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WASHINGTON — Rep. Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican, said Tuesday she'll oppose Speaker Kevin McCarthy's efforts to keep a handful of Democrats off key House committees. But he may need the support of a majority of the House to block Omar from Foreign Affairs. Given McCarthy's slim Republican majority, every vote is important. The speaker's plans are widely seen as retaliation against Democrats for kicking Republican Reps. Paul Gosar, of Arizona, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, off their committees in the last Congress over incendiary or violent rhetoric. “Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process.

☆ Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego expected to announce a bid for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's seat in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Haley Talbot | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is expected to announce Monday that he's running for Senate in Arizona in 2024, according to a source familiar with his planned rollout. Gallego, a progressive Democrat, is running for the seat held by Sinema, who decided in December to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent. If she does, and Gallego wins the Democratic nomination, they'd face each other in the general election. In December, after Sinema announced she was changing her party affiliation, Gallego signaled to NBC News he was likely to launch a Senate bid. Gallego went on to say he believes if Sinema runs, “it will almost ensure the fact that the Senate seat will stay in Democratic hands” because of the GOP’s struggles to hold its coalition together.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday awarded embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., seats on two House committees, even as he faces federal, state and local investigations and fellow Republicans demand that he resign. Asked if Santos would be a distraction to his committee, Williams replied: "It's only going to be a distraction to those who want to distract." If they think [Santos's controversy] is going to be the main thing that comes out of the committee, they're going to really miss the boat." On Tuesday, McCarthy said the decision to grant Santos committee slots was made by the Steering Committee, and that he did not make that decision alone. When asked why Santos was given two committee assignments, McCarthy said that was standard protocol.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., told members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday that she plans to run for Senate in 2024, adding her name to the list of contenders who want to fill the seat held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Asked about her remarks, Lee told reporters: "What I said was that I’m very sensitive and honoring Senator Feinstein. Lee, 76, has served in the House since 1998 and previously served in both California's state Senate and state Assembly. A spokesperson for Feinstein told the Los Angeles Times last month that she "has no plans to step down and will announce her plans for 2024 at the appropriate time." Schiff is also reportedly interested in the Senate seat, though he has not disclosed his plans yet.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries may not emerge with the speakership as Republicans remain divided on who they'll elect to lead the House of Representatives, but he's done something that hasn't been done in more than a decade. When the New York congressman secured 212 votes for speaker Tuesday afternoon, it was the first time since 2007 that a Democratic leader has won support from every single member of their caucus. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the new House Democratic Caucus chair, made note of his party's unified stance as he nominated Jeffries again during the second round of voting. We are unified, and we're all gonna support Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, the lead vote-getter in the last ballot," he said. California Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi had been the party's leader since 2003 — she stepped down from that leadership post after last year's elections.

While the majority party has elected their nominee on the first ballot over the past century, this year could be different. Members vote "viva voice," meaning they stand when their names are called by a reading clerk and verbally announce who they are voting for. Members can vote for anyone (even people who are not members of the House), vote present, or not vote at all. If every member doesn't show up, or if some vote present instead of supporting a candidate, that decreases what the majority vote needs to be. Political parties are much stronger now than they were then, when House members were often more loyal to their region.

WASHINGTON — A weekslong standoff between Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his conservative detractors comes to a head Tuesday as lawmakers prepare to vote on a new speaker of the House. But nine members of that group, including Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., characterized his proposals as too little, too late. "Despite some progress achieved," the Freedom Caucus group wrote, "Mr. McCarthy’s statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd." McCarthy, who has Trump's endorsement and easily defeated Biggs to win his party's nomination for speaker, isn’t backing down. He is already moving into the speaker’s suite, and upon leaving the Capitol on Monday he predicted that the day of the speaker vote would be a "good day."

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee met Sunday to finalize its plans to issue at least three criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump, NBC News has learned exclusively. NBC News previously reported that obstruction, conspiracy and incitement of an insurrection were among the charges the committee was considering to recommend against Trump. The criminal referrals carry no official legal weight, and it remains up to the Justice Department to decide whether or not to charge Trump and anyone else the committee might refer. The committee also plans to refer several Republican members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for their defiance of congressional subpoenas, NBC News has learned. “None of the subpoenaed members complied,” Raskin said during Sunday’s meetings, presenting the findings of the subcommittee responsible for referrals.

