Congress

‘This is about attention’: Mike Lee’s MAGA crusade is driving his colleagues crazy

Published

6 months ago

March 21, 2026

Among online activists and in some corners of the Republican Party, Mike Lee is being heralded as a MAGA champion willing to pressure his own party to embrace hardball tactics or risk political suicide.

But inside the Senate, the Utahn’s scorched-earth, hyper-online methods are sparking a wave of mostly private animosity from GOP colleagues who believe his plan to push through legislation overhauling how federal elections are conducted is ill-conceived and potentially harmful to the party’s chances in the midterms.

They believe he doesn’t have a realistic path to passing the SAVE America Act, and they view him as seeking personal attention at the cost of sparking an ongoing intraparty feud, according to five Republicans granted anonymity to speak candidly about their colleague.

“That seems to be a self-serving attempt at elevating yourself at the expense of your Republican colleagues, and I don’t have any patience for that sort of stuff,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview about Lee’s social media strategy. Tillis, a retiring lawmaker who is not one of the five who spoke privately, lamented a lack of “strategic clarity” from Lee on the endgame for the elections debate.

Lee, however, shows no hint of self-doubt in news conferences and floor speeches — and, more importantly, late-night X streams and a constant stream of social-media posts — that the SAVE America Act is anything less than a make-or-break moment for American democracy.

“It would be a suicidal move for us as Senate Republicans, for Republicans in general, if we don’t put everything we’ve got into this,” Lee said at a news conference this week. ”We need to debate this as long as it takes to get it done.”

Lee’s office did not respond to a request for an interview with the senator or a detailed message seeking comment about the criticism he’s facing from colleagues.

‘He’s hurting us’

The inside-outside split that has emerged in recent weeks is the culmination of a long political evolution for Lee’s persona. He was once viewed as a bookish conservative with a libertarian bent but has now emerged as the Senate GOP’s most inveterate social-media poster — and a darling of the online right.

But it’s his strategy around the elections bill, which President Donald Trump has called his “No. 1 priority,” that has soured some of his relationships inside the Senate. Some Republican colleagues compared him to Sen. Rand Paul — the Kentucky gadfly who also has a history of sparking frustration within the Senate GOP ranks.

Republicans have circulated Lee’s online posts, including one saying that if a senator doesn’t support his tactics to pass the elections bill “you might need to replace them.” That kind of talk has some suggesting that Lee, who was part of a bipartisan coalition that helped pass a criminal justice bill during Trump’s first term, will have a hard time getting legislation passed in the future.

Frustrations have grown to the point that some GOP senators are privately wondering if they could remove him as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, according to two Republicans. Several other colleagues dismissed the talk as blowing off steam.

“He’s hurting us,” one of the two Republicans said.

Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring, has been willing to voice GOP colleagues' concerns about Lee's crusade.

Lee appeared to distance himself from the social media tactics when a Blue Light News reporter asked him during a news conference this week about concerns from his Republican colleagues and whether any had approached him directly.

“Every time I talk to activists, people who support this, I’m like a broken record telling them, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and I recommend encouragement and focusing on the positive elements of the bill,” Lee said. “They do what they do. It is what it is.”

Tillis brushed off Lee’s answer: “You’re telling people to be nice when you post a statement that says you should challenge them in primaries? How does that work?”

With a swath of GOP senators dead-set against bypassing the 60-vote filibuster threshold, Lee has argued that forcing Democrats into a “talking filibuster” will ultimately force them to negotiate and capitulate. That doesn’t make sense to many of his colleagues, who don’t see the Democrats ever providing enough votes to pass the bill.

And they fear Lee is selling a fantasy to his online followers, who believe failure should be at least partially pinned on the weakness of Republicans, not the opposition of Democrats.

“It’s the clicks,” one Republican senator said in an interview when asked what Lee wants to accomplish. “He goes too far. … He has almost no self-awareness.”

‘Maximum success in the Senate’

But Lee’s supporters believe his push has gotten at least some results. Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to call up the bill and start debate without a clear end date — something that is next to unheard-of in the modern Senate. And GOP ears perked up this week when Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Democrats weren’t opposed to photo ID requirements.

Rachel Bovard, a former Lee staffer who is now a vice president at the Conservative Partnership Institute, said her former boss is seeking to “represent a part of the base that feels unheard.”

“It’s encouraging I think for a lot of people to see that a single United States senator can still speak for them, the Senate still speaks for them,” she said.

Lee himself credited pressure from his army of online supporters for Thune’s decision to keep the Senate working through this weekend. He has credited the majority leader so far for implementing a version of the talking filibuster.

“Bullcrap if anyone says X isn’t real,” he said during a late-night stream hosted on the social-media platform this week.

Rep. Chip Roy said most of Lee's critics don't have the

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who authored the SAVE America Act in the House, said he and Lee worked together to set the bill up for “maximum success in the Senate procedurally — and now Mike is single-handedly trying to make the U.S. Senate actually work and debate.”

“To those Senators saying Mike Lee is doing this for attention — it’s utter bullshit and they should have the cajones to call the President and tell him that,” he added in a text message. “But it’s the Senate, so.”

Several Senate Republicans have praised Lee online and as they’ve appeared alongside him at news conferences this week. But many other Republican colleagues have kept their distance, not understanding how he intends to bring the fight to a close. A sixth GOP senator granted anonymity was not personally critical of Lee but described the process he unleashed as a “very chaotic situation.”

