Principals

1. A smooth Jan. 6
2. Reconciliation talks
3. Schumer’s Cabinet plans
4. Trump’s Washington
5. Biden to NOLA
6. Melania Trump documentary

PDB: Biden to ban new oil and gas drilling across most of the US coastline

Federal offices closed as snow arrives in DC … Canada’s Trudeau expected to resign … Biden in WaPo: What Americans should remember about Jan. 6

Trump’s certification set to be smooth

Congress will certify Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential win today in what’s expected to be a much less dramatic event than the violent Capitol riot of four years ago. “House Democrats are not election deniers. That sentiment speaks for itself,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Semafor when asked if anyone from his caucus planned to object to certification. However, we hear Democratic leadership shared no formal guidance on the issue. To help prevent a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021, Congress has since revised the Electoral Count Reform Act by requiring 20% of members in each chamber to agree to force floor debate on certification, clarifying the vice president’s Jan. 6 role as ceremonial, and making it harder for state electors to object to results. Members don’t anticipate any hiccups certifying today, even with the major winter storm in the capital region.

— Kadia Goba

Johnson’s next challenge

House Speaker Mike Johnson talked to Trump before Friday’s speakership vote and vowed he’d focus on extending the president-elect’s tax cuts immediately, Republicans familiar with the conversation told Semafor, breaking with Senate Republicans’ plans to do a border bill first and then turn to tax. Those assurances helped boost Johnson in Trump’s eyes after the party did not include his debt ceiling demand on the year-end spending bill. Johnson told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that his goal is to pass the package in early April, although that timing might slip into May. But Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham was still skeptical, saying on Fox he’s “very worried” that not tackling the border quickly will cause national security problems. Republicans say the sequencing isn’t figured out yet, but Trump endorsed “one powerful Bill” on Sunday night.

— Shelby Talcott

Senate to vet Trump’s natsec nominees

Once the Senate votes to formally organize, today or tomorrow, Republicans are looking to confirm as many of Trump’s national security nominees as possible after the terrorist car attack in New Orleans. That means committee hearings will start next week to “get them ready to go,” Sen. John Barrasso, the party whip, told Semafor. “And we expect to get a number of them confirmed” on Jan. 20, he added. The exact timing will depend on Democrats, though, since they have the ability to delay confirmations. Semafor caught up with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about how the attack affects those nominees’ prospects: “It shows you how we have to give thorough background checks to all of them, all the national security people, so we can know exactly who they are in these difficult times.”

— Burgess Everett

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Small Business Caucus, and Trump campaign economic adviser Stephen Moore will join Semafor’s Elana Schor to discuss what’s ahead for US small businesses as President-elect Trump and congressional Republicans eye tax cuts and regulatory reform.

Jan. 14, 2025 | Washington, DC | RSVP

Trump’s Washington: Sergio Gor

Sergio Gor, the president and co-founder of Donald Trump Jr.’s publishing company, is slated to head up the Presidential Personnel Office in the incoming Trump administration. In the low-profile but influential position, Gor will be responsible for managing the vetting and installment of roughly 4,000 Trump appointees. Gor will basically serve as “the general manager of the government,” as former congressman Matt Gaetz put it. The 38-year-old previously ran a pro-Trump super PAC during the presidential campaign, and has quietly taken on a leading role in the Trump transition process over the last two months. While not a household name, Gor holds immense influence inside Trump’s orbit: He’s been by Trump’s side for years, and is expected to judge thousands of candidates hoping for a position in Trump’s administration in part by how loyal they’ve been to the incoming president.

— Shelby Talcott

Biden visits New Orleans after attack

President Biden is visiting New Orleans today in the aftermath of last week’s truck attack. Biden told reporters he would tell the victims’ families that “they just need to hang onto each other.” The Biden administration is also trying to push back on baseless claims by Trump and others about lax immigration policies being to blame for the terror plot. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized on ABC that attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar was born and raised in the US and served in the US Army. “It is not an issue of the border,” Mayorkas said. Investigators revealed that Jabbar visited New Orleans twice recently and recorded a video of the French Quarter with smart glasses. The New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks have heightened concerns about upcoming events; Chuck Schumer is seeking an all-senators briefing on security preparations for Trump’s inauguration.

Ratner to make Melania Trump documentary

Brett Ratner, the director and producer who was forced out of Hollywood at the peak of the #MeToo movement, will direct a documentary about incoming first lady Melania Trump for Amazon. It marks both a warm embrace for the incoming administration by the e-commerce giant and a dramatic return for Ratner, whose Hollywood career stopped in 2019 when several women accused him of sexual misconduct. (Ratner denied the allegations.) As Semafor’s Ben Smith, who first reported the story, notes, it also represents a changed cultural moment, in which the values and icons of Trump’s MAGA movement are making their way “upstream” from politics into mass American culture, as the conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart used to put it.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Donald Trump is hosting groups of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago next weekend, including the House Freedom Caucus, House committee chairs, and Republicans who want to address the cap on the state and local tax deduction.

Playbook: Vice President Harris, who will preside over the joint session of Congress today, is set to release a video this morning reminding Americans “of the role they play in preserving our democracy” and describing the peaceful transfer of power as “one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy.”

WaPo: The Jan. 6 anniversary is a painful reminder to Trump’s opponents that their warnings about him being a threat to democracy didn’t prevent him from winning a second term.

Axios: Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said she wants a drama-free West Wing. “I don’t welcome people who want to work solo or be a star,” she said. “My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission.”

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer insisted Democrats didn’t mislead the nation about President Biden’s mental fitness.

What the Right isn’t reading: Some congressional Republicans are urging Donald Trump to show restraint as he plans pardons for Jan. 6 rioters.

White House

• President Biden sidestepped advice from national security officials like Jake Sullivan and Antony Blinken in blocking Nippon Steel’s bid to take over US Steel. — WaPo
• Biden will issue orders today banning new offshore oil and gas drilling along the US East and Pacific coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea, having determined that “the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential,” the White House said. The move could complicate Donald Trump’s plans to accelerate oil and gas drilling.

Congress

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune said his relationship with Donald Trump is “evolving.”

Transition

• Donald Trump met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

Outside the Beltway

• New York City’s congestion pricing plan took effect, the first of its kind in the US.

Foreign Policy

• President Biden is expected to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González today. — Bloomberg
• The Biden administration plans to announce it will ease restrictions on humanitarian aid to Syria. — WSJ

Technology

• The Commerce Department said that its third flagship R&D facility under the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act will be located at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.

Media

• The Wall Street Journal hired Washington Post political reporter Josh Dawsey. — Puck
• Layoffs are expected at The Washington Post this week. — Status

Principals Team

• Editors: Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant
• Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Bennie Thompson is a Democratic congressman from Mississippi who was among those honored at the White House last week.

What’s happening at Google’s Quantum AI lab could one day make the advent of the search engine seem quaint, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti reported.

Recently, Google designed and built its own quantum computer chip, doing the unthinkable. The advances have changed the mission. “Our focus has really switched from ‘can it be built at all’ to, ‘can it be built cheap enough,’” Hartmut Neven, one of the Quantum AI lab founders at the company, told Albergotti.