Congress

Rubio report casts spotlight on Trump transition leaks

Published

2 years ago

November 13, 2024

News of Marco Rubio’s selection as Donald Trump’s secretary of State Monday night prompted a flurry of reports about Trump’s forthcoming announcement of one of his most important cabinet positions.

Except Tuesday rolled around, and now Wednesday, and Trump has yet to officially name Rubio as his pick.

As of midday Wednesday, more than 41 hours have passed since the New York Times reported Trump would tap Rubio, a report Blue Light News and other major outlets quickly confirmed.

The Rubio news was the most notable in a series of leaks in recent days about Trump’s still-forming cabinet — a stark contrast to the nearly two-year presidential campaign his team ran that was relatively leak-free. According to a count by Blue Light News, half the Cabinet and senior staff decisions so far were shared with the press first.

The Rubio non-announcement set off speculation — especially among those hoping to see Ric Grenell in the role — about whether his appointment was real or a leak meant to force Trump’s hand.

The leaks and lag time between reports about personnel decisions and their official confirmation has called into question whether his political operation, widely hailed as professional over the last two years, will continue as such into Trump’s second White House. Trump’s circle of influence is quickly growing as he has brought in additional transition advisers and is naming new administration appointees.

The confusion and apparent disorganization about staffing rollouts has even set off conspiracy theories within his MAGA base about whether the selections were actually Trump’s. And they have frustrated some of Trump’s longtime aides.

“The president is busy with people in his ear and he’s in meetings all day. And it’s difficult for his staff to get statements in front of him and approved at this point, unlike on the campaign where things were getting out the door immediately,” said a person familiar with the transition process granted anonymity to discuss internal dealings.

Some 18 hours passed between when the Wall Street Journal first reported Monday evening that Trump was appointing Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, and when his transition officially announced it on Tuesday afternoon.

Nearly 19 hours went by in the case of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. BLN reported in the early hours of Tuesday morning that she was tapped to be secretary of Homeland Security, later confirmed by an official statement Tuesday night.

A trickle of leaks about the four deputy White House chief of staff positions came on Monday and Tuesday — with Vice President-elect JD Vance confirming one of those on X — before Trump’s team announced late Wednesday morning that Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, James Blair and Taylor Budowich would each serve as co-deputy chiefs of staff.

Susie Wiles, Trump’s co-campaign manager, who he has since named White House chief of staff, was widely credited with preventing both unauthorized leaks to the news media and the infighting that was previously common within Trump world.

Now, finger-pointing has begun behind the scenes about who has been behind the leaks, and why they sought to get ahead of Trump or the official press office. It did not go unnoticed by some on Trump’s team that the leaks were going to top reporters at some of the mainstream outlets Trump rails against the most, like BLN and the New York Times.

An adviser to Rubio did not respond to a request for comment.

Here’s a look at the timing of cabinet appointees, from when they were first reported in the media to when an official statement was released:

Susie Wiles, Chief of Staff: Announced by Trump Transition on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 5:39pm
Tom Homan, Border Czar: Announced on Truth Social Sunday, Nov. 10 11:23pm
Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator: First reported by the New York Post at 3:10pm, then announced by Trump Transition on Monday, Nov. 11, 3:26pm
Elise Stefanik, UN Ambassador: First reported by BLN on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 9:50pm, then announced by Trump Transition on Monday, Nov. 11 at 4:03pm
Mike Waltz, NSA: First reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Nov. 11 at 6:30pm, then announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 1:16pm
Mike Huckabee, Israel Amb.: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 1:39pm
Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy to Middle East: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 5:04pm
Bill McGinley, WH counsel: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 5:33 pm
John Ratcliffe, CIA director: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 5:39 pm
Pete Hegseth, Defense secretary: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7:07 pm
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, DOGE: Announced by Trump Transition on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7:35 pm
Kristi Noem, DHS secretary: First reported by BLN around 1am on Tuesday, Nov. 12 and then announced by Trump Transition at 7:45 pm
Stephen Miller, James Blair, Taylor Budowich, Dan Scavino deputy chiefs of staff: Miller first reported by BLN Monday, Nov. 11 at 10:30am; Washington Post reported Blair, Budowich, and Scavino on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 1:30pm; Announced by Trump Transition Wednesday, Nov. 12, 10:41am

Still not confirmed:

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State: First reported by the New York Times Monday, Nov. 11 at 8:20 p.m.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Waters rallies support as rivals circle

Published

44 minutes ago

October 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The race to be the top House Financial Services Democrat could shape up to be a free-for-all.

