Essential Politics: The surprising senator siding with Trump

WASHINGTON —  House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) vowed that Congress will hold Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg accountable, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) likened former President Trump to Jesus and Nelson Mandela.

But perhaps the most surprising statement from any Republican in Congress on the day of Trump’s arraignment came from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the former Republican Party standard-bearer who delivered a searing speech against Trump’s candidacy in 2016 and twice voted to convict him after his impeachment in the House. Far from a fan of Trump, Romney said Bragg “stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.” He suggested that the message of the Trump case being a political witch hunt might resonate with moderate or anti-Trump Republicans and independents.

The trio’s collective reaction largely encapsulates the mood among Republicans across the country after Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from the alleged cover-up of a hush money payment made before the 2016 election.

Welcome to today’s Essential Politics newsletter. I’m Nolan D. McCaskill, a congressional reporter who will highlight how congressional Republicans are responding to the biggest story in American politics.

Republicans humble Bragg

Congressional Republicans and Democrats staked out their positions on Trump’s legal woes last week after news that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Democrats, meanwhile, largely released cautious statements that said while no one is above the law, Trump will have his day in court.

With Congress in the middle of a two-week recess, members get to pick and choose how, when and whether they say anything about Trump and the case against him. Instead of congressional leaders taking questions at weekly news conferences on Capitol Hill and rank-and-file members being pressed for their positions in the halls by swarms of reporters, members were able to tweet, release email statements, flock to their preferred television networks or stay silent.

After the indictment was unsealed Tuesday afternoon, both sides maintained their positions. McCarthy led the way for Hill Republicans, accusing Bragg of election interference with “politicized charges” while the Manhattan DA claims Congress lacks jurisdiction to investigate “this farce.”

“Not so,” McCarthy tweeted. “Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress.”

While Democrats control the Senate, Republicans narrowly won the House last November, giving them at least two years to set the chamber’s legislative agenda and conduct oversight with GOP committee chairs, some of whom have already engaged in a contentious back and forth with the DA’s office.

Greene, who traveled to New York City to protest the charges against Trump, told a conservative reporter that by surrendering, Trump was joining the likes of Jesus Christ and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

In his statement, Romney said “Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office” but added that “everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law. The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was conspicuously quiet. On Tuesdays when the Senate is in session, he and Schumer take questions from the press. But with the chamber in recess, only Schumer chose to speak out, releasing a statement that said Trump will have a fair trial while warning against “any outside influence or intimidation in the legal process.”

Some congressional Republicans wondered aloud where Hunter Biden‘s indictment was, alluding to the president’s son, whom congressional Republicans are investigating. Many more made critical statements targeting Bragg as a far-left prosecutor who’s pursuing a partisan witch hunt in an effort to stop Trump from winning the White House in 2024.

“Election interference,” tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a top Trump ally and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, summing up how Trump’s base views the charges.

“We’re MAGA Republicans, we’re with Trump, and we’re winning in 2024,” added Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. “Signed, 100 million Americans.”

The labor of confirming Su

Julie Su speaks during a Senate HELP Committee hearing in March 2021.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

The good for news for Senate Democrats, the White House and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su is Democrats have a slightly larger majority now than when they confirmed Su, California’s former labor secretary, to be the Department of Labor’s deputy secretary in the last Congress.

The bad news for that bunch is that the 2024 Senate map — in which Democratic-held seats are up in states Trump won in 2020, such as Montana and West Virginia — could be an obstacle to confirming her to the top post.

President Biden nominated Su to succeed former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about a month ago. Two weeks elapsed before the White House sent the nomination to the Senate, and with Congress on the front end of a two-week recess, Su’s labor secretary nomination is already behind the pace of her 2021 confirmation for the deputy post, when the Labor committee held her hearing five weeks after she was nominated. She was reported favorably out of committee five weeks after the hearing and ultimately confirmed in mid-July 2021 in a 50 to 47 vote (three Republicans didn’t vote).

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will reportedly hold her confirmation hearing on April 20. Su has met with at least 15 Democratic senators since her latest nomination, according to the Labor Department. But it’s unclear whether those meetings will continue virtually while senators are back home.

“As part of the confirmation process, Acting Secretary Su is grateful for the opportunity to sit down and discuss the successes of the Biden-Harris administration and her continued work on behalf of America’s workers with elected leaders on both sides of the aisle,” a Labor spokesperson said.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who didn’t vote during Su’s first confirmation, predicted Su’s nomination will be difficult for Republicans and even “a few Democrats.” In an interview, he conceded Republicans will likely lobby Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) — and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who caucuses with Democrats — to vote against her.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) acknowledged “it’s always a risk” that members could change positions based on their own reelection prospects. Unlike House members, whose seats are up for reelection every two years, senators hold staggered six-year terms. Of Manchin and Tester, Hickenloop said, “they’ll do the right thing.”

Last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s (R-Ky.) office cast Su as one of Biden’s “radical, scandal-plagued nominees to critical government positions,” citing reporting from The Times and other news outlets, which included coverage that California doled out $30 billion in unemployment benefits to scammers when Su led the state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

The other nominee McConnell’s office highlighted? Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn, who withdrew from consideration last month after Manchin announced his opposition.

One potential upside for supporters of Su is that she’s able to do the job she’s being considered for while she waits for the confirmation process to play out.

“That’s a good question,” Hickenlooper said when asked whether confirming Su was much of a priority given that she’s already performing the role in an acting capacity. “I mean, she’s doing the job.”

The latest from the campaign trail

— The Trump campaign has raised $10 million since news of the ex-president’s indictment broke Thursday, according to Newsmax.

— Boy Meets Congress? “Boy Meets World” star Ben Savage is among the dozen candidates running to replace Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) in the House as he runs for U.S. Senate, Seema Mehta reports.

— “You’re the whiteboard lady,” Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) said, describing how some of her supporters see her after successfully using her signature prop viral clips from congressional hearings. The whiteboard is “a prop that has become inextricably linked to the California congresswoman’s identity,” even as she runs for U.S. Senate, The New Republic’s Grace Segers writes.

The view from Washington

— After repeatedly refusing to comment, President Biden finally said something ahead of his potential 2024 rival’s surrender: “I have faith in the New York Police Department.” He also responded “yes” when asked whether he had faith in the legal system, Erin B. Logan and Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu report.

— Jill Biden press secretary Vanessa Valdivia clarified comments the first lady made earlier this week about inviting LSU and Iowa, the winner and loser of Monday’s women’s national basketball championship, respectively, to the White House. “Her comments in Colorado were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes,” Valdivia said, according to CNN. “She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”

— At his ceremonial swearing in, new IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel vowed that the agency will move faster and provide taxpayers “real-world improvements,” the Associated Press reports.

The view from California

— Tuesday was election day for San Fernando Valley voters choosing among seven candidates seeking a seat on the L.A. City Council, Dakota Smith reports.

— Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) told reporters last month that Americans know the Manhattan district attorney’s office case against Trump is political, and they’re tired of it. “But back home in McCarthy’s Bakersfield congressional district, the reaction is more nuanced,” Arit John reports. “Some think it’s about time, while others wonder if the time has passed.”

— Gov. Gavin Newsom has done a lot of things someone with eyes on the presidency would do. There are reasons to believe he won’t run for president in 2024, Mark Z. Barabak writes, but “[w]hat’s clear is the governor’s ambitions can’t be contained by his current occupation.”

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