The Hill’s Morning Report — Trump, Biden step up 2024 fundraising

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 06/16/23 6:20 AM ET

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Early polls in the presidential race tell one story. The political money chase always tells another.

The drive to report fat campaign coffers this quarter means political teams work to pile up the big-money VIP donor events, small-dollar appeals to grassroots supporters, and then boast about resulting hauls to the news media.

Former President Trump’s campaign team raved about receiving political contributions of $6.6 million as his supporters reacted to the government’s indictment of Trump for alleged national security violations and obstruction of a federal investigation into classified documents stockpiled at Mar-a-Lago. The hefty tally of contributions can’t be verified until the campaign files required disclosures to the Federal Election Commission next month.

As part of a fundraising email to supporters on Thursday, Trump said, “I am announcing that our campaign has raised over $7 MILLION since the Biden Department of Justice began its political prosecution of me.”

President Biden this month plans to pass the hat at more than 20 fundraisers, helped by three top Democratic VIP surrogates, according to the president’s political team. He is in Greenwich, Conn., today for a donor reception and he’ll be in Philadelphia on Saturday for a rally with union members (CBS News).

The goal for the president, aside from discouraging other contenders and capturing the nomination, is to collect more than $1 billion for his reelection. As Biden in April kicked off his bid for a second term, some allies worried his fundraising was off to a slow start with a strategy for gathering major donors, which they thought might be interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy (Bloomberg News).

The 2024 presidential cycle is expected to be the most expensive in history, outpacing the $4.1 billion raised and spent in 2019 and 2020 by 149 people who filed with the FEC as presidential aspirants. Trump’s team reported receiving contributions of more than $744 million in the 2020 cycle, and Biden’s campaign reported raising and spending more than $1 billion last time.

First lady Jill Biden wrapped up a fundraising swing to New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles this week. One her events, within sight of the Hollywood sign in the nearby hills, raised money for the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that includes President Biden’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties. The committee can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars per donor.

“We’ve accomplished so much, and I hope you’re proud of Joe, because his wins are really your wins,” the first lady said during her brief remarks. “We know what’s in store if these MAGA Republicans win, because we’ve all lived through this.”

Vice President Harris will be in Denver today for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

Biden will be in Northern California from Monday to Wednesday and will tap tech and climate executives for contributions (KCRA3). He plans to appear Monday at a Democratic campaign event hosted by Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, his wife Shannon Hunt-Scott and Microsoft board member and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, according to Reuters. Biden will speak at a second reception co-hosted by eight tech, climate and private equity entrepreneurs and investors including Dan Kalafatas, Hadley Mullin, Steve Silberstein and Mark Robinson. Also expected to participate: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will campaign on Saturday at a Nevada Basque Fry in Gardnerville near Carson City (2 News).

Trump legal developments: The Trump indictment lays bare security risks of storage at Mar-a-Lago (The Hill). … Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, in charge of the U.S. v. Trump case in South Florida, on Thursday ordered all attorneys and any “forthcoming” lawyers in the case — including those representing defendant Trump as well as alleged co-conspirator Walt Nauta — to contact the Justice Department about obtaining security clearances (Politico). … The Atlantic profiles personal aide Nauta as Trump’s “bag man.” … The Washington Post explores whether Nauta, 40, a former Navy cook who worked for Trump at the White House, at Mar-a-Lago and is assisting the candidate as a valet, will “flip.” … U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan set a Jan. 15, 2024, date for a second defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll, a New York writer who last month won a $5 million jury verdict against Trump for sexual abuse and defamation (The Guardian).

Related Articles

▪ The Washington Post: The California Senate race to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) may grow to include a Silicon Valley executive, Lexi Reese, a Democrat who has never held elective office.

▪ CNN: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) sent 42 migrants, including eight children, on a day-long bus trip of 1,500 miles to Los Angeles, registering his opposition to Democrats’ immigration policies. They arrived Wednesday night and received assistance from California-based support groups.

▪ NBC News: A co-chair of No Labels, the group working toward a third-party presidential ticket in 2024, said it would cease its efforts if polls show Biden “way, way out ahead” of Trump next spring.

▪ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and New Jersey Globe: Biden hired Democratic operative Michael Tyler to begin in July as his reelection campaign communications director.

▪ The Washington Post: Discord documents leak suspect Jack Teixeira indicted on new counts of mishandling classified material.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Thursday that some Republicans are “driving us toward a government shutdown” and called the majority’s most conservative bloc “irresponsible individuals.”