Rep. Maxine Waters, 88, who has spent decades on the committee, faces a challenge from Rep. Sean Casten, 54, and a potential bid from Rep. Bill Foster, 71, a more moderate panel member.

And Rep. Joyce Beatty, a longtime ally of Waters and senior member on the panel, has been encouraged by some Democratic lawmakers and lobbyists to run, although she would only jump in the race “contingent on the current chairwoman not being able to have enough votes,” said a House Democratic staffer close to the committee granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive dynamics.

A spokesperson for Beatty said in a statement she’d be voting for Waters as chair.

Waters, a resistance icon and accomplished legislator, meanwhile, is already shoring up support.

“Unless there is an individual who brings the unrivaled experience and tantalizing toughness of Maxine Waters, I look forward to supporting her,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a member of both Financial Services and the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement.

The 50-plus member CBC is likely to bolster Waters’ bid, and Waters could also leverage her Los Angeles-area seat for support from the 43 Democrats in California’s congressional delegation. Beatty is also a CBC member.

Waters and her team have also been making calls this week to recruit members to whip for her, including moderate Rep. Josh Gottheimer and progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley, according to two people with knowledge of her outreach.

Waters is an outspoken progressive who can also tout a track record of dealmaking with Republicans. By tapping two members on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, she is casting herself as a unifier.

On policy, Casten generally aligns with Waters. But his backers insist he has a unique lane given a caucus-wide appetite for generational change.

One senior House Democrat, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they believe Casten will make the race a fight, and described a “widespread perception” in the caucus that octogenarians hanging on to leadership roles is “just selfish, and is not in the best interests of our caucus. We need to have the best team on the field.”

In 2024, a slate of younger House Democrats successfully challenged aging incumbents by pitching themselves as the fresh, energetic faces of their committees.

At that time, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stayed out of the fray, and he might again. A Jeffries spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

What else we’re watching:

— HOUSE DEMS LOOK FOR CLARK TO BRING ‘ORDER’: Democrats’ No. 2 leader wants a chamber reset after four years of routine floor meltdowns and speaker revolts in a GOP-controlled House. But if Democratic majority materializes, it will include progressives like Rep. Katherine Clark herself, as well as “majority-maker” moderates and a crop of new leftist lawmakers. “To handle a couple hundred members of Congress is no kid job,” moderate Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who would be the longest-serving House Democrat if she can win reelection, said of Clark, adding she’s well-equipped to “keep order in the House, get our business done on time.” Clark and Jeffries, are intent on neutralizing infighting and keeping the House focused on an affordability and accountability agenda to pave the way for a presidential win in 2028.

— LEE, CRUZ BACK JAN. 6 CO-CONSPIRATOR: Two prominent Senate Judiciary Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to review the disbarment of John Eastman for helping orchestrate the plot to overturn the 2020 election for President Donald Trump. Sen. Mike Lee, who is poised to be the top Republican on the panel next Congress, and Sen. Ted Cruz, wrote in a brief filed with SCOTUS Wednesday that the decision to revoke Eastman’s license to practice law in California was a result of political activists weaponizing the bar disciplinary process against attorneys on “the disfavored side of public controversies.” Eastman was criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona for his role in the scheme, and in April he was disbarred.

Chris Marquette contributed to this report.

Congress

Joe Manchin says he’s ‘tickled to death’ — over a deal on permitting reform

Published

59 minutes ago

October 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

There’s cautious optimism that Congress can pass a bill by year’s end to overhaul the federal permitting process for energy projects — even from the man who failed twice to land a deal.

“I think it’s well past 50%” that it gets signed into law, said former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia in a recent interview. He was referring to a deal his ex-colleagues have reached with the White House on legislation that would make it easier to build out the nation’s electric grid, prohibit any administration from trying to block certain projects and set less stringent deadlines for conducting environmental reviews.

“I really think President [Donald] Trump will sign, knowing that they’ve worked it hard. Knowing that both sides have worked hard on it — I think he will,” he said. “And I believe the Republican delegation will be able to explain to him how important and how good this is.”

A West Virginia Democrat-turned-independent, Manchin long championed “permitting reform” — a bureaucratic catchphrase that was once a Republican priority known largely among energy policy wonks, but which has since evolved to become a shared bipartisan goal.

Manchin drove that evolution, popularizing the concept in 2022 when he forced Democratic leaders to promise him a vote on the topic in exchange for taking the party’s big climate law off life support.

