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Since Election Day, the drama in the House has been concentrated on the GOP side, as KEVIN McCARTHY tries to overcome a MAGA world mutiny to get the gavel, and Democrats smoothly elect three new leaders to succeed NANCY PELOSI, STENY HOYER and JIM CLYBURN.

But it turns out things are not all kumbaya in the House Dem caucus.

— Amid some Democrats’ discontentment about Clyburn’s insistence on staying in leadership, Rep. DAVID CICILLINE (D-R.I.) has decided to challenge him for the assistant leader job — a vote that will happen later today.

— And there’s an intense whisper campaign happening behind the scenes about Rep. TONY CÁRDENAS’ (D-Calif.) bid to head the DCCC — one that compiles ugly past allegations about sexual assault, as well as new alleged connections to a man known as the “boogeyman of porn.”

LET’S START WITH CLYBURN: Most Democrats expected him to gracefully step aside with Pelosi and Hoyer, and his insistence on remaining in leadership bigfooted Colorado Rep. JOE NEGUSE, forcing the young, up-and-coming Black Democrat to abandon his own bid for caucus chair.

“When I interviewed Pelosi, Hoyer & Clyburn in 2019 for my book, Clyburn was the only one to predict that all three of them would leave at once,” Time political correspondent Molly Ball tweeted Wednesday. “Now he’s the only one trying to stay in leadership.”

For his part, Cicilline, who is gay, has told colleagues his candidacy is less about Clyburn than his desire to see someone from the LGBTQ community have a voice in Democratic leadership. “It is critical that the House Democratic leadership team fully reflect the diversity of our caucus and the American people,” Cicilline wrote in a Dear Colleague letter, explaining that a “sense of duty” compelled him to run.

Even so, Cicilline’s bid is a long shot. Clyburn is a senior member of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus, which boasts about 60 members who often band together to throw their weight around within the party. That sway, plus his cachet as a kingmaker in JOE BIDEN’s 2020 campaign, will make him very difficult to dislodge — and has led some Democrats to speculate that Cicilline might pull out before the election. We’ll see.

THEN THERE’S THE DCCC DRAMA: There’s an interesting backstory to the caucus’s decision Wednesday to let Minority Leader-elect HAKEEM JEFFRIES choose the new chair of the DCCC rather than having the caucus elect the position. We’re told from several senior Democrats that while the idea to make it an appointed post has been floating around for a while, many lawmakers looked at the two main contenders openly seeking the post — Cárdenas and California Rep. AMI BERA — and effectively said: No thanks.

Shortly after Election Day, our colleague Nick Wu reported that Cárdenas — who ran BOLD PAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political arm — had locked down a substantial amount of support for the DCCC job.

But in the weeks since, headlines from Cárdenas’ past have circulated among Dem lawmakers and operatives, including an allegation from a woman who claimed that Cárdenas molested her when she was a teenager — an accusation he denies, and which was the subject of a lawsuit that was later dropped.

Then there’s his association with MARK HANDEL, the so-called boogeyman of porn. Last week, The Daily Beast’s William Bredderman reported that Handel, a politically connected real estate developer who raised money for Cárdenas and acted as a “liaison … to the larger Los Angeles real estate community,” also “moonlighted” as a director of violent pornography — and has been accused of repeatedly physically abusing women. Handel is under federal indictment for alleged financial misdeeds.

There’s a connection between the allegations: In 2018, the L.A. Times reported, citing court records, that the woman who accused Cárdenas of sexual assault said the congressman had secured a place for her family to live rent-free — and that Handel covered the expense. (Cárdenas denies this as well.) Meanwhile, a documentary trailer concerning the various allegations has been making the rounds, fueling the whisper campaign.

In a statement to Playbook, Cárdenas denied the accusations. “Nothing is new, and frankly, everything has been publicly resolved, refuted or dropped,” said a campaign spokesperson. “Voters are focused on kitchen table issues, not unfounded claims and distorted information by amateur operatives desperate for committee contracts.”

Regardless of whether the allegations are true, some Democrats fret that if Cárdenas were to head the DCCC, Republicans would latch on to any accusation against Cárdenas and use it to slime the whole party come 2024.

Who’s behind the resurfacing of these old allegations? Cárdenas allies suspect it’s coming from fellow DCCC hopeful Bera. (TRAVIS HORNE, a spokesman for Bera’s office, said they had “nothing to do with this.”)

For his part, Bera also has associations with scandal. His father spent time in prison for funneling at least $260,000 in illegal contribution straw donations to Bera’s 2010 and 2012 congressional campaigns. Though Bera was cleared of any impropriety, that, too, is giving Democrats heartburn.

“If someone had emerged as a consensus candidate [for the DCCC post], this rules change probably wouldn’t have passed,” said one senior Democratic aide. “If you’re going to put your name forward for a position like this, you have to expect that any whisper of a scandal will be a problem.”

