Congress
Read the Gaetz report here — plus the Ethics chair’s dissent
The House Ethics Committee on Monday formally released its long-awaited report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, finding the Florida firebrand committed statutory rape, solicited prostitutes and used illegal drugs, among other misbehavior.
The report includes a dissent from the panel’s chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), who indicated again he would not have released the findings since Gaetz (R-Fla.) had already left Congress.
Guest said the release “breaks from the Committee’s long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, and will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponize the Committee’s process.” Given the panel’s even breakdown by party, at least one Republican must have joined with the panel’s Democrats to green light its release.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him and did so again to POLITICO on Monday morning ahead of the report’s official release.
President Donald Trump dropped a hot mess of a half-baked midterm promise in lawmakers’ laps Wednesday night.
Trump at the GOP’s convention pledged to send $5,000 to every adult in the U.S. if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms. And while the crowd of thousands of his supporters gathered at Dallas’ American Airlines Center cheered the announcement, GOP fiscal hawks were balking at the effort before Trump even left the stage.
“I would like to know how they would plan to pay for … back of envelope … well over $1 trillion,” Rep. Chip Roy, who won’t be returning to Congress next year, said in response to Trump’s offer.
The payout, which would need to be approved by Congress, would dwarf the amount distributed during the Covid pandemic and likely explode the deficit. Trump did not detail how the checks would be financed — only that the money would be limited to citizens and required to be spent in the U.S.
A GOP operative, granted anonymity to discuss the idea, expressed skepticism, calling it “a desperate attempt to change the political mood.”
If the president followed through on such a plan, it would likely worsen inflation by further boosting consumer spending and supporting higher prices, which are already elevated due to the war in Iran. The dividend could also exacerbate a rise in longer-term borrowing costs for the U.S. government, which have been going up in part on fears the federal debt is growing unsustainable.
The move comes after months of Republicans pleading with Trump to focus his messaging — and fundraising war chest — on helping the party retain control of Capitol Hill come November.
Some House Republicans following the speech told Blue Light News the effort showed how desperate the president was in the last weeks of midterm campaigning.
“It’s a little late,” one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said.
Others may have been relieved that the president was touting a message aimed at affordability concerns at the top of voters’ minds.
“We got to talk about the issues that people are dealing with. Families can’t afford their house, they can’t afford the food, they can’t afford health care, they can’t afford child care,” Sen. Rick Scott said in an interview in the convention hall before Trump’s announcement.
Sen. Ted Cruz in an exclusive interview with Blue Light News after Trump’s speech, said he’d prefer to tie work requirements to the dividends, but added specifics would need to be worked through.
“$1.3 trillion dollars is a massive amount,” Cruz said, referring to his estimate for the plan. But, he said it’s less than if Democrats won back power and spent like “drunken sailors.”
Read also: ‘A communist caucus’: Trump gives Republicans their midterms enemy
What else we’re watching:
— CONGRESS IN DISARRAY OVER AI SAFETY: Congress is confronting a grim reality: Members may be ill-equipped and far from ready to rein in advanced new AI that one expert warned could “kill us all.” More than a dozen lawmakers and aides from both parties on Wednesday told Blue Light News they were hopeful Congress would start taking the issue seriously after a viral social media post this week from an ex-Anthropic researcher outlined dire risks. But it’s far from certain the desire to make progress will translate into meaningful legislative activity before the end of the year.
— SENATE DEMS HOLD THEIR FIRE ON FETTERMAN: Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party. So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven’t joined the pile-on. Another wave of intraparty criticism rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention. But Democratic senators are staying above the fray as they work to flip the majority in November amid constant speculation that the 57-year-old Pennsylvanian could trigger a nightmare scenario by leaving the party and caucusing with the GOP.
Ashley Ahn, Dasha Burns, Meredith Lee Hill, Kelsey Brugger, Riley Rogerson and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Democrat Bob Harvie’s first general-election ad in his campaign against Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is calling for a data center moratorium, the latest sign artificial intelligence is emerging as a key midterm campaign issue.
