New Hampshire sets Jan. 23 primary, putting Dems out of compliance

CONCORD, N.H. — There’s finally a date for New Hampshire’s 2024 presidential primaries: Jan. 23.

The long-awaited announcement from Secretary of State David Scanlan on Wednesday firms up Republicans’ nominating calendar and officially puts the state out of compliance with Democrats’ preferred voting order.

“New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary election for over 100 years.” Scanlan said at the State House in Concord, flanked by both the Republican and Democratic state party chairs. “And we will vigorously defend it.”

Based on the GOP calendar, Jan. 23 was the date widely expected. It’s just over a week after Iowa’s Jan. 15 caucuses — enough time for New Hampshire to bask in the flood of post-Iowa campaigning. And it’s more than a week before South Carolina’s primary on Feb. 3, keeping in line with New Hampshire law that requires the Granite State hold its primary a week before any similar contest.

President Joe Biden and top Democrats wanted South Carolina — a more diverse state that propelled him to the nomination in 2020 — in the leadoff spot for their 2024 calendar. New Hampshire was supposed to vote second on a shared date with Nevada.

But Scanlan and other Republicans who control state government long said they wouldn’t bend to Democrats’ demands.

“Using racial diversity as a cudgel in an attempt to rearrange the presidential nominating calendar is an ugly process,” Scanlan said. “Diversity is not the real issue at play in this debate. At stake is who gets to determine the nominee of a party: the elites on a national party committee by controlling the nominating calendar, or the voters."

Biden didn’t put his name on the New Hampshire primary ballot in anticipation that the state would hold an unsanctioned Democratic contest. His campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, wrote in a letter to state Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley that while the “president wishes to participate” in the primary, he’s “obligated” to follow the DNC calendar he set in motion. Biden’s allies in the state are now running a write-in campaign on his behalf.

But Biden could still lose the now-officially unofficial early contest to a longshot candidate like Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) or Marianne Williamson, both of whom filed for the primary ballot and are campaigning in the state. A loss here would be an embarrassment for Biden en route to his likely renomination. And based on Democratic Party rules passed last year, the state could lose half its delegates if it goes through with an unsanctioned primary.

One other consequence of Democrats moving South Carolina up: Scanlan is shifting New Hampshire’s primary back to January after two cycles of February voting. The 2020 presidential primary was on Feb. 11. In 2016, it was Feb. 9. But for three cycles before that it was in January.

While many observers long expected Jan. 23 to be the date, Scanlan’s announcement now gives the GOP field a firm goalpost.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose sixth-place finish in New Hampshire’s 2016 presidential primary ended his campaign that year, told reporters last week that an earlier contest isn’t a problem.

“No one’s been here more than me, so it’s not like I’m running out of time to make an impression,” Christie said after a town hall in Merrimack last week. “It’s not like the people in New Hampshire won’t have a sufficient [amount of] time to look at me, whether [the primary is] Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6.”

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False electors in Nevada who aided Trump in 2020 are under investigation

The attorney general of Nevada is quietly investigating Republican activists and operatives who falsely pledged the state’s six electoral votes to Donald Trump in 2020, despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

In recent weeks, investigators have questioned witnesses about the attempts of the so-called alternate electors to present themselves as viable representatives of the states’ voters, according to three people familiar with the probe. Investigators have also asked about documents those people prepared as part of the effort.

The probe, which until now has not been publicly reported, is the latest sign of potential legal jeopardy for the Republicans who, amid Trump’s bid to cling to power, posed as electors in states that Biden won. False electors in Georgia and Michigan are already facing criminal charges, and an investigation is underway in Arizona.

In Nevada, six Republicans, including state GOP chair Michael McDonald, signed fake certificates on Dec. 14, 2020, falsely declaring themselves to be the state’s duly appointed Electoral College representatives. Trump and his allies then invoked that slate of false electors, as well as similar slates in six other states, as they tried to block Congress’ certification of the election results on Jan. 6, 2021.

Joe Gloria, who was Clark County registrar of voters when Trump’s allies in Nevada tried to reverse the election, told POLITICO that a state investigator asked him questions earlier this month about the fake elector scheme. Another person who was questioned and who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive probe also said investigators asked for details about the fake electors and documents they prepared. And a third person briefed on the probe — also granted anonymity because of its sensitivity — confirmed it is active.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, declined to comment through a spokesperson. Of the six Nevada false electors, four did not respond to requests for comment, one declined to comment and one could not be reached.

Ford has previously sent mixed messages about the potential for a state investigation into the false electors’ actions. In May, he suggested no criminal charges were likely.

“As you all know, I have been silent on Nevada’s fake electors, except to say that the matter was on our radar,” he said in testimony to the state’s legislature. “With it on our radar, we ascertained that current state statutes did not directly address the conduct in question — to the dismay of some, and I’m sure, to the delight of others.”