Good Thursday morning. Happy December! Thanks for reading Playbook, where we love to air out politicians’ dirty laundry. Drop us a line if you have some dish: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS — Ahead of tonight’s state dinner with French President EMMANUEL MACRON, Jonathan Lemire and Eli Stokols write that the friendly allies will have to steer through some increasing tensions during the visit. The war in Ukraine and trade concerns have clouded the U.S.-French relationship a bit, but the two leaders have a personal warmth with each other and hope to smooth some things over.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Eight frontline House Dems, led by SUSIE LEE (Nev.), are throwing their support behind ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (Va.) for the caucus’ new battleground leadership representative position. Lee, who proposed the position, and other big names like ELISSA SLOTKIN (Mich.) and JOSH GOTTHEIMER (N.J.) say Spanberger would provide an injection of “relentless energy and outcomes-obsessed drive” into the leadership. Spanberger is expected to square off with MATT CARTWRIGHT (Pa.) for the role. The letter

NEW W.H. STRATEGY TARGETS HOUSE GOP — As Republicans prepare to take control of the House in just over a month, the White House is doing something it previously resisted: taking on the more extreme members of the GOP by name, Eugene and Jonathan Lemire report. Biden world tells the pair that the change was less a sudden shift than a gradual reaction to members of the Republican fringe becoming more prominent and, in the administration’s eyes, GOP leadership ignoring the worst offenders. “He talked with historians and advisers about it,” one Biden ally said. “Pretending these threats didn’t exist would only help them grow.”

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Justice Department has subpoenaed filmmaker ALEX HOLDER in what appears to be a new avenue in its criminal investigations related to the events of Jan. 6. Holder had unique access to DONALD TRUMP and his family for his recent documentary “Unprecedented,” and he was in Washington filming on Jan. 6, 2021.

Prosecutors are demanding that Holder turn over all of the raw footage that he and his colleagues recorded that day. Holder was previously ordered to appear before the House Jan. 6 committee and the special grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., investigating efforts to overturn the presidential election results in the state.

The new subpoena, which you can read here, does not appear to be related to the DOJ’s criminal investigation of Trump himself. ROBERT JUMAN, one of the two assistant U.S. attorneys who issued the subpoena to Holder, has been working on other Jan. 6 prosecutions. They don’t seem to be in a rush. Holder got sick over the holidays, and the prosecutors happily granted him an extension — until Jan. 30 — to comply with their request.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

ALL POLITICS

THE CLOSING ARGUMENTS — Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-Ga.) once again brings in the big guns for the last stretch of the Georgia runoff: BARACK OBAMA stars in his latest campaign ad. “There aren’t a lot of people in Washington like Rev. Warnock,” the former president says. “That’s exactly why we need to send him back.”

— HERSCHEL WALKER is trying hard to sidestep controversy in the final week of the campaign, going out on fewer limbs and leaning on establishment Republicans like Gov. BRIAN KEMP, Natalie Allison reports from Dalton.

— Some Republicans are worried that Walker isn’t putting enough oomph into his campaign, having stayed off the trail over the Thanksgiving holiday, NYT’s Maya King reports from Atlanta.

— Though you shouldn’t read too much into early votes, NYT’s Neil Vigdor and Blake Hounshell note that the compressed timetable is producing big tallies each day — and long wait times (to the tune of 2.5 hours Monday in Alpharetta). Dems worry the shorter window to vote could hamper their turnout operations.

— One notable undecided voter: Republican Lt. Gov. GEOFF DUNCAN, a Trump opponent. He said on CNN that after waiting in line for an hour, he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Walker.

— Not exactly the headline Walker wants: “Herschel Walker, facing new controversy, insists, ‘I’m a resident of Georgia,’” by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser

MINNESOTA UN-NICE — “Minnesota Dems ding Michigan as race for early-state presidential primary heats up,” by Elena Schneider

BOOK CLUB — Every 2024 possible contender is writing a book! Sen. MARCO RUBIO’s (R-Fla.) “Decades of Decadence” will come out June 13 from HarperCollins’ Broadside Books, The Hill’s Al Weaver reports. No further details yet available.

CONGRESS

McCARTHY’S CONUNDRUM — Conservatives and moderates in the House GOP are threatening each other over McCarthy’s speakership bid, Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney report this morning in a preview of the gamesmanship we may see Jan. 3. McCarthy’s enemies are strategizing how they can use House rules to their advantage and are promising several more members will make their opposition public.

— House Republicans voted 158-52 to keep earmarks in the next Congress, dismissing a bid to ban them by some in the conference, per Roll Call. Its defeat frustrated Freedom Caucus members, with some warning beforehand that they’d consider the matter as they weigh whether to back McCarthy for speaker.

