Congress

Jeffries calls on Biden to pardon more Americans

Published

2 years ago

December 3, 2024

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on President Joe Biden to pardon more people convicted of nonviolent offenses amid controversy over the president’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.

“During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses,” Jeffries said in a statement.

Jeffries’ comments echo the calls from some other Democrats who in recent days have asked Biden to use his clemency powers for more Americans in federal custody besides Hunter and to address sentencing disparities. But it did not pass judgment on the pardon of Hunter Biden itself. Some in the caucus have openly criticized the president since the pardon was issued and said it could tarnish his legacy and open a lane for Donald Trump to issue similar sweeping pardons.

Congress

Paramount lawyer says company ‘happy to cooperate’ as Democrats vow crackdown on merger

Published

7 hours ago

August 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democratic lawmakers are readying aggressive oversight of Paramount Skydance’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount’s top lawyer said Tuesday the company is “happy to cooperate.”

“We’re not naive to know that politics does not exist,” Paramount Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim said. “We’re not shocked about that. We’ll be happy to cooperate and really engage with Republicans and Democrats about any issue and aspect. This merger is actually going to be good not only for California, it’ll be good for America.”

Paramount has been “transparent” and responsive to lawmaker’s concerns,” Delrahim — who served as Trump’s antitrust chief in his first administration — said at Blue Light News’s The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit.

The merger of the media companies has become a flashpoint for Democratic outcry, as the party outlines a range of grievances that could resurface as a sweeping oversight effort if they take control of one or both chambers of Congress next year. Top Democrats already insist Paramount CEO David Ellison and his company have been less than forthcoming.

Democrats have blasted Paramount’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery as a gross antitrust violation with serious national security implications due in part to the involvement of foreign investment in the deal. And they have slammed Ellison for paying a $16 million settlement to President Donald Trump, which Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts claimed could be “bribery in plain sight” in exchange for the administration’s approval of the company’s merger with Skydance last year.

Ellison also last week tried to tamp down Democratic concerns he would influence the independence of news network BLN after the deal, after Paramount’s takeover of CBS News last year led to outrage from journalists that leadership was pressing for more favorable coverage of the Trump administration.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading 12-states in a lawsuit to block the company’s current merger with Warner Bros., and last week, a federal judge scheduled a March trial to decide whether the acquisition violates antitrust law. Paramount agreed to punt the merger until next year — precisely when Democrats hope to be back in power.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement to Blue Light News that Ellison “has evaded Congressional oversight of his work to create a mega-media empire designed to serve Donald Trump’s political agenda. If he thinks he can run out the clock on Congressional scrutiny of his massive media mergers and blockbuster corporate deals, he’s mistaken.”

Raskin called the investigation a “priority” and said “anyone involved should be prepared to answer under oath for their role in this brazen campaign to bend America’s free press to Donald Trump’s political, financial and personal will.”

Presented with Raskin’s statement, Delrahim said, “You can allege all you want. There is no corruption here.”

“We’d be happy to engage with Congressman Raskin and provide him, as we have, information,” Delrahim continued. “It sounds good, and I get it. It’s politics. But we respect his role and his important role in oversight. But just because he said so doesn’t mean that there is any corruption.”

Congress

Capitol agenda: Why Miller’s Ethics probe may be a bust

Published

20 hours ago

August 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics panel dealt the final blow derailing GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards’ re-election campaign last week, but don’t expect the same scenario to happen to Rep. Max Miller.

Miller, an Ohio Republican, is officially on the ballot this fall after pressure campaigns failed to push him out amid domestic abuse allegations he denies. The GOP is now coming to terms with Miller as their candidate, with members of the White House political team telling Republicans in the state to tamper down calls for Miller to drop out last week as it became clear he was immovable.

“They basically told us to back off,” said one Ohio Republican involved in the conversations, “and let the voters decide.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, told POLITICO he plans to withhold judgment on whether Miller is fit for office until the Ethics Committee works through its process.

”We have to allow this process to play out. It’s just begun,” Johnson said last week.

But neither voters nor Johnson should expect to get any clarity on the claims against Miller from the bipartisan House panel and its non-partisan staff charged with investigating member misconduct. The panel’s probe — instigated by Miller’s self-filing last week — is highly unlikely to be completed before the committee’s traditional pre-election 60-day blackout period, which begins in early September.

That delay is politically convenient for Miller as well as for Johnson, who is already grappling with a razor-thin margin that would be further eroded if Miller faced pressure to step down.

A spokesperson for Johnson didn’t respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Ethics Committee declined to comment on the probe’s timing, as the panel traditionally does not comment on open investigations.

In last week’s case involving Edwards, it was the Ethics panel’s detailed report finding the North Carolina lawmaker engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers” that was the final straw to end his reelection campaign. Edwards announced he’d drop out following public outcry and pressure from fellow Republicans.

