Congress

GOP senators hope for a quick Cabinet shakeup

Published

2 months ago

April 23, 2026

If you’re a Cabinet official thinking of pursuing a new professional opportunity, Senate Republicans have a request: Now’s the time to call it quits.

The departure this week of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is following former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi out the door, has some GOP lawmakers pondering a larger Cabinet shakeup and what that could mean to an unsettled Senate floor schedule.

Senate Republicans are already trying to juggle a shrinking window for lawmaking before the November midterms — including at least one potential party-line budget reconciliation bill, a litany of measures they are negotiating with the House and, some hope, a possible Supreme Court vacancy.

That’s not to mention the growing uncertainty about what will happen in the midterms themselves, with many Republicans growing concerned that their four-seat majority could be at risk.

“The number of working days are very limited,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview. “You just do the math. It’s a very compressed schedule.”

Tillis is among a group of Republican senators who believe Trump should make any further changes to his inner circle sooner rather than later to give the Senate maximum flexibility in confirming replacements. Waiting, they fear, could mean significant delays in confirmations or worse if Democrats can retake the majority.

Another GOP senator, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said any personnel shakeup is ultimately up to Trump but that it would “make sense to do it now.”

“As we get closer to the election … you never know what’s going to happen to the Senate,” the senator said.

No GOP senator is openly pointing to any particular Cabinet official as likely to depart. But three privately fingered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as someone they believe the president is likely to remove.

A fourth questioned how long Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, would remain in her post given her split with the president on recent issues such as the Iran war and a soon-to-lapse surveillance authority, though many Republicans believe she has powerful allies within the White House and outside of the administration.

FBI Director Kash Patel is also under fresh scrutiny after The Atlantic published allegations of drinking and erratic behavior, which he has denied and launched a defamation lawsuit over. Two of the GOP senators granted anonymity to speak candidly said they believed Patel was on the rocks.

“He’s in a bad mood, so he’s letting a lot of them go,” one of the four said about Trump. “He’s preparing to really let a lot of them go.”

The senator added that the shakeup should happen sooner rather than later, saying, “It’s not like we’ll have that much time.”

The urgency was further underscored Wednesday by the sudden departure of Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was not a Cabinet member but occupied a senior Senate-confirmed post that is now vacant in wartime.

Other senators aren’t fretting, noting that any move to remake the Cabinet depends solely on Trump, who has been known to mull privately for months about potentially firing someone before taking action.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. “Typically, you see some changes before, like right after the midterms, in preparation for the next two-year cycle.”

The White House defended Trump’s personnel choices in a statement Wednesday.

“The President has assembled a world-class cabinet who are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “They will continue fulfilling the many promises President Trump was elected to enact. The White House is appreciative of their service to this country.”

The prospects for replacing Bondi, Chavez-DeRemer, Phelan and others could vary wildly.

Republicans were able to confirm Markwayne Mullin to succeed Noem at DHS in a matter of weeks — but that was the exception, not the norm. Mullin enjoyed bipartisan support as a sitting senator and moved through a committee with few procedural hurdles.

The Judiciary Committee, in contrast, has a 28-day holdover period between when it receives a nominee questionnaire and when it holds a hearing, meaning the Senate’s consideration of any attorney general nominee will be much slower.

Several committees including Judiciary, Banking and Finance all have one-seat margins between the parties, meaning that nominees that can’t garner Democratic support risk getting blocked by opposition from just one GOP panel member.

In addition to the Cabinet nominees, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is working to assemble a package of lower-level nominations to confirm as a group — though even that can be tricky. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), for instance, is holding up all Coast Guard promotions over a contract dispute.

Then there’s the growing pile of backed-up legislation, including the renewal of a contentious surveillance law, a stalled-out housing bill, the GOP’s party-line push for immigration enforcement and a potential push for yet another budget reconciliation bill. The chamber will also be out of session for long stretches later this year to accommodate midterm campaigning.

“We’ve got a full plate, so confirming new people is going to take a while,” Thune said.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added that the Senate was also busy with the annual government funding process and assembling the mammoth defense policy bill.

“They’ll do it based on what’s best for them and the president,” he said of any departing deputies. “I think it’s totally up to the president as to when he would want to make a submission.”

The White House is signaling that it’s aware of the Senate’s calendar as it considers staffing shakeups and is trying to give the chamber enough time to confirm replacements before the end of the year approaches. Tillis warned that if Trump waits until June or July to oust additional officials, the Senate could run out of time to confirm them.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) questioned if the time crunch wasn’t already so severe that filling any additional Cabinet departures would have to be a “lame duck thing” — referring to the traditional session held between an election and the beginning of the next Congress.

“I think we’re probably better right now … having the stability,” Cramer added.

The North Dakota Republican pointed to other items he wants to get done in the meantime, including appropriations, permitting reform, a farm bill and judicial nominations.

“There are big things to do yet,” Cramer said, noting the “constant Supreme Court chatter” he’d heard. “In fact, that would be more important.”

Leo Shane III contributed to this report.

Congress

Bill Gates denied association with Epstein’s crimes in closed-door Hill interview

Published

1 hour ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Tech mogul Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s prior sex crime conviction but that he did not know Epstein was continuing to engage in misconduct at the time of their acquaintance, according to a transcript of his testimony.

