The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 4:

• While speaking to a reporter on Capitol Hill, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) was asked if she would ever support another federal mask mandate. Shaheen responded, “we’ve got to look at circumstances on the ground.” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was asked a similar question and said: “That would depend.”
• On Thursday, Senator JD Vance (R-OH) attempted to pass the “Freedom to Breathe Act”—effectively forbidding federal mask mandates. It was ultimately blocked by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).
• While appearing on CNN with Erin Burnett, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) denied that Democrats should consider a presidential candidate other than Joe Biden in 2024.
• Mike Catalini of the Associated Press writes, “[w]idespread dysfunction at two of New Jersey’s state-run veterans homes left them unprepared to protect residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and still persists, a scathing report by the U.S Justice Department found Thursday. The 43-page document paints a disturbing picture of failures at the homes in Menlo Park and Paramus where dozens of deaths occurred early in the outbreak. It said poor communication, lack of staff competency and other issues led to the coronavirus spreading ‘virtually unchecked throughout the facilities.’” You can read the full article here: https://apnews.com/article/new-jersey-nursing-homes-covid-justice-department-17bc00ec2c9216dedbae73ecf4823748#
• In a recent Wall Street Journal opinion editorial, Michael B. Mukasey argues that “the 14th Amendment’s Insurrection Clause” would not apply to former President Donald Trump. Meaning he could not be deemed ineligible to hold office again. Mukasey writes, “[a] good deal of attention has focused thus far on whether the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an ‘insurrection or rebellion’ and, if so, whether Mr. Trump ‘engaged’ in it. Those questions, however, need not be answered until two preliminary questions of law are addressed: Is the presidency an ‘office . . . under the United States,’ and was the presidential oath Mr. Trump swore on Jan. 20, 2016, to support the Constitution taken ‘as an officer of the United States’?” He continues: “The latter question is easier. The use of the term ‘officer of the United States’ in other constitutional provisions shows that it refers only to appointed officials, not to elected ones. In U.S. v. Mouat (1888), the Supreme Court ruled that ‘unless a person in the service of the government . . . holds his place by virtue of an appointment . . ., he is not, strictly speaking, an officer of the United States.’” You can read the full editorial here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/was-trump-an-officer-of-the-united-states-constitution-14th-amendment-50b7d26?mod=opinion_lead_pos5