Monthly Archives: February 2022

WASHINGTON The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has discovered gaps in official White House telephone logs from the day of the riot, finding few records of calls by President Donald J. Trump from critical hours when investigators know that he was making them.

Investigators have not uncovered evidence that any official records were tampered with or deleted, and it is well known that Mr. Trump routinely used his personal cellphone, and those of his aides, to talk with other aides, congressional allies and outside confidants, bypassing the normal channels of presidential communication.

But the sparse call records present a major obstacle to a central element of the panels work: recreating what Mr. Trump was doing behind closed doors during the assault on Congress by a mob of his supporters.

The gaps in the call logs were the latest in a string of revelations this week about the extent of Mr. Trumps flouting of the rules and norms of presidential conduct, and how his penchant for doing so has left an incomplete record of how he operated while in office.

Some of the records that the Jan. 6 committee has received had been ripped to shreds and taped back together, reflecting the former presidents habit of tearing up documents. In addition, he removed more than a dozen boxes of presidential records from the White House when he left office, which the National Archives believes contained classified material, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The House Oversight committee on Thursday announced an investigation into what it called potential serious violations of the Presidential Records Act.

Mr. Trump has been loath to return the boxes of documents he took from the White House, despite repeated efforts by the National Archives to obtain them. At some point during a monthslong negotiation between Mr. Trumps team and the agency, officials at the National Archives threatened to send a letter to Congress or the Department of Justice if he continued to withhold the boxes, according to a person familiar with private discussions, who spoke about them on the condition of anonymity.

And while he was president, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet leading them to believe that Mr. Trump had attempted to flush documents, according to people familiar with the situation. He was known to do the same on foreign trips, the people said. (Those incidents are recounted in a forthcoming book, Confidence Man, written by a New York Times reporter, about Mr. Trump and his presidency.)

The highly irregular practices underscore the challenge of creating a full historical record of a presidency that often operated outside the bounds of longstanding rules.

They have also prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Democrats, who recall how Mr. Trump branded Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state worse than Watergate, and made lock her up a campaign rallying cry in 2016. Republicans who eagerly followed his lead in savaging Mrs. Clinton for her email practices have been notably silent amid revelations that Mr. Trump spent his four years in office and much of the time since mishandling presidential records.

The House panel investigating Jan. 6 is still awaiting additional material from the National Archives and Records Administration, which keeps the official White House logs. The committee has also subpoenaed telecommunications companies for the personal cellphone records of a range of people in Mr. Trumps inner circle.

It is unknown whether the committee has specifically demanded records from Mr. Trumps personal cellphone.

The call logs obtained by the committee document who was calling the White House switchboard, and what calls were being made from the White House to others. Two people familiar with the phone records discussed details about them on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing an ongoing congressional investigation. A spokesman for the committee declined to comment.

Since the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, former Trump administration officials have said that investigators would struggle to piece together a complete record of Trumps conversations that day, because of his habit of using his and other peoples cellphones. At least one person who tried to reach Mr. Trump on his cellphone on Jan. 6 had their call picked up by one of his aides. It is unclear where Mr. Trump was at the time.

Counterintelligence officials say it is highly risky for presidents to use their personal cellphones, as those phones almost certainly have no protection against spying by foreign adversaries. There is nothing in federal record-keeping laws that explicitly addresses whether a president can use a personal cellphone for official business. But the spirit of the law is that presidents should avoid doing so and if they do, their calls should still be memorialized, said Jason R. Baron, the former director of litigation at the National Archives.

Government agencies are supposed to document phone calls when the conversation is about important government business, said Mr. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland. A president choosing to use a personal cellphone on a sensitive matter of government business without the conversation being recorded anywhere raises serious questions about his compliance with the spirit of the Presidential Records Act.

The G.O.P. resolution. The Republican National Committee officially declared the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol legitimate political discourse, while censuringRepresentatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the inquiry into the episode. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, subsequently spoke againstthe resolution.

The first trial. Prosecutors have provided a revealing glimpse of their strategy for the first trial stemming from the attack on the Capitol, unveiling an inventory of the extensive evidencethey intend to introduce.

