Congress

DHS standoff threatens bipartisan Munich delegation

Published

5 months ago

February 5, 2026

Senate Republicans on Thursday are weighing whether to bow out of a major international gathering next week as leaders juggle a looming shutdown of the Homeland Security Department.

This year’s Munich Security Conference — a marquee transatlantic gathering that begins Feb. 13 — has taken on new urgency in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats to invade Greenland, a Danish territory, and tariff core NATO allies over the dispute. Trump backed down, but dozens of lawmakers planned to go in order to shore up ties and reaffirm America’s commitment to NATO.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Munich mainstay and Trump ally, said he won’t attend unless a DHS deal is reached. The department is on a short-term stopgap funding measure while Democrats are demanding new limits and oversight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices, which Republicans say would undercut security.

“The reason we go to these places is to have an American voice, and if we can’t get our act together here, a lot of people are wondering what we’re going to do about Russia,” he said. “People say if you want to be safe at home you have to engage the world, and I agree.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another regular at the conference, told reporters his decision to go would hinge on the status of cross-party negotiations.

“Game day decision,” said Tillis, the top Republican on the Senate’s NATO Observer Group. “It’s gonna be based on how well we’re working and if the Democrats are being reasonable. That’s one thing, and if they’re not, it’s another thing.”

Not all Republicans are on the fence. Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he is going to the Munich Security Conference again this year and doesn’t anticipate the threat of a DHS shutdown derailing his trip, which includes Italy’s defense ministry and the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe’s parliamentary assembly in Vienna.

A spending deal that became law this week gives lawmakers until next Friday to negotiate a Homeland Security funding package. But funding will lapse if Republicans and Democrats can’t forge a deal by next weekend or don’t pass another stopgap.

Republican leaders stopped short of telling senators what they should do.

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that it’s a “serious question” whether senators should suspend their travel — including to Munich — until the impasse ends. “If we get to the end of next week and we’re in a shutdown posture, I think that the idea of people going on trips, no matter how justified or well-intended they are, it seems like that ought to be a non-starter,” he said.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the panel that controls defense funding, argued lawmakers from both parties should attend the international conference despite the funding standoff to shore up the transatlantic alliance. Trump’s Greenland pressure campaign “profoundly undermined” European confidence in the U.S., he said.

“We have a genuine problem in our transatlantic relationship,” Coons told reporters. “And to cancel sending a large delegation to Munich simply so that we can figure out how to actually do policing in a democracy sends exactly the wrong message.”

Congress

Divisive Israel vote to be discussed on Sunday House Democrats call

Published

53 minutes ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

An anticipated vote on cutting off U.S. military aid to Israel is among the subjects House Democrats are slated to discuss on an unusual teleconference Sunday evening.

Six people granted anonymity to describe private caucus plans confirmed the member call, which has not been publicly announced. Two of them said it would involve an amendment that would block aid to Israel and other appropriations matters.

Democrats are likely to be sharply divided on an amendment drafted by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to a fiscal 2027 spending bill funding the State Department and foreign aid programs. Massie is proposing to end Israel aid and cut the overall foreign military aide program by $3.3 billion.

House Republicans have not yet announced a vote on that bill, but two other people granted anonymity to describe GOP planning said it is likely to be added to the floor schedule next week. The House Rules Committee voted last week to set up debate on Massie’s amendment.

Senior Democrats want to talk through member concerns and strategy on the Sunday call, according to one of the six people.

The call comes just days after three outspoken critics of U.S. aid to Israel swept hotly contested House primaries in New York City, ousting two incumbents.

Meredith Lee Hill and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.

Congress

House panel subpoenas Leon Black, escalating tactics in Epstein investigation

Published

2 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Oversight Committee slapped Leon Black with two subpoenas in the middle of his transcribed interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — after Black refused to answer questions about potential non-disclosure agreements he had with women tied to the late, convicted sex offender.

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer announced the issuance of the subpoenas — for the NDAs and for Black to reappear for a formal deposition July 16 — after the first hour of Black’s interview had concluded with the billionaire investor insisting he would not discuss the terms of those agreements.

Black had initially agreed to appear voluntarily, but under the terms of a deposition, his testimony will be videotaped and under oath.

