Congress

Negative signs for Gaetz as senators brush off questions amid Trump pressure

Published

2 years ago

November 19, 2024

A negative sign looms for Matt Gaetz: Nearly a dozen GOP senators won’t commit to confirming him for attorney general, saying they want to let the process play out.

And many, even if they aren’t insisting on seeing the potentially damaging House Ethics report on the recently resigned lawmaker, assume the information will have to come out.

“He’s got an uphill climb,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a senior member of the conference who said she looked forward to meeting with Gaetz and the Judiciary Committee’s review of the nomination.

Promising to follow the vetting process doesn’t mean senators will necessarily oppose a nominee, but it’s notable given GOP senators are clearly wary of crossing President-elect Donald Trump. And it contrasts heavily with more Trump-aligned senators, many of whom have indicated they will support Gaetz no matter what. Given the litany of allegations against the Florida firebrand, including that he had sex with a minor, it leaves plenty of room for senators to opt against him later. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Trump has called at least one senator personally to talk about Gaetz, and the attorney general nominee makes a few calls of his own. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he got a call from Gaetz on Thursday evening, and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said both Trump and Gaetz have called him. Cramer said Trump asked him to give Gaetz “a shot” and Cramer didn’t pick up the Gaetz call because he didn’t recognize the number.

“That was kind of the whole conversation,” Cramer said. “He’s the disrupter that the department needs. That’s the bottom line. And he doesn’t know that anybody else really will be.”

The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, as pressure intensifies on the panel to release their investigative findings about Gaetz — a report they’ve worked on for more than a year. The committee could vote to publish the report, bury it, or share it with senators. Many senators believe the report may come out in other ways if the panel tries to keep it under wraps.

Kennedy encouraged lawmakers on the committee to “follow the rules,” but added that “we live in a Washington, D.C., version of la la land and, as we all know, this place leaks like a wet paper bag.”

Incoming Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) refused multiple times to say whether he’d demand access to the House Ethics report on Monday, vowing his committee’s professional staff would obtain information on Gaetz. He added that questions on the former congressman’s conduct should wait until after confirmation hearings.

“You guys are all asking me these questions that would be better asked after the hearing, then we got some answers for you,” the Iowa Republican said.

Grassley declined to answer whether he would interview cooperating witnesses on Gaetz’s alleged conduct who have spoken with the House Ethics Committee.

Senators on the Judiciary Committee conducting their own investigation seemed to be a popular Plan B among lawmakers, if the House Ethics Committee doesn’t share the report. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Monday said that though he agrees with Speaker Mike Johnson in not wanting to disrupt the “integrity” of the ethics process, he sees that as “separate from the likelihood that whatever was in there is going to be released.”

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), seen as a likely swing vote, said of the prospect of seeing the Ethics report: “If I feel like I don’t have sufficient information down the road, I’ll make that known.”

Still, it’s unlikely a truncated Senate investigation would have the breadth of the unreleased House Ethics report. An attorney told ABC News on Monday that two of his clients testified to the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid them for sex — and one of the women added that she witnessed the then-congressman having sex with a 17-year-old minor in 2017.

There is a vocal group of GOP lawmakers who say they’ll back Trump’s nominee picks, including Gaetz, no matter what.

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t” be confirmed, said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who touted his strong rapport with Gaetz as a member of the House

“I’m gonna vote for Matt Gaetz,” said Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who said he didn’t need to see the Ethics findings.

Only Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have openly questioned the selection. Any nominee will be able to lose only three votes — with Vice President-elect JD Vance breaking the tie — to secure confirmation.

Democrats, meanwhile, are still eyeing ways to usurp the nomination. Some want to try and obtain information on Gaetz from federal agencies while they still have control of the committees, but not all members of the Judiciary Committee think that’s even possible.

“He’s made the nomination, and we’ll have to go through the ordinary process in the appropriate Congress,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Congress

How Talarico is countering Trump’s midterms convention

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

James Talarico is planning to counterprogram President Donald Trump’s GOP midterms convention in Dallas with a focus on affordability.

The idea from the Texas Democratic Senate candidate and seminarian: host a statewide “Love Thy Neighbor” food drive to offer a contrast with Republicans coming to town and highlight the high cost of groceries, according to plans shared first with Blue Light News.

“Next week, billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians will gather at a convention in Dallas to clink champagne glasses and toast their own corruption. They’re paying $20,000 for entry to a Billionaire Ball celebrating corrupt tariffs, billionaire tax breaks, and a new forever war that are all driving grocery costs through the roof,” Talarico said in a statement to Blue Light News. “We’ll be doing something different. We’re bringing Republicans, Democrats, and Independents together to collect groceries for our neighbors who have been screwed over by corrupt politicians.”

The campaign said it will “mobilize volunteers to collect, sort, and donate groceries for middle class Texans struggling with the high price of groceries.” The event will last from Sunday, Sept. 6 through Wednesday, Sept. 9 — the same day the GOP convention kicks off.

