Morning Report — Biden heads west for campaign cash

by Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch - 12/08/23 6:31 AM ET

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

If former President Trump becomes the GOP presidential nominee next year, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee know from experience in 2020 that they raised at least $1.7 billion (and won), but Trump outraised them with a haul of nearly $2 billion. Incumbent presidents without competitive primaries enjoy money advantages. And it’s a good thing because Biden’s backers expect to burn through massive sums to help an octogenarian try to defeat a GOP nominee amid voter unease about the economy — and so many other issues.

Biden will be in Los Angeles this evening for a big-ticket campaign fundraiser co-hosted by Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, producers Shonda Rhimes and Peter Chernin and former studio chief Jim Gianopulos, reports The Los Angeles Times. There will be more co-hosts from the worlds of politics, tech, business and law. Per-donor contributions could add up to $930,000, the Times added.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a prolific fundraiser and tireless surrogate for Democratic presidential candidates, will be there, according to reports. Both the Biden campaign and Trump’s team in 2020 pulled tens of millions of dollars out of Los Angeles County for their respective contests.

Biden began a fundraising sprint Tuesday and is expected to raise more than $15 million over the course of five days through high-dollar fundraisers and grassroots efforts, according to CNN.

AT POSH EVENTS among contributors gathered in private homes, the president assails Trump and Republican “extremists” in terms that are unequivocally a call to action. At recent events with donors, Biden described the former president as a danger to the nation whose corrosive impact on the rule of law and to the Constitution must be defeated. Democrats who initially believed Trump might lose to a GOP primary challenger or sink under the weight of 91 criminal indictments have seen the former president’s grip on the Republican Party expand.

Reuters: Trump’s legal troubles keep fueling surges in his campaign’s fundraising.

Next year’s presidential contest will be the most expensive in history. Biden’s campaign and the DNC in October reported to the Federal Election Commission a third-quarter war chest of $71 million, outpacing Trump and other candidates. Biden raised $72 million in the first quarter.

“All the money that has been raised and is continuing to be raised … is all focused on November of 2024,” campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg told CNN in October.

“All of our investment today is focused on those strategic, important places — states that are going to be where this race will be won or lost,” he added.

▪ The Hill: Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was criticized Thursday for name-calling, conspiracy-laden and “blowhard” tactics during the fourth Republican debate.

▪ The Hill: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took aim at rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the environment.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ 🗳️New York Democrats selected former Rep. Tom Suozzi to compete in a Feb. 13 special election for the House seat formerly held by Republican George Santos, who was ousted from Congress last week. Democrats hope to shrink the already narrow GOP majority in the House. Suozzi left Congress and ran unsuccessfully for governor last year.

▪ 💊The administration Thursday said it can lower drug prices and promote more competition by asserting controversial authority to seize the patents of certain costly medications, a policy known as march-in rights.

▪ 💲Yes, there’s “tipflation.” But you can say no.

LEADING THE DAY

CONGRESS

House Republicans released a resolution Thursday to formalize its months-long impeachment inquiry into Biden, with a full House vote planned for next week. The resolution — released months after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) declared an impeachment inquiry to be underway in September — comes as a trio of committee leaders overseeing the probes enter a more combative phase of their investigation as they try to wrangle witnesses and documents.

Republicans hope that formally authorizing the inquiry will put more legal weight behind the probe and their ability to compel evidence, particularly if any of those battles end up in court (The Hill). The White House responded to the inquiry resolution by saying that House Republicans “only focus on stupid stunts.”

“This baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear President Biden,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement. “The American people are yet again going to see a clear contrast in priorities: President Biden who is focused on solving the challenges facing America and the world, and extreme House Republicans who only focus on stupid stunts to get attention for themselves.”

The announcement comes as the president’s son, Hunter Biden, has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from special counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings. Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.

The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection (The Hill).

