Congress
Espaillat sues Manhattan Dem leader over attempted expulsion
NEW YORK — In a serious escalation of a long-running political feud, Manhattan Democratic Party Chair Keith Wright scheduled a vote on whether to expel Rep. Adriano Espaillat and three allies from their roles as district leaders.
The move toward an expulsion vote comes after an ethics report found the member of Congress tried to cheat in an election for a party position in 2023.
Now Espaillat has filed a lawsuit to block the Thursday vote, saying the report was politically motivated and invalid since the Manhattan Democrats’ ethics committee chair actually lives in Westchester County.
“The Ethics Committee has operated as an arm of a factional political agenda,” Espaillat’s attorney Ali Najmi wrote in the suit filed Monday. “County Leader Keith Wright has demonstrated a long-standing hostility towards Congressman Adriano Espaillat.”
The situation is inflaming longstanding tensions between Espaillat and Wright — and threatens to weaken Espaillat’s hold on his local base of power.
Wright’s side is downplaying the controversy, saying the party is just following a process and Espaillat is overplaying his hand.
“It’s just another ridiculous thing in a long history of Adriano not paying attention to the bigger things in life,” Manhattan Dems Executive Director Kyle Ishmael said in an interview. “He’s paying attention to whatever small fight he can pick with Keith [Wright] or some proxy battle. It’s ridiculous and unnecessary.”
Espaillat and Wright have been locked in a heated rivalry for more than a decade. In 2012, and again in 2014, then-Assemblymember Wright stood with former Rep. Charlie Rangel when Espaillat challenged the veteran congressmember’s reelection. When Rangel retired and picked Wright as his successor, Espaillat ran against Wright and won. The battle turned ugly, with accusations of racist voter suppression, and became a referendum on the Upper Manhattan district’s African-American population in Harlem, represented by Wright, versus the growing Dominican population centered in Washington Heights, represented by Espaillat. The tensions have continued, with Espaillat and Wright regularly finding themselves backing candidates on the opposite sides of elections big and small.
It was a small election that kicked off the saga resulting in the lawsuit. Espaillat and three aligned district leaders backed Assemblymember Harvey Epstein for county chair over Wright’s pick, Nico Minerva in October 2023. County chair is the number two position in the party, behind the leader. But Manhattan is a reform party organization, where the leadership holds relatively little power over the party.
Minerva ended up narrowly winning the vote, but accusations flew that Espaillat and his fellow district leaders — Assemblymember Manny De Los Santos, Maria Morillo and Mariel De La Cruz — had tried to cheat by reporting that Minerva didn’t get a single vote from their district’s county committee members when he had actually received 23 votes. Espaillat and others denied wrongdoing, blaming the mixup on procedural issues caused by Wright’s party leaders.
The county party’s ethics committee opened an investigation last year and released a report Feb. 10, 2025 finding that Espaillat and his allies “intentionally misreported votes” which “constituted a deliberate attempt to suppress votes for Minerva.” The report also found Espaillat and allies violated other party rules at the meeting and “engaged in obstruction and intimidation.” The ethics committee offered three options for the party’s district leaders: permanently expelling Espaillat, De Los Santos, Morillo and De La Cruz as district leaders; suspending them for ten years; or adding two additional district leader seats in Espaillat’s home Assembly district that could not be held by members of his political club.
The roughly 70 district leaders are volunteers with limited formal powers, but expulsion could limit Espaillat’s influence in the party — and would keep him from ever becoming county leader, a job that some suspect he would like to take away from Wright.
After Wright announced the report would be discussed at the party meeting Thursday, Espaillat filed the suit, asking a judge to block the party from taking action on the report.
The suit notes that two of the five members of the ethics committee have publicly dissented with the report, and that a third, Chair Denny Salas, actually lives in Westchester County, which would make him ineligible for a party position in Manhattan.
