Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked Tuesday that Congress be briefed on the classified documents that were found from President Biden's time as vice president.
Why it matters: Warner's pressure comes after the Democratic senator has pressed for more information on classified documents seized last year at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
The Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability announced Tuesday that it has launched an investigation into classified documents found in President Biden's former office.
Driving the news: Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, said he sent letters to the National Archives and the White House Counsel’s Office demanding information about "Biden's failure to return highly classified records from his time as vice president."
At a conference meeting Tuesday, House Republican leadership presented some — but not all — of the private concessions made to Freedom Caucus members in exchange for their support of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, multiple members told Axios.
Driving the news: Many Republicans had been in the dark over the details, outlined in a document that only some of them have seen and others refuse to talk about.
House Republicans on Tuesday voted to create a select subcommittee to investigate the “weaponization” of the federal government.
Driving the news: The creation of the potentially powerful panel fulfills a key promise House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made to a group of right-wing rebels last week in order to obtain his gavel.
A federal judge sentenced far-right media personality Anthime Gionet, also known as "Baked Alaska," to two months in prison on Tuesday for his role in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, he confirmed on Twitter after his sentencing hearing.
Why it matters: Gionet, who pleaded guilty in July to having "willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated, and picketed in" the Capitol building, livestreamed himself inside for nearly 30 minutes the day of the riot, according to court records.
A new student loan payment proposal unveiled by the Department of Education on Tuesday would lower monthly payment amounts for some Americans while completely pausing payments for others.
Why it matters: The regulatory changes to the Education Department's existing income-driven loan repayment plan could provide student loan relief after the total pause on repayments, which was extended to the end of June 2023, is lifted.
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced Tuesday for his role in helping run a years-long tax fraud scheme at the former president’s business, the AP reported.
Driving the news: Weisselberg, 75, was sentenced to five months in jail and taken into custody. He is expected to serve his sentence at Rikers Island in New York.
Two House Democrats from New York on Tuesday filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee against fellow New York Rep. George Santos, a Republican.
Driving the news: Newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had previously threatened a potential “impeachment inquiry” into Mayorkas over the DHS secretary's handling of the U.S.-Mexico border if Mayorkas didn't resign — anod to the GOP conference’s right flank that ultimately undermined his speakership bid.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday that she is running for Senate in 2024.
Why it matters: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 89, has not said if she’s running for re-election, but Porter will put significant pressure on California’s senior senator to decide.
Florida may end up paying up to $1 million to defend itself in a class action lawsuit filed over its decision to fly nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts last September.
Driving the news: The law firms Consovoy McCarthy and Campbell Conroy & O’Neil have been contracted to represent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other state officials in the lawsuit, the Tallahassee Democrat reported Monday.
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said in a speech on Tuesday the central bank is not a "climate policymaker," though acknowledged the Fed has a duty to ensure banks understand the financial risks associated with climate change.
Why it matters: How and if the Fed incorporates climate change initiatives into policymaking will continue to be a political flashpoint in the coming year. Powell seems to be drawing a clear line of how the Fed will maneuver the issue.
A private document that only some House Republicans have seen and others refuse to talk about could play an outsized role in the governance of the chamber over the next two years.
Why it matters: The document contains concessions — not included in the rules package passed on Monday night — that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made to rebellious Freedom Caucus members to secure the speaker's gavel.
President Biden's proposed 2024 presidential election primary calendar is running into a buzzsaw of opposition from two politically critical states — creating a standstill in locking down the Democrats' presidential primary schedule.
Why it matters: With the GOP in power in Georgia and New Hampshire, it's hard to expect Biden's changes will go through — even as Dems in those states have been given an extension to work things out.
Pro-democracy protesters in Brazil held massive demonstrations across the country Monday against the storming of Congress and other government buildings in Brasilia by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro over the weekend.
The big picture: As Brazilian authorities detained over 1,200 people in connection with the riots, tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters rallied across the country demanding those responsible be jailed, per AP.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on President Biden Monday to improve relations between the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean during their bilateral meeting in Mexico City.
Driving the news: López Obrador made the comments after warmly greeting the U.S. President and first lady Jill Biden, who are in the Mexican capital on their first foreign trip of 2023 for the North American Leaders' Summit.
The Republican-controlled House passed a bill Monday night that would slash tens of billions of funding dollars for the Internal Revenue Service.
Why it matters: The bill is unlikely to pass the Democratic-led Senate, but its presence at the top of the House GOP agenda suggests that IRS funding could be a reoccurring sticking point in future budget clashes.
President Biden's special counsel confirmed Monday that classified documents from his time as vice president were discovered in a private office space and turned over to the National Archives in November.
Driving the news: The documents were found while Biden's personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center, which Biden periodically used from mid-2017 until the start of his 2020 campaign, according to special counsel Richard Sauber. The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and Department of Justice, Sauber noted.
The threat of cuts to U.S. defense spending has emerged as a flashpoint in House Republicans' first week in the majority, widening the GOP's isolationist fault line and exposing the fragility of Kevin McCarthy's young speakership.
Why it matters: The implications of McCarthy's budget concessions are global, stretching far beyond the personal and process arguments that dominated his quest for the gavel.
Some Democratic lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to eject former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro from the U.S. after a mob of his right-wing supporters stormed Brazil's National Congress and other government buildings on Sunday.
Driving the news: Bolsonaro, who lost to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential election, flew to Florida two days before the end of his term on Jan. 1. Bolsonaro has criticized and denied involvement in the attack, which some are comparing to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection in the U.S.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) avoided another dramatic floor fight on Monday, passing the House rules package with only one Republican voting against it.
Between the lines: Some of McCarthy's concessions to GOP rebels weren't in the rules package and are being kept secret, the New York Times and Punchbowl reported.
