The 24 Seven: Hill Life
Congressional updates, courage awards and lingering questions
Upcoming Lives
Join me at 2p today for a Substack Live with the great for a rundown on all the developments from Congress, a big week as lawmakers returned to get started on budget talks, tax talks and more. In case you missed, JulieG was on CBS News “America Decides” here, give a watch!
Then stop back in at Noon ET Friday for a Live for Substack star reporter , founder of Telos. If you haven’t yet, take some time to read Lizza’s wild story about the anti-journalist lawyer Steven Biss, the Devin Nunes family farm and a laptop full of secrets which has gone missing.
Most 24sight Lives are free for all in the moment, tune in, bring your questions. If you miss one, the archives are available to paying subscribers here on the Super Secret Members Page.
To do the right thing
In case you missed it yesterday, I urge you to give a listen to my recap of the CPAC trial in Alexandria earlier this week — CPAC executives successfully pushed a criminal prosecution of the group’s former finance director who, along with other staff, resigned in protest over Matt Schlapp’s sexual assault allegations.
And that prosecution, for $14,000 in vacation time paid to the former staff, fell apart spectacularly in court this week.
and I were in court earlier this week to watch the proceedings.What can $14,000 in PTO tell you about a multi-million dollar political behemoth? A lot, especially under oath, with very interesting testimony from current CPAC executive Lynne Rasmussen and former full-time CPAC lawyer David Safavian.
As I stated in the video, even when clearly right, it takes some Big Balls (TM) to stand up to powerful interest. Ian sagely replied, “We have kids, you teach your kids to do the right things, it’s not always easy to do the right thing.”
And here are the original pieces detailing the CPAC trial here:
A Courage News Cycle
Having covered former vice president Mike Pence for a whopping 14 years now (the beat is a full-fledged teenager, is this the rebellious stage?) I remain somewhat astounded and impressed by the ability of an outwardly stiff and seemingly boring veteran politico to keep making news.
Of course, circumstances and some very powerful people, help to keep him in the news, in part by keeping January 6th in the news.
Pence received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his service on January 6th in fulfilling his Constitutional duty to complete the counting of the electoral votes which saw him, and President Donald Trump, lose the 2020 race. This all, of course, amid a historic attack by Trump’s supporters and armed extremists led by the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, on the Capitol.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins sat down for a lengthy interview with Pence earlier this week in which he did something rare for a top Republican, openly speaking out against tariffs, for anti-abortion and pro-life stances and in support of Ukraine.
These positions were not unique a few years ago, but with the rapid changes at the top of the GOP, have become distinct and very newsworthy indeed.
I forgot about VP Pence’s recognition. Sad that just performing one’s Constitutional Dury received the profile in courage. The GOP is such a small party now.