Congress
The Library of Congress is in limbo as GOP leaders question a Trump takeover
GOP congressional leaders have stood aside the past four months as President Donald Trump has attacked legislative branch prerogatives — shuttering agencies, canceling federal grants and imposing sweeping tariffs.
Now he’s meddling in their actual back yard.
A White House push to seize control of the Library of Congress over the past week has run temporarily aground due to quiet but firm resistance from Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the sensitive situation.
While they have not challenged Trump’s abrupt firing last week of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, they have questioned his power to name an acting successor and other library officials, including the nation’s top copyright official. That opposition has left Trump’s intended leader for the library, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in at least temporary limbo.
Asked Wednesday who is in charge of the library, Thune said, “I’m not sure that’s been determined.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said in a brief interview that Trump “clearly has the authority to remove a Librarian of Congress” but acknowledged questions about filling the vacancy: “We want to make sure all the — you know, everything’s followed correctly.”
The top leaders’ equivocal answers leave open the possibility that Blanche, previously Trump’s personal lawyer, could soon take control of the world’s largest library and its 162 million cataloged items, more than 3,200 employees and 1.6 million yearly visitors. Thune said Blanche’s team met Tuesday with staff from the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees the library, and “worked through some of the issues and questions that we had concerns about.”
“So I don’t know, officially … whether he’s in there yet or not,” Thune added.
The dispute over the library’s leadership has emerged as a fresh test for the separation of powers — and for how far Republicans on Capitol Hill will let Trump go when their own prerogatives are on the line. It’s especially stark given that the library, located across the street from the Capitol, is where lawmakers get their research, enjoy elegant dinners, host meetings and escort visitors into the ornate Reading Room. That’s not to mention its name.
“It’s the Library of Congress, after all, not the library of the president,” said Sen. Alex Padilla of California, the top Rules Committee Democrat. He is among numerous congressional Democrats who are raising alarms about a potential Trump takeover of the library and what it could mean.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called the attempted takeover “obviously a violation of separation of powers” and one he hoped “would finally cause Senate Republicans to respond.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called it “like a thumb in the eye to Congress.”
Beyond the concerns about interbranch relations, lawmakers and staff are anxious about potential White House access to and preservation of congressional data — including confidential dealings with the Congressional Research Service.
For now, Robert Randolph Newlen, who was Hayden’s top deputy, remains in charge as acting chief librarian. But Trump has acted to make changes deeper in the library ranks, also dismissing Registrar of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter over the weekend.
Two officials arrived Monday at the library’s Madison Building and sought to enter the premises, identifying themselves as Blanche’s deputies: Brian Nieves — a deputy chief of staff and senior counsel in Blanche’s office, who has been designated acting assistant librarian — and Paul Perkins — an associate deputy attorney general and veteran Justice Department attorney, who has been named acting registrar of copyrights and director of the Copyright Office.
The two men were turned away after library officials challenged the legitimacy of their appointments — a determination that came with tacit backing from congressional leadership offices. Newlen told library employees Monday that Congress had not offered explicit “direction” on “how to move forward” following Hayden’s dismissal.
Some rank-and-file Republicans are openly questioning how much control Trump or any president ought to have over an arm of Congress.
“If they are congressional employees, and I know that there’s a discussion on that, then they belong to Congress and not to the executive branch,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who sits on the subcommittee that funds the Library of Congress.
Under federal law, the president is empowered to nominate the librarian of Congress subject to Senate confirmation. But the library’s authorizing statute, which sets out a 10-year term for the top official, is silent on how they might be fired or replaced in an interim capacity.
The White House asserts that Trump has the authority to name an acting chief who can serve temporarily under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, like any other federal agency with a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed leader.
But many lawmakers on Capitol Hill insist the Vacancies Act does not apply to an arm of the legislative branch. “It’s clear the acting librarian is in charge,” Padilla said Tuesday, referring to Newlen.
Padilla met Tuesday with Rules Chair Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and said that Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “are part of the conversation as well.”
Thune told reporters earlier this week that congressional leaders were “not entirely” consulted before the White House began its purge. That might have been an understatement: The top House lawmakers overseeing the Library of Congress found out about the firings while on a trip together to Nashville.
Reps. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the respective chair and ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, were meeting with music industry representatives about artificial intelligence issues and enjoying live music at the iconic Bluebird Cafe when they learned of Hayden’s ouster. They broke the news to the group at a Friday morning roundtable focused on copyright just hours before Perlmutter was terminated as copyright chief.
Congress has previously acted to claw back control of a congressional arm from the White House, moving in 2023 to end the president’s power to nominate the architect of the Capitol and instead keep hiring and firing power solely in the legislative branch. Morelle is now proposing something similar for the Library of Congress, and several Democrats are speaking up in support.
