A razor-thin coalition of every Democrat and four departing Republicans will force a floor vote on a bill giving victims, state prosecutors and lawmakers the power to sue the attorney general over records still kept from them.
By KEVIN NAKAMURAPolitics · Nov 11, 8:30 PM
KENTUCKY — For the second time in almost exactly a year, a Kentucky Republican with little left to lose has gone around his own party's leadership on the Epstein files. A discharge petition led by Rep. Thomas Massie for the Epstein Files Transparency Act II reached the 218 signatures it needed on Wednesday, ABC News reported, forcing the House to take up a bill aimed at a Justice Department that lawmakers in both parties accuse of falling short under the first transparency law.
The timing gives the moment weight: it comes in the closing weeks of a Republican House majority, eight days after voters handed the chamber to Democrats, and one day after Oversight Committee Republicans closed their own Epstein investigation.
Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, was the 218th and deciding signer, with Rep. Adam Smith of Washington signing just before him, according to Roll Call. ABC News reported that the final list included all 214 House Democrats and four Republicans it described as lame ducks: Massie, Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Roll Call noted that none of the three Republicans who joined Massie will be back next Congress, and that…
The Democrat's half-point win, settled by mail and provisional ballots, makes him Mississippi's first Black senator since Reconstruction and gives Democrats 55 Senate seats, with Alaska still uncalled.
By SOPHIA REYESPolitics · Nov 11, 7:23 PM
WASHINGTON — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith conceded Mississippi's U.S. Senate race to Democrat Scott Colom on Wednesday after more than a week of ballot counting, RedState reported. She called Colom to concede, according to a CNN report cited by RedState that relied on the Colom campaign, and released a statement accepting the result.
"I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," Hyde-Smith said in the statement, which acknowledged it was not the outcome her campaign had worked and hoped for, according to RedState. She…
On the 108th anniversary of the World War I armistice, the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, saluted heroes from the Bulge to Beirut and said the fight with Iran will end soon.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 11, 6:39 PM
WASHINGTON — President Trump marked Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday with a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a tribute to four American veterans by name and a forceful defense of the war with Iran, according to accounts of the ceremony.
Trump laid the wreath and stood for a moment of silence before speaking in the Memorial Amphitheater, The Epoch Times reported, on the 108th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I.…
In a new interview ahead of his memoir, the former president says he would not have sought a second term had he known about his cancer, while still calling his disastrous 2024 debate inconsequential. His words reopen the question of who knew what, and when.
By DOMINIC KANEPolitics · Nov 11, 6:39 PM
WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden says he did not know he had cancer while he was in the White House, and that he would not have sought a second term in 2024 if he had already been diagnosed, according to an interview with People magazine reported by the Associated Press.
The remarks, released Wednesday, come days before the publication of his memoir…
Six of our writers weigh the roll call, the President's support, the polls, the actual charges, the precedents and Hamilton's warning, and conclude lawmakers protected a grave remedy from turning into a tool for quarrels over war strategy.
By AVA STERLINGPolitics · Nov 11, 5:56 PM
WASHINGTON — Critics say the House let War Secretary Pete Hegseth off the hook. Rep. Thomas Massie's eight articles accused him of waging war on Iran without Congress, ignoring civilian-harm safeguards, ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug boats without legal process and retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly. The House voted 211-204 to send them to the Judiciary…
Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become speaker in January, is taking fire from his own left after 11 Democrats missed the vote that shelved Rep. Thomas Massie's articles. Hegseth has called the effort a sham.
By NATHAN BROOKSPolitics · Nov 11, 4:23 PM
CALIFORNIA — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said from the start that he would not bend to the impeachment push against him, calling it a sham in a video message released last week, Reuters reported. "We will not back down," he said. On Tuesday the House sided with him, at least for now, voting 211-204 to send Rep.…
In a letter to Rep. Robert Garcia, White House counsel Will Scharf said oversight must serve lawmaking, not intimidation. Democrats say they will not be deterred.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 11, 4:15 PM
WASHINGTON — The White House has fired an early warning shot at the incoming Democratic House majority. In a letter dated Monday, White House Counsel Will Scharf told Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on…
The officer who supervised Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in Afghanistan says he never led troops in combat. Here is what the record shows and what Moore has said.
By JACK HOLLISTERPolitics · Nov 11, 4:15 PM
MARYLAND — Days after Maryland voters returned Gov. Wes Moore to office in what the Associated Press called a landslide, the Democrat faces a pointed challenge to one of the central stories of his public life: his…
Conservatives want reconciliation, border laws and judges before Jan. 3. A Dec. 11 funding deadline, a permitting bill and Senate math will decide what gets done.