The effort failed as climate activists and their progressive Hill allies revolted, saying Manchin’s framework would disproportionately favor oil and gas projects over renewables; a follow-up attempt in 2024 again fell short, with many House Republicans uninterested in striking a deal on transmission policy.

Manchin retired in 2025; he is currently serving on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s energy advisory council while raising money for independent candidates for elected office. He has also remained engaged in the permitting debate, saying he continues to speak with some of the senators involved in crafting the overhaul package currently on the table.

His biggest piece of advice: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Senate negotiators released a permitting framework before breaking for recess ahead of the midterms; it builds on your past bipartisan proposals on this topic. What do you think?

I’m tickled to death. I hope they make it. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, as it has always been. Everybody wants a little bit more … but it’s something we’ve worked on for a long time.

Have you talked to any Democrats about this?

Everyone feels good about it. [New Mexico Democratic Sen.] Martin [Heinrich] feels good; I’ve talked to Martin. I’ve talked to [Colorado Sen.] John Hickenlooper, talked to [California Sen.] Alex Padilla, my friends here and there. They think it’s moving in the right direction.

Any advice for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who may have to wrestle with conflicting viewpoints in his caucus?

I trust [Rhode Island Democratic Sen.] Sheldon Whitehouse, and he’s all gung-ho on it. I think Sheldon carries a lot of weight there. [Hawaii Democratic Sen.] Brian Schatz carries an awful lot of weight in that community. I’m sure Chuck has been kept in the loop … I’m hoping we’re good in the Senate.

The thing that bothers me is — I remember in 2024, we tried like the dickens to get it done before the election. Once there’s an election, everyone starts flexing muscles and they think they’re King Kong and just things change.

You last tried to push a deal during the 2024 lame-duck session, after Republicans had just won a governing trifecta. Why do you think it fell apart?

[House Natural Resources Chair] Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) is one of the most competent, one of the most compassionate people I’ve dealt with — and Bruce just said his people wanted a lot more. And I said, “Bruce, we’re giving you a bipartisan bill that we did in the Senate.” But at that time, he was unable to get that because House Republicans said, “we just won everything,” and they just made it impossible for him to make the deal.

Do you think House Republicans will be more amenable this time around, even though they haven’t yet signed off on the agreement brokered in the Senate?

I don’t think they’re going to have the trifecta after this November election. I don’t think they’ll have the House and the Senate; let’s say that one of them flips. It would be advantageous for the president to say, “God, let’s take what we got right now, move forward. Let’s make it happen.” That would be very smart of them … to have that part of the legacy.

So you think a Democratic clean sweep in the midterms could boost the chance of passing a permitting bill?

I really do. Because if [Republicans] have the trifecta again after this … the House would have no incentive at all. And it looks like the toxic atmosphere that we have, and the power of the parties — that’s not the foremost thing that they are worried about. They are worried about their party power.

But what about the Democrats who don’t trust the Trump administration to make good on promises to allow clean energy projects to move forward?

The hardcore left have to realize that we need all the energy we possibly can muster up. You can’t get rid of coal. Coal will be probably eliminated because of the pure cost of it today, but natural gas is a major component of what’s needed for our country. Nuclear is coming on now. We’ve got to have the infrastructure, and I think if you’re coming from the environmental community or coming from the fossil community, we both realize that.

Is there anything you wish you had done differently in 2024?

If anything, I hope my friends on both sides understand: You work on what you can, agree on what you can, agree on what you know that both sides will accept and pass that. The lame duck is going to be the last best chance you have to get something moving in the right direction.

Congress

Why Democrats are looking to Katherine Clark to bring ‘order’ to the House

Published

59 minutes ago

October 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SANDUSKY, Ohio — After four years in a GOP-controlled chamber rocked by a speaker revolt, unchecked factional conflicts and routine floor meltdowns, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur stood before a crowd of campaign supporters and described a different kind of House majority.

Standing beside her inside a lakeside surf bar was Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 party leader who, Kaptur said, would restore “a sense of order” to the House if Democrats prevail in the midterms — putting Clark in line to be the first woman to serve as majority leader.

“To handle a couple hundred members of Congress is no kid job,” Kaptur said. “And I just cannot wait. We have so much disorder in the House now.”

That was a small nod to Clark’s emerging reputation as the Democratic Caucus’ enforcer — a tall, steely lawyer from Massachusetts who is unafraid of stern conversations on the House floor as minority whip — and the much bigger job she could have ahead of her.

If a Democratic majority materializes, it will include committed progressives like Clark herself, as well as “majority-maker” moderates and a crop of new leftist lawmakers, some of whom identify as democratic socialists. Clark and the party’s top leader, Hakeem Jeffries, are intent on squelching any infighting and keeping the House focused on an affordability and accountability agenda that will pave the way for a presidential win in 2028.

