The GOPAC Newsletter

News of Interest

The first Republican debate's biggest highlights:

Revisit 7 key moments

CBS News | Melissa Quinn, Caitlin Yilek & Kathryn Watson

August 24, 2023

Eight Republican presidential candidates squared off at the first
Republican debate of the presidential primary cycle Wednesday night in
Milwaukee, where they made the case for their candidacies before their
largest audience to date.

The candidates sparred over a variety of issues ranging from abortion and
the economy to Ukraine and education. But the most contentious exchanges
came when the discussion turned to former President Donald Trump, who
skipped the debate and was the "elephant not in the room," as Fox News
anchor and moderator Bret Baier put it.

The eight Republicans were asked whether they would support Trump as the
party's nominee even if he was convicted of a crime. All but two said they
would. [1]Read more

Out of this world: Chris Christie shocked by lone question about UFOs at
Republican debate

USA Today| Anthony Robledo

August 24, 2023

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie appeared thrown off by being the
only candidate to be asked about UFOs at Wednesday night's Republican
presidential primary debate.

Moderator Martha MacCallum asked Christie what he would do as president to
level with Americans on what the government knows about [2]encounters with
extraterrestrials. The FOX news anchor added that more people are taking
the concept of unidentified flying objects seriously following last month's
congressional hearing.

“I get the UFO question?” Christie said, surprised.

Christie then jokingly insinuated MacCallum asked him the question because
they are both from New Jersey. [3]Read more

GOP-led House committee launches probe into Trump Georgia election case

CNBC | Dan Mangan

August 24, 2023

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into
the work of the Atlanta prosecutor who has criminally charged Donald
Trump and others with interfering in the 2020 presidential election in
Georgia.

The House committee on Thursday sent Fulton County District Attorney Fani
Willis a letter asking for documents and information, including any
communications her office had with Jack Smith, the federal special counsel
prosecuting Trump for charges related to trying to overturn the national
results of the 2020 election.

“Your indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests,
and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about
whether they are politically motivated,” Committee Chairman Rep. Jim
Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote Willis. [4]Read more

Wisconsin Republicans ask newly elected liberal justice to not hear
redistricting case

Associated Press | Scott Bauer

August 23, 2023

Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature asked that the newest
Democratic-backed justice on the state Supreme Court recuse herself from
lawsuits seeking to overturn GOP-drawn electoral maps, arguing that she has
prejudged the cases.

Republicans argue in their motions filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court
on Tuesday and made public Wednesday that Justice Janet Protasiewicz can’t
fairly hear the cases because during her campaign for the seat earlier this
year she called the Republican-drawn maps “unfair” and “rigged” and said
there needs to be “a fresh look at the gerrymandering question.”

“Justice Protasiewicz’s campaign statements reveal that her thumb is very
much on the scale in this case,” Republicans argue in their motion with the
court. [5]Read more

House Republicans ask DOJ watchdog for information connected to Hunter
Biden probe

The Hill | Rebecca Beitsch

August 22, 2023

House Republicans are asking the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector
general to clarify the scope of his review into complaints from two IRS
whistleblowers about the handling of the Hunter Biden investigation.

The letter, sent by the heads of the House’s Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways
and Means committees, comes after Inspector General Michael Horowitz told
the three chairs any review would be done alongside the Justice
Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), a common practice
when there is alleged misconduct.

The letter asks Horowitz to “explain whether your office is (1) limited in
any way from fully investigating the whistleblowers disclosures” and “if
you are limited, how and why your office is limited.”

Horowitz earlier this summer said he “has taken a number of steps to assess
the information” provided by IRS investigator Gary Shapley, who alleged
that the DOJ slow-walked the investigation into Biden and showed him
preferential treatment throughout the process. [6]Read more

Hispanic Republicans vie to oust

Democrats in diverse districts

Candidates run as GOP works to counter image as party of white voters

Roll Call | Daniela Altimari

August 21, 2023

Maria Montero remembers her Peruvian grandfather, a Democrat and loyal
member of the carpenters union, yelling at President Ronald Reagan on
television when she was growing up in a predominantly Hispanic part of
Allentown, Pa.

Reagan had a different effect on Montero, however, giving her inspiration
“that life was full of opportunity.” She became an attorney and the
director of the state Commission on Women under a Republican governor, and
now she is part of a new class of Hispanic Republicans competing for House
seats in 2024.

Members of the group span the ideological spectrum from the far right to
the moderate middle, but all hail from racially diverse districts that were
won by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and are represented by Democrats.

In addition to Montero, the group includes Kevin Lincoln, the mayor of
Stockton, Calif., who is Mexican American and Black; John Quiñones, a
Puerto Rican-born former legislator in Central Florida’s 9th District; and
Mayra Flores, who was born in Mexico and won a special election in South
Texas in June 2022, then lost the seat five months later. (Montero and
Quiñones will both have to win Republican primaries if they are to face
Democratic incumbents in November 2024.) [7]Read more

WG Discussion Points: The Inflation Rate Has Come Down But Grocery Bills
Haven’t

WG Discussion Points | David Winston

August 18, 2023

As the White House is touting Bidenomics, they have focused on a moderating
year-over-year inflation rate as a sign of progress. President Biden
remarked in late July that “Republicans may have to find something else to
criticize me for, now that inflation is coming down.” The reaction we hear
from voters across the country is — if inflation is getting better, why
haven’t grocery bills improved? Here’s why. The rate of inflation has come
down from its peak last summer, but the cumulative rate of inflation under
the Biden administration continues to trend upward. From our latest
tracking of the Presidential Inflation Rate, prices have gone up 16.9%
since Biden took office. Gas has gone up 53.4%, electricity 25.6%, and food
19.4%. [8]WG Discussion Points, August 18, 2023.pdf

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