 

“The purpose of this administrative injunction is to protect the court’s jurisdiction to address [Trump’s] claims of executive privilege and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits,” the judges said in a brief order.  

The three judges scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 30; Trump’s next filing with the appeals court is due Tuesday.  

The Archives says the trove of documents that could end up with the House select panel includes call logs, handwritten notes and a draft executive order on “election integrity” (The Associated Press). The committee is searching high and low for records related to the former president’s actions, movements and decisions leading up to and during the deadly assault, including the “Stop The Steal” rally that Trump headlined moments before Congress began the process of certifying the election. 

The select committee was not tasked with an end date to report its findings, which means it has at least until the end of 2022 to complete its work, although the one-year mark since the riots is now less than two months away.  

The Wall Street Journal: Appeals court delays release of Trump records to the House while fast-tracking arguments. 

The move gives Trump less than three weeks to make the case that the documents should be shielded by executive privilege claims. The former president was dealt yet another blow on Thursday as President Biden’s White House indicated that it will not block the release of documents related to Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff.  

White House deputy counsel Jonathan Su penned a letter to Meadows’s attorney on Thursday notifying him that the president will not assert executive privilege over the documents, citing a “compelling need” by Congress to access the documents during its investigation into the deadly attack.  

“The President believes that the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information reflecting an effort to subvert the Constitution itself, and indeed believes that such an assertion in this circumstance would be at odds with the principles that underlie the privilege,” Su wrote (The Hill). 

 

 

The select committee also sought to tighten the screws on Trump’s final chief of staff, threatening in a separate letter to hold Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, in contempt of Congress if he does not appear for his deposition later today.

“The select committee will view Mr. Meadows’s failure to appear at the deposition … as willful non-compliance,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the panel told a lawyer for the former White House adviser (ABC News).  

While opponents of the former president will surely celebrate if Trump-era documents are made available to the select committee, The Hill’s Niall Stanage offers a warning: Be careful what you wish for. In his latest memo, Niall argues that it’s easy to see future GOP presidents respond in kind to their Democratic counterparts with items that could have potentially been covered under the executive privilege umbrella in past years. 

CNBC: For his attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and assault of a police officer, Scott Fairlamb received the longest sentence to date, 41 months, among the more than 600 people arrested thus far for their suspected actions that day. Federal prosecutors are seeking a jail sentence of 51 months for QAnon shaman Jacob Chansley (seen below with horns). 

The Hill: Alleged Capitol rioters claim they were “force fed” critical race theory in jail.

The New York Times: Problems at D.C. jail were ignored until Jan. 6 defendants came along. 

 

 

 

A MESSAGE FROM FACEBOOK

Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations

 

Rochelle is one of many experts working on privacy at Facebook—to give you more control over your information.

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LEADING THE DAY

ADMINISTRATION: Biden’s much anticipated virtual summit with President Xi Jinping of China is expected to take place on Monday. Their discussion comes amid heightened tensions over Taiwan, China’s military buildup, trade and human rights (CNN). At the same time, Beijing surprised many this week when the two largest climate polluters, the U.S. and China, agreed at a global climate summit to expand on cooperation. Biden had once hoped for an in-person summit with Xi, but the Chinese leader hasn’t left his country in nearly two years. 

Biden met with Xi as vice president, but the virtual discussion will be the first between the two leaders since Biden took office. Xi has hinted at a slight warming of relations with the United States, according to a statement published on the website of the Chinese embassy to the U.S. on Tuesday, and he is expected to invite Biden to the Beijing Winter Olympics next year (CNBC).

As Biden’s job approval numbers and perceived sway have plummeted in the United States, Xi this week cemented his power with the Chinese Communist Party (The New York Times). 

Xi, who has amassed more personal authority than any leader since at least Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, has widely been expected to pursue a third five-year term as party general secretary. That would break with a two-decade-old party tradition that would require the 68-year-old leader to step down next year, NPR reports.

 

 

> Pentagon: The administration is establishing a new policy for U.S. veterans who have been exposed to toxic burn pits during their service overseas, officials said on Thursday. The goal is to help more veterans receive health benefits — especially those with constrictive bronchiolitis, lung cancers and rare respiratory cancers. 