Little is known of what Mr. Trump did inside the White House as rioters stormed the Capitol. He was watching television as the riot played out on cable news, and several aides, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, implored him to say something to try to get the rioters to stop.

Nevertheless, his first public communication as the melee unfolded was a Twitter post attacking Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes. Mr. Trump also is known to have tried to reach out to one senator as the certification of the vote was delayed. And he fielded a call from Representative Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican, who told Mr. Trump that people were breaking into his office on Capitol Hill.

Early on in his administration, Mr. Trump was known to use a cellphone belonging to Keith Schiller, his personal bodyguard at Trump Tower and later the director of Oval Office operations, for some of his calls. It meant the White House call logs were often an incomplete reflection of his contacts.

After the Supreme Court ruled against Mr. Trumps efforts to block the release of hundreds of pages of presidential records, the National Archives turned over to the House panel investigating the riot voluminous documents that included daily presidential diaries, schedules, appointment information showing visitors to the White House, activity logs, call logs, and switchboard shift-change checklists showing calls to Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence on Jan. 6.

Despite the lack of call records from the White House, the committee has learned in recent weeks that Mr. Trump spoke on the phone with Mr. Pence and Republican lawmakers on the morning of Jan. 6 as he pushed to overturn the election. For instance, Mr. Trump mistakenly called the phone of Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, thinking it was the number of Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama. Mr. Lee then passed the phone to Mr. Tuberville, who said he spoke to the former president for less than 10 minutes as rioters were breaking into the building.

But many of the calls the committee is aware of did not show up in the official logs.

The committee did receive evidence in the documents requested from the National Archives that Mr. Trump had a call with Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who led the floor strategy on Jan. 6 of objecting to Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory in key states, according to two people familiar with the investigation. Mr. Jordan has said he spoke with Mr. Trump multiple times that day.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Justice Department officials were weighing whether to investigate Mr. Trump after the National Archives made a referral to the Justice Department, asking it to examine Mr. Trumps handling of White House records.

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Some of Trumps Jan. 6 Calls Are Not in White House Logs - The New York Times

The title of a recent, widely viewed Facebook video makes an unlikely claim: "MSNBC announced Trump won 2020 election."

Its wrong.

This Feb. 8 post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

In the nearly 11-minute long video, MSNBC is mentioned once.

"MSNBC announced had somebody, a guest on, and in that conversation it came out that the 2020 election was stolen from President Trump and that he won," a woman says. "And I have a clip of that."

A clip is then played in which a man says: "Ari, my statement stands for itself. I'm happy to provide evidence of the overwhelming fraud that happened in the 2020 election to you, to the committee, to Democrats, to RINOs, to anybody out there. This election was stolen from President Trump. President Trump won the 2020 election."

We found the MSNBC show that the clip comes from. It was a Jan. 21 episode of "The Beat with Ari Melber." The man speaking was one of his guests, Boris Epshteyn, a former aide to then-President Donald Trump.

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But in the original episode, Melber, the host of the MSNBC show, quickly pushed back against that claim a moment omitted from the Facebook video.

"So in the vein of that false claim, I want to show you some of what you and" Melber said in the show before he was interrupted by Epshteyn.

"False according to you," Epshteyn said.

"Well, the Supreme Court," Melber said. "The results. Youre aware that President Biden is in the White House."

He is. He won the 2020 presidential election. And MSNBC did not report otherwise.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

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No, MSNBC didn't announce Donald Trump won the 2020 election - PolitiFact

As youve no doubt heard by now because there is literally no escaping this man, at a rally last month in Texas, Donald Trump devoted a good portion of his remarks to attacking a trio of prosecutors who are currently investigating him. After referring to Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis as vicious, horrible people and claiming theyre racists and theyre very sick, theyre mentally sick, the ex-president then encouraged his supporters to launch the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere, if these radical racist vicious prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal. Note: There is no evidence whatsoever that James, Bragg, or Williswhom Trump was clearly referring to, though didnt directly nameare vicious, horrible, racist, or sick, but Trump is sure acting like someone hugely panicked about the walls closing in on him, throwing anything against the wall he can think of in the hopes of making it stick.

