Pence is subpoenaed in special counsel probe of Jan. 6

Former Vice President Mike Pence has received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the action, which involves a grand jury whose proceedings are secret. ABC News first reported the development.

It’s unclear whether Pence intends to resist the subpoena. Aides to the former vice president declined to comment. Justice Department officials, including a spokesperson for Smith, also declined to comment.

Pence was the target of Trump’s last-ditch bid to derail the transfer of power to Joe Biden, leaning on his then-vice president to prevent Congress from counting electoral votes that would affirm Biden’s victory.

Pence resisted the effort, drawing Trump’s fury, even as a mob on Jan. 6, 2021, violently attacked and breached the Capitol, where Pence had been presiding over the electoral vote count.

One advantage for Smith in pursuing Pence’s testimony is that Pence has sought to publicly describe his private interactions with Trump during the chaotic weeks before Jan. 6. Pence wrote about it in his recently released book, indicating he had directly told Trump that even his own lawyers didn’t think courts would support his plan to have Pence single-handedly overturn the results.

Two of Pence’s top aides — Marc Short and Greg Jacob — have already testified to the grand jury and are the subject of ongoing secret legal proceedings pending before the federal courts related to Trump’s effort to assert privilege over their testimony. Both men also testified at length to the Jan. 6 select committee last year and provided crucial evidence that a federal judge said pointed to “likely” crimes committed by Trump.

The subpoena has the potential to trigger an executive privilege fight if Trump or Pence ask a judge to rule that some or all of their testimony should be off limits to prosecutors and the grand jury in order to protect White House deliberations.

Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Smith to serve as a special counsel shortly after the midterm elections in November and following an announcement by Trump that he would be a candidate for president in 2024. Smith's mandate includes not only Jan. 6-related matters and alleged interference with the 2020 presidential election, but also the presence of a range of documents with classification markings at Trump's Florida home.

Josh Gerstein and Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.

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Dems back Biden, Republicans shrug on Trump and other takeaways from The Fifty: America’s Governors

Democrats are smitten with President Joe Biden. But they say their party stumbled on messaging surrounding climate action.

Republicans can’t say who their party leader is. But they admit it could be time to move on from former President Donald Trump.

POLITICO convened six governors on Thursday to discuss everything from abortion to electric vehicles to Biden’s State of the Union address and the early contours of the 2024 presidential race for The Fifty: America’s Governors in Washington, D.C.

Here are five takeaways from the day:

Democrats throw down gauntlet on abortion

Worried about the prospect of a national abortion ban, and being surrounded by states that have restricted access to the procedure, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, all Democrats, forcefully pledged themselves to its defense.

“We’re an oasis,” Pritzker said. “People come to Illinois to exercise what are their fundamental rights that are being denied in other states, every state around us, and another ring of states around them.”

Prtizker argued for a federal law protecting abortion access, adding, “If it were me, I would write it into the U.S. Constitution.”

Cooper’s tenure as governor has almost entirely been about facing down a Republican majority in the legislature. And after the 2022 midterms, the GOP is just one seat away from a two-chamber supermajority.

In an environment where flipping just one Democrat in the state House could trump his veto pen, Republican lawmakers have floated restricting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — around the time a fetus begins to show cardiac activity — or after the first trimester.

But Cooper said he’s not backing down.

“We have become a critical access point in the Southeast and we need to hold the line to protect women’s health,” he said.

Inslee railed against state governments pursuing “vigilante justice” by trying to track down women seeking abortions in Washington, calling them “a clear and present danger.” He insisted that abortion rights will remain a top election issue for Democrats until reproductive rights are secured through legislation.

“The vast, vast majority of Americans do not want politicians ordering women into forced pregnancies, and that’s what this is,” he said.

Inslee argued that abortion right supporters need to now focus on “increasing privacy protections” through stronger state laws, to prevent patients from being targeted via their medical or retail data, or other online activities

Biden clears the field — Democrats back President for a second term

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, said Democratic efforts to bump New Hampshire out of its first-in-the-nation slot in the party’s primary calendar will only invite challengers to Biden.

“You think no Democrat is going to step up and come to New Hampshire and get all that free press, all that earned media, all that excitement? Of course they are,” Sununu said.