“It’s not the president’s librarian, it’s Congress’s librarian,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who authored the legislation dealing with the architect of the Capitol.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Lisa Kashinsky and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
Senate Republicans confirmed dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees Friday, just before they leave for a five-week congressional recess.
Senators voted 51-47 to approve officials at the Departments of Defense, Energy, State and other agencies.
They included David Cummins to head the Transportation Security Administration, Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hal Duncan to be OMB deputy director and Francis Brooke to be Treasury deputy secretary. Among the group were several ambassadors, including former Rep. David Brat to be ambassador to Australia.
Senate Republicans changed the chamber’s rules last year to be able to confirm lower-level nominees as a package instead of having to hold a vote on each.
After finishing the expedited procedure Friday, Senate Republicans estimate they will only have a small number of civilian nominees awaiting confirmation.
President Donald Trump said voters may seek to punish Republicans — but not him — in the November midterm elections, as GOP lawmakers sweat that affordability concerns and the war in Iran could mean Democrats flip the House and perhaps even the Senate.
“They’re angry at Republicans,” Trump said in an interview with Punchbowl News that aired Friday. “But they’re not angry at me. They’re not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.”
The GOP faces the prospect of heavy losses this November, as gas and grocery prices remain stubbornly high due in part to the White House’s five-month-long war in Iran. The administration’s guidance on campaign trail messaging has been “tone deaf,” House Republicans fear.
Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has tumbled since he returned to the Oval Office last year, and even his biggest supporters have grown frustrated over his Middle East war.
And with a messy, jam-packed slate of primaries now all but in the rearview mirror, Democrats are determined to go on offense. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has 58 seats on its midterm target map that stretches into redder territory — while still facing an uphill climb to take the Senate.
Trump has a massive war chest at his disposal. His MAGA Inc. super PAC reached $400 million in June. The president told Punchbowl he plans to use it to “help Republicans,” but he stressed that he faces no pressure in this campaign cycle.
“I said to somebody, ‘Wait a minute, you don’t understand, I won,’” Trump said, referencing his 2024 presidential election victory. “I’m not campaigning.”
The biggest issue for Republicans this year? That Trump himself is not on the ballot, he said.
“If I don’t run, will those people go out and vote? And that’s the one thing I can’t tell, I’m going to ask them to,” he said.
The Senate’s plan to get out of town is coming together.
Majority Leader John Thune teed up a final vote on the Russia sanctions legislation for this morning, as well as a confirmation vote for dozens of nominees and a procedural step on a stopgap funding bill.
But there’s still a number of questions that need to be answered if Thune wants to adjourn for recess by the end of the day:
— BLANCHE’S FATE: President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general needs to secure at least one more vote to be confirmed before the break.
It looks like it’s all up to Sen. Bill Cassidy after Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday morning she is opposed. Thune indicated Thursday night Blanche’s fate was uncertain and that leaders were “still working to get the final vote.”
— SAVE AMERICA ACT: Thune said to expect a vote related to the SAVE America Act as well as an initial vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill — which includes elements of Trump’s election security legislation.
The decision to hold the budget vote comes after two Republican senators, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Blue Light News Thursday they believed Sen. Mike Lee or another member of the GOP’s right flank would have otherwise forced a vote on the framework.
But as we’ve previously reported, Republicans don’t believe the budget resolution has the votes within the conference to be adopted — meaning the expected initial vote today will fail to clear a simple majority threshold.
And it’s not clear Lee or like-minded senators will be satisfied and allow for lawmakers to adjourn for recess without more action on the elections measure. The senator has made similar threats over the past year but has never followed through.
— TIME AGREEMENT: GOP leaders need to strike an agreement to finish other business, including passing the stopgap government funding bill and advancing a college sports bill.
At this point, any single senator could still object to expediting the chamber’s agenda, which would derail Thune’s goal of getting members out of town by the end of the day.
“We’ve been having these conversations with Democrats trying to figure out what’s the path,” Thune said.
“We’ll see how it goes,” he added.
What else we’re watching:
— GOP EXPECTS CRYPTO BILL DELAY: The Senate will leave for the chamber’s August recess without holding a vote on a landmark cryptocurrency bill, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Thune may still file cloture on the bill, but it likely won’t come to the floor until lawmakers return to Washington next month, two of the people said.
— COLLEGE SPORTS BILL STUMBLES: Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell’s legislation to impose new guardrails on college sports is looking increasingly unlikely to hit the floor this week. Eleven senators objected to expedited consideration of the Protect College Sports Act after Thune filed cloture earlier this week, two people familiar with discussions told Blue Light News.
— OGLES OUSTED: GOP House leaders lost an incumbent — and a perennial headache — with Rep. Andy Ogles’ primary defeat in Tennessee Thursday night. His loss to former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher represents the second Trump-endorsed candidate to lose a primary this week.
Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy, Andrew Howard and Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.
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