Anyway, given what happened the last time Trump encouraged his followers to fight on his behalf, more than a few people were disturbed by his call to action. Quite reasonably, Willis asked the FBI to provide security around her office and at the courthouse where she is convening a special grand jury to investigate Trumps attempts in Georgia to overturn the 2020 election. But while Trump seems to believe that convincing his supporters the prosecutors investigating him are crooked will help him in the long run, it looks more likely that his comments will put him in even more legal peril.

The Guardian reports that Trumps incendiary callfor his backers to ready massive protests on his behalf could backfire legally and be viewed as grounds for obstruction of justice charges. Former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut told the paper he believes the ex-president may have shot himself in the foot, and added: Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier. Echoing those comments, Michael Moore, a former U.S. attorney in Georgia, said Trumps demand that people rise up on his behalf could potentially intimidate witnesses and members of a grand jury, and pointed out that thats a felony in the state of Georgia. Trump is essentially calling for vigilante justice against the justice system. Hes not interested in the pursuit of justice but blocking any investigations, Moore told The Guardian. And former DOJ attorney Paul Pelletier made the case via The Guardian that: Trumps history of inciting people to violence demonstrates that his recent remarks are likely to cause a disruption of the pending investigations against him and family members. Should his conduct actually impede any of these investigations, federal and state obstruction statutes could easily compound Mr Trumps criminal exposure.

In other Trump legal news, remember the former presidents habit of shredding presidential legal records, which resulted in the January 6 committee receiving documents that had been torn up and taped back together, and which at least one expert believes could constitute a crime? Turns out it was even more widespread than previously thought!

Per The Washington Post:

The ripping was so relentless that Trumps team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act. Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake, according to one person familiar with the routine. Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape. One person familiar with the National Archives process said that staff there were stunned at how many papers they received from the Trump administration that were ripped, and described it internally as unprecedented.

[James] Grossman, [executive director of the American Historical Association] said that Trumps chaotic approach to handling physical documents leaves gaping holes in the historical record, not to mention being disrespectful to the archivists and general public. We dont know how much of it was or was not successfully taped back together, Grossman said. Also, how much did the taxpayers pay to have a bunch of highly qualified archivists sit at a desk and tape things back together?

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Donald Like, Really Smart Trump May Have Given Prosecutors a Reason to Charge Him With Obstruction - Vanity Fair

Opinion: Former enablers on Fox and in Congress are dressing him down although, naturally, that doesn't stop him.

Donald Trump cant seem to quit spreading lies about election fraud.

Then again, I dont believe he wants to.

He couldnt wait to jump on a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security that said in part that the widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud is contributing to the current heightened threat environment.

Meaning, domestic terrorism.

So, what did Trump do?

He issued a statement filled with false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud.

But, something has changed.

Trumps ongoing delusional rant is wearing thin … on Republicans.

His latest diatribe, instigated by the DHS advisory, involved debunked conspiracy theories from several states, including Arizona.

But now, instead of hearing criticism from longtime critics who have exposed the fantasy of his rants, Trump is hearing it from former loyal supporters.

For instance, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, one of the early morning hosts of Fox & Friends, who for years has catered to Trump and his delusions.

On his radio show recently, however, Kilmeade said of Trump, Nobody cares about 2020. Nobody. And everything that he said and the challenges that he made should have been done before the election. And they did a recount in Arizona, and the recount showed no difference almost, and he came out and said it showed that they won Arizona. Thats an outright lie, and please stop wasting our time with that, because hes capable of doing so much more.

McConnell breaks with Trump, RNC on 'violent insurrection' of Jan. 6

Sen. McConnell questioned the leadership of the RNC and resent decisions to censure members of the party.

Associated Press, USA TODAY

Then theres his former biggest enabler in Congress, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, who actually called the Jan. 6 insurrection exactly what it was an insurrection.

McConnell said, We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. Thats what it was.

Did you catch that?

Insurrection.

Legitimately certified election.

Ouch.

