Spiegel Stuff: The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Mastercard - Meadows caught between Jan. 6 probe, former boss

Presented by Mastercard

THE JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION

Via The Hill’s Scott Wong and Mike Lillis, “As House investigators charge ahead with their probe into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, their focus has shifted to a contentious former colleague they increasingly see as a crucial witness: Mark Meadows.” https://bit.ly/3s1Kt7D

Meadows was Trump’s chief of staff during the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.

Why Meadows?: Meadows gave investigators thousands of texts, emails, etc. showing the behind-the-scenes events surrounding the Jan. 6 riot.

Including: Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows on Jan. 6, begging for his father, former President Trump, to stop the violence.

What Don. Jr texted Meadows about his father, according to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.): “He’s got to condemn this ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough … We need an oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far. And gotten out of hand.” Don Jr. also reportedly said: “He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP.” (Via CNN’s Kaitlan Collins) https://bit.ly/3GI1MOX

It’s Tuesday. I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.

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A MESSAGE FROM MASTERCARD

This holiday season, shoppers are returning to small businesses all across America.

Mastercard is empowering entrepreneurs with digital payment solutions, data insights and tools to grow and thrive.

This clip is worth watching — what Fox News hosts texted Meadows during the Capitol riot:

Watch: https://bit.ly/3m3mOzV

^ TIDBIT — HOW HANNITY AND INGRAHAM HANDLED THE REVELATIONS:

“Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham on Monday made no mention of the text messages they sent to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6, just hours after the communications had been revealed.” https://bit.ly/3pPqB4E

ANOTHER TIDBIT — MEADOWS CLAIMS TRUMP ‘ACTED QUICKLY’ ON JAN. 6, BUT THAT HAS BEEN CONTRADICTED:

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News last night, Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows said: “At the end of the day, they’re going to find that not only did the president act, but he acted quickly.”

^ Yes, but: Meadows’s emails and text messages tell a slightly different story. https://bit.ly/31ZTEdQ

HOW MEADOWS IS RESPONDING TO HIS TEXTS BEING ‘LEAKED’:

Meadows said the text messages are being “weaponized" to hurt former President Trump. https://bit.ly/3m3KRyE

Meadows said on Newsmax: “We've tried very hard, in a very transparent and accommodating way, to share nonprivileged information," Meadows said. "And what we found out tonight is that not only did that just get disregarded, but then they tried to weaponize text messages, selectively leaked them, to put out a narrative, quite frankly, that the president didn't act." More from the interview: https://bit.ly/3GDjao2

IN CONGRESS

Negotiations are airing in the ‘begging’ stage:

Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton and Morgan Chalfant, “President Biden spoke to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for the second time in a week on Monday in what is becoming an increasingly desperate last-minute effort to cajole him into voting for a sweeping climate and social spending bill before Christmas.” https://bit.ly/3pTeHH3

^ What we know about the conversation:

Watch: https://bit.ly/3s62cKT

LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

Great news — Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill works against omicron!:

Via The New York Times’s Carl Zimmer and Rebecca Robbins, “A highly anticipated study of Pfizer’s Covid pill confirmed that it helps stave off severe disease, the company announced on Tuesday. Pfizer also said its antiviral pill worked in laboratory studies against the Omicron variant, which is surging in South Africa and Europe and is expected to dominate U.S. cases in the weeks ahead.” https://nyti.ms/3DTuevI

Can it be used?: Not yet. The pill is still not approved for use.

What we know about the pill: https://nyti.ms/3DTuevI

The good news and the bad news:

Via The Washington Post’s Lesley Wroughton, “Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus but is more resistant to the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine widely used in South Africa, according to the first major private study since omicron was first detected last month.” https://wapo.st/3yru6T5

More from the study: https://wapo.st/3yru6T5

Omicron is slowly working its way around the US:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this morning that roughly 3 percent of U.S. COVID-19 cases are the omicron variant, according to The Hill’s Peter Sullivan. https://bit.ly/31Y8AZN

Compared to: A week earlier, the CDC estimated that roughly 0.4 percent of U.S. cases were the omicron variant.

CASE NUMBERS:

Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 50,130,978

U.S. death toll: 798,879

Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y

VACCINATION NUMBERS:

Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 485 million shots have been given.

Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 1.86 million doses

For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.

Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH

A MESSAGE FROM MASTERCARD

This holiday season, shoppers are returning to small businesses all across America.

Mastercard is empowering entrepreneurs with digital payment solutions, data insights and tools to grow and thrive.

IN OTHER NEWS

A big loss for Fox:

Via The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Dominick Mastrangelo, “Chris Wallace’s surprise departure Sunday from Fox News has shaken up the Washington media landscape and prompted new questions about the direction of the network’s news programming as one of its most trusted journalists leaves for its fiercest competitor.” https://bit.ly/3ynLTdy

Where is Chris Wallace going?: To CNN where he will anchor its streaming service’s weekday coverage.

Watch Chris Wallace’s announcement at the end of Sunday’s show: https://bit.ly/3ypVXD0

Btw, there’s a pretty big cyber vulnerability that officials are scrambling to fix:

Via The Hill’s Maggie Miller, “A vulnerability in a widely used logging platform uncovered late last week has left security professionals and officials scrambling to respond and patch systems before other nations and cybercriminals can exploit the flaw.”

What we know: https://bit.ly/3EUoCT9

NOTABLE TWEETS:

It’s 5:30 a.m. Do you know where your senator is?:

Lol:

I can’t believe it’s been nine years:

Watch the remembrance: https://bit.ly/3IPtrPV

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.

10:05 a.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris received the President’s Daily Brief.

11 a.m. EST: Three votes in the Senate. The Senate’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/3GJDV1k

Noon: The House begins votes. The House’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/31ZK7nb

6:15 p.m. EST: President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a Democratic National Committee holiday party.

WHAT TO WATCH:

11:30 a.m. EST: Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speak at the Freedman’s Bank Forum. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3IH0aXA

1 p.m. EST: White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3pXdCOE

IN LIGHTER NEWS:

Today is National Bouillabaisse Day.

And because you made it to the end, here are cows thinking they have to jump over a barrier: https://bit.ly/3yxVChK