Congress
Republican pushes Patel for faster release of Epstein files
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy pressed FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday to continue the release of files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, specifically information about who other than Epstein, if anyone, was on the receiving end of girls and women being sex trafficked.
“The issue’s not gonna go away,” said Kennedy during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s FBI oversight hearing, where Patel was testifying. “I think you’re gonna have to do more to satisfy the American people’s understandable curiosity in that regard.”
Kennedy’s comments were notable as the Trump administration battles complaints about the Justice Department’s slow, piecemeal approach to turning over materials related to the late, convicted sex offender — including from fellow Republicans.
Patel said he agreed with Kennedy’s assessment — a stark contrast with President Donald Trump’s repeated comments that the obsession with the Epstein case was nothing more than a “hoax.”
“I am not saying that others were not trafficked and others were not involved,” Patel said. “The information we are releasing now is historic and it is also to the maximum capacity that the law allows.”
Patel during his testimony has repeatedly pinned blame on Alex Acosta, Trump’s first-term Labor secretary, as a reason for the government’s blind spots on Epstein.
Acosta, who oversaw the Justice Department’s early 2000s prosecution of Epstein, struck a plea deal with Epstein that included a non-prosecution agreement for other potential crimes. That deal, Patel said repeatedly, amounted to a “get-out-of-jail-free” card that limited the federal government’s ability to pursue certain investigative threads.
Patel also said the absence of evidence that Epstein trafficked minors to other people may be a function of those limitations. And he suggested the FBI’s decision not to release some records to the public may also be tied up because of that earlier arrangement.
Congress
House again votes to surrender tariff powers to Trump
House Republicans voted in near lockstep Tuesday to again cede congressional power over tariffs to President Donald Trump.
A measure that effectively blocks challenges to Trump’s sweeping global tariff declarations through March 2026 was adopted on a 213-211 vote. The vote was gaveled down only after GOP whips had a drawn-out struggle on the floor with a band of Republicans who initially opposed the legislation before flipping to yes. The vote was held open for more than a half-hour as they worked to bring the members back on board.
Three Republicans — Reps. Kevin Kiley of California, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana — ended up joining Democrats to oppose the measure, a “rule” which also teed up several D.C.-related criminal justice bills for debate.
“I think this is a misuse of what rules are for, and I think it’s bad for the representative process,” Kiley said of the tariff provisions.
Congress
Adam Schiff and Kash Patel get into a shouting match
The yearslong feud between longtime political rivals Adam Schiff and Kash Patel reached a fever pitch Tuesday afternoon, complete with a shouting match that briefly derailed an ongoing Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
The confrontation occurred when Schiff, a Democratic senator from California, questioned Patel, the FBI director, about the Justice Department’s decision to move Ghislaine Maxwell — an associate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — to a lower security prison facility.
Schiff asked Patel whether he believed the American people were “stupid” enough to believe his answer that the Bureau of Prisons independently made the decision to move Maxwell, rather than it being a politically-motivated move by the White House.
“What I am doing is protecting this country … and combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you,” Patel said, interrupting Schiff. “We have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russiangate, in January 6. You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate.”
Patel went on to call him “a political buffoon at best.”
The animosity between the two men dates back, at least, to Schiff’s time as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, where he led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Patel, then a House Intelligence staffer, was tasked with working to discredit the probe.
Five years later, Schiff served on a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol; Patel, meanwhile, was an advocate for many of the incarcerated rioters.
Years later, in the lead-up to Patel’s confirmation to lead the FBI, Senate Judiciary Democrats pointed to the fact that Patel reposted a meme on social media that featured the likeness of Patel taking a chainsaw to Schiff’s head. Another photo shared by Democrats showed an image of Patel appearing to hold an object with Schiff’s face beside a catapult.
More recently, Patel has accused Schiff of moving to leak incriminating information about President Donald Trump while Intelligence Committee chair. Schiff, through a spokesperson, has denied the claims.
As the shouting on Tuesday continued, Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, pleaded with chair Chuck Grassley to take control of the situation. Grassley pounded his gavel repeatedly, saying, “Both of you be quiet.”
It was perhaps the most heated moment of the questioning on Tuesday, during which Patel was pressed on his handling of the Epstein matter and the investigation into the assassination of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk, among other topics.
But it was not the first explosive exchange of the day. Patel also tangled with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who told the FBI director, “I think you’re not gonna be around long” — a suggestion Trump would eventually turn on him.
That comment set off a similar shouting match in which Patel called Booker “an embarrassment to your country” and Booker shouted back, “I’m not afraid of you.”
In a social media post after the conclusion of the hearing, Schiff contended that Patel went before lawmakers to “save his job” and argued he was “performing for an audience of one.” The White House, meanwhile, congratulated Patel for going after “Pencil Neck” — the president’s nickname for Schiff.
Patel will go before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Congress
Top Democrats blast House stopgap proposal
Democratic leaders signaled Tuesday they will oppose the GOP-led stopgap funding bill just hours after it was unveiled — and just two weeks before a possible government shutdown.
“The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement. “At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums.”
House GOP leaders are teeing up the legislation to extend government funding by seven weeks for a vote later this week. Democrats are under immense pressure from their base to mount a resistance to Blue Light News GOP’s funding moves, and while party leaders have decided to rally around health care, they have not laid out specific demands except to demand Republicans negotiate.
In a separate statement, the two top Democratic appropriators, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), said Tuesday that Republican leaders abandoned bipartisan talks on a spending stopgap that would include three full-year funding bills.
“We stand ready to continue down this path that would give us time to complete full-year bills, if Speaker [Mike] Johnson backs away from this partisan move,” Murray and DeLauro said Tuesday. “House Republican leadership has walked away from negotiations and are now threatening a shutdown by trying to jam through a funding bill on their terms alone.”
Johnson said on a brief interview Tuesday there was “no reason” for Democrats to block the stopgap “because it’s clean and short-term — it’s not a partisan exercise.”
Asked if Republicans would allow a shutdown if Senate Democrats block the measure, or if Republicans would then work on a backup plan to keep the government open, Johnson replied: “We’re gonna see what happens.”
Meredith Lee Hill and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
-
Uncategorized10 months ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show10 months ago
DOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics7 months ago
Former ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Politics10 months ago
What 7 political experts will be watching at Tuesday’s debate
-
The Dictatorship7 months ago
Pete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics10 months ago
How Republicans could foil Harris’ Supreme Court plans if she’s elected
-
The Dictatorship7 months ago
Luigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Economy10 months ago
Fed moves to protect weakening job market with bold rate cut