“Eric Swalwell wielded an unexpected argument when FBI Director Kash Patel threatened to release files detailing the then-congressman’s contacts with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang,” Sources Say News reports. “Swalwell’s side raised the prospect that releasing the files could be viewed as a punitive attempt to weaponize the Department, pointing to the congressman’s long-concluded […]

“President Donald Trump said he would open the purse strings on the massive amount of campaign cash he controls to support Republican candidates in November’s midterm elections,” Bloomberg reports. “As of last week, however, Trump had not signed off on a plan to spend any of the $401 million he’s amassed from political donors, sparking […]

“Republicans plan to use their first-ever midterm convention in Dallas next month to mount a sweeping, made-for-prime-time case that Democrats have become captive to their activist left,” Axios reports. “With President Trump’s approval rating in the 30s and his war in Iran weighing on the economy, Republicans don’t want the Nov. 3 midterms to be […]

“President Donald Trump said he would keep Todd Blanche as acting attorney general if his confirmation fails in the Senate as Blache’s path to staying as the head of the Department of Justice narrowed with another Republican defection,” Bloomberg reports.

“President Donald Trump said negotiations between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz are ‘moving along,’ even after some Iranian lawmakers said they would seek to bar American and Israeli ships from the waterway as part of the deal,” Bloomberg reports.

“Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination is on the brink after Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday that she would oppose confirming him,” Politico reports. “The Alaska Republican said in a statement that she did not believe Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, would act to rein in President Donald Trump and […]

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“Read the polls, watch economic indicators and talk to President Trump’s inner circle in private, and the verdict on his second term seems clear:,” Axios reports. “Even some longtime insiders fear he’s trapped by a war he shouldn’t have waged, tariffs he shouldn’t have levied, monuments he shouldn’t be obsessed with.” ”These three topics chew […]

Aaron Blake: “After years of criticism, Republicans are bringing the heat in their longstanding efforts to target former health official Dr. Anthony Fauci.” “A Senate committee voted Thursday along party lines to hold him in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a hearing last week. The Justice […]

New York Times: “Those initial conversations about the Reflecting Pool, which have not previously been reported, kicked off an ad hoc plan by the Trump administration that involved coating the pool with a sheet of blue polyurea, which the president promised would make it beautiful. Within months, though, the pool was drained and ugly — […]

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is waging an unprecedented economic war on Cuba — and wants to make sure the island’s communist leaders know it’s going to get worse,” Axios reports. Said Rubio: “What we’re trying to teach them is, there are no escape valves.”

“Former Tennessee agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated Rep. Andy Ogles in his Republican reelection primary on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Trump-backed incumbent,” the Washington Post reports. ”Ogles has faced increased scrutiny over campaign finance decisions and other issues, while Hatcher received a boost this week with a late endorsement from the state’s Republican […]

The Atlantic: “Had the Iran war been over in a matter of several weeks, as the administration initially predicted, the U.S. munitions problem would not be so dire. And the problem would be mitigated ‘if we knew when the war will end,’ one defense official told us. ‘The real problem is that there is no […]

“A judge in Washington dismissed a felony vandalism charge on Thursday against a former Olympic canoeist who had been accused of damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, ending an embarrassing saga for the Justice Department and the top prosecutor in Washington,” the New York Times reports.

“The author of the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 election ‘autopsy’ confirmed that he concluded the war in Gaza hurt Kamala Harris politically — and that he’d privately shared that assessment with a pro-Palestinian group,” Axios reports. “He said he drafted that finding late last year but never submitted it to party leadership.”

“Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test NATO’s resolve with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years, according to new U.S. intelligence reports that posit possible scenarios ranging from a cyberattack to a small-scale land incursion,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The assessments, described by U.S. officials, come amid […]

“Arab mediators working on a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz said they fear the country’s diplomats, who are under pressure from hard-liners in Tehran, lack the clout to guarantee compliance even if an agreement is reached,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The concerns, based on a pattern of faltering diplomatic efforts […]

“Denounced on social media and by fellow Republicans, Ohio Rep. Max Miller is telling allies he’s not quitting for a simple reason: It would be tantamount to admitting he beat his ex-wife and their child, which he denies,” Axios reports. “The Washington summer scandal is a case study in whether Miller — one of Donald […]

“The Democratic nominee for Michigan’s swing 7th Congressional District said Wednesday that he allowed his Democratic Socialists of America membership to lapse just last month,” the Detroit News reports. “Will Lawrence, who won his three-way primary race by 15 percentage points Tuesday, told CNN’s Manu Raju that he stopped paying his DSA dues to focus […]

“Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan said Thursday she’s moving on from the contentious Senate primary, which she lost to Abdul El-Sayed, saying their ‘differences were aired out,'” CBS News reports. Said Stevens: “Everything that needed to be said in the primary was said. It’s a big tent party.” She added: “Abdul’s got a big campaign […]

“Embattled Rep. Max Miller is lending his campaign $1 million, as he faces pressure to drop out of his competitive Ohio re-election race over allegations of domestic abuse, the latest sign that the two-term congressman is determined to stay in,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“President Trump has ordered new investigations into the disclosures of the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile, administration officials said, an escalation of his effort to battle damaging revelations about the Iran war,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Trump made the demand after weeks of media headlines describing depleted munitions levels associated with the war, despite administration assurances […]

“President Trump dismissed a report Thursday that he’s privately told donors Vice President JD Vance must be the 2028 Republican presidential nominee – insisting that it’s ‘way too early’ to make an official endorsement,” the New York Post reports.

“If he succeeds, the Dumocrats will gain 4 Senators, 8 Congressmen, many Electoral and Popular Votes, a stacked Supreme Court with 23 Justices, and I will be, sadly, despite the great job we are doing, the last Republican President!” — President Trump, on Truth Social, about Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D).

“The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would move forward with a plan to eliminate hundreds of federal regulations governing Head Start, in what advocates fear is a push to gut a 61-year-old antipoverty program aimed at helping the nation’s most impoverished young children,” the New York Times reports.

“If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer.” — Vice President JD Vance, on Fox News.

“The Trump administration is actively considering issuing an executive order on vaccines and autism as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports. “The effort is prompted by President Donald Trump’s interest in seeing additional action… The contents of the order under consideration are unclear, and the timing could still […]

“Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran — lots of them — during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday,” Politico reports. “Vance’s visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list ahead of a planned five-week recess — including unfinished work on a spending stopgap, […]

“President Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders in his latest effort to refuse citizenship to some children born in the United States, after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship,” CBS News reports. Said Trump: “We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright, […]

Punchbowl News: “Blanche’s confirmation is at the mercy of GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski.” “Both holdouts met with Blanche on Wednesday, but they haven’t publicly indicated that they’ve made up their minds on the acting AG’s bid. Cassidy — who has for days refused to discuss his thinking on Blanche with reporters — […]