Heard on the Hill
What we're hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill
OUT OF THE OFFICE: A Government shutdown isn’t stopping Secretary of State/National Security Advisor/Archivist of the United States Marco Rubio from having some fun. The Washington Reporter followed up on a tip and asked the State Department for comment on a story and received an immediate response: “please note that responses may be delayed due to the government shutdown caused by congressional Democrats.”
FACT CHECK: Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) team has been relentlessly fact-checking false claims from Democrats about the Schumer Shutdown. Some of the highlights include Corinne Day, Johnson’s Director of Media Affairs, noting that “the House passed the CLEAN CR to fund the government on September 19. Rep. Katherine Clark and every Democrat but one voted FOR A SHUTDOWN. But they’d really like you to ignore that reality” and an extensive thread from Athina Lawson, Johnson’s Press Secretary, about how “Democrats either don’t know what’s in their own $1.5 Trillion CR proposal — or worse, they’re lying about their bill giving FREE health care to illegal aliens.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Today is Kiersten Pels’s birthday; Pels is the RNC’s National Press Secretary — and by our estimation, she’s doing a great job.
HEY MACARENA: Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) got in on the meme fun, posting videos of Senate Democrats decked out in festive Mexican garb.
BRINGING BACK THE CLASSICS: Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.) infamously, and correctly, told President Barack Obama that he was lying to Congress during his State of the Union address. Wilson is back at it again, telling Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) “YOU LIE” as well. “The Democrats are holding the government hostage to provide illegals with taxpayer funded healthcare,” Wilson explained. Miranda Dabney, the new communications director for the House Appropriations Committee, accurately observed that “Joe Wilson was right in 2009 and he’s right today!”
TAGGED IN: Veteran GOP operative Christian Curto has joined TAG Strategies as Executive Vice President of Advertising. He previously held senior roles at Targeted Victory and Campaign Solutions.
SPOTTED: Mike Davis welcomed D.C.’s elite to the Article III Project & Project III Foundation gathering and drew quite the crowd this week to a packed Cafe Fiorello. Between trays of Bruschetta, crab bites, steak skewers, and melon prosciutto popsicles, guests chatted with some of the administration’s top Justice Department officials — including FBI Director Kash Patel, who made a brief appearance, Jeanine Pirro, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pirro was praised by attendees for her work cleaning up the streets of D.C. Other top DOJ officials present included Todd Blanche and Stanley Woodward. Monica Crowley, the Chief of Protocol of the United States, was also spotted, as were Washington Reporter co-founder Garrett Ventry, Marisela Ramirez, Derrick Anderson, Will Chamberlain, Jon Levine, Mike Carter, Josh Christenson, Katherine Doyle, Rob Carson, Nicole Kiprilov, Chloe Ross, Vince Coglianese, Corey Inganamort, and more.
SCHUMER SHUTDOWN CELEBRACIÓN: Senate Republicans compiled a video of Republicans talking about why Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) shut the government down, complete with mariachi music.