A number of House Freedom Caucus members and their far-right allies brought the chamber to a standstill last week after opposing a rule for several bills they supported, expressing their frustrations with the bipartisan debt limit bill Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached with Biden. Though the 11 rebels relented Monday evening, the Speaker agreed to craft most fiscal 2024 appropriations bills at fiscal 2022 spending levels. The possibility that conservatives would move to boot McCarthy from the Speakership if he seeks to send Biden bills that spend more than 2022 toplines is prompting government shutdown fears (Roll Call).

“At the end of the day, any spending agreement that is arrived at by the end of the year has to be consistent with the resolution of the default process — otherwise, what was it all for?” Jeffries said. “Why did we try avoiding a default to make sure that America pays its bills with a topline spending agreement? What was it all for? Because now all we’re engaging in is right-wing theater designed to jam extreme, painful cuts down the throats of the American people. And Democrats will not let it happen.”

A long list of conservatives left Washington this week accusing McCarthy and other GOP leaders of using budgetary “gimmicks” to create the false impression that they’re cutting 2024 outlays back to 2022 levels, rather than adopting the fundamental budget changes to realize those reductions and rein in deficit spending over the long haul, writes The Hill’s Mike Lillis. The hard-liners are already threatening to oppose their own party’s spending bills when they hit the House floor later this year, undermining the Republicans’ leverage in the looming budget fight while heightening the chances of a government shutdown.

Senate Republicans are worried that the House GOP’s decision will create a tough road for lawmakers to avert a government shutdown. As The Hill’s Al Weaver reports, House Republican leaders announced a plan to write 2024 spending bills at 2022 levels this week, representing an attempt to assuage House Freedom Caucus members who last week effectively shut down all work in the chamber over their dissatisfaction with the debt ceiling bill. However, the news landed like a thud with GOP appropriators in the Senate, leaving them to scramble over how to get a bill through Congress before the end of September.

“It’s going to be a problem,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the No. 5 Senate Republican and an Appropriations Committee member, told The Hill. “I don’t want to co-opt what Sen. Susan Collins might say, but … we struck an agreement that will write to those numbers.”

Meanwhile, House lawmakers this week introduced major military policy and funding changes they hope to see in defense spending bills later this year, offering a preview of efforts to combat China and efforts to address more contentious culture war issues. The Hill’s Brad Dress and Ellen Mitchell report that over the course of seven subcommittee gatherings on Tuesday and Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee passed an initial round of markups for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, with plans to finalize the proposal in front of the full panel next week. While Armed Services panel chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) praised the bipartisan work of the seven subcommittees, the months ahead have plenty of political landmines, from a fight over Space Command headquarters to abortion policies in the military.

▪ The Hill: DC-area senators vow to fight Reagan National airport expansion “with everything we’ve got.”

▪ Politico: Senate Republicans are urging Democrats to join forces with them on student loans as the issue faces a divided Hill and an unclear Supreme Court future.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ SUPREME COURT

Justices on Thursday upheld a key provision of a federal law aimed at protecting Native American children while buttressing tribal identity. The 7-2 ruling said that a section of the Indian Child Welfare Act, enacted in 1978 to keep Native American children within tribes, does not discriminate on the basis of race, as challengers argued. Congress passed the law to end a longstanding practice in the United States of removing many Native American children from their families and placing them with non-Native Americans. The provision at issue gives preference to Native Americans seeking to foster or adopt Native American children (NBC News and The New York Times). Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

“We are overcome with joy,” a coalition of organizations including the Indian Child Welfare Association and the National Congress of American Indians said in a statement after the ruling. “One thing is certain: ICWA is crucial for the safety and well-being of Native children and families and the future of Native peoples and Tribal Nations.”

▪ The New York Times, Adam Liptak: Justice Neil Gorsuch, who spent his early years in Colorado, has demonstrated a distinctive dedication to Native American rights in soaring judicial opinions steeped in history.

▪ Vox: The Supreme Court is doing something out of character: Obeying precedents.

▪ Forbes: Did the Supreme Court just drop a hint on its upcoming student loan forgiveness case?

▪ CNN: The Supreme Court could rule soon on affirmative action cases.

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News on Thursday that Russia will lose its war if Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive succeeds. He said news from the front lines was “generally positive but it’s very difficult.” As Russia launches more artillery, mortar and airstrikes, Ukrainian defense officials on Thursday reported slow progress along multiple lines of attack in the country’s southeast.

“It is very difficult to advance,” Hanna Malyar, a deputy Ukrainian defense minister, told reporters, adding that fields littered with Russian mines were also an obstacle to the push. For a third straight day, Kyiv did not claim to have retaken any settlements but said its forces were attacking Moscow’s defenses in multiple areas along the front line (The New York Times).

