Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, senior national politics correspondent Alex Seitz-Wald explains why neither side got what they wanted from former special counsel Robert Huron’s testimony. Plus, national political reporter Steve Kornacki reveals whether a Joe Biden-Donald Trump rematch will be the longest general election campaign ever.
The prosecutor meets with the politicians and no one walks away happy
By Alex Seitz-Wald
In an election that will test the political independence of the judiciary like never before, one candidate is on trial under the watch of his opponent’s Justice Department, former special prosecutor Robert Hur. congressional expression today showed how dangerous it can be to try to enforce the law without appearing to support it.
Hurray report last month It examined some of the critical questions of the 2024 election, including the mental faculties of President Joe Biden and the alleged crimes of former President Donald Trump. But during his nearly four-hour appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Huron seemed uninterested in answering those questions outside the narrow scope of his own investigation. His testimony often resembled a book report on an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
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Going into the hearings, Republicans were hoping for some bombshell revelations to revive their impeachment efforts against Biden. the star witness was arrested for lying about his claims.
But the Republicans did not get what they wanted. Despite the GOP’s efforts to smear Biden about alleged “influence peddling,” Hur offered no new evidence against the president.
Democrats, meanwhile, have spent the past few weeks clamoring to say that Huron has decided not to indict Biden. condemns him because what they said were gratuitous and inaccurate comments about Biden’s faulty memory. As some liberals have pointed out, Hur is a Republican who was appointed by Trump to be US attorney.
But the Democrats could not get what they wanted without listening.
Hur explained that his understanding of Biden’s “state of mind” is not a side issue, but an essential part of his job. “My job was to determine whether the president knowingly withheld or disclosed national defense information ‘intentionally,’ that is, with the intent to do something prohibited by law,” he said. And he confirmed that his auditory memory was failing.
And transcripts Huron’s two-day interview with Biden before the hearing showed several examples of the president having trouble remembering a date or a name, while disproving claims by some Republicans about Biden’s alleged cognitive decline.
Hur did not fully exonerate Biden on the classified documents issue, as some Democrats have argued. In fact, Hur noted, he concluded that Biden had intentionally mishandled classified material, but that he would not have been able to secure a jury trial based on the evidence, so charges were not recommended.
But “innocent but not quite innocent” doesn’t live up to the bumper sticker or hashtag, and neither does Hurn’s more nuanced take on Biden’s memory.
In the end, both sides will salvage something from the trial to use in the campaign, but no one really got what they wanted — except perhaps Hur, whose reticent testimony will likely be learned by other presidential prosecutors who will inevitably be questioned. Testify before Congress.
Will 2024 be the longest general election campaign yet?
Analysis by Steve Kornacki
With perhaps the most tense primary season in history coming to an end, I believe the 2024 general election campaign will be the longest ever. And by one metric, it might be good—but just barely.
That’s because today’s primaries and caucuses in Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state are poised to give both Biden and Trump enough delegates to reach the magic number needed to win their party’s nomination.
Biden, now down to just 99 delegates, figures to do so early — likely at 7 p.m. ET when polls close in Georgia. For Trump, it will take a little longer. Potentially, he could do so after the polls in Washington close at 11pm ET. If this happens, then today, March 12, will be the day when both candidates are concentrated. And that leaves 240 days until the November 5 election, which will make 2024 the longest general election campaign of modern times.
But tabulations and allocation of delegates can sometimes take some time, so it’s possible Trump won’t clear the tally until after midnight and perhaps after Hawaii’s results come in around 2 a.m. Under this scenario, both candidates would technically be vocal tomorrow, and that would be 239 days before November 5th. That would tie the record set by both George W. Bush and John Kerry in the 2004 election and the 2000 election. Bush and Al Gore.
Of course, this is only one metric for measuring campaign length, and it has its drawbacks. Four years ago, for example, Biden passed the Democratic delegate threshold on June 6. But that was just a formality; Bernie Sanders dropped out two months ago, and Biden has long since turned his attention to Trump. So for all intents and purposes the 2020 general election campaign was much longer than the 151 days above.
At the other end of the scale is 1980, when Jimmy Carter won the necessary delegates on June 3. But his Democratic primary challenger, Ted Kennedy, fought all the way to the August convention and won a rule change that would have stripped delegates of their powers. fulfill existing obligations and allow him to vote for them. (The attempt failed, of course.) So one could argue that the Carter-Ronald Reagan campaign was much shorter than 155 days.
Similarly, subjective issues arise in other election years, including the current elections. Although official delegate thresholds will be met this evening or early morning, media outlets have declared Trump the presumptive Republican nominee for the past week after Nikki Haley dropped out.
Was this the real start of the general election? Or was it before that? Although Haley continued to campaign after Trump’s victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, she was considered the GOP nominee, and the Trump and Biden teams were already firing at each other.
Ultimately, calculating the exact length of a campaign is an art, not a science.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- 📱 TikTok flip flops : Newfound opposition to Trump’s ban on TikTok isn’t swaying Republicans on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives prepares to vote Wednesday morning on a bill that would ban the popular video-based video app in the U.S. unless China-based ByteDance agrees to overturn it. More →
- 🚨 2024 warning: US intelligence agencies said in their annual global threat assessment that Russia and China could use new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to divide the United States and interfere in elections. More →
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine update: The White House is giving Ukraine $300 million in additional weapons as Republican leaders keep more funding in Congress. The announcement comes at a time when Ukraine’s military is facing severe weapons shortages in its two-year war with Russia. More →
- 📺 Accepting Trump: According to The New York Times, the group Republican Voters Against Trump is planning a $50 million campaign against the former president featuring videos of former Trump supporters. More →
- 🐘 Change of personnel: The takeover by Trump’s allies at the Republican National Committee has led to a reshuffle. At least four top RNC staffers were fired Monday, with dozens more potentially at risk. More →
- 👋 Fun: Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., announced Tuesday that he is resigning from Congress at the end of next week. told CNN This past year was “the worst year of my nine years and three months in Congress.” More →
For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – email us politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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