In that hearing, he testified in favor of a proposal to ban people from acting as fake electors, the Nevada Independent reported. The bill passed through the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature and was vetoed in June by its Republican governor, Joe Lombardo.

Then, in September, Ford appeared to change his tune. “I’ve never said that we’re not going to prosecute,” he told 8 News Now. “It is not that I’ve said that I can do nothing. What I have said, and I’ve been precise with my wording on purpose, is we don’t have statutes in this state that directly address the issue.”

The status of Ford’s probe — including whether he will seek indictments — is unclear. It’s also not clear whether Ford is investigating anyone outside Nevada.

One of the state’s false electors, Jim DeGraffenreid, was in touch with Kenneth Chesebro — a lawyer working with the Trump campaign and a chief architect of the fake elector scheme — in the days before the activists signed the fake certificates, according to the House Jan. 6 select committee report.

“URGENT—Trump-Pence campaign asked me to contact you to coordinate Dec. 14 voting by Nevada electors,” read the subject line of an email that DeGraffenreid sent Chesebro. Chesebro pleaded guilty in Georgia last month to a single felony count after being charged alongside Trump and 17 others with a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the election.

In Nevada and in other states, the people who acted as false electors said at the time that they were doing it as part of a contingency plan because of lawsuits Trump’s team brought challenging the election outcome. But after courts rejected those lawsuits, Trump used the existence of the false electors to pressure his vice president, Mike Pence, to block the certification of the results on Jan. 6. Chesebro similarly noted that pro-Trump members of Congress could invoke the false electors as a rationale for upending the results.

On the day that the six Nevada activists met and signed the false paperwork, the state’s Republican Party praised them. “History made today in Carson City, Nevada, @McDonaldNV leads our electors in casting Nevada's 6 electoral votes for the winner of Nevada, @realDonaldTrump and @Mike_Pence!"the party tweeted on Dec. 14, 2020.

In addition to McDonald and DeGraffenreid, the other Nevada Republicans who claimed to be electors for Trump were Jesse Law, the head of the Clark County Republican Party; Durward James Hindle III; Eileen Rice; and Shawn Meehan. Meehan declined to comment. Rice could not be reached. The other four did not respond.

Beyond Nevada, Trump allies posed as electors in December 2020 in six other states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and New Mexico. Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, brought charges against the fake electors there in July. Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, charged three of Georgia’s false electors in her racketeering case. And Kris Mayes, the Democratic attorney general of Arizona, told CNN last week that she is investigating fake electors from her state.

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A rambling explanation and tearful rant from Paul Pelosi attacker

SAN FRANCISCO — The man who broke into former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and struck her 83-year-old husband with a hammer provided jurors Tuesday with a bizarre and rambling explanation for an act of political violence that could land him in prison for decades.

David DePape said he planned to wear a unicorn costume he brought to the home that night and use the hammer to interrogate her about what he believed were government-backed plots against former President Donald Trump and other matters.

“I wanted to use her to expose the truth,” said DePape, who at times appeared so emotional that he couldn’t speak. "If she lied, I would break her kneecaps."

He repeatedly broke down sobbing during his testimony, which offered a window into a surprising defense strategy in a case that is expected to go to the jury in federal court in San Francisco by as early as Wednesday.

DePape, a Canadian citizen who faces up to life in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have argued that he didn’t intend to interfere with Rep. Pelosi’s official duties, an element of the federal charges. The congressperson wasn’t home at the time of the attack.

The defendant said assaulting Paul Pelosi was never his plan.

“When he was on the ground breathing, I was, like, really scared for his life," DePape said. "I felt bad for him because we kind of had, like, a really good rapport."

DePape said he planned to abduct Nancy Pelosi and use her to lure his other targets, including President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

The defendant said he targeted Pelosi first because she was a leader of the Democratic Party and he thought her home would be easier to break into than several others on his list, including that of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and a gender studies professor.

“I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” DePape said.

Prosecutors questioned DePape about a jailhouse interview he gave to a local TV station in which he apologized to the public for not reaching other people on his list — but no remorse for the attack.

Paul Pelosi’ skull was fractured and he has lingering injuries from being struck with the hammer by DePape as police arrived in response to a 911-call from the congresswoman’s husband.

DePape faces a separate trial on state charges for the attack.

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Estonian PM Kaja Kallas open to being next NATO chief

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she’s interested in taking over the top job at NATO, as the Cold War-era alliance continues to navigate Russia’s war in Ukraine and homes in on common strategies against China and other emerging threats.

Speaking at the POLITICO Defense Summit, Kallas was pressed on whether she’d like to be considered for the role once NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg steps down. She responded “yes.”

Kallas’ response and her visit to Washington comes as worries grow in Europe, especially among the leaders of Baltic and Eastern European countries such as Estonia, that U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort is increasingly wavering.

