Congress

What Jack Smith plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee

Published

41 minutes ago

September 29, 2026

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who orchestrated the federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning that he stands by his decision to bring charges against the president — arguing that his investigations “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.”

Smith has faced unrelenting criticism from Republicans for presiding over what they view as partisan and flawed inquiries; some, including Trump, have called for him to be jailed. Yet Smith, in his opening prepared remarks obtained in advance by Blue Light News, will maintain he made the right decision to prosecute Trump — both for his alleged role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results that led to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, and for his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

“If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat,” Smith plans to say, according to his written testimony.

Smith will note that grand juries in two separate districts reached the same conclusion his investigation did. He also will reflect that the country is facing “challenges unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime” as U.S. citizens are routinely threatened with indictments because they are seen as opposing Trump.

“Predetermined outcomes increasingly seem to take precedence over the Justice Department’s long-standing core values, traditions, and norms,” Smith intends to tell lawmakers. “History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It is often weakened by attacks on the institutions and public servants sworn to uphold it.”

Tuesday will mark the third time Smith has appeared on Capitol Hill over the last two years. He has previously testified to members of the House Judiciary Committee — first privately, then in a public hearing — as Republicans have accused him of overstepping his bounds.

GOP lawmakers are particularly incensed over Smith’s moves to obtain electronic communications for dozens of House and Senate Republicans around the time of the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)revealed in July that Smith obtained text messages between 44 members of Congress and White House officials during that period.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Judiciary panel’s top Democrat, said in a floor speech Monday, that Smith is “a nonpartisan career prosecutor.” He also criticized his GOP colleagues for having “made no effort to obtain a copy of Volume 2 of Jack Smith’s report,” which details findings from the case involving Trump’s handling of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Dems face tricky votes before midterm sprint

Published

3 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats may be feeling pretty positive going into their final campaign sprint, but first they must deal with a handful of political headaches on Blue Light News.

Democrats at their weekly caucus lunch Tuesday will talk strategy on a number of measures that could split members who have stuck together on other recent high-profile votes.

Senate Democratic leaders expect a mostly unified caucus against a bill targeting data center costs and another restricting lawmaker’s stock trading, according to a leadership aide, who acknowledged it’s possible some members break ranks if it makes sense for them politically.

Vote counts on a third bill on violence in the West Bank are less clear.

With only five weeks until the midterms, senators will be weighing whether their votes will fly under constituents’ radar, draw bad headlines or drive up donations for — or against — their campaigns. A unified party vote against a cryptocurrency bill this month, for example, spurred open industry discussions of punishing Democrats and preceded a massive spending announcement against a key candidate.

— DATA CENTER BILL: Party leaders have been openly critical of the Ratepayer Protection Act, arguing it wouldn’t adequately prevent costs of data center infrastructure from being shifted to the public. Several are also skeptical about granting a win to bill sponsor Sen. Jon Husted, who’s in a tough race.

A handful of Democrats, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Alex Padilla and Brian Schatz were noncommittal Monday on their plans.

“We’re going to talk about it,” Shaheen said. “I haven’t gotten the details on it.”

— STOCK TRADING BAN: Democrats also must decide as soon as Wednesday on whether to get behind a House-passed bill restricting lawmakers and their families from stock trading.

Only 13 House Democrats backed the bill, with many rejecting what they saw as a “poison pill” provision on voter ID requirements. A vote for the bill would also notch a win for sponsor Sen. Pete Ricketts, who’s also in a close race.

Ricketts argued Monday Democrats should support the voter ID provisions that are “desired by 80 percent of Americans.”

— WEST BANK VIOLENCE: Sens. Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine and Bernie Sanders plan to force a floor vote on a measure requiring a State Department report on violence in the West Bank, an issue that could tap into wider party divides on Israel.

Van Hollen told Calen Monday he expects widespread support, with about half the caucus co-sponsoring the measure.

“I think we will,” Van Hollen said. “Everybody who wants the U.S. government to stick up for American citizens and Palestinians being terrorized by violent settlers needs to vote for this.”