DEPT. OF DRAPE-MEASURING — McCarthy’s official website already lists him as speaker-elect, despite his bid not yet having enough GOP votes, Talking Points Memo’s Hunter Walker flags.

THEY’RE HERE — House Ways and Means Dems have finally gotten their hands on Trump’s tax returns after a yearslong fight, Treasury said Wednesday. The move follows a final loss for Trump on the matter at the Supreme Court last week. Chair RICHARD NEAL (D-Mass.) said the panel’s Democrats would meet to determine next steps; no word yet on whether the returns will be made public. More from CNN

ONE TO WATCH — Several Republican senators threatened Wednesday to hold up the National Defense Authorization Act unless they get a floor vote on ending the coronavirus vaccine mandate for service members. The group of seven, including RAND PAUL (Ky.) and LINDSEY GRAHAM (S.C.), argued that the mandate was damaging military recruitment. Some went further: RON JOHNSON (R-Wis.) questioned the utility of the vaccines outright. More from NBC

UNDER THE OMNIBUS — Some of the Senate GOP’s right flank — MIKE LEE (Utah), TED CRUZ (Texas), RICK SCOTT (Fla.) and MIKE BRAUN (Ind.) — are urging Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL to go no further than a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open, per Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman. The group is pushing for Republicans to hold off on agreeing to longer-term funding levels until the party has taken over the House. And they don’t want any other bills or legislative priorities tacked onto the CR, either.

DEMOCRACY WATCH — Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) said Wednesday they expect the Electoral Count Act reform may hitch a ride on the omnibus government funding bill, Roll Call’s Jim Saksa reports. The NDAA could be another option.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

COMMITTEE STARTS TO WRAP UP — House Jan. 6 committee chair BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) told Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu that he thinks the panel has finished its interviews and investigations after talking to Wisconsin state House Speaker ROBIN VOS on Wednesday. Next up: The committee will focus on its report, recommendations and possible criminal referrals. That last piece — by far the most explosive potential outcome — will be discussed Friday. They’ll also talk about how to handle McCarthy and the other GOP lawmakers who defied subpoenas.

THE NEW MAJORITY — McCarthy sent Thompson a letter Wednesday indicating that Republicans plan to investigate the Jan. 6 committee next year. The letter

JUDICIARY SQUARE

NO RELIEF FOR LOAN RELIEF — A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined Wednesday to stay a lower court’s ruling blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief policy. But they moved to hear the administration’s appeal on an expedited timeline. More from Reuters

POLICY CORNER

HUGE FOUL-UP — “ICE accidentally released the identities of 6,252 immigrants who sought protection in the U.S.,” by the L.A. Times’ Hamed Aleaziz: “The unprecedented data dump could expose the immigrants — all of whom are currently in ICE custody — to retaliation from the very individuals, gangs and governments they fled, attorneys for people who have sought protection in the U.S. said.”

FED UP — “Powell Signals Downshift Likely Next Month, More Hikes to Come,” by Bloomberg’s Craig Torres ... “Fed’s Powell cites top barrier to taming inflation — workers’ wages,” by Victoria Guida

TURNING THE SIRENS OFF — The Biden administration is likely to wind down its monkeypox emergency declaration by the end of January, Adam Cancryn reports.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Four hundred twenty-three organizations sent a letter to the Biden administration last week urging officials to extend the temporary protected status designation for Haiti. Led by Haitian Bridge Alliance, the large swath of civil rights and other groups warn that the country’s growing chaos makes redesignation all the more important. DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS has to make a decision by Monday; the current protections that allow Haitians to stay in the U.S., which the Biden administration first established last year, would expire Feb. 3. Read the letter here

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

WAR REPORT — After news broke that Islamic State leader ABU AL-HASSAN AL-HASHIMI AL-QURAYSHI was killed, U.S. officials clarified Wednesday that he died in October in fighting with the Free Syrian Army in Syria, not as a result of U.S. action. More from Insider

THE ECONOMY

GOOD NEWS, PART I — Gas prices are dropping fast across the country, hitting $3.50 a gallon and perhaps heading for the fabled $3 threshold by Christmas, reports WaPo’s Evan Halper.

GOOD NEWS, PART II — Apartment rental prices fell 1% last month, the biggest drop in five years, per Bloomberg’s Prashant Gopal.

MEDIAWATCH

WINTER IS COMING — “NPR Hiring Freeze, CNN Cuts Are Latest Signs of Media Crunch,” by Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman and Gerry Smith

NO MORE ‘DATE LAB’ — “Washington Post Ends Print Sunday Magazine,” by Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon

The Macrons and the Bidens dined together at Fiola Mare in Georgetown on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the menu for tonight’s White House state dinner includes lobster, calotte of beef and the world’s best cheese.