McConnell also dressed down the Republican National Committee for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for putting country over party and serving on the House select committee investigating the insurrection. He said the RNCshould not be singling out members of our party who may have different views from the majority.

Naturally, Trump issued a statement attacking McConnell.

Even former Vice President Mike Pence has spoken out, dressing-down (with his Pence-like gentility) the former president for suggesting that Pence could have single-handedly overturned the election results.

President Trump is wrong, Pence said.

Adding, There is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

Pence may believe that.

And thats what it says in the Constitution. But there is someone who believes that one person could choose the American president:

Pences old boss.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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Donald Trump's election fraud lies are wearing thin on Republicans - The Arizona Republic

Politics is serious business. It often feels existential. Exhausting. Infuriating. Bone-dry. Confusing.

Can it also be fun?

Eliot Nelson insists it can be. And to prove it, hes turning politics into a game.

A video game.

For the past three years, Nelson has been working on Political Arena, which he bills as the first truly in-depth video game about American democracy. For those of a certain age, think SimCity meets The Oregon Trail with a little Grand Theft Auto thrown in. Nelson wants to educate the masses about the ins and outs of how their government really works. And entertain them, too.

Politics is gripping, Nelson told us. Its one of the most popular subjects across time. The thrill of wielding power is inherently exciting.

As one early online ad for the game puts it, Seek fame or infamy in a fully simulated political world, complete with high stakes campaign strategizing, backroom deals, scandals, special interests, and the press. Be the politician of your dreams (or nightmares).

Nelson spent the early part of his career as a journalist in Washington. His much-loved newsletter on Congress, HuffPost Hill, was an extension of his personality a blend of earnest wonkery, serious legislative coverage and lots and lots of wisecracks.

It was the one tipsheet that I would recommend to my friends who were not in politics, said Jess McIntosh, who was a press secretary for former Senator Al Franken and is now advising the video game project. I still miss it.

The first iteration of the game will be released later this year. Nelson acknowledged that the post-Jan. 6 environment has cast a dark cloud. But, he added, Politics contains multitudes, and there are moments of levity and dark humor.

After crowdsourcing more than $100,000 in seed money on Kickstarter, he assembled a scrappy team of game designers, marketers and grizzled industry veterans. They puzzled through how the gameplay should work, poring over storyboards and seeking input from hard-core political junkies and strategy-game fans.

The focal point of Political Arena is accruing power.

You start by creating your own politician, picking a limited number of points to spend on a few skills and character traits. Are you a media-obsessed, populist firebrand or a legislative lion? Is your goal to become president, master of the Senate or a spitball-throwing House backbencher?

To simulate the real world, the software generates politicians who hew as closely to the politics of their district or state as possible. Want to be a certain senior senator from Kentucky? Call your new avatar Mitch McConnell and have a blast.

For now, your adversary is the computer and the scenarios it throws at you. But future versions of the game might allow players to compete against one another online.

There are three kinds of currency in the game: money, fame and political capital, a kind of clout score. As in real life, the more of each you amass, the better you do. You might be asked, for instance, to handle the political fallout when your vice president tweets a racist meme or gets caught having an extramarital affair with a secretary.

This isnt the kind of game where youre killing orcs with an ax, Nelson said.

Patrick Curry, the chief executive of FarBridge, a studio based in Austin, Texas, that is helping to develop the software for Political Arena, said his team is also working on boss battle moments those intense showdowns at the end of each level in a classic video game.

A boss battle might be a high-stakes news conference or a campaign debate. And it doesnt have to look like a PBS version of the debate, either, Curry said.

Well before leaving HuffPost in 2018, Nelson, a lifelong gamer, had been noodling over how a video game might be able to reach an entirely different audience.

Its like trying to understand football without ever watching a game of football, Nelson said. He added, alluding to Oregon Trail: People are more fluent in what you need in your wagon and how much buffalo meat you should carry than they are about how bills are passed.

McIntosh, the former press secretary for Franken and a political consultant, said that games can teach Americans how their democracy works by creating a degree of intimacy that journalism cant quite match.