North Carolina party leaders picked Jennifer Balkcom last night to replace Edwards on the ballot.

But Edwards’ probe was months in the making, and the pace of Ethics Committee investigations varies widely. Some inquiries have spanned multiple Congresses, including an investigation into the campaign activity of former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

The launch of other investigations have galvanized public pressure more rapidly. Former Rep. Tony Gonzales, who was being investigated earlier this year for having a sexual relationship with a staffer, resigned shortly after the panel ramped up its scrutiny as an expulsion vote also loomed.

At the time, Gonzales was facing a primary battle. Johnson also said he would let the process “play out.”

What else we’re watching:

— CASSIDY BLASTS TRUMP’S VACCINE ORDER: Sen. Bill Cassidy pushed back Monday on Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to reduce the number of recommended vaccines children get and spread the shots over more appointments. “This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes,” Cassidy posted on X. “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe.” The move comes months ahead of the midterm elections on an issue that Trump’s own pollsters have warned is unpopular, but that the president has long shown a personal interest in.

— DEMS BRACE FOR WALL STREET CRYPTO PLANS: SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig may soon get a glimpse of the challenge they could face if Republicans lose control of either chamber or both in November. The Wall Street regulators are readying new cryptocurrency rules after lawmakers punted on a digital assets bill before heading home for recess. The Clarity Act setback has put the SEC and CFTC in position to drive crypto policymaking. But they risk a backlash from the left as lawmakers fear they’re too cozy with the industry.

Meredith Lee Hill, Erin Doherty, Cheyenne Haslett, David Lim, Sophie Garnder and Declan Harty contributed to this report.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Republicans brace for Trump’s wrath

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump has held his fire since senators skipped town for five weeks without advancing his elections security bill. Some Republicans don’t expect that to last.

Senators punted until at least September any vote on a framework for a third party-line spending bill that includes parts of the SAVE America Act, rather than hold a failed vote.

Whether Trump accepts that explanation is entirely unclear.

Some Republicans privately are prepared for the mercurial president’s yearslong obsession with the election measure to resurface over the recess and risk further inflaming the party’s base just months before GOP senators need those same voters to turn out.

“That would be consistent with his approach,” Sen. Mike Rounds said about the possibility. But “we also know the votes aren’t there,” he added.

Senate conservatives tried different ways to appease the president before leaving.

Budget Chair Ron Johnson said they spoke directly with Trump before pulling the plug on any vote as they struggled to corral support to advance a budget resolution. Johnson said Trump blessed delaying the vote to September.

And Majority Leader John Thune called up a vote on a simpler voter ID bill that unifies the GOP conference, rather than the more complex SAVE America Act that includes provisions restricting mail-in voting, for example, that some in the party don’t support.

Still, some Republicans don’t believe it’ll be enough to satisfy Trump given his relentless focus on nixing the filibuster and passing the election bill, a hardball strategy that there also isn’t sufficient support for within the conference.

One GOP senator, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said Thune wanted to hold a vote on the voter ID bill because “he thinks it will give us cover with the president.”

“I think he’s wrong,” the senator added.

Asked if he thought the voter ID bill vote would satisfy Trump, Thune said in an interview “good question, but I think if they want votes, we’ll try and get votes, but I can’t guarantee outcomes.”

Sen. Mike Lee and other conservatives continue trying to twist the conference’s arm, vowing to “keep fighting” for the GOP bill and to renew the effort once the chamber returns.

But Trump and his allies’ continued focus on legislation that doesn’t have the votes to pass has frustrated many Republicans, who worry that strategy is sowing division rather than uniting the party against Democrats that they need to defeat.

“I hear what the administration is saying,” Sen. Thom Tills said. “I look at political data almost every day of the week. …I don’t see [the SAVE America Act] as one of the major factors that are going to get out to the polls.”

What else we’re watching:

— HOURS LEFT FOR MILLER DROP-OUT WATCH: Rep. Max Miller has less than 12 hours to drop out of his race and let Ohio party leaders replace his name on the November ballot. So far, Miller is signaling that’s not going to happen. The Ohio Republican has until 4 p.m. Monday to drop out of his race for reelection in the Cleveland suburb district. But Miller has remained defiant amid allegations of domestic abuse from Emily Moreno, his ex-wife and the daughter of Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno.

— HEGSETH FAILS TO WIN GOP BUDGET SUPPORT — Senators began their break no closer to enacting the crown jewel of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s agenda: a record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget. Hegseth hasn’t persuaded Republicans to steamroll Democrats and advance the money in a party-line plan, despite regularly trekking to Blue Light News and hobnobbing with lawmakers. Instead, an increasingly vocal group of GOP lawmakers argue the administration hasn’t explained why Republicans should burn valuable political capital in pursuit of Trump’s vision — especially with the midterms just months away.

Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy, Connor O’Brien and Mark Satter contributed to this report.