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Meadows contempt vote by House Dems draws sharp rebuke from GOP’s Jim Jordan
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan tore into House Democrats on Tuesday night after they and some Republicans voted to hold former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress.

The 222-208 vote came a day after the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted 9-0 to recommend Meadows for prosecution after he refused to testify before the panel. 

In a reaction posted on Twitter, Jordan, an Ohio Republican, asserted the vote was strictly a case of Washington politics.

“Americans can barely afford groceries. Gas prices are up. Crime is skyrocketing,” Jordan wrote. “And what do Democrats do? Punish their political foe in the dead of night, with no one watching. Pathetic.”

In both the committee and full House votes, the Democrats were joined by GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming, both of them longtime critics of former President Donald Trump. 

Meadows responded late Monday to the House committee’s vote, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that the recommendation from the committee was “disappointing but not surprising.”

The former North Carolina congressman – who also served as chairman of the influential House Freedom Caucus — was previously cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation. He later stopped working with the investigators and is now suing them. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY. 

In other developments:
– Laura Ingraham blasts Liz Cheney, media over Meadows texts; replays her riot condemnations
– Tucker: Liz Cheney is lying to you about Jan. 6
– ‘This is about Donald Trump’: Mark Meadows responds to Jan. 6 committee vote recommending criminal charges
– Meadows attorney tells Jan. 6 Committee contempt charge would be ‘manifestly unjust’
– Meadows talking to National Archives about failure to turn over records

Biden, in a party mood, tells Democrats: ‘We’re going to win in 2022’
President Biden expressed optimism Tuesday night that his fellow Democrats will prevail in next year’s midterm elections.

“We have to keep making the case,” Biden told a crowd of about 400 at the Democratic National Committee’s holiday party in Washington. “Let me say this again: From the president, we’re going to win in 2022.”

“I want to tell my Republican friends: Get ready, pal. You’re in for a problem,” Biden said, claiming the GOP was “against everything” and challenging the crowd to name something Republicans were “for.”

Many political analysts, to the contrary, expect Republicans to roll up victories in House elections next November.

During his speech, Biden touted his recently passed infrastructure spending package as the most significant piece of infrastructure spending since the Eisenhower administration. The president also celebrated that more than 200 million Americans have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The president stands at 43% approval and 51% disapproval in an NPR/Marist national survey released last Thursday. A day earlier, a national poll from Monmouth University indicated a 40% approval rating and a 50% disapproval rating. Both surveys were conducted in recent days. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
– Ingraham: Biden and Democrats are planning their next crackdown on freedom
– CNN floats possible replacements for Biden in 2024
– Biden pushes gun control agenda on ninth anniversary of Sandy Hook shooting
– Congressional Dems roiled by division on issues from massive spending bills to vaccine mandates
– Biden making ‘grave mistake’ enforcing military vaccine mandate, Republicans warn
– Joe Concha: ‘Red tsunami’ coming in 2022 as Biden approval rating plummets

Black juror in Jussie Smollett trial found one behavior suspicious: ‘It didn’t add up’
The only Black juror on the panel that convicted Jussie Smollett of lying to Chicago police said he couldn’t get past what the actor did not do after he claimed attackers looped a noose around his neck: Rip it off and keep it off.

If others saw the noose as Smollett’s clumsy effort to portray his attackers as racist, Andre Hope saw much more.

“As an African-American person, I’m not putting that noose back on at all,” Hope told Chicago’s WLS-TV. At trial, Smollett testified that after the alleged attack in downtown Chicago in January 2019, he returned home and put the rope back around his neck so police who came to his apartment soon after could see it.

Hope was not the only Black person who struggled with Smollett’s use of such a potent symbol of racism in the U.S. to convince authorities he was the victim of a hate crime.

In an interview with NewsNation Now after Smollett was found guilty last Thursday, Eddie Johnson – who was Chicago’s police superintendent in January 2019 when Smollett said he was attacked — said virtually the same thing.

“I was concerned because I don’t think there’s many Black people in America with a noose around their neck and wouldn’t immediately take it off,” Johnson said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
– Beyonce’s mom, Tina Knowles, says Jussie Smollett should be treated ‘with compassion’ during sentencing
– Juror in Jussie Smollett’s trial says they were doing him ‘a favor’ by not convicting him on 6th count
– Wrongfully convicted Amanda Knox says Ghislaine Maxwell trial gives ‘flashbacks’ to her own
– Girl’s murder takes even more sickening turn as sheriff reveals suspected motive
– Horrific details emerge about ex-NFL star’s car crash that left woman dead

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TODAY’S MUST-READS:
– Michele Tafoya’s NBC role changing after Kaepernick remarks on ‘The View’: report
– Phoenix police officer fighting for life after being shot multiple times; suspect in custody, cops say
– Police announce huge development in desperate search for teenage couple who vanished in big city
– DiCaprio turning heads for comments he made about Streep going nude in movie
– Cuomo fires back at order forcing him to return $5.1M from COVID book: ‘Political hypocrisy … at its worst’

THE LATEST FROM FOX BUSINESS:
– Google memo lays out plan to fire employees out of compliance with vaccine rules: report
– House votes to raise debt ceiling, sends bill to Biden’s desk
– Biden admin deals massive blow to progressives as it confirms plans for federal student loan payments
– Judge rules on Trump effort to block Congress from obtaining his taxes
– Tesla chief calls Democrat ‘Senator Karen’ as war of words hits fever pitch
– Amazon delivery driver makes terrifying threat — and it was all caught on camera

SOME PARTING WORDS

Fox News’ Will Cain on Tuesday night called out Black Lives Matter’s “Black Xmas” campaign, which urges shoppers to buy holiday items only from Black vendors.

“America can’t escape the framework of skin color,” the “Fox News Primetime” host said, “because instead of spreading cheer and joy this holiday season, Black Lives Matter is asking its followers to participate in segregation. They called their mission ‘Black Xmas,’ And its goal is pretty simple, fight ‘White supremacist capitalism.’ Now you’re probably wondering, what is White supremacist capitalism? And that also is simple: It’s any business owned by a White person.”

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This edition of Fox News First was compiled by Fox News’ David Aaro. Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! We’ll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday.