Congress

House Dems Find Their Mojo With the Epstein Saga

Published

1 year ago

July 23, 2025

When it comes to fighting President Donald Trump, Democrats across the nation have complained for months about the sluggish reflexes of party leaders in Washington.

Who would have guessed that a MAGA-fueled conspiracy theory would change all that?

Congressional Democrats appear to have finally found their mojo in sticking it to the White House by seizing on the Jeffrey Epstein saga to humiliate the president and split the GOP. Unlike in the past, senior Democrats have shown a surprisingly nimble ability in recent days to pivot to the GOP’s vulnerability du jour, threatening to force votes exposing a divided Republican Party.

The strategy has effectively hijacked the House, derailed Hill Republicans’ agenda and forced Speaker Mike Johnson to send lawmakers packing for an early August recess. That’s not to mention embarrassing Trump in the process and exposing the surprising limits of his sway on a party he’s held in his clutches for the better part of a decade.

“We’ve been trying to say Trump is full of shit for years and it hasn’t really stuck, right? But something about this topic is making a healthy portion of MAGA world — particularly folks who are not ideologically aligned with Trump but kind of flirted with him last year when they pulled the lever for him — be like, ‘Yea, he’s definitely full of shit,’” a senior Democratic campaign aide boasted to me. (This aide and others in the story were granted anonymity to speak candidly about dynamics on Blue Light News.)

Even better for the Dems: Their effort tapping into MAGA world fury has legs. Between a bipartisan discharge petition expected to ripen this fall and Trump bowing to public pressure in promising to release grand jury information in the coming weeks, the issue will almost certainly remain at the forefront for weeks to come. That means Democrats will have plenty of opportunity to continue to stir the pot.

At issue is Trump’s handling of the Epstein files amid a public clamor for the documents’ release. The president’s top MAGA allies have argued for years that the government is covering up for powerful men who had connections with the convicted sex offender. But now that some of those allies are running the Justice Department, they’ve gone back on promises for transparency.

In the middle is Trump, who once had a well-documented friendship with Epstein and who has been referenced in court documents surrounding the now deceased financier — though who is not accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Trump has tried to smother the controversy, even scolding his supporters for obsessing.

“Everyone’s always talking about Trump being ‘Teflon’ — obviously that’s because all Hill Republicans are pretty much a suit of armor for him, right? But in this instance, they’re not,” said a senior Democratic aide discussing the strategy. “And so it exposes him, I think, to more attacks that otherwise would be brushed off — and makes it easier for us to drag his numbers down while creating chaos among the Republicans.”

The most interesting part about the strategy is how organically it came together. After watching the MAGA-sphere melt down over the administration’s announcement in early July that there was no “client list,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) grabbed the issue, telling his colleagues that the matter was kryptonite for the GOP, according to people close to him.

In the House Rules Committee, ranking Democrat Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and his team had similarly been watching the feeding frenzy with right-wing podcasters and influencers, sensing an opportunity to needle Republicans so clearly out of step with their own base.

Khanna found an unexpected ally in libertarian gadfly Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), teaming up to launch a discharge petition that could let House members circumvent Johnson’s attempt to keep the issue from a vote on the floor.

Through it all, Democratic leaders were cheering on their members. Beyond giving Khanna tacit support to work with Massie, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries set the tone for members early last week. He insisted in press conferences and in private meetings that this issue was a lose-lose situation for Republicans: either Trump and his allies had been lying for years about what was in those files or they were right and were now hiding evidence to protect their cronies.

For longtime Hill watchers like myself, Jeffries’ embrace of the scandal was a surprise. AsAxios wrote last week, Jeffries has been known for an “often taciturn approach to salacious stories of the day, preferring to remain disciplined and on-message in his public communications.” But like his members, Jeffries sensed the Epstein scandal was different, insisting it could feed into a narrative of corruption that would resonate beyond just the Democratic base.

Last week, Jeffries convened his committee leaders and other key Democrats with a message: “Keep the pressure on,” he told them, according to people privy to his closed-door instructions.

Democrats then tried to force Republicans to kill language that would instruct the DOJ to release the files, a roll call that trapped Republicans between the base’s fury and loyalty to Trump. By this week, when McGovern announced that he’d be running the play again, GOP members feeling the heat back home had had enough: They didn’t want to vote with Trump anymore, making Johnson shut the House down early so they wouldn’t have to take the vote.

Senior Democratic aides say forcing these votes — or threatening to force them — successfully widened the controversy from a Trump-focused scandal to one that engulfs the entire Hill GOP, exposing rifts in the party and knocking them off their message.

Democrats’ messaging arm, meanwhile, sent around several rounds of talking-point guidance, including a bullet point accusing Republicans of “protecting child sex abusers.” Leadership also encouraged rank-and-file members to use their “paid communications budgets” to fund mailing, texting or digital solicitations to reach voters on the issue.

“No one in the government should be trying to keep the facts on these child predators hidden,” says one template I got my hands on.

The strategy has Democrats sounding more like Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon than Speaker Johnson. Yet it’s working. Not only did Jeffries and his members successfully delay passage of a partisan immigration bill this week amid the GOP dysfunction, they’re above-the-fold news for the first time in months — and seeing a groundswell of support online.

Millions of Americans are tuning into these otherwise wonky House debates on the matter, and social media influencers with large followings are propping them up. Theo Von and Flagrant — two pro-Trump podcasters with MAGA followings — have tweeted in support of the Massie-Khanna resolution.

What’s more, Democrats across the nation are starting to copy the playbook, following Jeffries after months spent criticizing Washington leaders for not showing enough backbone.

Behind the scenes, there’s a question even among senior Democrats about whether this issue will impact the midterms. Americans, after all, are more likely to be motivated by their own pocketbooks rather than online obsessions and scandal. And Trump is doing his damndest to argue that this is exactly that: a very-online, inside-the-beltway obsession that nobody actually cares about.

But House Democrats’ ploy here could maybe — just maybe — have electoral impact for a few reasons, Democrats say. For one, Republicans were hoping to spend August recess selling their “big beautiful bill” to constituents — a new law that, let’s face it, needs some salesmanship, according to the polls. Now instead Republicans will be on the defensive, ducking questions about how they’ll vote when the Massie-Khanna discharge petition is ready to hit the floor in September.

There’s also a belief among senior Democrats that this controversy feeds into a narrative that is in fact critical to 2026 messaging: that the president is more interested in protecting the rich and powerful than average Joes and children. That, they surmise, dovetails nicely with their accusations that Republicans are robbing from the poor on Medicaid and food stamps to pay for tax breaks for the rich.

Notably, this moment comes less than a week after Quinnipiac Universitypolling found that Hill Democrats’ approval rating has dipped to an all-time low. Fewer than two in 10 Americans approve of their performance, which is the lowest on record since the group started asking the question more than 25 years ago.

But right now, it’s House Republicans who are squirming. Beyond having to cancel votes, they are engulfed in finger-pointing about who’s to blame for the embarrassment.

Johnson spent most of Tuesday, for example, chastising Massie and some of his own members who he says are hurting their own teammates. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has been complaining that Democrats are being disingenuous, arguing that former President Joe Biden could have released the Epstein files but didn’t.

“They spent four years covering up for Epstein, and you know, at least President Trump’s in the courts right now trying to get documents released,” he said.

Yet, at least for the moment, that pushback is getting drowned out in the frenzy. What’s more, this is politics, Mr. Leader. Consistency has never been this town’s strong suit.

Congress

Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

Published

1 day ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.

One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.

A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.

The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.