Jan 6 - Military lies - Return of the debt ceiling drama - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

Return of the debt ceiling drama - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

DRIVING THE DAY

SCOOP OF THE DAY — “A former D.C. National Guard official is accusing two senior Army leaders of lying to Congress and participating in a secret attempt to rewrite the history of the military's response to the Capitol riot,” Betsy Woodruff Swan and Meridith McGraw report. In a 36-page memo, Col. EARL MATTHEWS, who held high-level National Security Council and Pentagon roles during the Trump administration, slams the Pentagon's inspector general for what he calls an error-riddled report that protects a top Army official who argued against sending the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6, delaying the insurrection response for hours. “Matthews' memo, sent to the Jan. 6 select committee this month and obtained by POLITICO, includes detailed recollections of the insurrection response as it calls two Army generals … ‘absolute and unmitigated liars’ for their characterization of the events of that day. Matthews has never publicly discussed the chaos of the Capitol siege.” The memo SHOCKING/NOT SHOCKING READ OF THE DAY — WaPo’s Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey scrutinize the seven days between DONALD TRUMP’s positive coronavirus diagnosis and his hospitalization and finding that he “came in contact with more than 500 people, either those in proximity to him or at crowded events, not including rallygoers. … That seven-day window reveals a president and chief of staff [MARK MEADOWS] who took a reckless, and potentially dangerous, approach to handling the coronavirus, including Trump’s own positive test.”