December 19, 2024

Where Johnson is. Where he might go. And can he survive?

We wish we could say we didn’t see this coming.1/2

Speaker Mike Johnson’s 1,547-page overstuffed CR officially died on Wednesday, less than a day after the congressional leadership posted it online. At first, the House Republican Conference was aghast — truly aghast— at the size and scope of the bill. And then Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance put the final nails in the coffin, saying the mammoth package was absurd, obscene and must include a hike in the debt limit or else==.

Johnson’s months-long effort to craft a CR went up in smoke — quite predictably.We’re going to explain all the dynamics the leadership in both parties are now facing.

The options and what’s next. At some point today, House Republicans and Democrats will likely have separate party meetings to chart their path forward. Democrats have announced their meeting for 9 a.m. We’ll talk more about them below.

But make no mistake — this is Johnson and Trump’s mess to solve.And we’re inching toward a shutdown as government funding runs out at midnight Friday.

Johnson was mostly MIA Wednesday, holed up in his Capitol office for hours without showing his face. Even the House GOP leadership team felt like they were being kept in the dark about what was happening.

Late in the evening, Johnson met with Vance, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rules Committee Chair Michael Burgess (R-Texas). Jordan and Roy are conservative hardliners. Diaz-Balart is a senior appropriator.

As Scalise left around 10 p.m., he told reporters “We’re not there yet” when asked whether the debt-limit boost would be part of any new government-funding plan. “A lot of things have come up,” Scalise added.

A somewhat obvious play may be a funding bill with a two-year debt-limit extension. Why? Because Trump supports increasing the debt limit now. Given how volatile Trump was during his first term, there’s no guarantee he’ll do this again. (For what it’s worth, Biden administration officials estimate the debt limit won’t be reached until sometime next summer. GOP leaders were planning to handle it in a reconciliation bill).

Trump is giving Johnson cover for the time being. It’s limited, however. Because Trump, once again, has put his party in a bind. There are probably dozens of Republicans who have never voted for raising the debt ceiling. Now Trump is forcing them to do so.

Here’s another major sticking point — what happens tothe $100 billion in disaster funding and an extension of the farm bill?Good question. Those are pretty muchmust-pass bills. So Johnson needs to find a way forward on those too.

https://punchbowl.news/article/washington/cr-status-johnson-in-trouble/

>>22194009

2/2

The key question here is whether Roy and other conservatives are pushing for offsets to the disaster spending. The Texas Republican frequently demands offsets to emergency spending — and those will be a non-starter with Democrats and the Senate.But spending cuts could be attractive to Team Trump.

Johnson has almost no choice in another matter — he’ll probably need to take this bill to the House Rules Committee today. That means whatever Johnson does willhave to pass muster with Roy and Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Democrats won’t help Republicans at any part of this process. This is all on the GOP now.

And what about the numerous other provisions in the CR package? They’re dead, forget about them. Maybe they can be enacted in the next Congress.

How damaged is Johnson? Let’s start at the beginning. It always made sense for Johnson to clear the decks by passing funding through September 2025.

But he didn’t want to. Johnson aides said it would be an untenable play call. Scalise — the most seasoned member of leadership — advocated for a series of minibuses. He lost that argument.

Trump even said Wednesday night that “[e]verything should be done, and fully negotiated” before he takes office. That was the case a lot of people made to Johnson.

Johnson compounded his problems by going the CR route.He turned the CR into a quasi-omnibus by allowing so many different provisions to be included. Johnson insisted on billions of dollars in economic aid to farmers, which opened the door wide open for Democrats to pile on their requests. And Johnson felt like he had to accede to them because the Louisiana Republican knew conservatives would never support anything.

The problem got worse when Johnson didn’t put the CR on the floor Wednesday despite pleasto do so from other members of his leadership team. Democrats and even some Republicans think the CR would’ve passed at that point.

It was obvious to us — and most other members of Johnson’s leadership team —that the speaker badly misjudged the mood of the House Republican Conference. Johnson blindsided members, which is worse. And that’s to say nothing of his miscalculation of Trump’s desires, wants and equities in the fight. And how about Democrats? Can they trust Johnson to do another deal after this episode?

So how damaged is Johnson? The speaker election is in 15 days. There are members — more than a dozen — who assert that Johnson won’t be the speaker in the next Congress. It’s early. Let’s see how Johnson gets out of this mess.

And how about Trump? This is how Trump governs. Nothing is agreed to until he signs a bill into law.But let’s just say that the core of Trump’s frustration — that Congress was leaving him to handle a debt-limit increase next year — isn’t absurd. The GOP leadership should’ve always tried to deal with the debt limit in the lame duck.

https://punchbowl.news/article/washington/cr-status-johnson-in-trouble/

F.A.A. Bans Drone Flights Near ‘Critical Infrastructure’ in New Jersey

The ban runs through Jan. 17(why not the 21st?) and precludes most drone flights in airspace near 22 communities, including the cities of Camden, Elizabeth and Jersey City. Reports of mysterious overflights in New Jersey emerged as citizens and politicians speculated that the drones might be up to no good.

By Tracey Tully Dec. 19, 2024Updated 10:38 a.m. ET

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a monthlong ban on drone flights over a large swath of New Jersey, the first broad prohibition of its kind since the authorities began investigating a spate of sightings last month that set off fear and speculation.

The ban began late on Wednesday and will continue through Jan. 17, according to an F.A.A. alert.

The notification cited “special security reasons” for prohibiting flights in airspace near 22 New Jersey communities, including three of the state’s largest cities, Camden, Elizabeth and Jersey City.