Despite Sununu’s best efforts to suggest division among Democrats over the presidential race, Democratic governors lined up to applaud Biden after his State of the Union address.

Pritzker, who is widely viewed as a presidential contender, swatted away a question about his own ambitions, saying he’s “pleased” to support Biden’s yet-to-be-announced reelection bid.

“President Biden has done a superior job,” Pritzker said. “So much progress has been made in a partisan environment.”

Cooper lauded Biden as energetic and engaged: “He met the moment.”

Inslee, of Washington, who competed against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020 said he was “ecstatic” about the president’s address, which “showed that he is quick on his feet,” and “euphoric” about the infrastructure and clean energy investment authorized by Congress during the past year.

Republicans don’t know who their leader is

Former President Donald Trump’s loosening grip on the Republican Party after its lackluster showing in the midterms was also teased at.

While some Republicans are ready to move on from Trump, they weren’t willing to say who they think the party’s next leader should be.

“President Trump’s very popular in North Dakota,” said the state’s Gov. Doug Burgum, before quickly adding “there are people that are wanting to look to the future as opposed to looking to the past.” The question of party leadership, he said, is “an open debate.”

Sununu sees a group of leaders — the party’s would-be presidential contenders, himself included — but said “you never pin leadership of a party on one individual, you really can’t.”

The governors were clearer on what they don’t want to see from their party going forward: The heckling some Republican lawmakers did during Biden’s State of the Union speech.

“The Republicans, frankly, were rude. There’s no doubt about it,” Sununu said, describing Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ response to Biden’s address as “very politically driven” and “unhelpful” in its suggestion that “all Democrats are crazy.”

Alexa Henning, Huckabee Sanders’ communications director, rejected Sununu’s criticisms. “That isn’t what she said,” Henning said, “so it’s actually Chris that assumes half the country is crazy.”

Sununu 2024, definitely maybe, sorta

Don’t call him a moderate. Sununu made it clear Thursday, as he mulls a 2024 presidential bid, that he’s as conservative — if not more conservative — than any Republican discussing a presidential bid.

“I’m ranked the most fiscally conservative governor in the country. I’m No. 1 in personal freedoms. Sorry, Ron, you’re No. 2,” Sununu said in a knock on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s considered a presidential frontrunner.

The libertarian-leaning Cato Institute ranked Sununu second-most fiscally conservative, behind Iowa’s GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds. DeSantis was ranked 20th, behind some Democrats, including Cooper.

“Am I more moderate on social issues? Yeah, maybe,” Sununu, who typically describes himself as “pro-choice,” said. “But I’ve gotta stand for management. I’m a manager. I’m a CEO.”

Sununu has a seemingly built-in advantage if he runs for president: New Hampshire remains the first primary for Republicans. But it can also be an albatross.

“If I didn't win New Hampshire, I’d be done,” Sununu said, adding that the pressure would be immense even if he’s successful. “If I win New Hampshire, everyone’s going to say it wasn’t by enough.”

Democrats agree: The best climate message is jobs and economic opportunity

Democratic governors admitted the party has often tripped over itself in trying to convince independent and conservative voters on the need to tackle climate change and other policy action.

Cooper, of North Carolina, said he has no choice but to use pragmatic climate messaging: “You gotta do whatever it takes to get the job done,” he said, lamenting “my predecessor Republican governor didn't allow people in his administration to even say the word [climate change],” he said.

It helps to have partners in that messaging: “We all agree that economic development and great paying jobs are good for North Carolina,” Cooper said, but now auto company CEOs are “falling all over themselves” to make electric vehicle investments.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said he’s proud of working to convert the threat of climate change into economic opportunities, even as neighboring North Dakota looks to overturn Minnesota’s new clean energy targets through a lawsuit.  

“Fighting against the ability to create more clean jobs and reduce carbon emissions, and suing your neighbor. I don't think it looks very good,” Walz said.

Inslee, of Washington, said “clean energy jobs are moving so rapidly I can’t turn over a rock without finding some new company that’s hiring people,” offsetting tech layoffs in the state, which is home to big tech companies including Microsoft and Amazon.

