The Hill’s Morning Report — House GOP censures Schiff, eyes reprimanding others

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 06/22/23 6:20 AM ET

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If voters envisioned a reality TV House of Representatives, the determined paybacks by some Republicans aimed at the foes of President Trump — one liberal Democratic congressman as well as President Biden — fit that script.

The House voted 213-209-6 along party lines on Wednesday to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as punishment for his 2019 handling of an Intelligence Committee investigation examining Trump’s finances and Russia and to protest his role in Trump’s impeachment. His censure was only the third such House rebuke in the 21st century (CNN).

Six Republicans voted present (five are members of the House Ethics panel, which receives the censure resolution). Five Democrats on the Ethics Committee opposed the reprimand.

The congressman, a candidate in California’s crowded Senate race next year, tried to motivate fellow Democrats using the day’s turn of events.

“I wear this partisan vote as a badge of honor,” Schiff said.

After the vote, Democrats surrounded Schiff on the House floor, chanting “Adam, Adam.” They interrupted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as he tried to announce the results of the vote, shouting “shame, shame, shame!”

The vote marked the apex of Republicans’ years-long campaign against Schiff, who emerged as a bogeyman on the right for his unrelenting criticism of Trump and eagerness to investigate the former president’s actions before and during his time in office (The Hill).

Schiff told his colleagues he had no regrets for trying to hold “a dangerous and out-of-control president accountable” and would do it again in the future, if need be.

Schiff told CNN on Tuesday that Trump threatened to defeat GOP primary candidates who did not vote for the censure resolution: “It shows you just who is behind this whole effort to distract from Trump’s legal problems. [It] is Trump.”

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Schiff ally who backs him for the Senate, did not mince words on the House floor Wednesday. She accused Republicans of “wasting time” with “puppet show” floor votes intended to curry favor with “puppeteer” Trump (The Hill).

Across the Capitol in the Senate, Republicans are nervously eyeing moves by other GOP House members to try to impeach Biden and administration officials including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, reports The Hill’s Al Weaver. One of them is Freedom Caucus firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Another is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who says she may target FBI Director Christopher Wray andAttorney General Merrick Garland.

“We really need to have this argument here in our conference and get to the same place that our base is, where our Republican voters are, and they’ve had enough. They’ve absolutely had enough,” Greene told reporters Wednesday.

The moves by Boebert and Greene are also seen as conservative enforcement mechanisms aimed at McCarthy, who is struggling to lead his fractious conference and its narrow, four-vote majority.

The Hill: Boebert’s Biden impeachment gambit divides and angers GOP.

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▪ The Hill: The Senate on Wednesday failed to override Biden’s veto of an attempt to overturn a federal rule to reduce truck and bus pollution.

▪ The Hill: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proposed a framework policy for artificial intelligence on Wednesday.

▪ The Hill: Five things to know about the culture war hiding inside House appropriations bills.

▪ The Hill: Thirty-three Senate Republicans asked Biden in a letter on Tuesday to pull his nomination of acting Labor Secretary Julie Su for confirmation to the top job. She may not have sufficient Democratic backing in the 51-49 Senate.

▪ The Hill: Both parties heard what they wanted to hear during the rare House testimony from Justice Department special counsel John Durham.

▪ The Hill: The growing divide on student loan relief.

▪ Politico: The House Armed Services Committee approved the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill late Wednesday night by a vote of 58-1. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) opposed the measure.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ POLITICS

Samuel Alito has become the latest Supreme Court justice to face an ethics firestorm, adding to a stream of controversies at the high court about luxury trips and recusals, The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld reports.

Alito on Tuesday night took the rare step of penning a Wall Street Journal opinion piece to rebut a ProPublica story, published hours later, that detailed an undisclosed Alaskan fishing trip Alito took in 2008. The conservative justice admitted he accepted a seat on the private plane paid for by Paul Singer, a major Republican donor and billionaire hedge fund owner, and participated in several cases before the court in which a subsidiary of Singer’s fund was a party.