Only drone pilots authorized to operate for national defense, law enforcement or disaster response purposes are permitted to send the unmanned crafts aloft. Operators of drones used for commercial purposes may apply for a waiver after providing a “valid statement of work,” the F.A.A. alert said.

The F.A.A. said in a statement that it had temporarily restricted drone flights over “critical New Jersey infrastructure”at the request of what it described as federal security partners.

Officials referred additional questions to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The F.B.I. began investigating reports of drone sightings in New Jersey a month ago. Soon after, theauthorities banned drones from operating near the Bedminster golf courserun by President-elect Donald J. Trump and the Picatinny Arsenal, a large U.S. Army center.

Widespread news coverage followed. So, too, did thousands of additional reports of sightings over New Jersey, New York and several other states in the Northeast. Federal officials have issued repeated assurances that there is no security threat, and have said that most sightings appear to be of either airplanes or helicopters.

That has done little to assuage the public and some elected officials, including those who have speculated that the electronic devices are being used for nefarious reasons.

https://archive.is/c2LQT

Mike Davis: Fani Willis' Case Of Arrogance, Corruption And Greed. Nathan Wade Billed Time With Biden Whitehouse Council 16 Hours At $250/hr

21:22

https://rumble.com/embed/v5yo732/?pub=4

Jeff Clark: Fani Willis Hired Her Boyfriend Nathan Wade At Elevated Pay Rate, Took Lavish Trips 'Caught With Her Hand In The Cookie Jar'

Clark is always a good listen, he's brilliant and has this kind of unknown sense of humor, that is funny when you get it.

11:50

https://rumble.com/embed/v5yo6l5/?pub=4

>>22194414

JEFF CLARK DC BAR

DC Courts trying to disbar Jeff Clark, going on right now. He asked for prayers for him that they don't take his license.

They are still doing lawfare, to take his license away.ASK GOD TO STOP THIS, JEFF IS TRUMP'S ATTY.Link and video below, still going on.

Board Meeting, December 19, 2024

Board on Professional Responsibility

170 subscribers

https://www.youtube.com/live/kG0sHjaHnb4?si=kRLFtSvdJjkKxsHA

>>22194466

link: https://www.givesendgo.com/jeffclark

Jeff Clark Legal Defense

JEFF CLARK UNDER COORDINATED ASSAULT BY THE LEFT

please donate if you can, many like Jeff Clark, John Eastman and many others targeted by Bidan and Lawfare, are now almost bankrupt, with $100s of $1,000s of dollars in debt. Bannon spent more than $1 million fighting his case, these cases have been going on more than 2-3 years, Clark

has been charged with false crimes, sued, harassed, now they are trying to disbar him, (the same with John Eastman) etcsince Jan. 17th, 2022.

All of this started in Jan. 2022., then every lawsuit against Trump quickly followed. anyone related to Trump they are still trying to destroy them, many court cases are still going on today.

https://www.givesendgo.com/jeffclark

Jeff Clark has been an eminent legal practitioner over a career spanning about 25 years. No question about his qualifications, his ethics, or his legal acumen had ever been raised prior to late January 2021. He served in the Bush Administration as a very young (34 year-old) Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division from 2001-2005, fighting against over-regulation and winning awards from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and, most importantly, from the Pentagon for protecting naval readiness. Without his efforts, China's race for naval domination would have advanced by leaps and bounds.

Like many true and stalwart conservatives who decided to continue their honorable track record of public service by joining the Trump Administration, however (or who otherwise became aligned in the minds of the monolithic "mainstream" media), Jeff Clark was frequently attacked and thus began a process of tearing down his reputation, earned the hard way over decades. Sadly, it takes less effort to tear someone down than to build him up, no matter the consequences to him, to his children, or to the nation.

President Trump nominated Jeff Clark to become the Assistant Attorney General of the 400-lawyer Environment Division at the Justice Department in 2017. He was proud, 17 years later, to take the helm of the DOJ litigating Division he had first entered as a leader in 2001. Despite attempts to block his confirmation (which held him up for an unprecedented 14-month period), he was confirmed with bipartisan support in October 2018 and took office on November 1, 2018. He accomplished much–(1) securing billions of dollars in penalties from those cheating the American people; (2) defending President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords that stripped Americans of jobs, offshoring them to China and other parts of the world for no good purpose; and (3) spearheading the first reform of the red-tape-encrusted National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 40 years, which was, among other things, slowing infrastructure renewal to a crawl. In recognition of his strong work in the Environment Division, Jeff Clark was ALSO named the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division (adding another 1,000 lawyers to his oversight responsibilities) in early September 2020. He left both offices behind as part of the transition in mid-January 2021.

As part of a new and destructive era in politics, Jeff Clark has been targeted for cancellation by the hyper-partisan January 6 Committee, the "mainstream" media, and a collection of leftist law professors and supposed "Republicans" who are conveniently never-Trumpers. He needs your support to defend himself against these unfair assaults and the efforts to penetrate into confidential advice he provided to President Trump–for on the Left, the advice given to all Democrat Presidents is sacrosanct but President Trump somehow cannot be afforded those same constitutional protections. Think of the outcry if President Trump had taken office and immediately ordered the release of the advice given to President Obama from Attorney General Holder about the "Fast and Furious" operation.

In the minds of his enemies, President Trump is a special case that must be resisted at all costs and anyone who during their term of office did not sit around presiding over meetings but who instead zealously acted in the service of President Trump's efforts to "take care that the Laws be faithfully executed," U.S. Const. art II, sec 3, is equally an enemy. Because the view that Mr. Trump is not entitled to the respect his office commands, is not the neutral way in which our constitutional republic or lawyer-client relationships work, Jeff Clark needs the support of American patriots like you.