Biden has said he suspects his late son Beau’s exposure to burn pits in Iraq contributed to his death. “Because of his exposure to burn pits, in my view — I can’t prove it yet — he came back with stage four glioblastoma,” Biden said in 2019. “Eighteen months he lived, knowing he was going to die” (ABC News). “Anybody who was anywhere near those burn pits, that’s all they have to show, and they get covered, they get all their health care covered,” the president said. 

In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the Southwest Asia theater of military operations, open-air combustion of trash and other waste in burn pits was a common practice. The Department of Defense said over the summer that it will complete the closure of all remaining open-air pits.

> Biden will travel Tuesday to New Hampshire’s Woodstock bridge to tout the details of a $1.2 trillion measure that will invest in roads, ports, bridges, airports, rail and broadband. He will sign the bipartisan measure, negotiated for months, into law on Monday at the White House (WMUR). 

> Immigration: A record 136,026 undocumented immigrants are being monitored under a federal program designed to be an alternative to detention. The Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) program has grown from about 86,000 individuals early this year, alarming critics who assert the virtual surveillance program results in both physical and emotional harm to participants without achieving a goal of reducing the population of migrants being held in federal detention facilities, reports The Hill’s Chris Mills Rodrigo.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

POLITICS: Biden says the $1.75 trillion social spending package that is languishing in the House is the key to slowing down the inflation train. However, there is one inevitable question surrounding that discussion: When? (The New York Times). Many researchers agree with Biden in part, but believe the way the mammoth proposal is structured could add to the problem next year before prices have time to cool.

That possibility, fueled by the news this week that annual inflation jumped to 6.2 percent last month, has given Republicans another tool in the chest to deploy over the next year’s midterm elections in their bid to retake both chambers of Congress.  

As The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Sylvan Lane note, the GOP has spent months blaming Biden and the majority party for the rising gas and food prices, including in last week’s gubernatorial election in Virginia. 

“The entire Republican ecosystem is united on this fact because it’s a leading issue amongst voters,” one GOP strategist told The Hill. 

The inflation issue is also playing an increasing role in the Build Back Better negotiations, giving Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and centrists more leverage in a bid for a smaller bill.  

As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes, progressives are still pushing to build out the overall framework to include a national paid family leave program and a bigger expansion of Medicare benefits, but the latest inflation developments could harm those efforts, especially as Manchin becomes more vocal about the issue. Bolstering Manchin’s support is data showing the so-called misery index is reaching territory unseen since the Great Depression. 

The Wall Street Journal: Chart: Where inflation is highest in U.S.

The Hill: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t go to White House signing ceremony for the infrastructure bill.

 

 

> 2022 watch: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) made it official this morning that she will seek a fourth full term in the Senate next year, talking up her standing as one of the most bipartisan members and a key centrist GOP lawmaker. 

“I will work with anyone from either party to advance Alaska’s priorities and I will always stand up to any politician or special interest that threatens our way of life,” Murkowski said in a kickoff video. 

Her official entrance sets up a proxy battle between Senate leadership and Trump, who is looking to unseat her after she was one of seven Senate Republicans to impeach her. She is the lone GOP upper chamber member who is running for reelection. Despite Trump’s opposition, McConnell and the Senate GOP campaign arm has stood behind her reelection effort (The Hill) 

***** 

CORONAVIRUS: The contagious delta variant is driving up COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Mountain West and fueling outbreaks in the North, a worrisome sign of what could be ahead this winter in the U.S. While trends are improving in Florida, Texas and other Southern states that experienced summer surges, COVID-19 is moving north and west for the winter as people head indoors, close their windows and breathe stagnant air (The Associated Press). 

Massachusetts is already reporting rising COVID-19 infections as nearly 60,000 fully vaccinated residents have now tested positive for the coronavirus and 468 of them have died, according to the latest state data published on Tuesday (NBC Boston and The Boston Globe). 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), concerned about hospital shortages, signed an executive order in effect on Thursday to allow any resident 18 years of age or older to get COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. The order, which goes a step beyond the current age and other recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requires providers to administer shots to any adult who received their Pfizer or Moderna doses six months prior, or two months prior for those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine (The Hill). Colorado has fully vaccinated 62.2 percent of adults to date, and 10.9 percent have received booster doses.

Some of the president’s top health officials, eyeing rising infection rates in Europe and some parts of the United States, are pushing to also allow all adults to get booster doses of vaccines, but their perspective is not unanimous and a debate is underway. One hesitant official: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky (The Washington Post). 

 

 

The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@digital-stage.thehill.com and aweaver@digital-stage.thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!

