Lawmakers return to Washington, DC, with presidential politics looming large

Washington (CNN) — When the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on Friday to highlight the impact border security issues have on local communities, the latest installment of an ongoing series, Vice President Kamala Harris was underlying their line of attack for the first time.

Four months ago, when the panel held a similar field hearing in North Dakota, the vice president was not mentioned by name once.

The shift, both in branding and messaging from the “Biden Border Crisis” to the “Biden-Harris Border Crisis” underscores how House Republicans are pivoting to specifically target Harris after the summer of Democratic reckoning over President Joe Biden resulted in Harris becoming the Democrats’ presidential nominee with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

As Congress embarks on a three-week sprint before its next recess, both parties return to Washington, DC, for a final messaging push dictated by the dynamics of the presidential race in an entirely new political landscape, while trying to balance the critical September 30 government funding deadline.

Republicans have turned their operation – initially designed to target Biden – on its head to now go after Harris, and Democrats are positioning themselves to frame the GOP attacks as a last-ditch effort while planning some offensive moves of their own.

Members of the Trump campaign advised the House GOP conference during a private call on Friday about what her biggest perceived weaknesses are and to keep their attack of Harris on the border and the state of the economy, a source on the call told CNN. Calls between Republican lawmakers and Trump campaign officials are expected to be a regular occurrence in the coming weeks, sources told CNN, as backchannel coordination ahead of the November election intensifies.

The guidance from the Trump campaign largely mirrors the playbook Republicans had used against Biden, and given Harris is part of Biden’s administration and has been the tie-breaking vote in the Senate in her role as vice president, Republicans plan to keep those issues in the spotlight.

With these sustained attacks on the border and immigration, Democrats will continue to point to border crossings being at a four-year low because of new Biden administration policies and emphasize that Republicans tanked a bipartisan border deal for political reasons.

But while there is evidence that Republicans are trying to develop a more targeted approach to the Harris-Walz ticket – as old tropes such as “Biden crime family” fall by the wayside – some GOP messaging ploys on Harris have come off disjointed. Republicans have been trying to find their footing when it comes to attacking Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, to further divide Democrats over the issue. While Harris has stood behind Biden in his handling of the war, and largely shares the same positions as the president, Republicans can’t seem to decide in their messaging if Harris is too close to or too much of an opponent of Israel.

A Republican-linked group in Michigan for example purchased digital ads last week touting Harris’ close relationship with Israel, while former President Donald Trump said this week at an event that if Harris were elected Israel will “no longer exist.”

On top of that, some Republicans have deviated from the script and gone after Harris for being a “DEI hire,” unleashing swift blowback that those attacks were racially charged.

GOP committees lead the new Harris-focused effort

The Republican-led congressional committees have been spearheading the shift in focus from Biden to Harris.

Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, for example, will release a report and hold a news conference Monday on the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling it an “unprecedented oversight of the Biden-Harris administration,” in an apparent messaging shift after previously labeling it the responsibility of the Biden administration.

The House Education and Workforce Committee issued a subpoena to Walz on Wednesday for documents related to a $250 million fraud scheme where individuals affiliated with a Minnesota-based nonprofit were charged with stealing from a federal program designed to provide meals for needy children during the pandemic.

The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Walz last month alleging the Minnesota governor has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and a committee source told CNN the panel plans to hold hearings targeting the Biden-Harris administration when lawmakers return to session.

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month to turn over any documents that use the terms “czar,” “border,” “migration,” or “immigration” in relation to Harris, as Republicans continue to try and frame Harris as the “border czar,” while the White House rejects the label, arguing her focus was on long-term fixes. And GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raising questions about Walz’s representation of his military record.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told CNN on Thursday about how Republicans are pivoting to focus on Harris in September.

“I certainly believe that (Harris’) role should be under the microscope,” Mace added.

The GOP turn in focus to Harris however leaves a huge GOP investigative target in an awkward position.

The trio of committees leading the impeachment inquiry into Biden, once a top priority for the GOP investigative agenda, released their report on Biden in the thick of August recess without a clear path forward. Instead of pushing for the House to vote on impeachment, the report leaves it up to lawmakers to decide how to move forward.

Summarizing the GOP approach to Biden now that the president is not running for reelection, Mike Davis, a former top aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and founder of the Article III Project, told CNN, “Joe Biden who? No one cares about him anymore.”

And with only a matter of weeks before Election Day, even Republicans have acknowledged they have more pressing political fish to fry.

“I think just looking at the calendar, I think that it’s unlikely that there will be action on impeachment with Joe Biden,” GOP Rep. Bob Good of Virginia told CNN. “However, I have said for the better part of four years now that Joe Biden should be impeached.”

Democrats see through GOP efforts

But Democrats see the new push to target Harris and Walz as empty threats, and they point to GOP attacks on Harris’ race as disqualifying.

“Republicans can’t win on policy, and that’s why they’re attacking Kamala Harris’ identity and lying about Tim Walz’s military record,” Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California told CNN. “We have plenty to attack them on.”

On top of pushing back on the GOP claims, Democrats are using their spots on committees, even though they are in the minority, to go on offense, and are plotting messaging strategies of their own.

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, who serves on the Oversight Committee, criticized Republicans for their snap investigations into Harris and Walz.

“All of a sudden, the only three weeks we are going to be there, we are opening up all these new things?” Moskowitz said.

Framing the Democratic strategy on these committees, Moskowitz added: “We pivot, we go on the offense, we don’t play defense.”

On Monday, Democrats in both chambers showcased how they plan to use their positions on committees to try and put Republicans in tough positions. House Oversight Democrats are pressuring House Oversight Chairman James Comer to hold a hearing on gun violence following the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia, while Senate Judiciary Democrats announced a hearing later this month to put the Supreme Court decision limiting the charges against Trump relating to January 6, 2021, in the spotlight.

Earlier this month, House Oversight Committee Democrats launched an investigation into whether Trump received $10 million from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as part of his 2016 presidential campaign, the latest example of Democrats investigating the potential foreign influence over Trump.

The Democratic working group that has spearheaded messaging against Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican president that has attracted considerable blowback in Trump’s race for the White House, also has a slew of messaging events planned over the next month, multiple sources told CNN.

While Trump continues to deny any involvement with Project 2025, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee are preparing to continue to highlight examples where they see evidence of the right wing blueprint in Republican funding proposals in Congress.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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