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Vice President Kamala Harris (D) is meeting with state Reps. Justin Jones (D) and Justin Pearson (D), two Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled from the legislature after participating in a recent protest on the Tennessee House floor.

Gun violence was the topic of the protest, which followed the recent school shooting in Nashville, Tenn.

The Hill’s Brett Samuels wrote, “The vice president will use the meeting to elevate the White House’s broader push for tougher gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons.”

President Biden, former President Obama, and the Congressional Black Caucus are among those who have criticized the expulsion. 

“The expulsion of Jones and Pearson, both of whom are Black, has fueled a nationwide debate in recent days over gun violence, race and the freedom to protest,” Samuels wrote.

Tennessee House Republican Caucus chairman Jeremy Faison said the expelled lawmakers were “getting the people incited and worked up into a frenzy.”

State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D) also participated in the protest. Her expulsion vote fell barely short. She was stripped of her committee assignments, as were Jones and Pearson before being expelled.

Jones noted that Johnson is white and said, “What we saw in Tennessee yesterday was an attack on democracy and very overt racism[.]”

Johnson agreed. State House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) said claims of racism related to the expulsion present a “false narrative” and that Johnson wasn’t as “active a participant.” 

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• Former President Trump is reportedly seeking a campaign role for far-right activist Laura Loomer.
  
  

• China sanctioned the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the Hudson Institute, a think tank, for providing a public platform to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her recent U.S. trip. 
  
  

• House Oversight Committee ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin (Md.) said Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) either misrepresented the Biden family investigation to conservative audiences or withheld information from committee Democrats concerning the number of witnesses spoken with. Comer called the accusations “baseless.”

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas responded to a ProPublica report saying he may not have appropriately disclosed trips he accepted from a Republican mega-donor. Thomas said he had been advised he didn’t have to report the trips on his financial disclosures.

“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas said in a statement.

“I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”

The ProPublica report detailed trips Thomas has taken on Harlan Crow‘s jet and yacht, saying that some ethics law experts believed he should have disclosed them.

Thomas noted in his response that the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary’s policy-making body, announced new guidance last month that he intends to follow.

The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld explained the Conference “adopted stricter gift reporting requirements that clarified the ‘personal hospitality’ exception does not apply to gifts at commercial properties and only spans certain gifts from someone with a personal relationship with the justice in a nonbusiness context.”

While former President Trump and some House Republicans have called for defunding the Justice Department due to accusations that it’s conducting politically motivated investigations, the Senate Intelligence Committee has a different problem with the department. 

Some committee members, including chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.), have criticized the Justice Department for not handing over files related to investigations it’s performing into Trump and President Biden over classified documents found at their homes. Some, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have suggested withholding funds as a consequence.

“The Senate Intelligence Committee isn’t interested in the details of the investigation, but rather the potential national security fallout from the failure to keep the documents properly stored,” The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch wrote.
“They argue they need to weigh if the intelligence community has taken all necessary steps to remedy the damage.”

Read more here

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was formally charged with espionage in Russia. The Russian news agency TASS reported that Gershkovich denied the charge.

The Russian Federal Security Service alleged the reporter, “acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex.” Russian authorities detained Gershkovich last week.

The White House has criticized the charge, saying the reporter is not a spy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) condemned the Russian government’s actions and said, “Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime.”

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The Hill’s Saul Elbein delves into three flashpoints between Republican-dominated legislatures and Democratic cities in the South: fights over gun policy in Tennessee, business regulations in Texas and state police power in Mississippi.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced he’s leaving Newsmax and hinted at a new venture: “The 2024 election cycle will be in full swing before we know it,” Spicer said. “And I want to give you a front row seat to what’s happening.”

The Hill’s Niall Stanage previews President Biden‘s upcoming trip to Ireland, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

“How Washington can make the most of Finland’s NATO membership” — Dov S. Zakheim, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and a previous under secretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004. (Read here)

“A friendly amendment to the Global Trade Accountability Act” — Marc L. Busch, the Karl F. Landegger Professor of International Business Diplomacy at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition. (Read here)

578 days until the presidential election. 

Weekend: President Biden is at Camp David.

Monday: The White House Easter Egg Roll takes place on the South Lawn.

There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: alatour@digital-release.thehill.com

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