Good morning, and welcome to RedState's "Morning Minute" — a brief glimpse at which stories are trending at the moment and a look ahead at what the day may bring. Consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.
The recusal springs from a filing with the Arizona Superior Court by David Warrington and Michael Columbo, the lawyers representing Arizona state Senator Jake Hoffman in the suit. They questioned whether Cohen could remain impartial in light of his emails.
Thomas Massie's Jaw-Dropping Remark to Reporters on Gaetz Nomination Is Going to Drive Dems Crazy
But I think it's safe to say the nomination is having folks on the left throwing fits right now. They do not like being out of power and outmaneuvered.
The Truth Behind Why Kamala Harris Refused to Do a Joe Rogan Interview Comes Out
So America got the scripted, canned version of Kamala Harris instead - and still, thank goodness, rejected her.
Today on Capitol Hill...
Well, that was an eventful Wednesday! The 119th Congress will feature Senator Jon Thune (SD) as Majority Leader. In the House, Mike Johnson (LA) will retain his role as Speaker. One big challenge for the new Senate will be confirming the multiple President-elect Donald Trump nominees, which Thune has pledged to handle expeditiously — particularly those of a more controversial nature, such as the surprise Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pick for Attorney General.
While the Pennsylvania Senate race has been called for Republican Dave McCormick, incumbent Democrat Senator Bob Casey is refusing to concede, and it's now headed to a recount, as less than half a percentage point separates the two.
There are a handful of hearings set for Thursday, including:
White House What's Up
Fresh off his Wednesday playdate with Trump, President Joe Biden takes off for Lima, Peru, late Thursday morning to attend the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. While there, Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (Saturday), before heading to Brazil, where he'll visit an Amazon rain forest before attending the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Full Court Press...
Trump is one step closer to the federal criminal cases against him being dismissed. On Wednesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicated his plans to resign ahead of Trump's inauguration and later, filed a motion with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to stay the Government's appeal of Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of the classified documents case.
Thursday marks another decision hand-down day for the New York appellate court — theoretically, we could see a ruling in the civil fraud appeal. Maybe.
Are you not entertained? Yeah...it would be naive to assume that Trump 2.0 won't be peppered with some jaw-dropping moments — some courtesy of DJT himself, some courtesy of those committed to opposing him at every turn. The two big cabinet-pick surprises thus far are Pete Hegseth for SecDef and Matt Gaetz for AG. One thing I'm fairly confident of is that Trump isn't just throwing darts at a dart board and announcing random picks. As I've said before, he's older, wiser — and wilier — this time around. Whether his "strategery" will become evident at some point remains to be seen. 'Til then...pass the popcorn.
So fancy...