 

OPINION

How likely is a Democratic comeback next year? by Kyle Kondik, author and opinion contributor, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/30mHsTU 

Democrats need to face down the woke, by Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/30lvcTC

 

A MESSAGE FROM FACEBOOK

Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations

 

Rochelle is one of many experts working on privacy at Facebook—to give you more control over your information.

Hear more from Rochelle on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet’s most pressing challenges, including federal privacy legislation.

 

WHERE AND WHEN

The House is in recess this week. It will convene for a pro forma session at 9:30 a.m.

The Senate meets for a pro forma session at 8:30 a.m. and returns to legislative work on Monday.

The president will participate virtually in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting at 8:30 a.m. Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:30 a.m. He will meet with his Cabinet at 2:30 p.m. to discuss implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he plans to sign into law on Monday. Biden will leave the White House at 5:40 p.m. for Camp David to spend the weekend. 

Vice President Harris is in Paris, where she will hold a press conference at the conclusion of her week in France and participate later today in the Paris Conference on Libya with other world leaders.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is in Paris with the vice president, visits a culinary training program in the afternoon and meets with first lady Brigitte Macron at the Élysée Palace a few hours later. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets at 8:30 a.m. with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the State Department. They will hold a signing ceremony and take questions from the news media. Blinken at 10:15 a.m. meets with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. The secretary will attend Biden’s Cabinet meeting at 2:30 p.m.  

The White House press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m. with Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who is back in the West Wing after quarantining following a positive test for COVID-19.

COP26, the U.N. climate change summit, is scheduled to conclude today in Glasgow, Scotland, with written global commitments, but could go into overtime. Negotiators from almost 200 nations began the summit talks on Oct. 31 (The Associated Press). 

Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-stage.thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube.

ELSEWHERE

➔ JUSTICE: Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team rested its case on Thursday in the murder trial of the 18-year-old after two and half days of testimony, setting up closing arguments for Monday. Rittenhouse has maintained that he was defending himself when he killed two men and wounded a third last summer in Kenosha, Wis., breaking down in tears on Wednesday when he took the stand. He faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide (The Associated Press). 

➔ INTERNATIONAL: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to shut off the flow of natural gas to Europe on Thursday in response to potential sanctions by the European Union for Belarus’s handling of migrants. “We are heating Europe, they are still threatening us that they will close the border. And if we shut off natural gas there?” Lukashenko said. The Yamal gas pipeline carries Russian gas through Belarus to Poland and Germany (The Hill). … Queen Elizabeth will make her first public appearance on Sunday after her Oct. 21 stay in the hospital and subsequent rest at the request of her doctors. The 95-year-old monarch will attend a Remembrance Day Service, according to Buckingham Palace (Reuters).  

➔ NEW SPACE STATION CREW: A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts docked Thursday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. “A pretty glorious sight” as the space station came into view after a 21-hour trip, enthused Raja Chari, commander of the Dragon capsule. “Floating in space and shining like a diamond,” added German astronaut Matthias Maurer. The other arriving crew members: NASA pilot Tom Marshburn, the veteran astronaut in the group, and NASA’s Kayla Barron (The Associated Press).

THE CLOSER

And finally … Morning Report Quiz winners, unite! It is true that 22 readers knew the correct answers to our Veterans Day-related puzzle. 

This week’s champs: Candi Cee, John Schrader, Jeremy Serwer, Mary Anne McEnery, Lou Tisler, Daniel Bachhuber, Patrick Kavanagh, Paul Harris, Allan Willinger, Pam Manges, Michel Romage, Richard Baznik, Len Jones, Jonathan Scheff, Lori Benso, Susan Olson, Lesa Davis, Mike Putt, Luther Berg, Sandy Walters and Sharon Banitt.  

The winners knew that “true” goes with this sentence: President Biden came of age amid the Vietnam War, but never served in the military and received five student draft deferments. (Our fact check source is HERE.)

It is also true that Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D) is a combat veteran of the Iraq War, a former U.S Army helicopter pilot and recipient of the Purple Heart. 

True: The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee this week proposed opening two new national cemeteries because Arlington National Cemetery is expected to run out of space for burials in 20 years. 

It is false that women between the ages of 18 and 25 are now required to register for the Selective Service, the draft system used by the U.S. military in times of a crisis. (But it could happen. It’s a proposed gender-equity change in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022.)