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GOP-led Jan. 6 committee sets first hearing for next week

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The new Republican-led panel tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack will hold its first hearing next week, Rep. Barry Loudermilk said in an interview Tuesday — the five-year anniversary of the event.

The Georgia Republican, who is the chair of the select subcommittee, said his panel was still ironing out its list of witnesses, but he anticipated the focus would be the pipe bombs left at the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters the day before the riots at the Capitol.

“It’s gonna be sometime next week,” Loudermilk said. “We’re gonna be really looking at the pipe bomb and the FBI’s investigation — previous investigation. Why did it take five years?”

News of the hearing that would look at the events of that day through the lens of security failures rather than attempts by President Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn the results of the 2020 election was the culmination of a daylong campaign from Republicans to offer an alternative memory of the Capitol attack.

The White House published a website offering a largely false narrative of what unfolded at the Capitol five years ago — one that blamed then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and forcefully denied Trump’s role in inciting the violence. Democrats and Republicans also fought over the fate of a commemorative plaque mandated by Congress to honor those who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6, with Speaker Mike Johnson maintaining the project was untenable.

Loudermilk said he had not spoken to Johnson about the memorial tablet and hasn’t been following the controversy around it but suggested he wasn’t opposed to its display — something of a break with House GOP leadership have sought to either bury the matter or denigrate the effort.

“I don’t have problem putting it up. I think you need to honor the police,” he said. “I mean, the rank and file police, they were just trying to do their job.”

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Congress

Steny Hoyer set to announce retirement from Congress

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Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer is set to announce his retirement from the House as soon as Thursday, capping off a decades-long career in Congress, according to two people who were granted anonymity to confirm the news ahead of a public announcement.

Hoyer, who represents a district stretching from the eastern Washington suburbs to southern Maryland, has served since 1981, rising up through the ranks to become the second-ranking House Democrat under Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

He stepped aside from his senior role after Democrats lost the House in 2022 as part of a broader changing of the guard but remained in Congress, retaking a senior post on the House Appropriations Committee.

Only two sitting House members — GOP Reps. Hal Rogers of Kentucky and Chris Smith of New Jersey — have served longer than Hoyer, and only by a few months.

Now 86, Hoyer remained circumspect about his plans to run for re-election. The decision comes as numerous senior Democrats are facing primaries from younger candidates or choosing not to run for reelection. Pelosi announced in October she plans to retire at the end of her term.

A Hoyer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His decision to step aside is likely to create a free-for-all for the deep-blue seat. One candidate, Harry Jarin, is already in the race after launching a primary in May that specifically targeted Hoyer’s age.

Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.

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Congress

House Oversight panel to issue more subpoenas in Epstein case

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will subpoena Les Wexner, the longtime friend and client of Jeffrey Epstein, along with two men who worked for the late convicted sex offender.

It was the culmination of a flurry of subpoena requests Wednesday from rank-and-file members of the panel, several of which were ultimately approved. The committee also voted to subpoena Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn — Epstein’s lawyer and accountant, respectively.

It shows how the House Oversight Committee could continue to find itself at the center of efforts to re-investigate the Epstein case as the Justice Department presides over a prolonged and rocky rollout of materials.

The successful motions, brought by the top Democrat on panel, California Rep. Robert Garcia, appeared to be the result of an agreement between Garcia and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who also successfully moved to subpoena American businessman Neville Singham and journalist Seth Harp.

“There is probably no one more important as it relates to the financing and the work of this investigation, which both sides of the aisle are interested in,” Garcia said, of Wexner. “Public reporting has documented their longstanding ties. He should answer our questions in a non-partisan way to get the truth.”

Luna concurred: “I think that this is a sound motion for subpoena because Les Wexner has been named by victims and also, too, is in a number of documentaries,” she said and urged her colleagues to join her in supporting the effort.

In moving to subpoena Singham, Luna cited a letter signed by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, who now serves as Secretary of State, suggesting the entrepreneur may have been connected to activities that violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Luna also claimed Singham was funding groups that were adverse to American interests.

Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) questioned why Luna was making her motion at this time. Still, Garcia recommended lawmakers vote “yes” despite Min’s concerns, explaining “the representative made clear her support for the deposition that we’re going to have with Mr. Wexner.”

In an interview after the Wexner vote, Garcia said he did not negotiate the matter with Luna before the hearing.

“[Congress is] about compromise, and I think for us, the Les Wexner subpoena is at the center of this investigation,” he said.

Garcia also supported Luna’s motion to subpoena Harp, who has been accused of doxxing a Delta Force official involved in the operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Separately, the committee rejected a bid from Democrats to subpoena the Department of Homeland Security for records related to the Wednesday shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.

The panel struck down an attempt from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) to issue the subpoena at the end of an hours-long hearing around the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota. Pressley requested “documents and footage” of the fatal incident.

Garcia said he was hopeful the panel would investigate the episode.

“We’re talking about Minnesota right now,” he said. “This was a killing by an ICE agent. There are videos that are now online. There’s testimony that’s being brought to light. It’s horrific. I encourage folks to watch those videos and see what’s happened for themselves.”

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Trump has ‘greenlit’ Russia sanctions bill, Lindsey Graham says

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Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday after meeting with President Donald Trump that the Senate could vote as soon as next week to impose new sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war with Ukraine.

“After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator [Richard] Blumenthal and many others,” Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement, referring to the Connecticut Democrat who coauthored the long-stalled legislation.

Spokespeople for the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Graham said a Senate vote would take place “hopefully as early as next week.”

Graham and Senate Republican leaders have been working with the White House for months to try to reach an agreement on a final version of the legislation — and this isn’t the first time Graham has declared that his bill could soon move, for it to only stall out again.

The legislation would place secondary sanctions on countries such as China and India that buy oil and gas from Russia in a bid to cut off the cash flow for President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

“Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” Graham said, saying the legislation would be “well-timed.”

A spokesperson for Graham didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether changes will be incorporated at Trump’s request. The president has previously requested absolute flexibility to impose and retract any sanctions at will.

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