Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is giving Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries a crash course in high-level fundraising Thursday, taking him on a tour to meet California’s wealthy Democratic donor class.
Pelosi’s grip on the purse strings of top-shelf Democratic donors long played a key role in securing her leadership position among House Democrats. Now, retired from Democratic leadership, Pelosi is passing the torch to Jeffries, who was elected to replace her late last year.
The pair will hold events in San Francisco and Los Angeles before Jeffries and the other new Democratic leaders, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, head to Seattle.
Fundraising for party members is a major part of the leadership role in the House. Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s political machine raised some $500 million for his Republican colleagues in the midterm election cycle, and Pelosi is no stranger herself to raking in tens of millions of dollars.
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Jeffries has spent a large amount of time with Pelosi since coming into his role as Democratic leader. Pelosi lead their party in the House for decades, but she says she doesn’t want to be overbearing now that she is no longer in leadership.
“She’s been tremendous,“ Jeffries told Punchbowl News. “And her advice, her guidance and her counsel has been invaluable.”
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Jeffries’ crash course on running the Democratic caucus comes as House Republicans are ramping up oversight challenges to President Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has already launched a salvo of inquiries relating to Biden’s mishandling of classified documents dating back to his time as vice president.
So far, White House lawyers have discovered three batches of misplaced classified documents. The first was found in November inside the Washington offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank. The second two stashes were uncovered inside the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. attorney Robert Hur to investigate the matter as a special counsel last week.