“I’m Bob Harvie, I approve this message because I don’t want more data centers, I want a moratorium,” the Bucks County commissioner says in the 30-second ad. “Big Tech owns enough, they shouldn’t own our congressman, too.”
While Democrats have routinely attacked Republicans in recent months for encouraging the buildout of AI infrastructure, few frontline candidates have gone as far as Harvie in calling for an outright halt.
A spokesperson for Harvie said he supports a moratorium for one year or until Congress can pass federal regulations protecting affected communities. Pennsylvania is a hot spot for proposed data center construction, and Harvie is proposing to go beyond Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent executive order tightening restrictions on data center projects.
Fitzpatrick, a five-term moderate incumbent, is one of three House Republicans who won a seat that Vice President Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election, making him a top target for Democrats this cycle.
Fitzpatrick has tried to strike a middle path on AI, saying in a post on X last month that he would work to ensure America “can innovate without compromising our communities.” He supports the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that seeks to address rising electricity costs associated with data centers.
Harvie hits Fitzpatrick in the ad for taking money from tech industry players and voting for “billions in data center tax breaks” — a reference to tax provision in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Fitzpatrick did not vote for its final passage but did vote to advance the measure at key junctures.
Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party — and another wave rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention.
So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven’t joined the pile-on.
Democratic senators are staying above the fray as they work to flip the majority in November amid constant speculation that the 57-year-old Pennsylvanian could trigger a nightmare scenario by leaving the party and caucusing with the GOP.
Some have worked to publicly bat down suggestions that Fetterman could abandon Democrats for the final two years of his term — something he has denied considering, even as he continues to raise eyebrows with his outspoken support of Israel, bashing of democratic socialists and close relationships with Senate Republicans.
“John Fetterman is a friend and an important member of our caucus. It’s a waste of energy to get spun up about his voting record or place in our party — he votes with us 90 percent of the time,” Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, who is close with Fetterman, said in a statement to Blue Light News before the convention appearance. “We need a big tent if we’re going to win in November.”
That silence could be tested in the coming weeks. Recent reports, including in the Wall Street Journal, detailed how he has skipped meetings with key constituencies and largely stopped participating in caucus lunches or committee meetings. Fetterman denounced the report as “lies, half-truths, innuendos, [and] smears” peddled by “disgruntled staffers.”
A social media account purported to be run by former Fetterman aides has teased the release next week of additional stories and evidence related to his job performance, which could spark a new wave of questions for the senator and his colleagues once they return Monday from a five-week summer recess.
Fetterman further fueled party-switch chatter with a recent appearance with Pennsylvania’s Republican senator, David McCormick — then heaping praise on McCormick in the convention video Wednesday, where he also pledged to “work with” President Donald Trump to protect his state’s steel industry.
In a statement Wednesday, Fetterman said his Republican convention remarks were intended to pay tribute to McCormick “as a great American and friend.”
“We are in different parties, but we are both Team PA,” he said. “We have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars back to Pennsylvania, fought for improved transportation and affordable housing, and the Steel Way of Life.”
“I’m a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party — and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on,” he added.
If any Democrats fear driving Fetterman into the GOP’s arms with intraparty criticism, some of his potential 2028 competitors aren’t among them.
Former Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to Fetterman in 2022 and is mulling a 2028 bid, said in an interview that he’s believed for close to a year that his onetime Democratic primary foe would become a Republican — a position he acknowledged puts him “in the minority.”
“I don’t think anything I say, or anyone who is a Democrat says, affects him all that much,” Lamb said, adding, “The fact that the Senate Democratic leadership thinks they can keep them on their team by saying a few nice things about him in public just shows that they haven’t learned who they are dealing with.”
Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat who is also mulling a 2028 Senate bid, also shrugged off a question about if the public criticism of Fetterman — who he accused of “undermining our efforts to take back the House” — could drive the senator to become a Republican.
