New members of Congress might be many, many years removed from high school, but the cliques and clubs of their youth are just as popular, and probably more important, in the Capitol.
Battle lines in the 119th Congress are more solidified now that we know how the final contest shook out (it was good news for Democrats). So, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) locked into his 220-215 majority, which will shrink once members leave the House for their jobs in the Trump administration, how new members fall into place will say a lot about how their next two years in Washington are going to play out.
This morning, Congressional Reporter Cami Mondeaux introduced us to North Carolina Republican Rep.-elect Mark Harris, who has hinted he is interested in joining the rabble-rousing House Freedom Caucus.
“I made no bones about it in the campaign that I intended to, you know, be involved with the Freedom Caucus,” Harris told the Washington Examiner. “I do think that we’re at an opportunity now where many of the folks in the Freedom Caucus who have continued to sound that alarm about the national debt certainly are going to have … an opportunity to lead.”
The hard-liners have gone through a bevy of changes in recent months and years. They are consistently loud agitators when it comes to budget fights. Those loud members have sometimes spoken up in a way that got them unceremoniously removed from the group — Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Warren Davidson (R-OH) have all had their membership revoked in the last two years.
But the band of budget hawks has had an impressive grip on power. Johnson’s razor-thin majorities, which, as mentioned, aren’t improving next year, mean it only takes a handful of rebels to tank rules and legislation. And the Freedom Caucus members haven’t been afraid to do so.
Harris is close allies with members of the group already. He campaigned next to former Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and is close with founding member former Rep. Mark Meadows.
North Carolina was an important swing state for President-elect Donald Trump in 2024 and Harris’s joining Washington as a member of that delegation will be bolstered if he joins the Freedom Caucus ranks.
“The president knows that the strongest supporters in Congress are in the House Freedom Caucus,” Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) told the Washington Examiner in an interview last month. “I think we will have the attention of the White House and his ear to bring them along more to our point of view.”
Click here to read more about the possible newest Freedom Caucus recruit.
Pardon me?
President Joe Biden’s surprise pardon of his son Hunter Biden over the holiday weekend has disappointed and frustrated Democrats, angered Republicans, and set off speculation about who else might win a reprieve before the end of his term.
The names getting floated vary — wildly.
Some Democrats are suggesting Biden’s next blanket pardon go to none other than Trump, National Correspondent Mabinty Quarshie wrote this morning.
“The slate should be wiped clean. I think it’s by far the most balanced way to do it,” retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), who caucuses with Democrats, told the Washington Examiner. “Here in Congress, with the senators and congresspeople, it would balance things out and calm things down.”
On the other hand, Biden might need to consider shielding various Democrats who could be on the receiving end of the Trump administration’s wrath when he returns to the White House next month, Congressional Reporter Samantha-Jo Roth wrote.
“Senate Democrats are weighing whether President Joe Biden should use his final moments of power to issue preemptive pardons to shield those who could receive political retribution from President-elect Donald Trump,” she wrote. “The conversations come against the backdrop of Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail in which he’s threatened to seek revenge on individuals he considers his political foes, referring to them as ‘enemies from within.’”
It’s unlikely Biden assumed his decision to break his word “as a Biden” was going to go over smoothly. He and the White House have been saying for more than a year that he had no intention of putting his thumb on the scales of justice to favor his son.
He sounded Trumpian in his statement on Sunday explaining his decision, claiming that “the charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.”
If he chose to hand out more pardons, whether they are in favor of protecting his former opponent or his Democratic allies, he could do little more damage to his legacy, which started to crumble after his disastrous June 27 debate with Trump and may have fallen into disrepair when Vice President Kamala Harris was defeated on Nov. 5 — in large part, Democrats say, because Biden waited so long to drop out of the race.
But throwing around more pardons for unknown and uncharged crimes could backfire.
“I don’t know how you pardon a person that’s not been charged with anything. I don’t think that can happen,” Manchin told the Washington Examiner.
Hunter Biden’s pardon was shockingly broad, covering “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted.”
In the case of Trump, Biden’s pardon could be concrete. Special counsel Jack Smith has moved to drop the federal cases pending against the president-elect without prejudice, so they could, conceivably, be brought back to life in four years.
Most Democrats don’t like that plan, though. Several senators were quick to shoot down the suggestion that Biden should offer an olive branch in the shape of a pardon to Trump.
“It’s a terrible idea,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said.
“I haven’t even considered it,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said.
And even if the pardoned party was someone other than Trump, the message it would send, in addition to the hints Biden has already made about the politicization of his own Department of Justice, would be problematic, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said.
“It would send a message that there’s been a trend towards political prosecutions,” Gillibrand told the Washington Examiner. “It’s certainly something he can consider, but it’s entirely his decision.”
Click here to read more about Biden’s possible future pardon plans.
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For your radar
Biden is making several stops on his last day in Angola, touring the Lobito Port Terminal and Carrinho Food Processing Factory before taking a “family photo” with African leaders. He will then participate in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit before traveling back to Washington, D.C.
Harris has nothing on her public schedule.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