DEFENSE FUNDING: The Senate on Thursday overcame its first procedural hurdle to passing the annual Defense policy bill despite an objection from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), putting lawmakers on a path to finalizing the measure in the coming weeks. The Hill’s Al Weaver reports senators voted 82-15 on the motion to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said despite the delay, he still expects to wrap up the bill next week. The Senate and House released their compromise version of the NDAA late Wednesday. The $886 billion package will first move through the Senate before the House takes up the measure potentially before leaving for the holiday season.

The bill does not include a GOP-backed item that would block the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which prompted Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to hold up all military promotions until earlier this week. The policy allows service members to be reimbursed for travel expenses to receive abortion care.

▪ The Hill: Amendments blocking funding for drag shows, gender-affirming care dropped from the national defense blueprint.

▪ Politico: Top lawmakers drop abortion limits from defense bill, setting up a fight with the right. Dropping abortion limits and extending surveillance authorities will make the bill a tough sell among conservatives.

▪ The Hill: The House Intelligence and Judiciary committees’ battle over surveillance cracks party fault lines

🏈 The fight over the College Football Playoff (CFP) selection committee’s decision to snub Florida State University and seed Alabama in the national playoffs is spilling into the Senate, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. The situation is pitting Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is calling for full transparency about the decision, against Alabama Sens. Tuberville and Katie Britt (R), who are applauding Alabama’s selection and dismissing Scott’s demands for texts, emails and recordings related to the CFP panel’s deliberations as a waste of time.

FIRE IN THE HOUSE: The House voted Thursday to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) for triggering a fire alarm in a House office building when there was not an emergency during the September weekend leading up to a possible government shutdown. Censure amounts to a significant rebuke of a member of Congress, though it does not carry an explicit penalty beyond a public admonition of a lawmaker and is not as severe as expulsion (CNN).

▪ The Hill: These three Democrats voted to censure Jamaal Bowman.

▪ The Hill: How accusations of college antisemitism went from bad to worse with one House hearing.

▪ The Hill: Sen. Kevin Cramer’s (R-N.D.) son was charged with manslaughter on Thursday after he killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy in a car wreck Wednesday evening.

WHERE AND WHEN

🕎 Chag Sameach! Hanukkah began at sundown Thursday and ends Dec. 15.

The House meets Monday at 3 p.m.

The Senate will convene at noon Monday.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10 a.m. Biden will travel to Las Vegas for a speech at 2:45 p.m. PST to announce $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 major passenger rail projects, including the first world-class high-speed rail projects in our country’s history (and specifically one between California and Nevada.) He will fly to Los Angeles where he and first lady Jill Biden will headline a campaign reception at 7:30 p.m. in Santa Monica, Calif., at 7:30 p.m. local time. In the afternoon, the first lady also plans to visit Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles as part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. The Bidens will depart California on Sunday.

Vice President Harris at 1:30 p.m. will ceremonially swear in Edgard Kagan as ambassador to Malaysia. Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will host a holiday reception at the Naval Observatory at 5:30 p.m.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet at 9 a.m. with members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, followed by a working lunch at 12:30 p.m. He will meet at 4 p.m. with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan at the State Department. Blinken will meet at 4:30 p.m. with a joint gathering of the League of Arab States and delegation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Palestinian Authority. The secretary at 6 p.m. will meet at the State Department with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of Turkey.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will join the first lady in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and with other current and former officials, including Maria Shriver, former first lady of California.                

Economic indicator: The Labor Department will report at 8:30 a.m. on employment in November. (Will there be a soft landing? The report offers clues.)

ZOOM IN

MIDDLE EAST

The United States has offered strong support to Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, but the allies are increasingly at odds over what will happen to the enclave once the war winds down. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week announced that Israel would retain an open-ended security presence in Gaza once the war ends, but the U.S. has laid out a much different vision. Top officials have said they will not allow Israel to reoccupy Gaza or further shrink its already small territory, and have repeatedly called for a return of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority and the resumption of peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel (The Associated Press).

Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday and “stressed that much more assistance was urgently required” across Gaza, the White House said in a readout of the call. The president emphasized “the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism to date of Israel’s conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said Thursday there was a gap between the government’s declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties (Reuters).

“As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south… it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” Blinken told reporters. “And there does remain a gap between… the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”

As Israel’s offensive pushes Palestinian civilians into ever smaller pockets of land with scant supplies, the military said Thursday that Hamas militants fired rockets from what it called “humanitarian zones” in southern Gaza, adding to concerns that nowhere in the enclave was fully safe for civilians. The claims could not immediately be verified (The New York Times).

The UN Security Council is expected to meet today to discuss the war in Gaza after Secretary-General António Guterres formally urged the 15-member council to “use all of its influence” to prevent “a humanitarian catastrophe” in the enclave (Axios),

▪ Reuters: Israeli tank fire killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in Lebanon. In response, Israel said the area is a conflict zone.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Palestinian families seek medical care outside the besieged enclave.

▪ CNN: The number of hostages believed to be held in Gaza now stands at 137, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Friday.

ELSEWHERE

TRUMP WORLD

Trump filed a motion to halt activity in his election interference case after filing a notice of appeal Thursday seeking to override a decision from a federal judge who denied his motion to toss the case. The back-to-back motions ask Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the Jan. 6, 2021, case, to pause “all district court proceedings in this case” as a higher court considers Trump’s appeal of the motion to toss the entire case. The maneuver threatens to upend Trump’s March 4 trial date in the case, reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch, and comes after prosecutors have argued the former president is simply using every avenue possible to disrupt the case in the hopes of punting the matter beyond the 2024 election.

“Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass, Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” Chutkan wrote in a 48-page ruling last Friday that declined a motion seeking to dismiss the case based both on the concept of presidential immunity, as well as constitutional grounds, including the First Amendment.

▪ The New York Times: The former president’s trial in one of his four criminal cases is scheduled for early March, putting his legal drama and the race for the White House on an unprecedented trajectory.

▪ Forbes: Trump keeps claiming he won fraud case before trial — here’s why that’s wrong.

Trump attended his $250 million civil fraud trial Thursday as an accounting expert for his defense said the case against him and his company did not have any merit. Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Trump decried the trial as a “witch hunt” and “very corrupt.” The former president also called New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who is suing the Trumps and their company for allegedly inflating financial statements by billions of dollars, a “lunatic.”

Trump also celebrated the decision Thursday from a panel of state Appellate Division judges that paused Judge Arthur Engoron’s pre-trial order dissolving some of Trump’s businesses as a result of his finding that he and his company had engaged in “persistent fraud.” The ruling means the stay that had previously been put in place will remain until the full court hears and rules on Trump’s appeal, which likely won’t be until 2024, after the fraud trial has concluded. Engoron has said he plans to issue his findings and verdict in the case by the end of January (NBC News).

Trump called the appeals court decision “very powerful” and “a very good ruling. We appreciate it. I think the country appreciates it.”

OPINION

■ The rape of the Israeli women, by Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal.

■ Was it worth it, Kevin McCarthy? by Michelle Cottle, columnist, The New York Times.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Congratulations to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! Sports news inspired our puzzle theme and readers played along.

Here’s who went 4/4: Richard E. Baznik, Stan Wasser, Patrick Kavanagh, Lynn Gardner, Harry Strulovici, Lou Tisler, Don Swanson, Robert Bradley, Terry Pflaumer, Lori Benso, Sharon Bannitt, Jack Barshay, Frank Garza, Steve James, Luther Berg and Pam Manges.

They knew that “Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Bowl” does not exist among real college football bowl games scheduled in the 2023-24 season. We made that up.

Biden this week signaled support for a group of Indigenous people from the U.S. and Canada to compete under their own flag in lacrosse at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The NBA implemented an in-season tournament this year.

To reduce distance off the tee, golf balls used by professional players in 2028 will need to meet strict standards.

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger (asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com) and Kristina Karisch (kkarisch@digital-staging.thehill.com). Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!