“It is inherently problematic — and unethical — for someone who no longer is legally qualified to be registered as a voter in New York County to deceive members of the (county party) and then attempt to oversee ethical standards and compliance within the Manhattan Democratic Party,” Najmi, the attorney, wrote in the suit.
Najmi provided video of Salas, who works as a lobbyist with Gotham Government Relations, answering the door at his home in the village of Ossining and saying he had not lived at his previous address in Manhattan for two years.
Salas declined to immediately comment on the suit and his residency. Wright’s spokesperson denied the party leader was using the report to hurt Espaillat.
“It’s not a Keith Wright report, it’s not a Keith Wright ethics committee. Because the whole party had to vote on the ethics committee,” Ishmael said. “We’re going to continue following the process, which includes at least discussing the report on Thursday.”
Democrats on the Budget Committee were frustrated by Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) first turn with the gavel after the new chair rebutted each of their remarks.
“Welcome to the chairmanship, but I find you are turning this into a debate committee and not a budget committee,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said during the Tuesday hearing on Medicaid.
Johnson, who took over chair after the unexpected passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last month, fact checked Democrats on the committee after their allotted question time, which got on the nerves of his colleagues.
Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said near the end of the hearing that rebuttals by the chair aren’t “customary.”
Johnson, a frequent critic of the Medicaid program, defended his approach, which he said makes the hearings more “informative.” He sparred with Democrats on Tuesday over the impact of Medicaid cuts included in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as Medicaid fraud and spending growth.
“I keep my comments pretty short,” he said. “There are important points to be made, and I will continue to do that. I hope it doesn’t offend my Democratic colleagues, but that will be my contention here.”
Rep. Max Miller, facing allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, said he would ask the House Ethics Committee to investigate the claims in an attempt to clear his name.
“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” the Ohio Republican said in an X post. “I have absolutely nothing to hide.”
Miller is facing calls to resign after GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, the father of Miller’s ex-wife Emily Moreno, said he should not serve in the House and should “seek professional help.”
Miller has denied allegations of domestic abuse from Emily Moreno. He attempted to defend himself Sunday in a livestreamed monologue and by publishing a trove of documents related to the divorce. Those documents included an “intimate image” of their daughter, which Miller’s lawyer Aaron Minc said he uploaded by mistake.
A spokesperson for Emily Moreno did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller’s request for a House Ethics investigation. A committee spokesperson also did not immediately respond.
Miller said he would provide the panel with “all necessary documents needed for a detail examination.” It is unlikely the committee, which historically works slowly, would make any assessment ahead of the November midterm election where he is facing a strong Democratic challenger.
“The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same,” Miller said. “I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”
Todd Blanche took a major step toward confirmation as attorney general Tuesday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 on party lines to advance his nomination, likely setting up a final vote within days.
His nomination, at risk of being withdrawn just last week, now appears to be on a glide path toward approval. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since April, but President Donald Trump has been intent on installing his former personal lawyer permanently.
Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said ahead of the vote that Cornyn and Tillis’ concerns about the fund “and the IRS settlement were shared by many, including this senator.” He added that the changes Blanche made “put this issue to bed once and for all.”
Democrats lambasted the deal Cornyn and Tillis struck, saying it would not meaningfully bind Trump from eventually resurrecting the payout fund and using his to enrich his political allies, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel. “The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement and the cop-beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he “loves the state of Texas” but said the deal Cornyn agreed to is “all hat and no cattle.”
Booker, who is a vegan, asked, “Where’s the beef?”
Outside of the committee, there are a few GOP senators who could pose a hurdle in confirming Blanche, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. John Curtis of Utah and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Murkowski called the written elimination of the payout fund a “pretty good step” Monday, while the others said they continue to evaluate Blanche’s nomination.
All four have yet to commit to voting for Blanche, and as long as all Democrats are unified in voting against him, he can only lose two Republican votes given the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has not voted since June due to health reasons.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to get Blanche confirmed before senators leave as soon as the end of this week for an extended recess.
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