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U.S., U.K. sanction Russian hackers in ransomware attacks

The United States and the United Kingdom on Thursday jointly sanctioned seven Russian government-linked hackers who were linked to ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure in the U.S., U.K. and Ukraine.

Big picture: The sanctions are the latest effort by Western nations to crack down on Russian hacking operations, which have surged in the past year as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and heightened tensions with the West.

The seven Russian individuals sanctioned — Vitaly Kovalev, Maksim Mikhailov, Valentin Karyagin, Mikhail Iskritskiy, Dmitry Pleshevskiy, Ivan Vakhromeyev and Valery Sedletski — were all alleged to by the U.S. Treasury Department to be members of the Russian-based cybercriminal group Trickbot. They are alleged to be behind attacks on critical infrastructure, including hospitals in both the U.S. and the U.K. during the Covid-19 pandemic, and are associated with Russian intelligence services.

Geopolitical links: In addition, Trickbot was linked by IBM last year to cyberattacks in 2022 tied to the war aimed at both the Ukrainian government and private sector groups and, according to the Treasury Department, have also allegedly targeted the U.S. government and U.S. companies.

“The United States and the U.K. are leaders in the global fight against cybercrime and are committed to using all available tools to defend against cyber threats,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday. “As Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine continues, cooperation with our allies and partners is more critical than ever to protect our national security.”

British attacks: The U.K.’s National Crime Agency identified almost 150 British victims of ransomware linked to Russian cybercriminal groups. And the action taken Thursday is part of an effort to shut down ransomware attacks aimed at the U.K., which are classified there as a “tier 1 national security threat.”

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement Thursday that “by sanctioning these cyber criminals, we are sending a clear signal to them and others involved in ransomware that they will be held to account.”

Past disruption efforts: The hackers associated with Trickbot have continued their activities despite Microsoft taking action in 2020 ahead of the U.S. presidential election to disrupt the group through actions including suspending IP addresses. Whether the new sanctions will be able to permanently damage the group remains unclear.

“These sanctions will likely cause disruption to the adversary’s operations while they look for ways to circumvent the sanctions,” Adam Meyers, head of threat intelligence at cybersecurity group CrowdStrike, said in a statement Thursday. “Often, when cybercriminal groups are disrupted, they will go dark for a time only to rebrand under a new name.”

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Florida athletic association will no longer ask high school students about menstruation cycles

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A Florida high school athletic association will no longer ask female athletes questions about their menstrual cycles after facing widespread backlash from parents, educators and state lawmakers.

The Florida High School Athletic Association, which is responsible for governing interscholastic sports, voted 14-2 on Thursday to amend its form sent to schools to ask students only about their health and will only verify if an athlete is fit to participate. Four questions regarding a female athletes menstrual cycle and history will be removed.

The four questions at the center of the controversy asked whether the student had a menstrual period, and if so, how recent it was. The form also asked “how old were you when you had your first menstrual period?” and “how many periods have you had in the past twelve months?”

The association faced widespread criticism after the Palm Beach Post reported that the organization asked student athletes about their menstruation history and was considering making it mandatory.

During the meeting, a lawyer present with FHSAA read dozens of letters opposing the inclusion of the menstruation questions. The feedback included comments from outraged parents and community members who stated: “This is so out of line … you idiots are sick” and “I thank god I do not have a daughter because I would never allow her to play sports under these standards.”

Chris Patricca, one of two members who voted against changing the form, told the board members she continued to object to the elimination of the menstrual cycle questions.

“Many of today's comments in my opinion could have the impact of further stigmatizing this perfectly normal bodily function — implying that menstruation is in any way shameful is an archaic notion,” Patricca said. “What is controversial is the political pressure that has been placed on the association to look at this through the lens of political hot button issues.”

The questionnaire caused an uproar in Florida and beyond, in part because parents and others believed it was an invasion of privacy and worried the information could be used to prosecute teen athletes who received abortions outside of the permitted time frame. Florida last year banned women and girls from getting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

Some LGBTQ advocates also feared the disclosure of an athlete’s menstruation history would stigmatize transgender students. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 signed a bill outlawing transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports.

