Post Politics Now Biden acknowledges there aren’t enough votes to change the filibuster on abortion

The House select committee investigating the insurrection this week heard from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. And her explosive testimony left us with plenty to chew on while the committee breaks for the Fourth of July.

Hearings are likely to resume after the break, and Aaron Blake examined the four witnesses who could shed more light on what Hutchinson testified happened at the White House in the lead-up to the attack.

1. Tony Ornato

The Secret Service agent who was detailed to the White House as deputy chief of staff for operations took center stage in Hutchinson’s testimony. She said Ornato informed Meadows the morning of Jan. 6 that then-President Donald Trump’s rallygoers had weapons, and that Ornato told her that he’d also informed Trump. Both alleged conversations came before Trump directed the crowd to the Capitol anyway. And as Aaron notes:

There have been no reports, notably, that Ornato disputes this portion of Hutchinson’s testimony. The content of the warning to Trump will be vital to learn more about, particularly given that Hutchinson described hearing about it secondhand from Ornato.

2. Robert Engel

Ornato’s fellow Secret Service agent could shed light on the alleged altercation that Hutchinson said took place between Trump and his security detail in the presidential vehicle on Jan. 6. Engel has testified to the committee before, but that was before Hutchinson’s public testimony.

3. Pat Cipollone

The former White House counsel received a subpoena this week from the committee and was the subject of a very public pressure campaign by committee members to elicit his testimony. Quite simply, he is in the unique position to confirm key aspects of the panel’s case — that Trump and his allies knew what they were attempting was illegal.

4. John Ratcliffe

Hutchinson’s testimony about Trump’s director of national intelligence saying things could “spiral out of control” on Jan. 6 didn’t generate as many headlines as other nuggets of information — but it’s not something that should be overlooked in the investigation.

Compared to the Cipillone example, this includes less detail about what, specifically, Ratcliffe feared; it’s not totally clear that he feared actual violence. But notably, Hutchinson places this conversation before her conversation with Cipollone. She also places it before Meadows having told her, in early January, that “things might get real, real bad on January 6.”

Read more of Aaron’s analysis here.

A group called the Republican Accountability Project says it has installed about a dozen billboards in targeted locations highlighting the refusal of several high-profile Republicans to testify before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“What else are they hiding? Testify about January 6th,” read the billboards, which feature photos of former president Donald Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon.

The billboards, the group says, have been placed in New York City’s Times Square, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, in McCarthy’s congressional district and near Meadows’s residence in Lake Keowee, S.C. They are expected to remain in place for two weeks.

President Biden warned Friday that Republicans will go even further to limit abortion access if they become the majority party after the midterm elections.

The president shared his thoughts during a meeting with governors on the future of abortion rights after last week’s Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, which established a woman’s right to an abortion.

“I predict if we don’t take this — keep the Senate, increase in the House, we’re going to be in a situation where the Republicans are going to pass a nationwide prohibition consistent with what the Supreme Court ruled,” he said.

Biden called Thursday for altering Senate filibuster rules to codify abortion rights and privacy protections into law — the most aggressive position he has voiced on reproductive rights thus far. His position is expected to play a role in the ongoing abortion debate heading into the midterm elections, where many Democrats are hoping the recent court decision moves liberal voters to turn out in higher numbers than previously expected.

However, he acknowledged Friday that there aren’t the votes in the Senate to scrap the filibuster.

“I think people are going to be shocked when the first state tries to arrest a woman for crossing the state line to get health services,” Biden said. “I don’t think people believe that’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen. And it’s going to telegraph to the whole country that this is a gigantic deal.”

President Biden acknowledged Friday that there are not enough votes in the Senate to make an exception in Senate filibuster rules so that Democrats could write abortion protections into law with a simple majority in the chamber.

His comments came at the outset of a virtual meeting with Democratic governors in which Biden said the focus now should be on electing more supporters of abortion rights this year.

“This is going to go one way or the other after November,” he said.

