Cross-Examination

• Subplots in the coldest Iowa caucuses on record: With wind-chill temperatures expected to hit a record-low minus 40 tonight, Iowans will have plenty of reason to stay warm in their homes rather than heading out to remote caucus locations. And it’s hard to imagine a turnout rivaling that of 2016, when Republicans drew 187,000 caucus-goers, especially given that the outcome is as certain as it’s ever been. But there are still plenty of subplots to consider, including whether Donald Trump can do what’s never been done before in the history of the caucuses: reach 50% of the vote. “I think you can talk about second and third,” said the Washington Examiner’s Byron York on Fox News this morning, “but you really shouldn’t lose the big picture, which is that there’s one candidate who appears to be headed for a prohibitive victory. The reason Trump wants 50 + 1 is so he can say to all the other Republicans, ‘Look, you take all the anti-Trump Republicans, put them all together, and you still can’t beat me. Why don’t we just end this right here?’” Among the big stories to watch will be whose turnout will be most affected by the cold; what will be the margin between second and third, which will likely determine whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis can continue even with a poor showing, given that he’s put everything into this first-in-the-nation vote; whether Nikki Haley’s speech will sound like an attack on Trump or like an attempt to position herself for VP; and, finally, where the all-important evangelical vote will go. DeSantis long ago got the endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, who is arguably Iowa’s most influential social conservative, but Trump is still doing extremely well with evangelicals. Iowans generally seem to be of the belief that they like Trump’s policies, and they want Trump to restore them.

• Congress agrees to another short-term funding deal: Lawmakers in the House and Senate agreed to another short-term continuing resolution that will fund the federal government until March. In the meantime, this will give Congress a few more weeks to work on passing appropriations bills to meet the agreed-upon $1.66 trillion top-line budget. This latest continuing resolution agreement will likely anger the Republican Freedom Caucus against Speaker Mike Johnson, who back in November pledged not to agree to another short-term spending deal. As Johnson stated at the time: “If you can’t get the final bills finished under this timeline, with good conservative wins, then we’re just going to go with the most painful version of a full year CR, that will result in large across-the-board non-defense cuts.”

• A “mostly peaceful” pro-Hamas protest: Perhaps you missed it, but we “nearly lost America” on Saturday night, when a “pro-Palestinian” protest spun out of control and activists clashed with police and nearly breached an exterior White House gate. As National Review reports: “Protesters rushed against the reinforced gate, an extra security measure installed in front of the primary White House gate, causing it to shake while some tried to scale the structure. Police and presumably some secret service agents waited on the other side to deter the demonstrators. ‘Break it down!’ one protester bellowed amid the cacophony. ‘You support the murdering of children!’ another protester screamed.” Take a look, but beware of the foul language. As Not the Bee quips: “They’re chanting ‘F— Joe Biden,’ but it’s the weekend. Don’t they know there’s only about a 0% chance that Biden is even in the White House?” We’ve yet to hear Joe Biden denounce these domestic terrorists, nor have we gotten word of a massive FBI sweep to round up the insurrectionists, but we’ve no doubt both of these are forthcoming. Or perhaps not. After all, there were no reports of Trump supporters at this political protest.

• Hunter’s “compliance” is a bad joke: The Hunter Biden circus was in DC this past week, as he made a mockery of the Rule of Law. After having thumbed his nose at two congressional subpoenas — the sort of behavior that gets Trump supporters like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro clapped in irons and hauled off to jail — Hunter’s lawyer now says he’ll abide by the next subpoena they serve. Uh-huh. As The Washington Free Beacon reports: “After a busy week proclaiming his innocence in federal court and sparring with a Republican lawmaker who accused him of having ‘no balls,’ Hunter Biden on Friday caved to GOP demands to testify as part of an impeachment inquiry into his father. Hunter Biden agreed to testify on his foreign business dealings either behind closed doors or in public, according to a letter his attorney, Abbe Lowell, sent two Republican lawmakers. ‘If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition. We will accept such a subpoena on Mr. Biden’s behalf,’ said Lowell to House Republicans.” We’ll see. “I don’t believe, however, that Hunter and his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, are backing down,” writes National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, himself a former federal prosecutor. “They are playing for time. Simultaneously, they are making it much harder for Republicans to hold the younger Biden in contempt.” We wonder: Where’s the outrage? And why haven’t congressional Republicans demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland afford the same courtesies he extended to both Bannon and Navarro?