Talarico is also expected to field media interviews in a large warehouse near the convention.

“Texans across the political spectrum will come together to build community, show up for their neighbors, and take power back for working people,” the campaign said in a statement.

A recent poll conducted by Texas Public Opinion Research poll released last week showed Talarico leading ,his opponent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 48 percent to 42 percent.

Trump this week said he would campaign for Paxton soon.

Congress

‘I don’t think anyone is really comfortable’: Democrat leading on AI raises alarms at Trump, Zuckerberg call

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A House Democrat trying to lead her party on artificial intelligence policy sent a warning shot Friday to tech CEOs trying to undermine efforts to regulate the fast-growing technology.

In an interview, Rep. Lori Trahan raised alarm bells over a POLITICO report detailing attempts by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to personally discourage President Donald Trump from moving ahead with plans to establish an independent AI regulator modeled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.

“I don’t think anyone is really comfortable when they see tech executives who are sitting on the stage at the president’s inauguration, and have had to pay millions of dollars to this fund and that fund, calling the shots,” said the Massachusetts Democrat.

Allowing Zuckerberg to call the shots on the proposed AI commission would be tantamount to “a complete abdication of Congress,” Trahan continued. She also suggested would use her perch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to work with other Democrats to haul in industry executives like Zuckerberg to testify, should Democrats win back the House majority in the midterms.

“Congress’ job is to do oversight and to have those hearings,” she said. “And I think we would learn a lot from those hearings so that we can put pen to paper on thoughtful proposals. So yes, there have been a number of people, myself included, who have called for those hearings, and I think we’re going to continue to do that.”

Trahan is poised to be a major player in the coming weeks and months when it comes to AI, especially if Democrats prevail in the November elections and are forced to solidify a position on the subject; the party is currently all over the map.

Unlike other Democrats who have retreated to their corners to work on partisan proposals, Trahan has gone out on a limb by crossing the aisle to broker a deal on a bipartisan AI safety bill with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) — a package that was originally met with disdain by members of both parties.

She announced this week she would opt out of a run for a place in House Democratic leadership after being widely expected to make a play in the next Congress — in part, she said, to continue working on AI issues.

But Trahan’s comments Friday illustrate the deep distrust among Democrats, herself included, over the GOP approach to AI regulation — from Republicans waffling on whether they support the proliferation of data centers to Trump’s recent call with Zuckerberg.

Her calls are consistent with left-leaning members like Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has been at the forefront of the most aggressive proposals to crack down on top tech companies.

“The CEOs of Anthropic and OpenAI say that cutting edge AI could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons,” Casar said Thursday on X in response to the Blue Light News report. “But Trump is conspiring with billionaires for this technology to be regulated like … Hollywood movies.”

Trahan said Friday that “reasonable people can disagree on what regulatory construct we come up with” governing development and use of AI.

But, she added, “what I don’t think the American people agree with is that Mark Zuckerberg and President Trump are going to figure that out on a phone call.”

Congress

House Dem election leader’s message to states: Count faster

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats’ top election leader has a message for states ahead of the midterms: count faster.

“We are, I think, nicely trying to encourage people to do their balloting as quickly as possible, and that means hiring additional staff so that it doesn’t call into question results,” Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said in a Thursday interview with Blue Light News.

The advice is just one part of Morelle’s efforts to secure the midterm elections. He said Democrats have wargamed over 150 scenarios of how the Trump administration could attempt to interfere or complicate the November elections and its certification. He is encouraging states to have a “degree of urgency” when counting ballots to stave off Republican-led conspiracy theories about the reasons for delays.

Morelle said he is leaning on states to staff up on election officials to facilitate speedy ballot counting while emphasizing the process should still be “done properly,” “fairly” and that “we don’t want people with cast ballots not to have their ballots counted.” He is going to Los Angeles next week to deliver that message and meet with election security experts and election administrators — though he did not specify whom he is meeting with or where.

“We are trying to gently encourage people to staff up,” he said. Morelle added that if Democrats take the House majority, they’d “push for more resources for local and state administrators so they can hire additional capacity.”

Morelle has other big plans in the majority, including cracking down on dark money in politics, protecting voting rights and most notably, working on a bipartisan voter identification bill.

Asked whether he could accept some form of voter identification as part of a larger bipartisan elections package, Morelle said, “I’m personally not opposed to some form of voter ID,” adding that he has opposed multiple Republican-led proposals to tighten up identification requirements.

“I don’t know where my colleagues on the Democrat side will be, but I think voters think, ‘Okay, you show your ID for just tons of things. Is it really that much of a burden?’” he said. “And if it is, we’ll get state issued IDs or federally issued IDs to people who can’t afford it. So I do think that there’s hope for a bipartisan way forward, and I’ll be anxious to work with colleagues to do it.”