Jared Golden hammered Biden on the lobsters.

Mitt Romney’s beard was short-lived.

Maura Healey had some royal company at last night’s Celtics game. (Joe Biden will greet Prince William and Princess Catherinewhile in Boston on Friday.)

Sherrod Brownhad trouble recognizingBurgess Everett.

Madison Cawthorn warned about being a “soft metrosexual.”

Drew Hammill is not staying on in Nancy Pelosi’s office, and tells Roll Call he “recently switched from Diet Coke to double espressos.”

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at retiring Rep. John Katko’s (R-N.Y.) retirement party Wednesday night at the Dubliner: Reps. Rodney Davis (R-lll.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Katko’s wife Robin, Patrick Mocete, and various current and former staffers.

— End Citizens United/Let America Vote hosted a reception at ZOCA on Wednesday night to welcome new members of Congress. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) congratulated them and talked about the importance of overturning Citizens United to limit dark money in politics. And ECU President Tiffany Muller trumpeted the midterms as showing that voters rewarded Democrats who defended democracy. SPOTTED: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), and Reps.-elect Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Yadira Caraveo (D-Colo.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.).

— Swedish Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter hosted a gala dinner at the House of Sweden on Tuesday night honoring the 2022 American Nobel laureates in chemistry, physics and economics. The honorees included John Clauser, Carolyn Bertozzi, Karl Barry Sharpless.SPOTTED: USTR Katherine Tai, Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.), Arati Prabhakar, Deanne Criswell, Kathy “Coach” Kemper, Bill Nelson, Melanne Verveer, Anna Sjöström Douagi and Marcia McNutt.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) is joining the State Department as special envoy for global youth issues. In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that Finkenauer “will encourage youth-related programming around the administration’s foreign policy priorities and existing regional initiatives, while consistently and meaningfully consulting with young people on the formulation and implementation of relevant policies and programs.” (h/t Daniel Lippman)

— Kyle O’Connor is now a senior adviser at Fenway Strategies. He previously was a senior adviser to University of Virginia president Jim Ryan, and is an Obama White House alum.

— Kelly Speakes-Backman will be EVP for public affairs at Invenergy. She most recently was acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE.

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Julian Simcock is now director for global criminal justice at the NSC. He most recently was deputy legal adviser at the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

STAFFING UP — Laura Hussain is joining the Treasury Department as a counselor in the general counsel’s front office. She most recently was assistant general counsel for litigation and oversight at the CFPB, and is an OPM and WilmerHale alum.

TRANSITIONS — Ian Smith is now director of polling and analytics at the Hub Project. He most recently was polling and analytics director at American Bridge. … SKDK’s executive comms practice is adding Adora Andy Jenkins,Lisa Stark and Saundra Torry as of-counsel advisors. Jenkins is an Obama administration alum; Stark is a longtime network journalist; and Torry has been an editorial writer for USA Today. … Chase DeCoite is now VP of food industry outreach at Dairy Management Inc. He previously was director of animal health and food safety policy at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

ENGAGED — Kyle Dropp, co-founder and president of Morning Consult, recently proposed to Jackie Dreier, founder and president of ArtsClub, on a beach in the Florida Keys. They met at a birthday party in NYC. Pic

WEDDINGS — Jack Porter, senior policy analyst at the National Governors Association, and Mackay Coleman, senior student success adviser at 2U, got married Nov. 5 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. They met through a mutual friend in Gales Ferry, Conn., in 2012. Pic

— Daniel Straus, associate general counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Randall Oliver, director for Canada at the Office of the USTR, got married Nov. 24 on the beach in Duck, N.C. They met in D.C. in 2018. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Heather Plochman, senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Mark Sarne, senior business manager at Capital One, welcomed Todd Plochman Sarne on Nov. 18.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: DSCC Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and NRSC Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.) (7-0) … Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes … Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (4-0) … Jen Psaki … WaPo’s Karen Tumulty … Shin Inouye … Axios’ Josh Kraushaar … Natalie Wyeth Earnest … Tessa Gould … NPR’s Carrie Johnson … Jason Maloni of JadeRoq … Kyle Lierman … POLITICO’s Rashida Kamal and Elizabeth Ralph … AgencyIQ’s Joshua Sztorc and Abby Resendiz … NYT’s Carlos Prieto … Joel Miller … Barbara Martin of the Brand Guild … Moses Mercado of Ogilvy Government Relations … DNC’s Ammar Moussa and Sara Guerrero … Ed Fox of Fox & Associates … Tyler Haymore … Sean Higgins … Raul Alvillar … Ani Toumajan of Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-Mich.) office … Alex Howard … Yochi Dreazen … Charlie Anderson … Marylouise Oates … David Jory of Edge Creek Partners … John Shapiro

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