• Another Collins COVID confession: Last week, our Thomas Gallatin reported that former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins had come clean on the federal government’s COVID cover-up — or at least partly so. Collins admitted, among other things, that political considerations, not science, had directed the nation’s pandemic response. Now, as it turns out, Collins isn’t done confessing. On Friday, as National Review reports: “Collins testified before the House about his role … echoing Dr. Anthony Fauci’s recent testimony on social-distancing guidelines, gain-of-function research, and the lab-leak theory. Collins agreed with Fauci that the six-foot social-distancing recommendation was likely not based on any scientific data, despite the policy being heavily promoted by federal health officials during the pandemic.” All this is better late than never, we suppose, but the grievous damage that Collins, Fauci, and their fellow bureaucrats did to the public trust is hard to gauge. After all, even in candor, Collins was infuriatingly evasive: He fell back on the sleazy “did not recall” response more than 100 times during his congressional testimony.

• Taiwan’s presidential election results: Lai Ching-te won the presidential election in Taiwan on Saturday, as the former vice president received 40% of the national vote in a three-way race. The victory is the third in a row for the Democratic Progressive Party, and it represents a big loss for Beijing, as the DPP promotes a platform of independence from China. In his victory speech, Lai stated, “In the global election year of 2024, in this most anticipated first election, Taiwan has scored the first victory for democracy.” China’s communist government, which has refused to recognize Taiwan’s independent status despite the fact that the communists have never controlled the island nation, promised to oppose the “separatist activities aimed at ‘Taiwan independence.’” Despite the State Department issuing a message of congratulations to new President Lai, Joe Biden responded to the election news by stating, “We do not support independence.”

• Biden’s latest gaffe: Speaking of Joe Biden, does the man know that he is president? According to Jill Biden, Joe’s old age is an “asset,” but is it? At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Friday, aimed at touting his supposedly business-friendly agenda, Biden evidently forgot who he was. At a coffee shop, Biden told employees: “My name’s Joe Biden. I work for the government in the Senate.” Of course, the immediate and inevitable excuse that follows these all-too-regular Biden gaffes is that he was joking. But Biden’s age-addled state has only worsened over the course of his time in office, and it’s evident to everyone, which is why the vast majority of Americans believe he is just too old for the office. It is simply cringeworthy to watch Biden descend further into this state, and it underscores the likely reality that he is not the one actually leading the country.

• Karma? John Anthony Castro, the Republican presidential candidate almost no one has heard of, was arrested last Tuesday on federal tax fraud charges. Castro, a 40-year-old long-shot candidate from Mansfield, Texas, garnered headlines last year when he entered the race after he raised lawsuits against Donald Trump seeking to get him barred from the ballot over spurious 14th Amendment violation claims. In other words, Castro had been attempting to do what Democrats in Colorado and Maine did. “Mr. Castro’s alleged crimes are stunning in their brazenness,” according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton. “The Department of Justice will continue to hold people accountable who steal from the federal government’s — and the American public’s — pockets.” Castro allegedly engaged in multiple instances of tax fraud when he prepared and submitted fraudulent tax returns for unsuspecting clients. Castro responded to the indictments by claiming that they were politically motivated, stating, “They sat on it for three years to see if I would stop being a problem, politically, and go away, and I didn’t.”

Headlines

• Iowa GOP caucus: All the final polls (Daily Wire)

• John Kerry to step down as top U.S. climate change negotiator (Washington Post)

• DeSantis vows to sign executive order ending birthright citizenship (Washington Times)

• Minnesota is a top destination for migrants accepting free tickets to leave New York (Star Tribune)

• Illinois governor slams Texas governor in letter and then asks for mercy (Hot Air)

• Oregon Supreme Court declines for now to review challenge to Trump’s eligibility for ballot (CBS News)

• Biden admin pressuring Israel to start lowering intensity on Hamas inside Gaza (Daily Wire)

• FBI arrests “transgender” man who threatened to kill “trans phobes” — suggests ties to “alt-right extremism” (Daily Wire)

• Barbra Streisand’s film company pocketed $200K in small business pandemic cash — and paid gardener at her $20M mansion (New York Post)

• Pilot Madison Marsh becomes first active-duty Air Force officer to win Miss America title (New York Post)

• Humor: How does an Iowa caucus work? A step-by-step guide (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.