Alito denied any wrongdoing, clashing with judicial watchdog groups who say the revelation has only added to a string of ethical lapses by Justice Clarence Thomas and others at the Supreme Court. Democrats renewed a push for the court to adopt a binding code of ethics earlier this year, when Thomas came under fire for undisclosed luxury trips he took at the expense of Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor and real estate developer. Thomas also denied wrongdoing (Politico).

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) vowed to mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation following Congress’s Fourth of July recess (The Hill).

“Justice Alito’s response to this latest reporting shows exactly why this Supreme Court urgently needs an ethics overhaul to hold the justices accountable for the many instances of ethical wrongdoings that continue to come to light,” Whitehouse said in a statement. The effort, however, is already running into opposition from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who warned that Democrats should “stay out” of the court’s business (The Hill).

“Look, the Supreme Court, in my view, can’t be dictated to by Congress,” McConnell told reporters Wednesday. “I think the chief justice will address these issues. Congress should stay out of it because we don’t, I think, have the jurisdiction to tell the Supreme Court how to handle the issue.”

🏛️ The first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and the national right to an abortion, is coming up this weekend. In the lead-up, The Hill is examining how the monumental court ruling shaped the country in a series: Special report: Roe v. Wade falls — One year later.

When Biden rallied Democrats last September ahead of the midterm elections, he predicted the Supreme Court decision had set off major electoral ramifications.

“Republicans have awakened a powerful force in this country: women,” Biden said. “Here you come.”

He was right, report The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels. While the president faced criticism immediately after the ruling for not responding more aggressively to protect access, the issue helped propel Democrats to a better-than-expected midterm result. In the past year, voters in Kentucky rejected a ballot proposal that would have amended the state constitution to assert there is no guaranteed right to an abortion. Kansans voted to keep existing abortion protections in the state, while voters in Michigan, California and Vermont approved new abortion protections in the months after the Dobbs decision.

The issue will remain pivotal in the 2024 presidential election, with the Supreme Court’s decision giving Biden and his team a tangible way to argue that a Republican in the White House could lead to a national ban on the procedure.

▪ The Hill: How the Supreme Court changed America nearly a year ago by overturning Roe v. Wade.

▪ The Guardian: A new poll shows an increase in Americans planning to vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.

▪ Time magazine: What abortion laws look like in the U.S. one year after the fall of Roe.

▪ Reuters: How access to abortion has changed.

▪ USA Today: Abortion rights lawyer in case that overturned Roe was confirmed as a federal judge.

▪ The Hill: Most OB-GYNs in a new poll say the Dobbs ruling worsened pregnancy-related mortality.

Republican 2024 presidential hopefuls will converge in Washington, D.C. this weekend, offering members of the party their first chance to see all of the major contenders on the same stage. Former President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and others will be attending an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, coming on the heels of Trump’s federal indictment and news of Hunter Biden’s plea deal. The Hill’s Caroline Vakil has rounded up five things to watch as 2024 Republicans head to the nation’s capital.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) saw a boost to his political brand Tuesday night after his slate of endorsed State Legislature candidates won their respective primaries, writes The Hill’s Julia Manchester. Youngkin waded into the GOP contests last month, backing 10 candidates, all of whom won against their primary challengers. The results are seen as a boon to the incumbent governor ahead of what is expected to be a hard-fought cycle in November, and bolster his image as a rising star within the GOP ranks.

More 2024 headlines: DeSantis rolled out a campaign video Wednesday that takes him to the streets of San Francisco to use the city’s homeless problem to slam California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) (The Hill). … Meanwhile, DeSantis’s wealthy donors and supporters lent a golf simulator to the governor’s mansion and provided private flights to fundraisers and other political events (The Washington Post). … Presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley criticized former President Obama for his remarks about racism in America (The Daily Mail). … Asked about Haley and rival Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) approaches to race relations, Obama said in a podcast interview there was sometimes a tendency among Republican candidates to gloss over the effects of racism, arguing that candidates need to address racial disparities (The Guardian).

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle on Wednesday struck down Florida’s prohibition on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, the second decision to upend restrictions put into place at the urging of DeSantis. “There is no rational basis for a state to categorically ban these treatments or exclude them from the state’s Medicaid coverage,” stated Hinkle, who was first appointed to the court by former President Clinton. In his ruling, he called the restrictions “purposeful” discrimination against transgender individuals and not a “legitimate state interest” (Politico).