“We believe that information is vital to our investigation,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters Friday. “We want to know, was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs? … Was he involved in awarding [of] funds to the women for the NDAs? What was the reason for the NDAs?”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, seconded Comer’s decision to force a deposition to compel information that he also described as central to the panel’s ongoing Epstein probe — a rare moment of bipartisanship in an investigation that has been plagued by partisan bickering.

“There’s no question that as soon as this interview started, that the witness was not going to answer critical questions,” he told reporters.

After Black had already departed from the closed-door interview, his lawyer, Susan Estrich, said that Epstein “had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not,” and said her client has never abused a woman.

“They made a premeditated political decision to serve him with subpoenas after less than an hour of questioning, and before they even asked a single question about his legitimate payments to Epstein,” she said, referring to members of the Oversight panel. “This was nothing more than a planned political stunt.”

Estrich represented the late Fox News chairman Roger Ailes when he was facing sexual misconduct accusations. Black has also battled his own allegations of sexual assault, though he has denied the accusations — along with having had knowledge of Epstein’s wrongdoing over the course of their relationship.

Several Democrats who attended the interview were aghast at Black’s lack of cooperation. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico told reporters that more than one of Epstein’s accusers had previously accused Black of committing sexual misconduct against them, too.

“Before Mr. Black left the interview, he admitted that he lived close to Epstein,” Stansbury said. “He often dined at his house. He went over for breakfast, for happy hours, attended impromptu dinners with world leaders, with academics, with scientists.”

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) alleged that Black “gush[ed] poetically about how smart and how great Jeffrey Epstein was” and accused him of walking out on the committee.

The bipartisan desire to get more information from Black comes as the committee’s Epstein investigation is set to hit the one-year mark in July, after Oversight Committee Democrats — frustrated with the Justice Department’s refusal to release the so-called Epstein files — forced a bipartisan vote to facilitate the publication of relevant materials.

That vote jumpstarted a congressional probe that has led to interviews with more than a dozen witnesses, including ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bill Gates.

Comer has also asked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to speak with his panel in the coming weeks, after Bondi accused him of being at the tip of the spear in overseeing the eventual release of the Epstein files in compliance with a law Congress passed in December.

Members will have more to ask Blanche following the Justice Department’s admission on Thursday that the DOJ had been violating the law Congress passed last November requiring the public release of the vast majority of government records relating to Epstein.

A federal judge gave Blanche one week to release certain names and other information that DOJ initially redacted from the millions of pages of the Epstein files — or provide a more detailed explanation for withholding them.

Critics believe the department has been seeking to protect powerful people implicated in Epstein’s crimes — including potentially President Donald Trump, who has not been charged with wrongdoing and has denied misconduct.

Congress

Online safety coalition urges House to reject KIDS Act compromise

Published

4 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A coalition of children’s safety advocates is urging House leaders to reject a bipartisan compromise on online safety, arguing it weakens protections for minors and lets tech companies avoid accountability.

In a letter first shared with Blue Light News, the groups urged Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) to oppose the bipartisan package — known as the KIDS Act — ahead of a potential House vote as soon as next week.

Led by Design It For Us, ParentsTogether, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and the Young People’s Alliance and signed by 90 other organizations, the coalition said the deal struck by Energy and Commerce lawmakers fails to address its chief concern: the omission of a “duty of care” provision that would require tech companies to mitigate harms they know their products cause to young users.

“The Committee rejected our concerns and opted to negotiate a version that let Big Tech off the hook and rush this legislation to the House floor,” they wrote.

The warning comes after the groups previously raised similar concerns when the committee approved a version of the KIDS Act along party lines in March.

The Senate’s version of the Kids Online Safety Act — an expected component of Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s ongoing negotiations over online safety regulations — includes the “duty of care” language. Some House members have raised concerns that it could incentivize social media platforms to overzealously censor content to avoid litigation.

“It pains us that, given how hard we have fought for a strong federal solution to online child protection and for a strong bill to move to the House floor, the KIDS Act is the bill the House is championing,” they wrote, urging lawmakers to oppose the bill.

Parents RISE, a coalition of parents who have experienced child loss or mental health difficulties due to tech platforms, sent a second letter to the same parties laying out similar qualms. “We did not create Social Media Victims Remembrance Day so that our children’s names could be used as cover for a bill that protects the very companies that harmed them,” they wrote.

Tech industry group NetChoice has come out against the KIDS Act over censorship concerns.

Spokespeople for Johnson, Jeffries, Guthrie and Pallone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.