☆ House Oversight Committee to host Club Q shooting survivors in hearing on anti-LGBTQ threats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Ali-Vitali-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Ali Vitali | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Less than a month after a deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, the House Oversight Committee will host survivors for a hearing on violence and threats against LGBTQ people, NBC News has learned. The Dec. 14 hearing will include testimony from bartender Michael Anderson and from James Slaugh, both of whom survived the Club Q shooting, as well as the club’s founding partner and co-owner Matthew Haynes, the committee told NBC News. The panel will also hear from Brandon Wolf, who survived the 2016 shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where a gunman killed 49 people. In November, a gunman opened fire at Club Q with a semiautomatic rifle, killing five people and injuring 17 others. “These attacks, like the one at Club Q, are designed to scare us from living authentically and honestly," he said.

☆ Dozens of Washington Commanders employees hurt by ‘toxic work culture’ over 2 decades, House Oversight Committee finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Antonio Planas | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Dozens of employees of the Washington Commanders were harmed for more than two decades because of a “toxic work culture” in which sexual harassment and bullying were pervasive, according to a scathing report released Thursday by the House Oversight Committee. The NFL and Washington Commanders were not immediately reached for comment Thursday afternoon. "Rather than address issues of workplace misconduct head on, the NFL has deferred responsibility to its clubs. The allegations were made by six former employees of the Washington, D.C., NFL franchise during a House Oversight Committee roundtable on toxic workplace culture. Representatives for the team, renamed the Commanders released a statement from Snyder on Thursday denying the allegations from the hearing.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee plans to release any criminal referrals as part of its final report, committee members said Wednesday. The committee is required by statute to issue a final report by Dec. 31, so any referrals to the Justice Department or other agencies are expected to come before the end of the year. The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol holds a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 13. Referrals to outside agencies are possible and as soon as the committee finishes our work moving forward to sharing our results,” he said. Referrals from the committee carry no legal weight but serve as recommendations to agencies.

Trump tried to convince Vos that the ruling should apply retroactively, which Vos informed him was not possible. The speaker's refusal to attempt to throw out the election results led Trump to campaign against his re-election. Vos was previously criticized by Wisconsin Democrats for appropriating close to $700,000 to investigate the state’s 2020 election results. The House committee has held a series of interviews with former Trump officials in recent weeks. The panel is not expected to continue beyond January, when Republicans take control of the House.

WASHINGTON — Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared Monday before investigators of the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Conway spoke to the committee on the record, two sources familiar with her appearance said. Conway was seen entering a conference room in the O’Neill House Office Building with attorney Emmet Flood, who was a lawyer in former President Donald Trump's White House. When she left the meeting room for a break, Conway told reporters “I’m here voluntarily.” Asked when she last spoke with Trump by a reporter, Conway said he called her last week. Conway worked as a senior counselor to Trump from the beginning of his term through Aug. 2020.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is likely to make her future plans clear as soon this week, possibly even Thursday, multiple sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. Pelosi said Sunday she wouldn’t engage with questions about her future until all races were called. Meanwhile, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, is being urged to pursue the leadership role and has met with rank-and-file members. In the office of New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer on Tuesday, he was urged not to miss his moment. Punchbowl News was first to report the Pelosi call with the CA delegation.

