today inside politics, the gop finds votes to come out on top. republicans pass a crucial bill that assures the u.s. is ready to fight wars, and they did it after putting a deliberate conservative stamp on it. jared kushner under oath, new report ing reveals that prosecutors ask the former president s son-in-law, did donald trump believe his own election lies. and iowa decides in six months. the countdown to the caucuses is on as donald trump decides to play hooky and skip a big summit. his bet, who needs iowa when you have mike tyson. i m dana bash. let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. up first, kevin mccarthy can keeps the republican family mostly together to win a culture war battle. last hour, the house did its job and cleared a must-pass defense bill. the final vote tally was 219-210. if that seems really tight for a bill that sets military policy, it is. the sennarrow margin is thanks a very heated back and forth over controversial add-ones to the
an autocrat facing dozens of ny charges with an ax to grind against the government he seeks to lead. that s a question that republican candidates are either unable to answer or unwilling to answer at this moment. there s now just one major challenger to ex-president trump after florida governor ron desantis dropped out and endorsed donald trump. it s hard to remember but for a time, ron desantis was seen as the much vaunted trump slayer, the one candidate who could break the hold on trump that he had on the voters in the republican party. appeal to those alienated by trump and ultimately beat joe biden. back in 2022, the new yorker asked, can ron desantis displace donald trump as the combatant in chief? the new york times asked, quote, is ron desantis the future of the republican party? but a las as it turned out, voters didn t want a trump alternative, they wanted trump. that became clear as his legal troubles mounted with every indictment the trump got stronger in the pol
will they be indifferent about authorities seeking to recover classified materials? that s today s poll question, which i ll share in a moment. it may depend upon responses by trump s gop opponents. most weren t quick to weigh in before the indictment was unsealed. ron desantis tweeted, the weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a threat to a free society. mike pence used the same word while calling for the unsealing of the indictment. the american people should be able to judge for themselves whether this is just the latest incident of weaponization and politicization at the justice department, or if it s something different, he said. ditto for tim scott on the weaponization charge. the committing to pardon trump immediately upon his own swearing in. chris christie kept his powder dry initially saying we don t get our news from truth social, trump s account. let s see what the facts are when an indictment is released. asa hutchinson called for trump to withdraw
members and 169 fatalities during the now infamous exit from afghanistan didn t really qualify as a chaotic failure at all. that s despite the fact that hundreds of afghans were clinging to the wing of u.s. air craft as it departed afghanistan. despite gunfire sprang into a crowd; despite u.s. troops pulling an infant over barbed wire into safety. brunt chaos? i m sorry, i just don t buy the whole argument of chaos. for all this talk of chaos, i just didn t see it. it was tough in the first few hours.down would expect it to be. unbelievable. the white house went even further releasing a 12-page report today saying president bide s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from afghanistan were severely constrained by condition created by his predecessor. on capitol hill gop lawmakers are practically incan docent ripping kirby for his call comment. house foreign committee chair called kirby s comment disgraceful and insulting. rain jackson texas called kirby s comments sicke
it s 4:00 in new york. s.w.a.t. teams, secret phone calls, testimony from some of the most prominent political figures in america and a windowless conference room in which 23 people investigated a plot to end democracy. an exclusive and extraordinary piece of writing and reporting from the atlanta journal constitution pulls the curtain back on the special grand jury in fulton county, georgia, one of the two criminal investigations into the twice impeached disgraced ex president. it could result in anything truly historic and unprecedented. the indictment of a former president of the united states. from that piece of reporting, quote, in an exclusive interview with the atlanta journal institution, five of the 23 special grand jurors recounted what it was like to be a pivotal but anonymous part of one of the most momentous criminal investigations in u.s. history. they described a process that was, by turn, fascinating, tedious, and emotionally wrenching. one juror said she woul