“In the two years he has left in this job, in this term, he should be a Democrat,” Deluzio said. “That is what the people of Pennsylvania elected him to do. That is what they expect him to do, that is what I would say he should do with what he has left in the Senate.”
Still, Senate Democrats have largely avoided casting aspersions. Republicans hold a three-seat advantage, and Democrats believe they are in striking distance of picking up the four seats they’d need to win control. A post-election Fetterman flip could put the Senate back to 50-50, giving Vice President JD Vance the tiebreaking vote.
Multiple Democratic senators approached by Blue Light News this week about Fetterman simply declined to comment. Asked in a late July news conference if he wanted Fetterman to stay in the party, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he did.
“He is a very good member of Congress,” he said. “The people in our caucus very much like him and respect him, and we’re a big tent party. We can have a lot of different views in that party.”
A Senate Democratic aide — who, like others quoted for this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly — said Democrats “are keen on batting down” the speculation that Fetterman would split from the caucus.
Fetterman has repeatedly downplayed that possibility. In May he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he had “no plans to leave” the Democratic Party and that he would be “terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats.” In July, at the Hill Nation summit, he appeared to anticipate being a pivotal member of the party next year.
“If I was going to, I would have already done that,” Fetterman said in July about a party switch. “And I would remind everybody, we are talking about how it’s possible, how we could retain the majority in the Senate — well, that’s because I make that mathematically possible. And if we flip those four seats, then I would be 51.”
But he laid out a red line, saying there was “one condition” where he would abandon the Democrats — if they become “the anti-Israel party.”
Privately, many Senate Democratic colleagues profess to be in the dark about what Fetterman is thinking. Though his colleagues are collegial, he frequently sits alone off the Senate floor during votes.
“I really don’t have any insight into that,” said one Senate Democrat when asked about the party-switch chatter.
There’s been speculation within the Senate for months that Fetterman would simply retire rather than mount a difficult reelection campaign in 2028, driven by the widespread view that he doesn’t enjoy the job. Fetterman has sidestepped questions about a second term, arguing that it is too early for such questions.
A second Senate Democratic aide added that there was “definitely a concern” about Fetterman but that he still voted “pretty solidly” with Democrats.
“There’s a hope that a lot of this is just positioning … and not a real possibility,” the aide said. “Hopefully they can find a way to keep him in the fold, but it’s not really clear what he actually wants.”
A third Senate Democratic aide acknowledged the internal rumors about what he would do while adding that Fetterman and his office are “insular” — making it difficult for anyone outside of his inner circle to know what he’s thinking. A fourth added that Senate Democrats weren’t taking the speculation that Fetterman could flip “too seriously” for now.
But the aide added that Fetterman could make the caucus’ life “harder if he ends up being the 51st vote if the majority is in hand next January.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have made it clear that they are trying to recruit Fetterman. McCormick publicly defended him amid the latest round of Democratic backlash, and Majority Leader John Thune told reporters recently that he and other Republican senators have had “conversations” with Fetterman and “would welcome the opportunity” to have him join the GOP.
Only 22% of self-identified Democratic voters in a recent New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll have a favorable opinion of Fetterman, compared to 73% of self-identified Republicans.
But it’s far from clear that Fetterman could win a GOP primary given that he still votes with Democrats most of the time.
Lamb said Fetterman’s inability to prevail in a Democratic primary in 2028 was “as sure a fact as gravity” and added that the senator’s path in a GOP primary wouldn’t be easy, either.
“I think there are probably people in the state who would run against him if he was in a Republican primary,” Lamb said.
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said that he takes Fetterman “at his word” that he’s a Democrat and said doubted he’d ever be fully embraced by GOP primary voters. He cited Fetterman’s poor ratings from key groups influential on the right, such as the National Rifle Association and National Federation of Independent Business.
“He’s a good man. Like I said, he’s got courage,” he said, before adding, “He’s a Democrat and maybe a traditional Democrat, so I don’t think that would be something the Republican Party would embrace.”
Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
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