🎧 Tune in: The Hill’s new podcast, The Switch Up — hosted by journalist Cheyanne Daniels — explores the intersection of race and politics through conversations with leading scholars, advocates and legislators from communities of color. The first episode, available HERE, focuses on Black activists in the LGBTQ community.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ U.S. & CHINA

Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” Tuesday, sparking an angry reaction from Beijing in a sudden flare-up following discussions this week that were intended to thaw geopolitical tensions. Biden suggested at a California campaign fundraiser that Xi was embarrassed because he did not know about the alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the U.S. earlier this year, despite his status as China’s all-powerful leader.

“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course.”

Beijing quickly hit back, branding Biden’s dictator reference “extremely absurd and irresponsible.” The president’s remarks followed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s discussions with Xi and other Chinese officials this week in Beijing — an itinerary postponed by the U.S. immediately following the spy balloon incident (Reuters and NBC News).

It’s not the first time Biden made his view of an adversarial world leader transparent: In 2021, Biden told ABC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “killer” and warned he would “pay a price” for interfering in U.S. elections (Good Morning America).

OPINION

■ The price of making friends with Modi, by Maya Jasanoff, guest essayist, The New York Times.

■ Modi in Washington: A symbolic visit for a substantive partnership, by Husain Haqqani and Aparna Pande, opinion contributors, 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 10 a.m.

The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state visit at 10 a.m. The two leaders will meet in the Oval Office at 10:45 a.m., then take questions from the press at 12:45 p.m. in the East Room. The Bidens will pose for photos with Modi at 6:55 p.m., followed by a state dinner with invited guests.

Vice President Harris will participate this morning in the White House welcome for Modi. She will preside during a joint session of Congress for Modi’s address at the Capitol at 4 p.m. She and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will join Biden and the first lady while hosting Modi, including at the state dinner.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in London for the conclusion of the Ukraine Recovery Summit.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Paris. She held a press conference this morning ahead of her participation in the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. She joined the opening ceremony at the summit, then held a bilateral meeting with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, followed by a roundtable on the evolution of the Multilateral Development Bank with a focus on climate change. Yellen will participate in a bilateral meeting with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, followed by a bilateral discussion with Ghana’s President Akufo Addo. In the afternoon, the secretary will hold a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen with a focus on Ukraine. Yellen will participate in a roundtable about capital mobilization and climate as part of the “Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero.” She will also hold a bilateral meeting with the president of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, to discuss close cooperation between the United States and African Union. In the evening, the secretary will attend a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The attorney general will address the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “Chiefs of Police Executive Forum on Crime Guns” at 1:30 p.m. in Washington.

The Federal Reserve’s Powell at 10 a.m. will testify to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs about monetary policy, the economy and U.S. banks.

Economic indicator: The Labor Department will report on claims for unemployment benefits filed in the week ending June 17. The Bureau of Economic Analysis at 8:30 a.m. will report on U.S. trade in the first quarter.

ELSEWHERE

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned on Wednesday that it would take time for Kyiv to achieve results in its counteroffensive against Russia, as officials seek to manage expectations around the widely anticipated military operation. In the opening weeks of the counteroffensive, Kyiv’s forces have recaptured tiny farming villages, and progress in the early days has often been measured in yards, not miles.

“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not,” Zelensky told the BBC. “What’s at stake is people’s lives.”

Military analysts have warned that the fight would be long and bloody, and that it would take weeks or months, not days, to gauge the success of the offensive. But anticipation for the operation has built over months, as Ukraine amassed a powerful arsenal of Western-supplied weapons and tens of thousands of soldiers underwent training for the campaign (The New York Times). Ukrainian missiles struck the Chonhar road bridge connecting Crimea with Russian-held parts of the southern Kherson region overnight. The so-called “gate to Crimea” is one of a handful of links between the annexed peninsula and mainland Ukraine (Reuters).

▪ The Hill: Ukraine intensifies pressure in long-shot push for NATO membership.

▪ Politico EU: Europe’s new Marshall Plan: The European Union makes a bet on rebuilding Ukraine.

