Congress

Capitol agenda: What Johnson has to say about Max Miller

Published

2 months ago

August 5, 2026

Read our latest coverage of yesterday’s primary results in Michigan, Missouri and elsewhere on our live Blue Light News blog.

Rep Chuck Edwards just announced he is dropping his re-election bid after the House Ethics Committee recommended a censure for inappropriate behavior with female staffers. But Rep. Max Miller says he is not backing down from his race amid domestic abuse allegations — and claims Speaker Mike Johnson has his back.

Johnson says he hasn’t talked to him.

The speaker sat down with Blue Light News’s Dasha Burns for an episode of The Conversation Tuesday night, where he was asked about Miller’s comments earlier in the evening that “Speaker Mike Johnson, everyone else — they’re standing behind me.”

“I haven’t spoken to Max about this in the last few days. Of course, I will,” Johnson said, adding “it’s not my business” to get engaged in members’ family matters. He called for a House Ethics investigation to “play out.”

Johnson’s comments break days of silence from House GOP leadership on the explosive allegations that have thrown the future of Miller’s re-election campaign into question. Miller is denying any wrongdoing.

Now the controversies around Miller and Edwards threaten to further distract from Republicans’ midterm pitch, as leaders like Johnson criss-cross the country this month trying to boost their candidates.

The White House is privately pressuring Miller to drop his reelection bid, four people with knowledge of the conversations said. But Miller is defiant, declaring he has zero intention of dropping out.

If Miller changes his mind, he has until the end of this week to exit the race if Republicans want to replace his name on the ballot.

Tuesday night, Johnson also addressed Edwards’ plight, saying the North Carolina Republican has “to make a big decision.” Edwards has accused the Ethics panel of overstepping in calling for his censure.

“I’ll provide counsel when we have that discussion, it will be a private discussion,” Johnson said. “I hope he does the right thing for him and his family.

Edwards faced a Monday deadline for Republicans to replace him on the ballot. Privately, House Republican leaders were pushing him to drop out, two people familiar with the discussions said.

What else we’re watching:

— THUNE TRIES TO IRON OUT SENATE SCHEDULE: The Senate will stay in session “for the next week or however long we’re here,” Thune said Tuesday, as Republican leadership struggles to reach an agreement with Democrats and some of their own to speed up consideration of legislation before recess break. Democrats want to know if Republicans plan to vote to advance the framework for a third party-line bill this week as well as force a vote on a cryptocurrency bill they oppose. Budget Chair Ron Johnson wants to discuss the budget framework’s path more in Wednesday’s Senate GOP lunch.

— SENATORS PICK SIDES ON BLANCHE: Todd Blanche picked up an important GOP vote Tuesday for his nomination as attorney general — Sen. John Curtis — likely leaving him just one vote shy of securing confirmation. Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins said she’d oppose him. The remaining undecided Republican senators are Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski. Both said Tuesday they are still grappling with their decisions.

Jordain Carney, Chris Marquette and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

Congress

Paul: ICE hasn’t shared information about Minneapolis shooting probes

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2026

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The Department of Homeland Security still has not shared the findings from its investigations into the January killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, despite continued requests from the top Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the panel, said during a brief hallway interview that DHS has not yet given the committee any information from internal probes into any shootings involving immigration officers.

Asked if that included the two January shootings in Minneapolis, where immigration officers shot and killed two American citizens, Paul said: “We’ve asked for information. We’re still asking.”

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paul’s comments come as DHS faces continued bipartisan scrutiny following several incidents where ICE or Border Patrol agents used deadly force against individuals they were trying to apprehend. Several of those individuals were U.S. citizens.

Most recently, ICE agents Saturday shot an unauthorized immigrant who faced deportation. The man, 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, survived. His lawyers claim he has been transferred into ICE custody despite still having a bullet lodged in his back.

Paul had asked DHS earlier this year to share more information about its reviews of the shootings, and did not schedule a confirmation hearing for the administration’s ICE director nominee as he awaited those findings. The White House ultimately pulled that nomination last week as the nomination stalled.

