Congress
Mike Rogers is not under consideration to lead FBI, top Trump aide says
An incoming top White House aide to President-elect Donald Trump on Friday shut down speculation that former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan would lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It’s not happening,” Dan Scavino Jr., Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff, wrote on X.
Scavino said he had spoken to the president-elect about Rogers, who for years has been floated to take over as FBI director.
Trump’s response, according to Scavino: “I have never even given it a thought.”
Rogers, a former FBI special agent and House Armed Services Chair who narrowly lost his Michigan Senate bid earlier this month, was endorsed by the FBI Agents Association in 2013 and 2017 to lead the agency. He was also under consideration for Defense Secretary before Trump tapped Pete Hegseth, Blue Light News reported.
But Rogers was also seen as an establishment figure — and with his Cabinet picks, Trump is doing all he can to subvert what his base calls the “deep state.”
Another reported top contender for the role, Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence Kash Patel, said he would “shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.”
Despite a stern message from party leaders, a panel of House Democrats did not settle on any particular consequences for the pair of lawmakers who crossed party lines Tuesday to advance an otherwise troubled slate of Republican-led bills.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and fellow leaders said the matter would be reviewed by the Democratic Committee on Caucus Rules, which convened Wednesday morning for a prescheduled listening session.
Attendees discussed possible changes to the rules that govern House Democrats’ conduct for next term. Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), the panel’s chair, suggested to reporters that discussion included what should happen if members vote with Republicans on procedural measures like the one Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) supported Tuesday.
“There’s been a variety of suggestions to change our rules, not just regarding the last couple days, but several suggestions that have been percolating for some time,” Levin said, while adding that any changes would happen only “in the next couple of months.”
The lack of urgency stands in contrast to the stern statement Jeffries and fellow leaders made Tuesday about the rogue members’ “breach of trust” — not to mention the rage some rank-and-file House Democrats are expressing. Some have floated removing the pair from their committees — particularly Gluesenkamp Perez’ seat on the exclusive Appropriations panel.
“Somebody else who is willing to think about other people needs to be on that seat, that exclusive committee,” said one House Democrat granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Jeffries, who was not present at the meeting, also seemed to have a speedier timeline for responding to Gluesenkamp Perez and Golden. He told reporters after the meeting wrapped that he was waiting on feedback from Levin and that the caucus would have conversations “amongst the family about the best way to move forward.”
Asked about his timeline for action against the pair, Jeffries said, “Sooner rather than later.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said he has no plans to campaign with embattled Rep. Max Miller — or visit his home state of Ohio at all — before the midterms.
“I have no plans to go to Ohio between now and the election,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “I’ve said everything I can say about the situation. It’s up to the people in his district.”
Miller is running in what had been considered a safe red district before allegations of abuse from his ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of GOP Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, exploded into public view in recent weeks. Ohio’s two GOP senators have called on Miller to resign.
Miller has denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to continue his reelection campaign. A spokesperson for Miller declined to comment.
Johnson said Monday that he supports Miller’s reelection bid and called him a “great member.” The House Ethics Committee is investigating the allegations, which include physical assaults on his wife and daughter.
“He’s running a good campaign,” Johnson said Wednesday. “He has a nasty divorce. He’s, of course, vehemently denied the claims made. And as I’ve said many times, we allow due process to play out.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is stepping into the growing debate over data centers, saying in a local news interview this week that the facilities should be “self-sufficient.”
“They ought to be able to take care of their own utilities, their own power, and that ought to be a given any place they go in the country,” Thune told a South Dakota TV station. “But they shouldn’t be going places where there isn’t support for them at the local level.”
The comments, which appear to be the first he’s made on the matter, come as the public pushback against data centers is growing amid concerns that the data center boom is driving up energy costs — fueling demands for a crackdown from across the political spectrum ahead of the midterms.
Some GOP senators have acknowledged in recent weeks that the issue is becoming a political liability for the party, while a handful of vulnerable House Republicans are pushing for action before the midterms.
Further complicating matters for party leaders, however, is that President Donald Trump lauded data centers in a Truth Social post, saying that “only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.”
While the social media message has been causing heartburn for some inside the GOP, it’s also appearing to give little breathing room to House GOP leaders back in Washington after the summer recess, who are now under pressure from some members to deliver a legislative response before the November elections.
Many GOP lawmakers are rallying behind a bill that would require states to consider adopting a federal standard that would ensure data centers cover the costs of the grid upgrades needed to serve them.
The so-called Ratepayer Protection Act passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July, while Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who is in a competitive race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, has companion legislation around which he is trying to build support.
- No immediate plans to punish rogue House Democrats for bailing out GOP
- Thune: Data centers should be ‘self-sufficient’
- Mike Johnson says he has ‘no plans’ to campaign with Max Miller
- Introducing Rep. Aisha Wahab
- Trump invites battleground Republicans to Rose Garden dinner
- Capitol agenda: GOP does Dallas? Not so much
- Republicans struggle for footing on data center response ahead of midterms
- Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine
- Hospitals say coming Trump administration rules are worse than GOP’s Medicaid cuts
- Congress warms to Trump’s Hollywood tax credit effort
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