John Gerdes, president of the association, said he wanted to make it clear that DeSantis and his office had nothing to do with the decisions made by the board.

“We felt no pressure from them, they did not contact us,” Gerdes said. “This was our issue to deal with.”

After the association voted, Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book released a statement thanking the board for rejecting the “bizarre, outrageous, and inappropriate recommendation regarding mandated period tracking for female athletes — and for not only soliciting but actually listening to public testimony.”

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Nicaragua frees more than 200 political prisoners

Nicaragua has freed 222 political prisoners, all of whom have been flown to the United States, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

The prisoners, many of them detained by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega amid a crackdown on critics and political opponents, arrived Thursday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the State Department said in a statement. Among the 222 individuals were political and business leaders, journalists, civil society representatives and students, the administration said.

Relations between the U.S. and Nicaragua have been strained due to the arrests by Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. In 2021, Ortega and Murillo detained several political opponents and prevented opposition parties from participating in the country’s election.

The Nicaraguan embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Nicaraguan judge denounced the prisoners as traitors being “deported” to the U.S.

Ortega has claimed the prisoners were detained for their involvement in plots to overthrow him during 2018 protests about police violence and changes to the country’s social security system.

The White House praised the release of the prisoners, saying it “marks a constructive step towards addressing human rights abuses in the country and opens the door to further dialogue between the United States and Nicaragua regarding issues of concern.”

Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, a former Nicaraguan foreign minister, was detained in 2021 after criticizing Ortega and Murillo. His son, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who is a screenwriter for television drama “Riverdale,” led a petition advocating for his release.

Francisco’s daughter, Georgie Aguirre-Sacasa, was relieved to learn of her father’s release earlier this morning and expressed gratitude for the lawmakers working to aid her family.

“There are no words I can say to thank the State Department, [former Sen. Chris Dodd], Sen. Bob Menendez and the administration for what they just did,” Augirre-Sacasa said. “It’s incredible.”

The U.S. government is providing medical and legal support to the newly released prisoners “to ease their arrival,” the administration said.

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Biden on documents: People packing offices 'didn't do the kind of job that should've been done'

President Joe Biden shifted some blame for his document-related troubles to the people who packed his offices when asked Wednesday about the discovery of classified materials in his possession.

“What was not done well is, as they packed up my offices to move them, they didn't do the kind of job that should've been done, to go thoroughly through every piece of literature that's there,” Biden told Judy Woodruff on PBS’s “NewsHour."

Biden did not give any additional specifics about the packing of the material in question. The president has been mostly tight-lipped about the materials taken from his personal office and homes, citing an ongoing Justice Department investigation; his comment Wednesday marked one of his first public statements on what may have gone wrong as the materials were handled.

He continued to contrast the discovery of sensitive materials in his own possession with the FBI seizure of documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate in August.

“The best of my knowledge, the kind of things they [investigators] picked up are things that — from 1974, stray papers. There may be something else, I don't know,” Biden said of the investigators that looked for materials in his possession. 1974 was Biden's second year in the U.S. Senate, and he didn't explain what type of material from that year he might have had in his possession.

He also maintained he “volunteered to open every single aperture” in cooperating with the Justice Department, a notable difference from Trump. The former president is under investigation not only for allegedly holding highly sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but also for possibly obstructing the investigation process. Trump has repeatedly complained about the process that led to the FBI seizures at Mar-a-Lago.

Classified documents have been found at Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home, as well as a Biden-associated private think tank space in Washington. Biden previously said he was “surprised” at the discovery of classified materials in the think tank space and that he didn’t know what was in them.

Federal agents also searched Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Del., home last week, but no additional documents with classified markings were found, according to Biden’s personal lawyer.

His administration has repeatedly said they’re cooperating with the investigation, which is being led by special counsel Robert Hur.

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Biden's about to have a Cabinet opening. Asian American lawmakers have a favorite.

Asian American lawmakers pushed hard for Julie Su to join the Cabinet two years ago, only to fall short. Now they're preparing to try again.

Marty Walsh’s expected departure from the helm of the Labor Department is reviving a lobbying blitz by Asian American members of Congress for more diversity in President Joe Biden's top adviser ranks. And they're embracing Su, who's now the deputy secretary, for the top job.