“It may be slow when you look at the numbers,” Malyar said, “but the progress is confident.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged nations to keep support to Ukraine flowing on Thursday, calling the war efforts “a marathon, and not a sprint.” Austin’s remarks came during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, which included defense ministers from nearly 50 countries. It’s the 13th time the coalition has gathered since the war began. Washington has earmarked tens of billions of dollars in support for Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, and the U.S. is in it for “the long haul,” Austin said (Politico).

▪ The Hill: Ukraine’s counteroffensive so far: steady gains, heavy losses.

▪ The Associated Press: African leaders set to meet with presidents of Ukraine, Russia in bid to end war.

▪ The Washington Post: Amid NATO divisions, U.S. backs incremental step for Ukraine’s entry.

▪ Reuters: Russia tries to signal normalcy as Ukraine forces advance.

▪ CNN: Russian cyber criminals are behind a global cyberattack that hit several U.S. government agencies by exploiting a vulnerability in widely used software, the government said Thursday.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday, the South Korean military said, less than an hour after Pyongyang warned of an “inevitable” response to military drills staged earlier in the day by South Korean and U.S. troops (Reuters).

Pope Francis, 86, today was discharged from a Rome hospital after abdominal surgery more than a week ago to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring. Francis left in a wheelchair, smiling and saying “thanks” to a crowd of well-wishers, then stood up so he could get into the small Vatican car awaiting him (The Associated Press).

▪ The Associated Press: Scathing report finds former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled the U.K. Parliament over “partygate.”

▪ NBC News: Greece finds no more survivors of migrant boat disaster with hundreds missing.

▪ Politico EU: France presses the European Union to declare a trade war against China.

▪ ABC News: Chinese spies breached hundreds of public, private networks, security firm says.

▪ The Washington Post: China’s grudging welcome to Secretary of State Antony Blinken: It’s all about the economy.

OPINION

■ Is a revolution in cancer treatment within reach? by Kate Pickert, guest essayist, The New York Times.

■ Trump and the party of political violence, by William S. Becker, opinion contributor, The Hill.

WHERE AND WHEN

📲 Ask The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will meet at 2 p.m.

The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. for a pro forma session.

The president will travel to West Hartford, Conn., to speak at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford at 2:05 p.m. Biden will travel to Greenwich, Conn., to headline a campaign reception at 5:15 p.m. On Saturday, the president will travel to Philadelphia for remarks at a political rally hosted by union members. Biden will travel to Rehoboth Beach, Del., later on Saturday for the weekend.

Vice President Harris will travel to Denver with second gentleman Doug Emhoff to speak about the climate crisis and clean energy at 1:40 p.m. MT at Northfield High School. She and Emhoff will address a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Denver at 3:20 p.m. About an hour later, they will fly from Denver to Los Angeles.

The secretary of state is traveling beginning this evening to China for meetings in Beijing with counterparts (The Associated Press). He also plans an itinerary Wednesday in the U.K. to participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference. He meets today at 10:30 a.m. at the State Department with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, followed by a joint news conference with Balakrishnan at 11:45 a.m.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at 1 p.m. will chair a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

ELSEWHERE

➤ HEALTH & WELLBEING

The homicide rate for older U.S. teenagers rose to its highest point in nearly 25 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suicide rate for adults in their early 20s was the worst in more than 50 years, according to a Thursday report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts cited several possible reasons for the increases, including higher rates of depression, limited availability of mental health services and the number of guns in U.S. homes. Guns were used in 54 percent of suicides and 93 percent of homicides among 10- to 24-year-olds in 2021. The increase is alarming and “reflects a mental health crisis among young people and a need for a number of policy changes,” said Steven Woolf, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher who studies U.S. death trends and wasn’t involved in the CDC report (PBS NewsHour).

▪ The New York Times: It’s not just you: Many Americans face insurance obstacles over medical care and bills.

▪ The Atlantic: The pregnancy risk that doctors won’t mention.

▪ Vox: What’s behind Black women’s excessive rate of fibroids?

▪ The Washington Post: Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights.

The Hill’s ongoing Special Report series about cancer focuses today on the political challenges facing the U.S. battle against cancer. Catch up with the series: Cancer rates are climbing among the young; How COVID-19 set back the fight against cancer; and Who you are, where you live help determine your chances of beating cancer.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Alert to rules in the House of Representatives, they turned in smart guesses (or Googling) about congressional procedures.

Here’s who went 4/4 in regular order: Laura Rettaliata, Ki Harvey and Pam Manges.

They knew that the U.S. Botanic Garden allows senators to borrow plants for their offices.

The Constitution references the Speaker of the House, but offers virtually no guidance about election to that office.

The Senate provides members a quantity of blank paper and envelopes based on their state’s population.

It is true that the U.S. House of Representatives has more than 1,000 pages of rules.

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