Jan. 5, 2022: Republicans dodge and deflect ahead of Jan. 6

Republicans don’t want to talk about Jan. 6. Period. End of story. On a private call Tuesday, House GOP leaders encouraged their members to stick to attacking President Joe Biden — or, at most, talk about ongoing security concerns at the Capitol. Republican senators, meanwhile, dodged questions about the Thursday anniversary. Indeed, it’s becoming increasingly clear that — with the exception of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and perhaps a few others — the day of remembrance will be a nearly all-Democratic affair. And, the GOP did get some good Jan. 6 news: Trump’s decision to cancel his Mar-a-Lago press conference, where he was expected to defend the rioters and spew election falsehoods. Congressional Republicans were privately dreading it, knowing reporters would once again demand their responses to whatever the former president said. Subscribe to POLITICO Playbook. Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.