▪ The Washington Post: The U.S. and the West pledge billions of dollars’ worth of assistance for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

▪ The Hill: The Pentagon admits it overvalued Ukraine military aid by $6.2 billion.

▪ The Washington Post: African leaders visited with a peace plan. Putin showed little interest.

▪ The Washington Post: Israeli settlers rampage through a Palestinian village after Hamas shooting.

➤ BUSINESS & COURTS

✓ The Federal Trade Commission is taking e-commerce giant Amazon to court, claiming “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers” into signing up for its Prime subscription service and allegedly trying to keep users subscribed who wished to cancel their memberships (CNN). The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington marks the first against the company by FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan, who helped kickstart a wider debate on tech platforms’ impact on competition with an influential journal article in 2017 highlighting potential antitrust issues involving Amazon.

💊 The powerful lobby representing pharmaceutical companies sued the government on Wednesday to try to block Medicare negotiations approved by Congress to lower some drug prices as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The lawsuit from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) argues against the constitutionality of the law’s provision to use Medicare’s powerful sway on behalf of taxpayers and beneficiaries to control soaring drug prices in the marketplace. PhRMA joined with the National Infusion Center Association (NICA) and the Global Colon Cancer Association (GCCA) to file the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (The Hill).

The Washington Post: The White House met this week with drug firms about the high costs and affordability of overdose-reversal drugs, such as Narcan, which have proven to be lifesaving.

➤ LOST AT SEA

The submersible Titan remains lost in a remote portion of the northern Atlantic Ocean amid an unprecedented search and rescue effort involving multiple nations, resources and expertise by both air and sea. If the OceanGate dive vessel is intact, perhaps miles beneath the surface with five passengers aboard, its oxygen supply is estimated to run out between 5 and 6 a.m. ET. The vessel lost contact with its mother ship about an hour and 45 minutes into the planned dive on Sunday to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which on Wednesday was still calling the response a rescue operation, conceded that without any confirmed clues about where the Titan might be or about its condition, difficult decisions might have to be made today in coordination with OceanGate, the vessel’s owner. “You always have hope,” said Capt. Jamie Frederick, the First Coast Guard District response coordinator, during a news conference on Wednesday (USA Today).

The New York Times: A critical day for the Titan search.

The Coast Guard confirmed an unknown “banging” noise heard on Tuesday and Wednesday, but ocean and submarine experts have expressed doubt that the sounds originated from inside the Titan.

Stockton Rush, the chief executive of OceanGate, was piloting the submersible, according to the company. The other four passengers are Hamish Harding, a British businessman and explorer; a British-Pakistani businessman, Shahzada Dawood, and his teenage son, Suleman; and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French maritime expert who has been on more than 35 dives to the Titanic wreck site.

Experts have described the “miracle” any rescue would be after days of searching and how rare such success would be in maritime history (AS, CNN).

THE CLOSER

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Prompted by Hunter Biden’s legal problems, we’re eager for some smart guesses about history, headaches and presidential relatives.

Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@digital-stage.thehill.com and kkarisch@digital-stage.thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

During a tumultuous U.S. election year, which president was dogged by controversy when his brother became a paid agent for a dictatorial government?

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Ronald Reagan
Jimmy Carter

Which president faced a savings and loan crisis at a time when his son served on the board of a financial institution that went bankrupt, costing taxpayers more than $1 billion?

Martin Van Buren
Herbert Hoover
Lyndon Johnson
George H.W. Bush

Former President Nixon, according to information received by Senate Watergate investigators, directed the Secret Service to listen to phone conversations involving his brother, F. Donald Nixon, because he feared potential political headaches. During the 1960 presidential contest, how did Richard Nixon’s brother end up in the headlines?

Revelations of a $205,000 loan from billionaire Howard Hughes
Evidence of fathering a child out of wedlock
Probe of alleged scheme to sell forged paintings
Accusations of passing bad checks

Roger Clinton, former President Clinton’s half-brother, went to prison for more than a year in 1985 when his sibling was governor, and he received a controversial presidential pardon from his brother in 2001. What crime put Roger Clinton behind bars?

Tax evasion
Vehicular manslaughter
Cocaine possession
Wire fraud

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