In his transcribed interview with the panel earlier this month as part of its ongoing Epstein investigation, Gates recounted details of his dealings with Epstein over the years — which extended from 2011, when he was first introduced to Epstein, to 2014, when he realized Epstein would not make good on his promise to steer donors towards Gates’ philanthropic work.

“I was aware that he had a criminal conviction,” Gates said, according to the transcript. “I knew that it was of a sexual nature, but, no, I don’t think I … dug into the specifics, although I probably should have.”

Gates’ decision to shrug off the conviction from 2008 underscored the extent to which many of those who chose to associate with the disgraced financier opted to ignore potential warning signs of impropriety. It was not until more than a decade after his first brush with law enforcement that Epstein was arrested on federal sex crimes charges; he died by suicide in jail in 2019 while his case was pending.

Gates’ relationship with Epstein has drawn new scrutiny since materials released by the Justice Department revealed new details about their relationship. In one draft correspondence contained in the so-called Epstein files, Epstein appears to have written and sent to himself a letter to Gates, where he alleged that Gates asked Epstein to “delete the emails regarding [his] std” and give him antibiotics to “surreptitiously give to Melinda [French Gates].”

Gates has denied that allegation and, during his interview with the Oversight Committee, Gates questioned whether Epstein was attempting to blackmail him.

“Now that I see the January release of documents, it appears that in many cases he, at least in emails to himself, was sort of rehearsing how either he or he coaching someone else might choose to blackmail me, but none of those messages were ever sent to me,” Gates said. “You know, I never paid Jeffrey Epstein anything.”

He also said that Epstein “certainly wasn’t a friend,” and insisted he never engaged in sexual conduct or received massages from individuals introduced to him by Epstein. And despite knowledge of his 2008 conviction, Gates said he was unaware at the time of their relationship that Epstein was a registered sex offender. He also said he never visited Epstein’s island.

The Oversight Committee also on Tuesday released a transcript of its June interview with Lesley Groff, one of Epstein’s former assistants who was among those named as a potential co-conspirator as part of Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement in 2007. She was never charged with any wrongdoing and, according to the transcript, recalled that law enforcement’s decision came as a surprise.

“I am not a conspirator, and I never would have agreed to this language,” she said, according to the transcript. “Their unilateral decision to label me as a potential conspirator remains my scarlet letter.”

Like others who have come before the panel, Groff claimed she was unaware of his crimes during the time of her employment and that Epstein, following his 2008 conviction, said that he was “set up.” Groff said she believed him, so she continued to work for him.

“I also saw the same VIPs continue to surround Epstein after his conviction,” she explained as a rationale for maintaining her own ties.

For instance, Groff told the Oversight Committee she “would connect phone calls” between President Donald Trump and Epstein multiple times a year.

Trump has not been charged with any wrongdoing tied to Epstein, but his relationship with the financier has raised eyebrows while fueling speculation that the administration has been working to cover up its connections — including by pushing back against making the Epstein files public last year and then slow-walking their release.

The Justice Department has defended its handling of the files’ release, and Trump has maintained he broke off his relationship with Epstein years before his death.

Congress

Senate votes to halt Iran war despite Trump’s push for peace deal

Published

3 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate on Tuesday voted to cut off the U.S. military campaign against Iran, handing a fresh loss to President Donald Trump despite his attempts to convince lawmakers and the public that a deal to end the war is at hand.

Four Republicans broke ranks to help approve a resolution to block further military action unless it is green-lighted by Congress.

The war powers measure is largely symbolic — the resolution cleared Tuesday doesn’t go to the president to sign or veto. But the bipartisan 50-48 vote is a damaging milestone for the Trump administration: Both the Senate and House have now weighed in against the Middle East conflict that’s stretched on for more than 100 days. The same measure passed the House in early June after months of close calls.

Congress

Housing bill threatened in GOP elections-bill spat

Published

4 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The long-anticipated bipartisan housing bill is under threat from a Florida Republican who threatened to “shut the floor down” if House GOP leaders move forward with passing it Tuesday.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said Republicans instead need to prioritize passage of the SAVE America Act, the GOP elections bill that has been stuck in the Senate for months. Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled a Tuesday evening vote on the housing bill in hopes of sending it to President Donald Trump for a planned Wednesday signing at the White House.

Luna posted her threat on social media Tuesday afternoon and later specified in an interview that she would oppose procedural measures teeing up GOP-backed legislation going forward if party leaders didn’t abandon their plans to hold the housing bill vote via special fast-track procedures that would effectively sideline Republican hard-liners.

Luna cannot single-handedly block those procedural votes, but she said there is “a group” of lawmakers who would join her. She separately called on Trump to veto the housing bill in a bid to force the SAVE America Act to be added to it.

Johnson plans for now to proceed with the Tuesday evening vote on the housing bill, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. If Luna and her unnamed allies follow through with their threats, they could derail a pair of appropriations bills set for House consideration this week and potentially freeze the floor indefinitely given the GOP’s razor-thin majority.

“I have been telling them,” Luna said of her complaints to GOP leaders.