What's not clear yet, though, is whether Asian American lawmakers will play the same type of hardball they attempted in 2021, when they courted a showdown with the White House over its failure to tap an AAPI secretary for the Cabinet. After Biden ultimately passed over Su for Walsh, then Boston's mayor, Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) later vented their broader discontent with a vow to slow-walk many of his nominees — and ended up accepting the appointment of a senior Asian American Pacific Islander liaison and other commitments in response.

This time, they’re hoping they can avoid a fight.

“It's the first administration in 20 years without an [Asian American Pacific Islander] Cabinet secretary … This is the first chance they have to diversify the Cabinet,” Duckworth said. “So I'm waiting to see. Hopefully they will nominate her or an AAPI.”

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus is already weighing in and endorsed Su Wednesday. In a statement, the caucus members presented her potential nomination as an opportunity for Biden “to better realize the ‘most diverse Cabinet in history.’”

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Asian American caucus’ push for Su last time, called her a “no-brainer choice” for Biden.

Walsh is the first of Biden's Cabinet secretaries slated to leave, creating a high profile vacancy for a Senate-confirmed position that’s already spurring intense behind-the-scenes jockeying. With a 51-seat majority in the upper chamber, Democrats can confirm whomever Biden nominates without needing GOP votes.

When it comes to GOP support, however, Su demonstrably lags Walsh, who got 18 Senate Republican votes when he was confirmed in March 2021. No Republicans voted to confirm Su to her current position, making her a likely more contentious pick if she's tapped.

Su’s proponents argue that she’s most qualified to take the reins at the department, especially given her tenure there. And they tout her years of experience in high-ranking labor positions in California, as well as her earlier work representing low-wage and immigrant workers — including at a Los Angeles legal aid organization.

But during her confirmation hearing for deputy labor secretary, she faced questions about addressing fraud while she oversaw California’s unemployment insurance office, as well as her implementation of a controversial state law that redefined many gig workers as company employees.

Three Asian Americans currently serve in Cabinet-level positions for Biden: Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Arati Prabhakar, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. But advocates for stronger Asian American representation emphasize that a Cabinet secretary role is different.

“We want to acknowledge that the Biden administration, by almost every measure, has been fantastic when it comes to AAPI inclusion within his administration,” said Gregg Orton, national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. "The one sort of glaring area for improvement is the fact that there isn’t an AAPI Cabinet secretary … This is a genuine opportunity to correct for that.”

For now, the Biden administration isn’t commenting on a Labor Department successor. Asked Wednesday about a potential replacement for Walsh, Senior Liaison Erika Moritsugu told reporters that Walsh had been tweeting during Tuesday’s State of the Union — where he stayed back as the “designated survivor” — and added: “We don’t have a vacancy at this moment. Nothing further on that.”

Su wouldn’t be the first Asian American woman to head up the Labor Department. Elaine Chao became the first female Asian American Cabinet secretary in 2001, leading the department for all eight years of George W. Bush’s administration. (Chao also later served as transportation secretary under former President Donald Trump.) Chris Lu, who was deputy labor secretary during President Barack Obama’s administration, was the first Asian American in the department's number-two slot.

Su is widely viewed as the frontrunner, and her supporters include union leaders like American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

Another potential boost for Su: Biden may be reluctant to replace one white male secretary with another, given his administration’s stated commitment to diversity and the likelihood that such a move would rankle Senate Democrats. That amounts to a hurdle for union-friendly figures like Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and former Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), both of whose names were floated during the presidential transition in 2020 and who could get reconsidered now.

In addition, Levin is angling to become ambassador to Haiti, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), a former labor lawyer, has also been floated for the Labor job, according to two different people familiar who also sought anonymity to speak candidly.

Walsh’s resume was a major selling point ahead of his initial selection, and some want Biden to consider other union leaders for the job. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who would helm any confirmation hearing for Labor Secretary, named Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson or Clinton-era Labor Secretary Robert Reich as potential candidates he would support.

But Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), both an Asian American caucus member and the top Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee, said Su “would be good.”

“She’s done well so far,” he added.

Sarah Ferris and Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.

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