To that end, Clark has spent the recent weeks traveling the country and building relationships with a broad range of current and potential future lawmakers — including this northern Ohio swing.

“This isn’t going to be my-way-or-the-highway from any one given group,” she said in an interview, describing what she’s heard. “We’re not always going to agree. People disagree with calls I make as the whip all the time, but the point is to understand the caucus, pull us together on those common values and threads.”

The members, in turn, credit Clark with listening while recognizing the challenge of managing an ideologically diverse group of Democrats with diverging views on what exactly governing means.

“Part of doing that job well is getting to know the members,” said Rep. Emilia Sykes, whom Clark visited in her Akron-area district. “What makes them tick? Where you can push them to where you need them to be or not need them to be, and you only get that from getting to know people well.”

Kaptur, a moderate who would be the longest-serving House Democrat if she can win reelection, said she believed Clark is well equipped to “keep order in the House, get our business done on time.”

It’s a notable vote of confidence from a member in a working-class swing district quite unlike the highly upscale, highly educated, highly liberal Boston suburbs Clark herself represents — and especially because she has not been shy in recent months about expressing her views on flashpoint issues.

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Ohio) attends a campaign event with Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) at a lakeside surf bar in Sandusky, Ohio, on Oct. 9, 2026.

When Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment to end State Department aid to Israel, Clark was the top-ranking Democrat to agree — breaking with Jeffries and telling POLITICO at the time it was an opportunity “to say clearly that the status quo is not acceptable.”

About half of House Democrats sided with Clark, exposing a significant fault line that Republicans are sure to exploit if they land in the minority.

When asked about how the caucus would handle the Israel issue in the majority, Clark declined to outline a position, deferring to Jeffries and calling the topic an “ongoing discussion.”

“It’s not an easy one,” she said, “but I think that Hakeem has been clear that we, as the new Congress, are going to come together and decide where we want to move with that, and I think that’s the right approach.”

On another major left-wing litmus test for leaders — promoting “Medicare for All” legislation — Clark has a long history of support. Jeffries has also supported the measure but has faced criticism for not committing to putting the legislation up for a vote.

Clark, too, stopped short of guaranteeing a vote.

“Medicare for All means different things to different people, and I think what the specific legislative vehicle is, is yet to be decided,” Clark said. “Which particular bill or model we go for is yet to be determined, and every idea is one that’s on the table.”

Making a plan to confront tough issues is one thing, getting members to stick with the team is another, and Clark has been tested recently on that front.

After two Democrats — Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Jared Golden of Maine — joined with Republicans on a key procedural vote last month, essentially helping Speaker Mike Johnson out of a pickle, Clark reacted sharply — suggesting that Gluesenkamp Perez should lose her seat on the coveted Appropriations Committee. (Golden is retiring.)

The move was in line with her job as party whip, and it channeled the fury of many rank-and-file Democrats. But no punishment has been publicly announced for Gluesenkamp Perez amid a larger review of caucus rules around party discipline, and Jeffries told reporters last month there was “no daylight” between Democratic leaders on the matter.

Clark’s predecessor as No. 2 Democratic leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said that while “whip” might be in the job title, managing a legislative caucus can require a soft touch. He repeated advice he’d been given by one of his own political mentors.

“Don’t go through life in the rearview mirror,” he said. “What happened yesterday happened yesterday. What happens today makes a difference. … If you’re the minority leader or the whip, you need somebody the next day all the time.”

Asked if she is the “enforcer” on the Democratic leadership team, Clark emphasized she is not the sole disciplinarian but acknowledged that managing a caucus can require a firm hand.

“There are times when each of us takes on that role, and certainly in the whip position, that’s part of my job,” she said, adding that her general approach “is one of understanding where people are.”

Others have recognized her ability to play hardball, however. Rep. Sara Jacobs of California, who attended an Akron women’s conference with Sykes, told attendees that Clark has been an effective advocate in negotiations over child care funding.

“She’s fierce when she needs to be,” Jacobs said.

Clark herself cited caregiving — for children, the aging and the disabled — as a place she is looking to make a mark. Blocs of moderate and progressive Democrats have both outlined plans to tackle the issue in the next Congress.

“These are the issues that I can bring in a very different way to the leadership table and help influence the policies that are coming to the floor,” she said. “So there’s a lot to learn from predecessors, but no woman’s ever been a majority leader, and I really look forward to being able to bring a unique lens to that work.”