What else we’re watching:

— WHITE HOUSE AI MEETING LIGHT ON LAWMAKERS: Tuesday’s White House meeting with AI executives could be light on Capitol Hill voices — with Speaker Mike Johnson the only lawmaker confirmed to attend so far. Expected Silicon Valley attendees include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Palantir CEO Alex Karp and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to six people familiar with the meeting plans.

— TRUMP CONTROVERSIES PILE ON GOP: It’s 35 days until the midterms, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune is still fending off some final curveballs from President Donald Trump. White House decisions to air campaign-style ads with taxpayer funds while separately rescinding about a billion dollars in congressionally approved spending are the latest pre-midterm frustrations for GOP senators — who spent much of Monday fielding off-message questions about the president’s latest actions.

Owen Dahlkamp, Mia McCarthy and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Inside Thune and Barrasso’s midterm campaigning plans

Published

3 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and GOP Whip John Barrasso are preparing to hit the campaign trail in October.

Thune is planning to swing through a number of states starting with North Carolina this week, he told Blue Light News. He said he’ll also go to South Carolina, Florida, twice to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Michigan, among others, as Republicans fight to keep control of the Senate in an increasingly difficult political environment for their party.

“There’s a whole bunch,” he said about the campaign stops.

Barrasso, meanwhile, will travel to Ohio, Montana, Kansas and Kentucky next month, according to plans first shared with Blue Light News. Barrasso has already been on the campaign trail in Iowa, Texas and South Carolina.

Ohio and Michigan are battleground races that could determine which party controls the chamber come January as Sen. Jon Husted tries to fend off a come-back bid by former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). Republicans also believe they could flip outgoing Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ seat in Michigan.

And in Iowa and Kansas, Republicans are facing closer-than-expected races that are privately giving some GOP senators, granted anonymity to speak candidly, heartburn.

Thune and Barrasso aren’t the only members of GOP leadership making campaign stops.

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson was in New York on Sunday and New Jersey on Monday as part of his 22-state campaign sprint across 44 districts, according to a person familiar with his plans.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is in the middle of campaigning across 11 states for 16 incumbents and candidates, is heading on a Northeast swing, according to a different person familiar with his plans.

Starting Wednesday, Scalise will head to New York and New Hampshire.

Congress

New Democrats back candidates in deep-red districts

Published

3 hours ago

September 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The centrist New Democrat Coalition is expanding its endorsements into firmly Republican territory, another sign of the party’s ballooning confidence in their midterm prospects.

The group’s campaign arm, NewDem Action Fund, is endorsing seven candidates running in seats currently held by the GOP — including several that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024.

They are Chris Backemeyer against Rep. Mike Flood in Nebraska, Kristina Knickerbocker against Rep. Mike Turner in Ohio, Mitchell Berman against Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin, and Raymond Smith against Rep. Greg Murphy in North Carolina. They are also endorsing Nancy Lacore in South Carolina, Teresa Benitez-Thompson in Nevada and Blake Gendebien in New York, who are running for open seats.

“I spent 21 years serving our country in national security roles, where the focus is on the mission and getting the job done,” Backemeyer said in a statement. “That’s the pragmatic approach the New Dems bring to Congress, and it’s what Nebraska’s First District deserves.”

Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona, who chairs the fund, said that the endorsed candidates will have access to money, support and advice, as well as likely future visits from New Democrat members. Stanton said he intends to campaign with candidates in Arizona and Iowa.

The new endorsements come as President Donald Trump campaigns in deep-red regions ahead of Election Day. Stanton and his fellow New Dems see the move as a sign Trump and House Republicans are on their back foot.

“I’m not sure where friendly Trump territory is in the United States of America,” Stanton said in an interview. “Americans are very upset at the poor decisions of this president … but they’re even more mad at the Republicans in Congress who have rolled over and let him do whatever he wants without any resistance.”

The more New Dem-endorsed candidates that flip their seats, the more influential the already 100-plus-member caucus will be next term. The coalition will be well positioned to have would-be-speaker Hakeem Jeffries’ ear and his back, Stanton said.

“Every single endorsed candidate supports Hakeem Jeffries for speaker of the House,” Stanton said in an interview. “We will be a strong governing partner with Hakeem Jeffries to make sure that his speakership is as successful as possible.”