On Thursday, at a news conference in Madrid, Biden chastised the Supreme Court for “outrageous behavior” and said he would support an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rules. Under current rules, most legislation requires 60 votes to advance — a threshold Democrats cannot achieve in the evenly divided chamber.

During Friday’s event, Biden said the court had made a “terrible, extreme decision” in overturning Roe v. Wade.

Biden also reiterated that the federal government would ensure that states do not try to keep women from traveling to states where abortions are available if they live in one where the procedure is banned.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo downplayed a threat by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that he would derail a compromise bill to boost microchip research and manufacturing in the United States, calling his remarks “frustrating” but merely a “bump in the road.”

“There [are] always bumps in the road and people say things for leverage in the negotiations,” Raimondo said in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday morning.

Raimondo, who has been a key player in the negotiations, said that despite McConnell’s comments, negotiations continue and Republicans have told her they are committed to reaching an agreement. Any bill will need the support of at least 10 Republicans to move ahead in the Senate.

“The only entity in the world that benefits from this bill not passing is China,” she said.

The House and Senate are working to reconcile different versions of the bill that would invest $52 billion to expand microchip manufacturing and its supply chain to the United States. The country hosts 12 percent of manufacturing, down from 37 percent in 1990, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association — with China, Taiwan, Japan and the European Union making up much of the difference. Demand for semiconductors has increased with expanded use of mobile phones, computers and electric vehicles but the pandemic disrupted the supply chain.

McConnell’s threat came after The Washington Post reported Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) were nearing agreement on a measure to reduce prescription drug prices.

Raimondo said it would be “horrible” if Congress doesn’t pass the bill before August, when Congress leaves town for more than a month.

At least three companies have said in recent weeks that plans for new microchip manufacturing plants in the United States is dependent on Congress passing the legislation. Intel has a $20 billion plant planned in Ohio, Micron Technologies is set to expand in Idaho and GlobalWafers has unveiled a plan in Texas — all states with a majority Republican congressional delegation and Republican governors.

“If it goes down, China wins,” Raimondo said. “If you’re on Team China, don’t vote for it.”

President Biden is set to travel this month to Saudi Arabia to participate in a summit with leaders from across the Middle East. Biden’s plans have drawn scrutiny in part because he pledged during his 2020 campaign to make the kingdom a “pariah” over its record of human rights abuses. On Thursday, Biden stressed that the trip would focus on regional and not bilateral issues. The Post’s JM Rieger has pulled together video of what Biden has had say in response to questions about the planned trip in recent weeks.

If there any criminal referrals come out of the House Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, witness tampering could be a big one. At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, the committee shared messages it said two of its witnesses received, urging them not to testify to the committee.

The Post’s Amber Phillips explores what witness tampering is, citing an expert who says three things must be present. Per Amber, here they are:

1. That there is a proceeding going on, like a grand jury (or, in this case, a congressional hearing).

2. That there is an intent to influence witness testimony in that proceeding.

3. That the intent is wrongful, meaning the person wanted to prevent the truth getting out to avoid being accused of wrongdoing. (The statue says: “whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades another person”)

You can read more from Amber here.

A new poll finds that the percentage of Americans citing abortion or women’s rights as one of their top five priorities has grown since December, but that for a large majority of Americans, neither issue ranks among their top concerns.

In an AP-NORC poll released Friday, 22 percent of Americans cited abortion or women’s rights as among their top five priorities. That is nearly triple the amount who cited those issues in a December poll.

Still, more than 7 in 10 Americans did not mention either abortion or women’s rights as among their leading priorities.

The poll was conducted between June 23 and June 27. The court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade was issued June 24.

According to the polling organizations, abortion or women’s rights was mentioned as a top issue among 13 percent of those taking the survey before the decision was issued. That climbed to 30 percent among those taking the survey after the announcement.

A draft opinion that signaled that the court was poised to overturn Roe was leaked in early May.