Power Up: Nixon led a similar campaign to get chummy with Republicans considering impeaching him

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

On The Hill

AD-DRESSING THE NATION: It’s the latest sign of the times in an evolving Congress: stacks of black garment bags, stuffed with blazers, gowns and dresses, deposited in piles at UPS drop-off spots on Capitol Hill.

They contain the latest fashion choices for the women of Congress — members and staffers alike — who are increasingly turning to a popular online retailer to look on trend and polished while doing their demanding jobs. 

• They are borrowing outfits — individually, or on an unlimited basis — from Rent the Runway, which allows women to efficiently rotate their wardrobes without breaking their budgets (while providing free shipping, dry cleaning and that clutch backup size). It’s an easy way for them to ensure they don’t make the faux pas of wearing the same outfit twice.
• Read our full piece here. 

Goodbye drab power suits: Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.) are some of the recognizable names on the Hill who use the service that has become a power tool for powerful women as RTR has expanded its offerings from black tie to casual apparel and work wear. 

• “It was amazing to walk by the mailroom on Capitol Hill packed with RTR garment bags,” Rent the Runway CEO and co-founder Jennifer Hyman said in an interview of her visit with young lawmakers to discuss her business this past fall. “Through RTR, we’re giving women on the Hill back the time and energy they’d typically spend on shopping so they can focus on their most important investment, themselves.”
• “Fingers crossed that Nancy Pelosi joins soon!” Hyman added.

Cult status: It’s unclear just how many on the Hill are RTR customers but a spokeswoman told Power Up the company has seen “tremendous growth in our D.C. market in the last year,” which has been fueled by new kiosks around the city where rentals can be returned and new items ordered. 

With the number of female congresswomen climbing — a record 104 women serve in the House — so has the scrutiny of them, including of their appearances.

• “It would be hard to say this tactfully,” said a House Democratic aide and an RTR unlimited subscriber who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because they didn’t feel it was appropriate to speak on the record about their wardrobe, “but women who are lawmakers are photographed and scrutinized on their appearance — and this is one of the tools to feel more empowered in the workplace.”
• And political insiders and elected officials are embracing the brand for other reasons than its affordable clothes: “I personally use Rent the Runway because it provides some diversity to my wardrobe, especially in a city that I find a little boring as it relates to fashion and need to express myself through fashion,” Murphy said. “But more than that, I am a big fan of Rent the Runway for the type of company that they are. They embody what I call corporate patriotism.”
• RTR says they’ve saved over 5 million pounds of total waste through their packaging: “The truth is, the fashion industry is the second most pollutive industry on Earth, and no brand has addressed this broken system of consumption the way RTR has,” Hyman said.

AOC wore a lavender suit … so I wore a lavender suit: Of course, there are staffers who simply want to look stylish on a budget — and dress the part.

• “You know AOC’s lavender pantsuit? I think it’s Theory,” remarked the House Democratic aide who described trawling the website to “favorite” outfits one day over a congressional recess earlier this year.
• There are times when the unspoken code of a shared wardrobe inevitably becomes a topic of conversation, like when two women who work for the same lawmaker showed up to the office in the same dress one day, a male Hill staffer who witnessed the coincidence recounted to The Washington Post.
• “So that’s what those black bags are all about,” the staffer remarked.

The Investigations

14 HOURS AND NO VOTE YET: House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) abruptly recessed his panel at 11:15 p.m. last night ,setting up final votes on the two articles of impeachment against President Trump to occur later this morning, our colleagues Rachael Bade, John Wagner, Colby Itkowitz and Toluse Olorunnipa report.

It was a long, heated day: “The all-day debate ended as it began, with angry exchanges, personal insults and recycled arguments about process and propriety as the committee moved toward voting to impeach Trump for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,'” our colleagues write.

• One particular exchange captured the mood: “Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) chided Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attacking Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president Joe Biden, for a substance abuse issue, making an oblique reference to Gaetz’s 2008 arrest for drunken driving,” our colleagues write. “The charges against him were eventually dropped. “The pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do,” Johnson said, without specifically naming Gaetz.

Republicans were not happy with the decision to extend the debate to a third day: “This is the kangaroo court we’re talking about,” Rep. Douglas A. Collins (Ga.), the committee’s ranking Republican, accused,as Republicans appeared blindsided by the move. 

• What happened?: Multiple Democrats on the committee wrote on Twitter that American people deserved to see the final votes occur in daylight hours. CNN’s Manu Raju also reported the GOP was supposed to end stop introducing amendments at around 5 p.m., but continued to do so long into the evening. Democrats finally put a stop the procedural mayhem.