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm responsible for protecting vulnerable incumbents in his party, has conceded his race in a phone call to Republican Mike Lawler, a spokesperson for Maloney's campaign said Wednesday morning. Maloney’s ouster will have larger implications for the House Democratic Caucus: It closes the door on a possible bid by Maloney for a second term as DCCC chairman. And it will reignite a fierce debate among House Democrats about whether one of their vulnerable members should be put in charge of the campaign operation. She survived her race for re-election but opted to retire just months later, ceding her seat in the Quad Cities to Republicans. Two California Democrats, Reps. Tony Cardenas and Ami Bera, have previously expressed interest in running for DCCC chairman in the 2024 cycle.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee will meet Friday with a Secret Service agent who was in the lead car of former President Donald Trump's motorcade on the day of the riot, three sources familiar with the matter said. The committee also has plans to meet in the near future with the driver of the SUV that Trump rode in on Jan. 6, 2021, the sources told NBC News. Anthony Guglielmi, the top spokesperson for the Secret Service, testified earlier this week before committee investigators about the testimony that Hutchinson shared under oath. The committee subpoenaed the Secret Service for communications in July, shortly after it was revealed that most text messages sent by agents via. While the communications do not include text messages, they do include emails and other electronic messages, a Secret Service spokesperson said.

Anthony Guglielmi's testimony, first reported by The Washington Post, touched on statements he made on behalf of the agency after Hutchinson testified publicly before the House Jan. 6 committee, the sources said. NBC News has asked Guglielmi and the Jan. 6 committee for comment. U.S. Secret ServiceHutchinson said Tony Ornato, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, told her about the incident. A person close to the Secret Service said after Hutchinson's testimony that the alleged altercation had not occurred and suggested that Engel and the driver would say so under oath. The Jan. 6 committee last held a public hearing in October.

WASHINGTON — Hope Hicks, who served as a top adviser to former President Donald Trump, is interviewing with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, a source familiar told NBC News. Hicks served in multiple senior roles in Trump's White House for much of his presidency. She left the White House six days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, on Jan. 12, after serving as a counselor to the president. She had previously served as White House communications director as well as director of strategic communications. Prior to her stints at the White House, Hicks worked for Trump's presidential campaign, the Trump Organization and Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand.

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol plans to vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump, sources familiar with the committee's plans told NBC News Thursday. On his way to the hearing, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters the panel had not yet ruled out a subpoena for Trump. He said at the start of the hearing that the committee would take a vote "based on new evidence." Thursday's hearing would once again place Trump at the center of plans to overturn the election, ultimately leading to the violence on Jan. 6, committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in her opening statement. Several sitting and former presidents and vice presidents have also testified before congressional committees, including Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Gerald R. Ford.

The Jan. 6 committee's ninth and likely final investigative hearing Thursday will feature new testimony and evidence, including Secret Service records and surveillance video. ET, will not include any live witnesses, a committee aide said. All nine committee members are expected to lead segments of the hearing. That’s a departure from this summer when each of the eight hearings featured only a few panel members at a time. Part of the committee's charge is to issue legislative recommendations to prevent another Jan. 6 attack, and some panel members Thursday will present on the ongoing threats to democracy that remain.

The House Jan. 6 committee is interviewing Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, on Thursday, two sources familiar with the plans told NBC News. The interview was scheduled to begin around 9:30 a.m. NBC News cameras outside the O’Neill House building captured Thomas as she arrived at the Capitol. A source close to the panel told NBC News last week that the committee had reached an agreement with Thomas to be interviewed. Thomas first came under scrutiny for messages she sent to Mark Meadows, who was White House chief of staff on Jan. 6, telling him to encourage then-President Donald Trump not to concede the election to Joe Biden. The Jan. 6 committee delayed a public hearing that had been scheduled for Wednesday of this week because of Hurricane Ian.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol postponed a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, citing a major hurricane that is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast. The select committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings." The panel's leaders did not immediately provide a new date for the hearing, which would have been its first in roughly two months. After hitting Cuba early Tuesday, the hurricane was gaining strength as it headed toward Florida. The postponement of the Sept. 28 hearing, comes just over a month before the midterm elections.

The Jan. 6 committee has reached an agreement with Ginni Thomas to be interviewed in the coming weeks, a source close to the House panel told NBC News on Wednesday. CNN first reported the planned meeting with Thomas. Thomas first came under scrutiny for messages to former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows and state lawmakers that questioned 2020 election results. The agreement comes after weeks of back and forth and a letter asking Thomas to speak with the panel. Please check back for updates.

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