Its weird that you can role-play just about any experience in life, including going to the grocery store in another country, but you cant play a political campaign, she said. It just feels like understanding how and why our politics happen is more important than ever.

There have been past attempts to make video games about politics. But either the technology wasnt advanced enough to make them appeal to a large audience, or the focus was too much on education and not enough on fun.

The closest thing to a commercial forebear to Political Arena might be President Elect, a primitive simulation game that debuted in 1981 and went through several iterations before fading from memory in the late 1980s.

When we last spoke with Nelson, he was working out kinks in Political Arenas legislative voting system, to allow for what he called Joe Manchin-style, last-minute negotiations on the floor of the Senate.

He was trying to figure out how to simulate the adrenaline rush of watching a big vote like the one to authorize the Affordable Care Act in 2010. And he was hashing out the complexities of how best to enable players to strike the unseemly sorts of bargains that happen in the real-world Congress all the time.

A game that doesnt include the good and bad would be making matters worse, he said. Politics is compelling in part because of the warts.

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has subpoenaed Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser to Donald Trump, Luke Broadwater reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed a proposed ban on lawmakers trading stocks, amid a bipartisan push led by vulnerable House members, Jonathan Weisman reports.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said the agency was working on new health guidance as Democratic governors begin lifting pandemic-related restrictions, but cautioned against moving too quickly, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports.

postcard FROM WYOMING

CHEYENNE, Wyo. To pro-Trump Republicans in Wyoming, Representative Liz Cheney has been out of sight on the campaign trail, but not out of mind.

She hasnt appeared at a state Republican Party function in more than two years and hasnt been to an in-person event for any of the partys 23 county chapters since 2020. Her opposition to Trump has forced her into a kind of exile from Wyomings Republican Party apparatus.

And her former political ally, whos now running against her after winning Trumps endorsement?

Well, they dont talk much.

The last time Cheney spoke to her Republican primary opponent, Harriet Hageman, was in a phone call a few weeks after the 2020 election. In separate interviews, each shared her side of that conversation.

Cheney had just publicly urged Trump to concede he had lost, a statement that proved highly unpopular with Wyoming Republicans. She was calling around to gauge the political blowback in her home state.

When she called Hageman the two had been close enough politically that Hageman introduced Cheney at the state party convention in 2016 Cheney said she expected her to agree on the legitimacy of President Bidens victory.

She is somebody who has been committed to the rule of law, Cheney explained. Shes an attorney.

But the conversation did not go well. Hageman recalled telling Cheney of Trumps objections to the election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania and other battleground states.

I just said, I think that there were some legitimate questions and we have every right to ask them, Hageman said. This is America. We get to ask questions.

Cheney recalled informing Hageman that it was unconstitutional to object to other states electoral votes. And she said that she warned of setting a precedent that would allow Democrats in Congress to decide the legality of Wyomings electoral votes.

I was surprised that she seemed not to be exactly where I was on the issue, Cheney said. I thought she would have been.

Hageman said Cheney ended the call with a scold telling Hageman that it was time for Mr. Trump and his allies to accept the results of the election, given his myriad legal defeats.

I said, We have the right to look into that, Hageman said. And she just flat told me, Youre wrong. And I have not spoken to her since.

Is there anything you think were missing? Anything you want to see more of? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.

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A New Video Game About Politics in the Age of Donald Trump - The New York Times

A cynical old joke goes: How can you tell when politicians are lying?

The punch line: Their lips move.

Cynical, yes, but funny before the age of Trump, which made it too real to be funny.

Now, with Trump gone, at least gone from office, we are left with the detritus of formerly ordinary Republican politicians, with formerly ordinary reputations as prevaricators, trying to find their way back to that former ordinary status after having sold or rented their former reputations as merely ordinary lip movers who might or might not be lying.

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My case study for today is Sen. Lindsay Graham.

Because Graham was the friend and sidekick of the late Sen. John McCain, and because McCain was famous for being a straight talker (perhaps in general, but at least if we grade McCain on the deplorably low level of expectations weve come to accept of politicians) Graham was, long ago, considered a relatively candid pol.

Thats over. Waaay over.

