Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Newsom-Clinton Summit

NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show.

Newsom-Clinton Summit

The New York Post got ahold of pictures of California Governor Gavin Newsom and former President Bill Clinton hanging out at the Four Seasons in Mexico where beachfront rooms start at $1400 a night.

Piers Morgan opines they are talking about the much-discussed 2024 backup plan, or maybe Newsom was giving Clinton advice on weathering the Epstein storm?

Is it really THAT far-fetched to think Democrats want a backup plan, especially after Michelle Obama and others gave warnings?

Watch tonight: George Will will talk about the mounting evidence Democrats want a backup plan and who would organize it.

Fun thought: As much as Newsom wants to be president, is he really the best choice for Democrats? Remember Michelle Obama is far more popular…ranking slightly behind Martin Luther King Jr. and Queen Elizabeth II.

Secret Transition

Back when I went to school, you needed your parent’s permission to get an aspirin from the nurse. Now, a Michigan family says a school enabled and then hid their daughter’s transition from female to male.

Watch tonight: The parents join us with their lawyer to discuss how this could happen.

This is part of a much bigger problem: James Reinl (@jamesreinl) from the Daily Mail breaks down a CATO Institute report documenting that “465 public schools saw spats over race, trans students and other battlefronts last year – and 2024 is set to break records again.”

Thought bubble: Virginia swung ten points and elected a Republican governor on “education” issues, which turned into a proxy for a backlash against trans bathrooms and parents’ rights. Democrats lose this issue, and Republicans want to stoke parental anger for 2024.

Trump’s Legal Strategy Explained

Trump wants to force the Supreme Court to decide if they will allow the criminal prosecution of the presumptive nominee and if the Department of Justice will continue the prosecution of the presumptive nominee. It’s that simple.

Trump’s campaign strategy to run up the delegate count and delay criminal cases until he is the “presumptive nominee” could change things both legally and politically.

Whatever happens in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today will be appealed to the Supreme Court, and legal minds agree his immunity claims are dubious, but that isn’t really the point.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 9: Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs the Waldorf Astoria where he held a press conference following his appearance in court on January, 9 2024 in Washington, DC. The D.C. Appeals Court held a hearing on the former President’s claim that he is immune from prosecution in the 2020 election case. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

If you are interested, Politico’s Playbook lays out the three-judge panel today:

“A GEORGE H.W. BUSH appointee, KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON (fun fact: she replaced KENNETH STARR on the court in 1990), and two Biden appointees, J. MICHELLE CHILDS (fun fact: LINDSEY GRAHAM recommended that Biden nominate her to the Supreme Court) and FLORENCE Y. PAN (fun fact: she replaced KETANJI BROWN JACKSON on the D.C. Circuit in 2022). Childs was confirmed by the Senate in a 64-34 vote, and Pan 68-30.”

The longer he can delay any trials, specifically push back the March 4 D.C. trial that centers on Jan. 6, the stronger his argument that prosecutors are attempting to jail the presumptive nominee.

The New York Times podcast “The Daily” from last week lays out the calendar and the strategy quite well. Its editorializing is to be expected from the Times, but Maggie Haberman’s reporting on the strategy should be looked at.

Ground truth: The wall-to-wall coverage on all the major cable nets of Trump’s arrival at court, the play-by-play and whatever he says after is far more than he would get by stumping in Iowa. And far more than the combined coverage of Ramaswamy, DeSantis and Haley will get off their events today in Iowa.

Election reality: Nothing energizes Trump’s base — and even Trump-agnostic Republicans — more than the court cases against him.

Watch tonight: Attorney Tom Dupree, who helped argue (successfully) the last time the Supreme Court decided a presidential election (Bush v. Gore), will discuss what decisions the high court will eventually have to make.

Thought bubble: Like many things in politics, the prosecution of Trump — and by extension Biden’s constant discussion of it on the campaign trail — is good at firing up the base and really annoys those in the middle.

Cops to Get $112,000 Per Year and San Francisco Still Can’t Hire Any

The police shortage problem in America is far worse than we understand but makes perfect sense. Consider San Francisco, where even when they are offering $112,000 a year as starting pay, the city can’t hire near enough cops.

Zoom out: Bloomberg’s excellent reporting from Eliyahu Kamisher (@eli_kamisher) and Sarah Holder (@sarahsholder) quotes the acting chief of police in Ithaca, New York: “Twenty years ago, we would have hundreds of people knocking down our door to be police officers. That’s not true in our society anymore.”

Watch tonight: Lt. Tracy McCray, the vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, will discuss how the officer shortage problem is compounding and what would fix it … Hint: There need to be more changes than just increasing funding.

How Epstein Still Keeps Secrets from the Grave

Jeffrey Epstein’s brother joins us to discuss his bombshell accusations in the New York Post, reported by Andy Tillet.

He’ll discuss the fairly extensive list of coincidences and screw-ups surrounding Epstein’s suicide:
- The cameras didn’t work.
- No one’s seen the surveillance tape of Epstein’s body coming out.
- Epstein was alone in the cell despite orders otherwise.
- The guards slept through the whole thing and then falsified the records.
- The case was quickly closed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr after he personally reviewed the surveillance video, though it is unclear where the recording was from.
- He was taken off of suicide watch after his attempt the month before.

Epstein’s suicide is a microcosm of the larger case, where:

Witnesses disappear
Tapes that exist get destroyed or aren’t produced by the FBI
Confidential civil settlements allow the rich and powerful to escape answering questions
Ghislaine Maxwell sits in jail but doesn’t talk
There appears to be no interest by the FBI or Department of Justice to aggressively pursue the cases

Watch tonight: Both Epstein’s brother Mark Epstein and former lawyer Alan Dershowitz join to describe all we don’t know about Epstein and the forces helping to keep it secret.

Will Impeaching Mayorkas Change Anything?

Tomorrow, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold its first hearing to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS – JANUARY 08: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference at a U.S. Border Patrol station on January 08, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas. Mayorkas visited Texas border areas where large numbers of migrants had been crossing over the Rio Grande from Mexico just weeks before. The number has recently dropped dramatically, according to Mayorkas since the Mexican government ramped up enforcement actions, slowing many migrants from reaching the U.S. southern border. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Watch Tonight: Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., joins us.

Reasonable people can agree Mayorkas is a disaster, and his answers to many questions are ready-made Republican ads.

But, to be fair, that isn’t necessarily his fault. The record number of people coming to America illegally isn’t a policy or enforcement failure by the Biden administration; it’s a direct result of their policy that they could change.

Namely, the Biden administration allows for “parole” of up to 98% of asylum seekers into the United States. NewsNation’s Ali Bradley reports Mayorkas told Border Patrol agents yesterday the number was 85% – the exact percentage isn’t that relevant.

The reality at the border is people keep coming to America because they hear from friends and family that they made it to a city, have work permits and court dates for 2031 or beyond.

This is because of the wide “parole” authority granted by the executive branch to allow asylum seekers into the United States to await their hearings. This is a choice by the president. Anything Mayorkas does is because his boss or bosses in the White House political office told him to allow millions to stay in the United States.

Deal to be made: Politico’s Playbook lays out what they call “Parole Politics” where Republicans offer to trade Ukraine funding for ending parole and thus ending the incentive to come to America illegally.