It also comes as NATO’s role is evolving as a key force in support of Ukraine as it continues to repel Russia’s February 2022 invasion, and as the alliance seeks to project strength and unity in the face of emerging threats such as China, artificial intelligence and other challenges.

Kallas was bullish that Ukraine will ultimately prevail in its efforts to repel Russia’s invasion, as concerns grow on both sides of the Atlantic that Ukraine and Russia are approaching a standstill on the battlefield.

“I totally understand and believe that it is beatable,” Kallas said, in reference to the Russian military. “And Ukraine can win this war.”

Kallas rejected the notion that the conflict is at a stalemate, saying it serves Russian interests to paint conditions on the battlefield in that light.

“That works to their benefit,” Kallas said. “Let's not fall into that trap.”

Kallas, who met with Biden administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, underscored the need for American support to achieve lasting peace in the region.

“What we want to have is sustainable peace. And of course, you know, American support for that is fundamental,” Kallas said.

She also added that she was pleasantly surprised to find that “skeptical” American politicians were more on board than she had expected.

“I actually had a very, very good meeting with all of those people and I was asking the ambassadors like, “when are we meeting the skeptical ones?’ ” Kallas quipped.

“They had a lot of questions and I tried to answer them as well. But it seems to me that we are still, you know, getting through with our ideas and it doesn't seem to me that we are very far away from each other,” Kallas continued.

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Reed: Congress needs to avoid a shutdown, then focus on Ukraine, Israel

Congress must first focus on avoiding a government shutdown before it can consider sending more assistance to Israel and Ukraine, Sen. Jack Reed said on Tuesday.

“The first priority is to get the CR,” Reed (D-R.I.) said during the POLITICO Defense Summit, using an abbreviation for the continuing resolution, which keeps the government operating under the previous year’s levels. “The second priority is to get funding for Israel and Ukraine … we have to do both.”

The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee stated his support for keeping the government open just as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and the White House are on board with the House's CR. Speaker Mike Johnson has pushed a plan to avert a shutdown that has two deadlines after the first of the year. The measure does not include funding for Ukraine or Israel, however.

Keeping the government open is “not a question of preference, it's a question of necessity,” Reed said.

He further expressed support for a supplemental that ties aid to Israel and Ukraine together, which President Joe Biden requested in a $106 billion package in October.

It’s widely expected that Johnson will not move a Ukraine funding package, despite saying publicly since he took the gavel that he would “bifurcate” Israel and Ukraine aid.

As Israel’s fight against the Hamas militant group continued with no end in sight, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee emphasized the need for Israel to have a “very precise use of weapons” to minimize civilian harm — warning of the repercussions if the civilian death toll continues to skyrocket in Gaza.

“Ultimately, they're going to have to separate Hamas from the Palestinian people. If they do not do that, Hamas will transform into something else,” Reed said.

He said he has seen "modest steps" on Israel's part to minimize civilian casualties, but that the U.S. is continuously reminding the country to conduct itself "according to the rules of war."

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Maryanne Trump Barry, the former president’s older sister and a retired federal judge, dies at 86

NEW YORK — Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge and former president Donald Trump‘s oldest sister, has died at age 86 at her home in New York.

Until her retirement in 2019, Barry was a senior judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a level below the Supreme Court.

The NYPD confirmed that officers were sent to Barry’s Manhattan home just before 4:30 a.m. and discovered a deceased 86-year-old woman. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Her death was confirmed by a judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity because Barry’s death hadn’t been announced publicly by either the court or Trump’s family.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before becoming a judge, Barry became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1974 and was nominated to the federal court in New Jersey by former President Ronald Reagan. She was later elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals by former President Bill Clinton. She retired in 2019 amid an investigation into her family’s tax practices.

Barry had stayed largely out of the spotlight during her brother’s presidency, but drew headlines after her niece, Mary Trump, revealed that she had secretly recorded her aunt while promoting a book that denounced the former president. In the recordings, Barry could be heard sharply criticizing her brother, at one point saying the former president “has no principles” and is “cruel.”

The former president’s younger brother, Robert Trump, died in 2020 at 71, and Trump held a service at the White House in his honor. His older brother, Fred Trump Jr., died of a heart attack at 42.

Donald Trump’s ex-wife, Ivana Trump, died in 2022 at the age of 73.

The news of Barry’s death was first reported by the Daily Voice in Nassau County.

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Embattled Supreme Court adopts code of conduct

The Supreme Court has adopted a formal ethics code for the first time in its history, bowing to public and congressional critics who demanded such a policy in the wake of reports about unreported luxury travel by justices and influence campaigns aimed at the court.

All nine of the court’s current justices endorsed the code, which generally tracks existing rules for lower court judges but includes some special provisions addressing the Supreme Court’s “unique institutional setting.”

The court said the code “for the most part” reflects longstanding practice, but was meant to “gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct” of the justices.

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