What happened? Trump happened. In fact, because Graham ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican nomination, Graham had a last chance to do his Straight Talk McCain impression while briefly running against Trump. While still running against Trump for the 2016 nomination, for example, he said: 35 percent [of the Republican primary electorate] believe that Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya. [Trump] has locked that crowd down. But 65 percent of us think [Obama] is just a bad president.

He also said: If Donald Trump carries the banner of my party, I think it taints conservatism for generations to come. I think his campaign is opportunistic, race-baiting, xenophobia. Other than that, hed be a good nominee.

When Graham dropped out of contention for the presidential nomination, he endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, who was still in the race. Soon after that endorsement, he appeared on an episode of The Daily Show, where host Trevor Noah asked him how he could support Cruz, considering that Graham had once said of Cruz: If you killed Ted Cruz, and the trial was on the floor of the Senate, no one could convict you.

Graham had also been asked, while he was still in the presidential field, who he preferred, Trump or Cruz, to which Graham replied: That tells you everything you need to know about Donald Trump. Its like asking me whether Id rather be shot or poisoned. Does it really matter?

When Noah pressed him to say something favorable about Cruz, whom Graham had just endorsed, Graham replied: That hes not Trump.

At the end of the interview, Noah coaxed Graham to explain how he had lost a race to both Trump and Cruz. He replied (in a moment that actually made me feel pretty sorry for him): Im gonna change my name to Vote-y McVote-face Graham. Maybe that would help.

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Of course, once Trump became the nominee, and then president, Graham changed his routine to be an unswerving supporter of Trumpism and admirer of Trump.

But, to his credit, Graham has enough integrity to have avoided, so far, changing his name to Vote-y McVoteface Graham.

MinnPost's in-depth, independent news is free for all to access no paywall or subscriptions. Will you help us keep it this way by supporting our nonprofit newsroom with a tax-deductible donation today?

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Donald Trump and the detritus of formerly ordinary politicians - MinnPost

Sen. Rick Scott on Thursday addressed the split between Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell and former PresidentDonald Trump in a television interview.

Scott, as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has tried to maintain a good relationship with both men, an increasingly challenging assignment.

McConnell has rebuked Trump over facilitating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Amid the war between the two, Scott continues to maintain the 2022 election wont be predicated on rehashing the aftermath of 2020, but will be about issues.

Its not going to be about what different party officials are saying, Scott told Fox Business hostStuart Varney.

My position, Im chair of the NRSC. I want everybody to help us. So I try to make sure that all Republicans are unified, Scott said, with the focus on winning, winning, winning.

Varney asked a follow-up, noting the split between Trump and McConnell precludes the unity Scott wants.

My experience in talking to people is that this is not what people are talking about, Scott deflected, again trying to steer the discourse back to reliable talking points rather than the chasm between two of the leading figures in the GOP.

Most people are not talking about the party issues that go on year after year, Scott continued.

Indeed, Scott continues to leverage friendly ties with Trump for the Senate re-election effort. Last year, Scott invented a Champions for Freedom award for Trump, despite the violence and destruction Trump spurred Jan. 6. This year, Scott kicked off the NRSC podcast with a friendly interview of Trump.

The appearance continued what has been an interesting dynamic between the two men. Back in August, Trump took credit in a written statement for Republican fundraising writ large, including that of Scotts NRSC.

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Rick Scott continues to split the difference between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell - Florida Politics

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The National Archives has asked the Department of Justice to investigate Donald Trump for his handling of White House documents. Joy Reid and her panel discuss these allegations and more.Feb. 10, 2022

Problems deepen over Trump record-keeping04:26

Joy Reid: Prices will keep going higher and higher until the consumer says enough!08:25

Steele: I dont want to hear another word about Clintons emails after Trump doc eating allegation10:19

NYT: Trump may have taken classified material from White House03:48

Trumps handling of WH records05:31

Now Playing

Glenn Kirschner: Between Navarro and draft executive order this is like 'Sedition for Dummies'10:13

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National Archives asks the Department of Justice to investigate Donald Trump for handling of White House documents - MSNBC