Congress

GOP Armed Services chair blasts White House welcome of Chinese leader

Published

3 hours ago

September 22, 2026

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Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker lambasted the White House decision to invite Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state dinner this week, calling the foreign head of state “a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator” who cannot be trusted.

Wicker, typically a staunch defender of President Donald Trump and Republican loyalist, targeted most of his criticism at Xi and Chinese policy during a Senate floor speech Tuesday. But the comments were nonetheless a surprise rebuke of the president’s courting of Beijing amid broader concerns, such as the durability of U.S. security commitments to the Indo-Pacific, including in deterring a potential invasion of Taiwan from the Chinese mainland.

The Mississippi Republican urged Trump to press the Chinese premier on a variety of sensitive topics — including purported support for Iran, its military buildup and human rights abuses.

“Had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

“I know the president tends to discuss trade and artificial intelligence with the Chinese leadership, and rightfully so,” he said. “Perhaps some progress will be made. But … during every minute of dialog, our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”

The senior Republican’s comments on the Senate floor were delivered just a few hours before Xi’s expected arrival in Washington. Trump has scheduled a formal welcome ceremony for Xi and his wife at the White House on Thursday, along with talks between the two leaders throughout his three-day visit.

Trump is facing bipartisan criticism over the state visit by Xi. Wicker’s comments followed similar attacks on Chinese leadership from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.).

“President Trump has been clear that under his leadership, the United States must engage with China, given the reality of our economic relationship,” Budd said. “But we can’t forget that China is also a competitor and an adversary.”

Congress

Appeals court’s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban

Published

7 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday on demonstrators’ access to the steps of the Capitol could bode poorly for President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban three media organizations from the White House.

The majority opinion, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a “nonpublic forum” — just like most areas of the White House grounds, including the press facilities. While the government may impose restrictions on access to those nonpublic areas, the limits must be “viewpoint neutral,” apply “objective, workable standards” and not permit officials to exercise “unbridled discretion over a forum’s use,” the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded.

“A regulation that grants the government arbitrary control over who may speak invites the suppression of disfavored viewpoints and undermines the First Amendment’s core protections,” wrote Rao, who was joined in the majority by Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee.

The ruling, on the eve of a hearing over restoring White House accessfor Blue Light News, BLN and MS NOW, reaffirms the D.C. Circuit’s longstanding First Amendment precedents at an inopportune time for Trump. The president has explicitly described his ban on the three outlets as a punishment for publishing what he calls “fake news.”

“Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,” Trump said on social media Monday.

The outlets have said their access was revoked because the White House objected to their reporting and that the ban “threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

The D.C. Circuit would hear any appeals in the litigation over Trump’s media ban, and Trump has in fact already said he anticipates filing an appeal, presuming that he will be dealt a defeat in district court.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The D.C. Circuit’s Tuesday ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Patrick Mahoney, a clergyman who sought to hold prayer vigils and demonstrations on the East Steps of the Capitol several months after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, which resulted in new access restrictions. His permit was denied in part based on Capitol Police regulations that prohibit public demonstrations on the steps unless they are sponsored by a member of Congress.

Though the case has inched through the courts for years, Tuesday’s ruling resolves a key question, labeling the Capitol’s East Steps a “nonpublic forum” for which congressional authorities may restrict public access — in part because lawmakers use those steps to enter and exit the building.

But allowing members of Congress to sponsor gatherings on the steps creates an arbitrary system, the majority concluded.

“Because the protection of unpopular speech and advocacy is central to the First Amendment, we cannot leave it to the selective enforcement of members,” Rao wrote.

Notably, Rao’s opinion cites a D.C. Circuit ruling last year that concluded “it would be unreasonable to control access to White House press facilities through standardless discretion.”

The third judge on the panel, Clinton appointee Judith Rogers, dissented, but her opinion was even more protective of free-speech rights.

Rogers said she agreed with her colleagues that the “selective exception” for demonstrations sponsored by lawmakers was unconstitutional. However, she said she would have held that the lower portion of the Capitol steps was a public forum where the government was obligated to permit protest activity.