In The News

JUST POSTED — “Cotton gathers big donors to talk 2024 presidential race,” by Alex Isenstadt: “[Sen. TOM COTTON] emphasized that he wouldn’t defer to any other would-be candidates — including [DONALD] TRUMP — and said he planned to make a final decision on whether to run after this year’s midterm election.”

REVISE YOUR CALENDARS — Wednesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing has been postponed, the panel said today. Committee member ZOE LOFGREN (D-Calif.) told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the video staff needed more time to put the presentations together amid a packed hearing schedule.`

But, but, but: For the second day in a row, committee members and staffers contradicted each other, as a committee spokesperson said the change was “due to a number of scheduling factors, including production timeline and availability of members and witnesses,” per ABC’s Ben Siegel.

Thursday’s hearing will still go forward as scheduled. J. MICHAEL LUTTIG will be among those testifying, per NYT’s Maggie Haberman.

BIDEN PLAYS BEFORE THE HOME CROWD — A union audience in Philly is practically home turf for President JOE BIDEN, and the president looked at ease and animated on stage at an AFL-CIO convention this morning.

“Here’s the deal: America still has a choice to make,” Biden said, laying out a new bit of messaging. “A choice between government by the few for the few, or a government for all of us, democracy for all of us, an economy where all of us have a fair shot and a chance to earn our place in the economy.”

Biden acknowledged the pain of high prices, vowing to tackle inflation. But he didn’t stay on the back foot long: He also tagged Republicans as the “MAGA party,” and warned they would put the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery at risk. “I don’t want to hear any more of these lies about reckless spending,” Biden declared angrily, citing recent deficit reductions. “We’re changing people’s lives!” (Just the mention of Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.), meanwhile, elicited scattered boos.)

But just before Biden spoke, Axios’ Hans Nichols reported some news that the union audience might not like: The president told Cabinet members last week that he’s leaning in favor of lifting some of Trump’s China tariffs. That decision would follow a pitched battle within the administration between pro-labor or tough-on-China hawks who want the tariffs to stay, and officials who argue that lifting them could help with inflation.

PARIAH NO MORE — The White House announced today that Biden will travel to the Middle East from July 13-16, with stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia. In Jeddah, he’ll attend the “Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan.”

There has, of course, been fierce criticism of the prospect of Biden meeting with Saudi Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN to seek cooperation on oil; the White House announcement, notably, lists everything from Yemen to security to climate to human rights as discussion points in the Saudi visit before a mention of “global energy and food security.”

While the statement didn’t explicitly mention a meeting with MBS, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE acknowledged to reporters on Air Force One this morning that he and Biden would see each other. Asked whether Biden would raise the Saudi state murder of JAMAL KHASHOGGI, Jean-Pierre didn’t say yes, but simply that “we’re not overlooking any conduct that happened before the president took office.”

Some Senate Dems reacted unhappily, telling CNN’s Manu Raju and Bloomberg’s Laura Litvan that they didn’t expect the meeting to get gas prices much lower while it would give MBS a pass on human rights.

Good Tuesday afternoon.

DEMOCRACY DIGEST

HOW CLOSE WE CAME — WaPo’s Michael Kranish reconstructs the tense Jan. 3, 2021, Oval Office meeting at which JEFFREY CLARK tried to get Trump to install him as A.G. so he could overturn the 2020 election. Clark had sent a letter outlining a plan to accept slates of alternate presidential electors, authored by new DOJ arrival (and Breitbart alum) KENNETH KLUKOWSKI, while acting A.G. JEFFREY ROSEN and deputy RICHARD DONOGHUE tried to stop him, warning Trump of mass chaos. Kranish digs into Clark’s history as an environmental lawyer and alliance with Rep. SCOTT PERRY (R-Pa.). Klukowski is now cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee.

Some tense moments from the meeting (there are many more in the story):

Donoghue to Clark: “You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.”

White House counsel PAT CIPOLLONE: The alternate-elector letter is “a murder-suicide pact.”

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE DROPOUT — Fulton County, Ga., DA FANI WILLIS’ investigation into the effort to overturn the 2020 election has now sought testimony from publicist TREVIAN KUTTI, the KANYE WEST rep who reportedly tried to make an election worker confess to fraud, CNN’s Sara Murray and Jason Morris report.

TRACKING THE ‘BIG LIE’ — Across more than 170 GOP primaries for statewide or federal office so far, a whopping 108 victors have campaigned on repeating Trump’s lies about 2020 and election fraud, WaPo’s Amy Gardner and Isaac Arnsdorf tally. Dozens more have emphasized voting restrictions. The lie is now a central animating force of the Republican Party.

The stakes: “Many will hold positions with the power to interfere in the outcomes of future contests — to block the certification of election results, to change the rules around the awarding of their states’ electoral votes or to acquiesce to litigation attempting to set aside the popular vote.”

CONGRESS

DEMS GUN-SHY ON GUNS — Progressive Democrats in the House are worried that Senate Republicans won’t actually follow through on the framework for gun reform legislation unveiled this weekend — but they’ll likely vote for it if it gets to them, Sarah Ferris and Jordain Carney report. That’s despite the Senate framework’s much smaller scope compared to what the House has passed.

