NOTUS Exclusive: The Strange Case of Leavitt’s FEC ReportsIn 2022, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning the Republican nomination in the 1st District at age 25. She eventually lost to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. The race and her rhetoric, though, made her a MAGA icon.
NOTUS’ Claire Heddles reports that all of Leavitt’s FEC filings were amended Thursday after “failing to disclose for years that her campaign took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in inappropriate donations and never paid the money back.” Of the more than $300,000 in outstanding debt, more than $200,000 is owed to people who donated more than legally allowed. An example of the donations: former NH Gov. Craig Benson gave $8,700 to Leavitt’s general election campaign, far above the $2,900 limit for 2022. The new records show the overage has still not been paid back.
“Congressional candidates can technically accept campaign donations exceeding contribution limits — as long as they refund the contributor or redesignate the funds within 60 days, according to federal campaign finance law,” Claire writes. “Leavitt’s campaign committee appears to have done neither.”
Leavitt directed NOTUS questions to Axiom Strategies’ Erin Perrine, who sent a statement from Ax Capital general counsel Eric Brown. “Ax Capital is working with the FEC to address outstanding issues, none of which directly involved the candidate, and the candidate is never personally responsible for the committee’s reimbursements,” he wrote.
The Revolution Republicans Weren’t Expecting
Rep. Andy Harris was talking to reporters recently about Donald Trump’s recent executive action on wind power — which he supports — and seemed to be genuinely caught off guard that the order was as broad as it is. It targets both federal permits for new wind farms offshore (a long-standing Trump campaign promise that Harris likes) and on dry land (the surprise).
“No, I think the part of the executive order that I read has to do with offshore,” Harris said, as NOTUS’ Anna Kramer and Shifra Dayak report. Harris opposes a new wind project recently approved off the coast of his district in Maryland. He seems to have stopped reading at that part.
This is becoming a pattern: Republicans have been caught flat-footed by Trump’s actions that are much broader than advertised. Sweeping Jan. 6 pardons went to violent and nonviolent offenders, despite JD Vance insisting they’d only go to the latter. An EO on TikTok didn’t just delay the law, it instructed the attorney general to simply ignore it.
“I don’t think anybody thinks we ought to be running government through executive orders,” Sen. Rick Scott told NOTUS. “Unfortunately, that’s what’s happened. That’s the history of this.”
Scott’s not wrong. But, according to many of the Republicans NOTUS spoke to, this is what voters asked for.
“I think that’s kind of what America wants,” Sen. Kevin Cramer. “It’s a dragnet. It’s broad. It could have some unintended consequences, but I think that’s for the greater good.”
—Evan McMorris-Santoro and John T. Seward
Front Page
- Trump Is Pushing Crypto Hard. Congress Says It Will Get to It… Eventually: The industry is eager for congressional action.
- Aileen Cannon’s Ruling Blocking Jack Smith’s Report Is Factually Wrong: The judge said the DOJ has never released a report prior to the end of criminal proceedings. It has.
- Trump Walks Back His Promise on the War in Ukraine: ‘You’re Going to Have to Ask Russia’: The president’s first day in office has come and gone, and the war is still going.
The Plan to Talk About Abortion Restrictions Again
It wasn’t that long ago that abortion was a dirty word for the Republican Party. At last year’s March for Life, even Mike Johnson avoided using the word.
But with a trifecta secured, NOTUS’ Oriana González reports that the mood from anti-abortion Republicans ahead of today’s March for Life is simple: We’re back.
“The gloves are off,” Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS.
Oriana reports that Republicans are starting to move the “easiest” anti-abortion legislation first — such as a bill this week requiring doctors to provide care to infants born after an attempted abortion (which is already law) — with the intent to pursue federal restrictions down the road.
“The lower we can get on weeks, the better, because I think as I just want to protect life, and I think that’s where most people are in the conference,” said a House Republican who requested anonymity to discuss the topic.
“It can’t just be about telling people that they can’t have abortions,” this member said. “It’s supporting people who have chosen not to. It’s not about just making abortion illegal, it’s about making it unthinkable.”
TikTok Flip Flop
Trump once wanted to ban TikTok, saying it was a national security threat. These days, he’s not so worried.
“TikTok is not their biggest problem,” Trump said Monday.
Republican lawmakers told NOTUS that the key to understanding Trump’s TikTok position — or any position, for that matter — is to take him seriously but not literally.
“Some people take seriously things that he said in jest,” Sen. James Lankford said.
Jest or not, Republicans on Capitol Hill are falling in line with Trump’s latest TikTok take.
“I agree with him,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis told NOTUS. “He does have bigger fish to fry in the next few days. So I’m OK with him sliding this issue to the back burner, but I don’t want him to push it all the way off the stovetop.”
Quotable: A New Social Hierarchy in Town
If different types of energy — coal, oil, solar, wind — are cliques in a high school cafeteria, the gas industry is declaring that they are now the “cool kids.”
At least that’s how the president and CEO of the American Gas Association put it at the U.S. Energy Association’s annual forum. NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports the oil and gas industries are elated about Trump’s promise to “unleash” American energy.
“Gas is back. We were joking that we’ve come from the doghouse into the big house,” the association’s Karen Harbert said.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- The Trendy French Bistro in D.C. That’s the Go-To Haunt for Trump World by Maggie Severns at The Wall Street Journal
- Johnson aide advised against subpoena of star Jan. 6 witness over concerns about ‘sexual texts’ from lawmakers by Jacqueline Alemany at The Washington Post
- The party’s over before it began by Sophia Cai, Daniel Lippman, Irie Sentner and Ben Johansen at Politico
Be Social
We need to keep up with Dusty Johnson and Elizabeth Warren.
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— Eleanor Mueller (@Eleanor_Mueller) January 23, 2025
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