The July 24, 1974 Post front page.

At The White House

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Richard Nixon was just looking for someone to cruise with on the Sequoia, his presidential yacht. But when he invited then-Rep. William S. Cohen (R-Maine) to come aboard, he was rebuffed. “It probably would have been the first time that they would have taken the Sequoia into shark invested waters,” Rep. Tom Railsback (R-Ill.) cracked, as The Post’s Lou Cannon wrote in a front page story on July 22, 1974. Chances are the rejection wasn’t so funny to the embattled president, who would resign following the Watergate scandal less than a month later.

We decided to take a look back at this story this week because it is striking in comparison to our own times: The White House at the time knew it was going to lose Republicans when the House Judiciary Committee approved one article of impeachment, an unnamed lawmaker told Cannon. 

• So, the West Wing was dangling invitations to sail on the Sequoia or take in a show at the Kennedy Center. Some Republicans, including Rep. Robert McClory (Ill.), had already sworn off White House social calls viewing the possible dual status as members of the Judiciary Committee considering the president’s fate and social guests as difficult to square.

The U.S. presidential yacht Sequoia, carrying President Richard Nixon and his family, is seen here in August 1974. (AP Photo)

If this sounds familiar: It’s because you’ve probably read about similar efforts by the Trump White House. Our colleagues and others have reported that the White House is inviting GOP lawmakers to weekends away at Camp David, which has become an “adult playground,” and movie nights at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The names of most of these attendees, including any current Judiciary Republicans, are mostly unknown. 

Power Up reached out to the offices of every single member on the committee about whether they viewed it as proper to attend social functions when weighing impeachment. None responded to our requests.

• As for the Nixon White House: It, Cannon wrote, was “careful to refrain from invitations to that might be construed as overt attempts to influence the congressmen who will be the first to vote on impeachment.” We asked the Trump White House if similar precautions are being taken. We did not hear back.
• As for the Clinton White House: CNN reported at the time that Clinton and the first lady called members before the floor vote to impeach President Clinton. Former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said chummy social invites were never on the table. “It never even crossed our mind that somehow some gratuity or party favor would influence a Democrat in Congress,” he told us. As for this time, “I actually think it’s a wasted effort since he has them already, frankly,” Lockhart said of Trump. “So I hope they’re good movies, because it’s not going to have any impact.”

No Republicans are expected to vote in favor of articles later this morning. But the impeachment charges are still expected to pass the full House next week and head to the Senate for trial.

If you think this week is crazy: In the midst of the committee’s debate, two days after Cannon’s story (July 24), the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Nixon had to turn over tapes of his recorded conversations to Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski. Nixon resigned 16 days later.

 Pipelines extend across the landscape outside Nuiqsut, AK.. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Post)

The Policies

AN ALASKAN VILLAGE BATTLES CLIMATE CHANGE: “Oil drilling has brought great prosperity to Nuiqsut, but the town’s very foundations are imperiled by oil’s fundamental role in the global economy. In a nation coming to recognize the effects of climate change — and to question the dependence on fossil fuels that drive global warming — the village is caught between a comfortable present and a frightening future,” our colleague Juliet Eilperin writes in the latest 2C series installment out this morning.

• The village is becoming one of the fastest-warming places on earth: Here at the edge of the North Slope, the annual temperature has risen 4 degrees Celsius, a Washington Post analysis of a century of temperature data has found,” our colleague writes. “It is, along with a sliver of Siberia and the Norwegian island of Svalbard, the fastest-warming spot of land on Earth.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen here on Dec. 11. (Ben Stansall/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

JOHNSON, TORIES ROMP IN LANDSLIDE ELECTIONS: “Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a sweeping, decisive and powerful majority of parliamentary seats — and a mandate to deliver Brexit — in Thursday’s general election,” our colleagues William Booth, Karla Adam and James McAuley write from London.

It was a historic night for conservatives: “The largest win for the Tories since the days of Margaret Thatcher — while the opposition Labour Party and its hard-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, suffered their worst defeat in four decades,” our colleagues write.

• Corbyn bows out: He announced he would not lead his party in any future general election campaign, but intends to stay on as leader during a period of reflection.

What’s next for Brexit: Hopes for a second referendum are gone. Johnson’s plan would lead the U.K. out of the European Union next month. Then “Britain would enter into a year-long transition period and immediately begin to engage in talks,” our colleagues write, over a host of other issues.

In the Media

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