One potential obstacle: If the school security funding plank involves putting more police officers in schools, progressives and Congressional Black Caucus members could balk.

Rep. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-Mo.): “I think it would be tragedy on top of tragedy if we backed away from this. … Like, hey, those knuckle buckets in Congress finally got something done.”

— Meanwhile, Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) told CNN’s Manu Raju that “the framework is very encouraging,” sounding like a potential yes vote though she wasn’t one of the 10 Republicans who signed on originally.

— And Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) said on the Senate floor that negotiators are aiming to finalize the bill this week for a vote next week, per WaPo’s Leigh Ann Caldwell.

ALL POLITICS

PRIMARY COLORS — One under-the-radar race today is the South Carolina Democratic gubernatorial primary, where former Rep. JOE CUNNINGHAM’s main opponent, MIA MCLEOD, is emphasizing her identity as a Black woman, WaPo’s Stratton Lawrence reports from Charleston. McLeod’s campaign manager tweeted that the “White Savior complex is on the ballot,” provoking a backlash from some Black Cunningham supporters who say she could never win the general. McLeod is still seen as the underdog today, but her campaign’s aggressive tweets have drawn more media attention lately, and she’s picked up the support of Cunningham’s ex-wife.

DOUBLE DOSE OF MOLLY BALL — The Time reporter is out today with two big features: First she dives into the House GOP’s ascendant “MAGA Squad,” which will grow quite powerful if House Republicans end up with a narrow majority next year. Reps. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) and their allies are pushing hard to grow their ranks and their influence via this year’s primaries.

— And Ball goes on the campaign trail with Greene in Georgia, and captures the moment Greene learned about the disclosure of the Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade: Tears on her face, Greene repeated, “I can’t believe it.” “[I]n that moment, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reaction was totally pure,” Ball writes. “She received it like a gift from God.”

BIG GET IN MANHATTAN — Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) backed Rep. JERRY NADLER today in his New York Democratic primary against fellow incumbent CAROLYN MALONEY.

FASCINATING BIT OF HISTORY — “The Target of the First Watergate Burglary Still Wonders: ‘Why Me?’” by WaPo Magazine’s Manuel Roig-Franzia: “Before the infamous break-in, there was another. A former DNC official ponders the wiretap that changed his life.”

WAR IN UKRAINE

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES — As the U.S. tries to send weaponry to Ukraine, it’s running into some logistical hassles: “the Pentagon’s acquisition system is still not pivoting quickly enough to get the latest commercial gear to the front lines,” report Lee Hudson and Bryan Bender. The defense industry is frustrated by DOD’s pace, while lobbyists complain about layers of bureaucracy and “mixed messages” from the department — with potential ramifications for, say, competition with China.

— Meanwhile, technical assistance from the U.S. to help Ukrainians fix problems with the Javelins has come up short, hindering troops’ ability to use the weapons, WaPo’s Alex Horton reports.

PLAYBOOKERS

BOOK CLUB — Crooked Media is creating a book imprint with Zando, Crooked Media Reads, per the AP. Their first book will be the novel “Mobility” from Lydia Kiseling, coming in August 2023.

HOLLYWOODLAND — WaPo and Imagine Entertainment have created a strategic partnership to make movies and TV shows out of the newspaper’s journalism, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. scooped.

OUT AND ABOUT — The Foreign Policy for America 2022 Leadership Summit at the Eaton Hotel on Monday drew more than 200 attendees along with foreign policy leaders. SPOTTED: Bonnie Jenkins, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Andrew Albertson, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Colin Allred (D-Texas), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Jon Finer, Sasha Baker, Nina Hachigian, Nazanin Ash, David Livingston,Karim Farishta, Chanda Daniels, Michèle Flournoy, Cindy Huang, Tom Hart, Kristina Biyad, Geo Saba,David White, Tod Sedgwick, William Hill and Robert Gelbard.

— The Politics and Pros First Tee fundraising event at Woodmont Country Club brought in $320,000 on Monday for the PGA’s First Tee of Greater DC. SPOTTED: Jonathan Byrd, Billy Hurley III, Reps. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Rick Allen (R-Ga.) and Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Baker Elmore, Jesse McCollum, Wells Ellenberg, Lindsey Dickinson Baynard, Matt Perin and Bryan Jacobs.

STAFFING UP — Reginald Belon is joining the Commerce Department as a scheduler. He previously was director of operations for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.).

TRANSITIONS — Shari Yost Gold, a former adviser to VP Kamala Harris, is joining Heather Podesta’s lobbying and comms firm Invariant as senior adviser in comms and public affairs, writes CNBC’s Brian Schwartz. … Andy Resnick is now senior director of external affairs and market development at Pattern Energy. He previously was director of comms and public affairs at America Makes. … Eric Harris has been named director of government relations and public affairs for Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada. He previously was at the Recycling Partnership and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Bill Stepien, president of National Public Affairs and Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, and Macy Stepien, director of digital and insights at FTI Consulting, welcomed Theodore Joseph Stepien on Monday. Pic