By AVA STERLINGPolitics · Nov 11, 3:30 PM
MISSISSIPPI — Republicans are on the clock. Lawmakers are scheduled to be in session for only about five more weeks before the new Congress takes over in January, The Hill reported. When it does, Democrats will run…
A day after calling his crackdown 'too tough' in the midterm postmortem, the President said his immigration policy is 'very strong' and ruled out any deal with amnesty.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 11, 9:30 AM
WASHINGTON — President Trump says his administration will keep deporting the "worst of the worst" and will not accept any immigration deal that includes amnesty, the Hindustan Times reported.
"We have a very strong deportation policy. There is no amnesty," Trump…
The relocation, first reported by Fox News Digital, came as the Justice Department announced terrorism charges against three Iranian nationals.
By DOUGLAS PARKPolitics · Nov 11, 7:00 AM
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his family have moved onto a military base after U.S. intelligence concluded that Iranian threats against American officials had reached a more advanced stage, according to multiple reports.
The Guardian, relaying a New York Times report published Tuesday, said Bessent…
The warm 2021 note stands in contrast to the bitter public fight over that year's transition.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 11, 2:03 AM
WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has revealed the contents of a letter President Trump left for him in the Oval Office in January 2021, describing it as "very generous," The Hill reported.
The letter is published in Biden's upcoming memoir, according to The Hill.…
In his first network interview since the midterms, the President blamed his absence from the ballot, defended the war and admitted he struggles to forgive his enemies.
By LUKE HARRINGTONPolitics · Nov 11, 2:03 AM
WASHINGTON — President Trump's first network television interview since his party's midterm losses was by turns reflective and defensive, The Washington Post reported. The interview with CBS correspondent Ross Douthat aired on "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
Asked why Republicans suffered such a defeat, Trump said the No. 1…
Nancy Pelosi was among the absent as Republicans shelved Rep. Thomas Massie's articles 211-204. Three members blamed a police escort for blocking their way.
By AVA STERLINGPolitics · Nov 11, 1:15 AM
CALIFORNIA — Eleven House Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, missed Tuesday's vote on the effort to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Washington Examiner reported. The Republican-controlled House voted 211-204 to refer Rep. Thomas Massie's articles…
The President called the outgoing Kentucky congressman a “stone-cold loser” and handed his War Secretary top marks as Republicans held the line 211-204.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 10, 10:00 PM
WASHINGTON — President Trump spent Tuesday celebrating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's survival after House Republicans voted 211-204 to defeat Rep. Thomas Massie's impeachment resolution, the narrowest of margins but a clear win for the administration.
Trump went after Massie personally. In a surprise turn at the White…
The Vice President's blunt postmortem and the President's refusal to second-guess the war are setting up the first real test of the Trump-Vance partnership heading toward 2028.
By SOPHIA REYESPolitics · Nov 10, 10:00 PM
WASHINGTON — A week after Republicans lost control of Congress, the two men at the top of the ticket are telling different stories about why.
Vice President JD Vance laid the defeat at the feet of the…
Senate Republicans re-elected John Thune by acclamation after conservatives forced a two-hour standoff demanding a plan for the minority years ahead.
By AVA STERLINGPolitics · Nov 10, 10:00 PM
WASHINGTON — Sen. John Thune of South Dakota will lead Senate Republicans into the next Congress, but only after a bruising fight inside the conference on Tuesday.
Republican senators huddled in the Old Senate Chamber for nearly two hours…
Members of the Kennedy family say the planned 250-foot triumphal arch would cast a shadow over the eternal flame at Arlington. The administration's monument plan now faces a family fight.
By LAUREN PIERCEPolitics · Nov 10, 10:00 PM
VIRGINIA — Members of the Kennedy family have asked a federal judge to stop construction of the triumphal arch President Trump has championed in Washington, arguing it would intrude on the graves of President John F. Kennedy…
A Freedom Caucus founder takes the top GOP post after defeating Steve Scalise.
By CLAIRE DONOVANPolitics · Nov 10, 6:52 PM
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to lead their conference in the next Congress, where the party will be in the minority.
Jordan defeated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana for the post…
Rep. Thomas Massie was the lone Republican to oppose sending his articles to committee, as President Trump gave Hegseth an 'A plus.'
By AVA STERLINGPolitics · Nov 10, 4:30 PM
WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday sidelined the push to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Lawmakers voted 211-204 to refer Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-Ky.) impeachment resolution to committee. Massie was the only Republican to oppose the motion,…
