At 5:30 PM ET the House takes up the impeachment of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: eight articles filed by Thomas Massie, a Republican who lost his primary in May, with Hakeem Jeffries, expected to be the next Speaker, a hard yes. Hegseth answered the charges from the Pentagon briefing room this morning: not high crimes or misdemeanors, he said, but partisan policy disagreements. Jenny Beth Martin goes back to James Madison, who kept "maladministration" out of the impeachment clause so no Cabinet officer would serve at the pleasure of whoever controls the House. Then the Supreme Court's 8 to 1 order clearing 341 miles of border construction at Big Bend, the House Republican leadership vote between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, the price Pramila Jayapal and Bernie Sanders have named for their votes in January, and a bipartisan permitting bill in the Senate that almost nobody has heard of.
Guests: Kris Ullman, president of Eagle Forum and an attorney, and Robert McNeily, Director of Broadcasting and Grassroots Engagement at Tea Party Patriots Action.
Today's topics:
• The impeachment vote: eight articles against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, filed by Thomas Massie, a Republican who lost his primary in May. The first House vote is scheduled for 5:30 PM ET and may come as a motion to table or to refer the articles to committee.
• What impeachment was built for: James Madison talked the Constitutional Convention out of "maladministration" as a removal standard. The Constitution says treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, and gives Congress the purse, the law, and the next election for policy fights.
• Hegseth at the Pentagon: in 250 years no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations.
• Big Bend, 8 to 1: the Supreme Court lifted an El Paso district judge's order that had stopped 341 miles of border construction, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson alone in dissent. Jenny Beth Martin shares her Big Bend photographs and asks whether an unwalled park becomes a cartel corridor.
• Amnesty: President Trump was asked after his 60 Minutes interview and said there is no amnesty and his policy has not changed. Does the border hawk wing of the Republican conference believe him?
• Scalise vs. Jordan: House Republicans choose their minority leader by secret ballot this afternoon, about 82 votes to win, and Speaker Mike Johnson is not running.
• Ron Johnson's letter: five signatures to force Senate Republicans to hear from the candidates before holding their leadership election, after losing seven Senate seats.
• The Democrats' arithmetic: Angela Gonzales-Torres, an incoming California Democrat who ran as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was asked on Democracy Now whether she will vote for Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker. Hear her answer.
• Medicare for All: Pramila Jayapal names a committee markup as the price of her January votes, Bernie Sanders says he can force it with 51 votes through reconciliation, and Majority Democrats, a group inside the party, answers that its new majority did not run on it. Tea Party Patriots Action opposes Medicare for All and every road that leads to it.
• The permitting bill: the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act puts a two-year clock on federal environmental reviews and cuts the window to sue from six years to 150 days. The Senate voted 73 to 25 to take it up, a procedural vote, not passage.
• Stephen Miller's first week as White House chief of staff, succeeding Susie Wiles, with Hakeem Jeffries already saying Democrats will not work with him.
• The call to action: 202-224-3121 before 5:30 PM ET. Tell your representative, I stand with Secretary Pete Hegseth, and I expect you to do so as well. Then sign the petition at teapartypatriots.org.
The Jenny Beth Show airs live Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET. Hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. Subscribe for daily analysis of politics, policy, and the fight for constitutionally limited government. teapartypatriots.org
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