Congress
Rand Paul breaks with Trump on using military for mass deportations: ‘Huge mistake’
GOP Sen. Rand Paul denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants upon his return to office, saying it would be a “huge mistake” and a misuse of military personnel.
“I’m not in favor of sending the Army in uniforms into our cities to collect people,” Paul (R-Ky.) told Newsmax host Rob Schmitt on Tuesday. “I think it’s a terrible image and that’s not what we use our military for, we never have and it’s actually been illegal for over 100 years to bring the Army into our cities.”
Paul emphasized in the interview that he believes the task of removing people from the country should fall to local police or domestic agencies, but not the military.
“I will not support an emergency [declaration] to put the Army into our cities — I think that’s a huge mistake,” he said, later adding, “I really think us as conservatives who are supportive of Trump need to caution him about sending the Army into our cities.”
Trump has vowed to begin deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from the country on Day 1 of his new administration, nominating former acting ICE Director Thomas Homan as his “border czar” for the task.
As the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Paul has said he’ll seek to restore Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which would require asylum seekers to the U.S. to wait in Mexico for their legal request to be processed. He has an inconsistent record with supporting Trump, endorsing him for president in 2020 but not this year. In 2019, Paul voted against Trump’s proposed national emergency declaration to secure funds for his border wall.
The senator also expressed concern for how it would look like for “the housekeeper who’s been here 30 years” to get arrested by a uniformed service member.
“I don’t see the military putting her in handcuffs and marching her down the street to an encampment. I don’t really want to see that,” Paul said, proposing “an in-between solution” that would expand work permits for those who have been in the U.S. for a long time.
The House Oversight Committee requested that Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who once represented Jeffery Epstein, testify as part of its investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files.
The interview is tentatively slated for 10 a.m. on July 9, with a video and transcript of the testimony being released “as expeditiously as practical,” Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Dershowitz on Friday.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote.
Comer told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted to hear from Dershowitz, who helped Epstein secure a controversial plea deal in his 2008 sex abuse case.
“I’m looking forward to testifying,” Dershowitz wrote in a text message to Blue Light News on Friday, adding that he is “trying to adjust my schedule” for July 9.
Sen. John Cornyn isn’t a card-carrying member of the Senate GOP’s growing YOLO caucus. But with less than seven months left in office after losing his primary, the Texas Republican appears to be feeling newly free to speak his mind.
The latest clap-back came Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning, when Cornyn called a conservative influencer a “grifter” and told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on social media to stop publicly blaming fellow Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — for the fact that the GOP elections bill doesn’t have support to pass inside the party.
“You don’t have the votes” for the SAVE America Act, Cornyn posted on X. “@LeaderJohnThune can’t change that. It is math.”
He was directing his comments at Lee, who had just penned a post telling Thune, “let’s do this!”
Cornyn continued, “Try focusing on Democrats instead of Republicans. Republican on Republican attacks are hurting our chances to win the majority in November.”
Lee responded to ask, “on what planet is this an attack on Republicans?” and appeared to suggest a staffer was tweeting on Cornyn’s behalf: “Once my friend John Cornyn realizes that you’re saying this in his name—whoever you are—I don’t think he’ll be happy with you.”
Cornyn, however, is known for posting himself on his social media accounts in a chamber where many Senate accounts are run solely by staff. And he’s been making it clear all week that he will push back on Trump and his party when he thinks it’s needed.
In multiple conversations with reporters in the Capitol, Cornyn said that Republicans need to “stop the circular firing squad.” And he added that he won’t intentionally be “a thorn in [Trump’s] side,” but he’s also “not going to go out of my way to try to appease him.”
“I want him to succeed, I want the Republican Party to succeed, I want the country to succeed,” Cornyn said this week. “But on a case-by-case basis, when I think there’s been overreach or just a bad idea, I’m not going to hesitate to weigh in.”
The four-term senator’s comments come after he lost his primary last month to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump endorsed in the final days of the runoff.
Cornyn said in an interview with The New York Times that he was not a “wounded bear” but that he believed Trump’s insistence on “slavish adherence” was going to backfire for Republicans in the midterms and result in “the most miserable two years of his life” if Democrats flip the House or Senate.
“I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months,” Cornyn said.
Chuck Schumer wants Congress to pass AI legislation. But he’s casting doubt on it happening this year.
“In this Congress, it’s hard,” the Senate minority leader said in an interview Thursday.
Schumer’s reality check isn’t a complete door-slam. But it underscores the steep climb lawmakers face to bridge a slew of intra-party and inter-chamber divides about what Washington’s approach should be toward the emerging opportunities and risks from the rapidly developing technology.
The problems are multi-pronged.
The White House, whose posture toward AI has shifted dramatically in recent weeks, is angling to enact legislation that would preempt state laws in favor of a national standard. Most recently, administration officials have been exploring a plan to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. But there are issues — House Republicans aren’t in love with the Senate GOP’s kid safety bills and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has warned that many senators have concerns “about not trampling states’ rights in the process.”
Democrats aren’t unified on what to do next, with the public broadly skeptical about AI.
Some House and Senate Democrats are leery of state preemption and want to wait until next year to tackle AI, when they might be in power. Opposition from key Democrats is a major factor derailing an attempt by Reps. Lori Trahan and Jay Obernolte to strike a deal on legislation that would set nationwide safety and transparency rules while restricting state action. And Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a moratorium on AI data centers pending stricter government oversight.
Schumer is striking a balanced tone on how to proceed, arguing that there are “tremendous benefits” from AI but that “we also have to have guardrails.”
“We should get something done on AI, and it’s … got to be balanced — keep innovation strong, but have guardrails to prevent the dangers,” he said. “That’s a hard needle to thread, but I would very much like to see that get done the sooner the better.”
What else we’re watching:
— FISA LAPSE, CLAYTON NOMINATION: Thune is vowing to move “fairly quickly” to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, with the FISA Section 702 spy authority set to lapse at midnight thanks to a stalemate between Democrats and the White House over the position.
— GOP ADVANCES BIG DEFENSE BOOST — Republicans have taken the first steps toward granting President Donald Trump’s request for the largest budget ever for the Pentagon. Senate Armed Services members on Thursday approved a draft of their annual defense authorization bill outlining priorities for $1.14 trillion in defense spending next year. The House Appropriations defense subcommittee advanced $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2027 funding for the Defense Department in a closed-door markup.
Calen Razor and Connor O’Brien contributed reporting.
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