“He gets stuck on things,” the senator said, describing Lee as an adamant believer in the policy he is pushing.

As Thune outlined his plans for the bill during a closed-door Senate GOP lunch last week — which were widely understood to involve eventually subjecting it to a 60-vote hurdle — Lee was largely silent, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting.

Leadership ambitions?

Thune and Lee have kept in close touch behind the scenes as the Senate has taken up the bill.

“I think the key is to keep people’s expectations realistic and not overpromise. And that’s what I’m trying to do,” Thune said in an interview about how he felt Lee was handling the debate. He declined to comment on whether Lee was doing that.

While Lee has repeatedly asserted this week that he and his allies are winning, he also acknowledged that it would not be “good for the movement” if he started “planning for failure now.”

“If we do our job, and … Republican senators do their jobs, we will win,” he added.

Some of those Republican senators have spent time recently wondering about Lee’s motivations.

Four of the GOP senators said they believed Lee has higher ambitions. He once flirted with a leadership bid, something some colleagues believe he still aspires to, while others pointed to a potential Cabinet spot as his ultimate goal. Some of Lee’s most fervent online supporters have floated a run for Senate majority leader, with one raising the Supreme Court as a landing spot during a recent online meetup.

Lee, seen Thursday amid the SAVE America Act debate he sparked

“I think he’s frankly very frustrated that he’s not more than he is, that he feels like he’s passed over,” the first GOP senator said. Another added, “I think he looks in the mirror and thinks he’s leadership.”

While Lee has retweeted negative commentary about Thune from other users on social media, he has also encouraged his online followers to presume Thune is well-intentioned and told them that Thune was “handling this very well right now.”

Bovard was among several Republicans who dismissed the idea that Lee is using the elections fight as a political springboard.

“It’s kind of hilarious, because the Senate is so dead … and it’s so broken that if any senator leans into something and actually cares about something, the assumption is [it’s] because they’re running” for another office, Bovard said, adding that being the majority leader “seems like kind of a miserable job.”

Three Republicans said the point is moot. Given the way he’s operated inside the GOP conference, they predicted, Lee cannot win a leadership race. But during an X stream shortly after midnight Friday supporters told Lee that majority leader is exactly the job they wanted him to have.

“Look,” he said, “let’s just get the bill passed.”

Congress

House passes Russia sanctions bill, handing Trump more leverage against Moscow

Published

21 minutes ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House passed the sweeping Russia sanctions bill long championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday, sending the legislation to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature after more than a year of congressional maneuvering.

The 262 to 159 vote ends a nearly two-year lull in Ukraine assistance from Congress, which had not passed any major Ukraine efforts since a 2024 emergency aid package. The bill faced a number of obstacles on the path to the Resolute Desk, including significant opposition from some House Democrats who argued that the bill would give the White House too much tariff power.

After weathering a number of storms to make it out of Capitol Hill, the legislation is all but guaranteed to get Trump’s signature.

The long-anticipated legislation issues mandatory sanctions on Russia’s leadership and energy sector — as well as new sanctions on collaborators in Moscow’s defense industry and its so-called shadow fleet. Advocates of the bill, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have argued it would give the White House necessary tools to squeeze Russia economically, curbing the flow of funds to Moscow’s war machine.

But, to many Democrats’ dismay, the legislation also includes a 100% tariff on top buyers of Russian energy. Opponents of the bill have cautioned that the tariff provision would hand another cudgel for Trump to use against not only U.S. foes but also global allies — an action the White House has repeatedly taken since Trump returned to office.

“We cannot grant more tariff power that we know he will abuse,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said in comments on the House floor Wednesday.

Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that the tariffs would worsen the economic pain already felt by everyday Americans and that without a security assistance package or more air defense, they would not do enough to concretely help Ukraine.

In comments on the House floor earlier Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries outlined why he planned to withhold support for the measure.

“The manner in which this bill has been written doesn’t require the president of the United States to impose sanctions on Russia,” Jeffries said. “In fact, there are so many loopholes written into the bill, I believe, that it’s very unlikely that the sanctions relief contemplated in the legislation will ever see the light of day.”

That disagreement has caused a growing rift among Democrats in recent days. Fifty-eight House Democrats broke with Jeffries to vote yes on the measure.

In a letter addressed to House Democrats, Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) urged her colleagues to pass the legislation, warning that failing to do so would send a dangerous message to both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and other international foes.

“Congress’s failure to impose additional costs would send a dangerous signal,” Shaheen wrote. “The Kremlin is watching. Kyiv is watching. Our NATO allies are watching. So are Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang.”

Congress

Rand Paul kills Kennedy’s AI ‘kill switch’ bill

Published

1 hour ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Rand Paul blocked an attempt by fellow Republican Sen. John Kennedy to quickly pass legislation that would require companies to build a “kill switch” into their artificial intelligence model.

Kennedy, of Louisiana, went to the Senate floor Wednesday to try to pass his bill without holding a formal vote — a step that can be prevented by any one of his 99 colleagues. He argued that the measure was effectively a short-term step, with Congress unlikely to pass more sweeping AI legislation in the immediate future even amid fears that technological advancements could spiral out of human control.

“We are not going to get up off our ice-cold lazy butts and address this anytime soon,” Kennedy said about Congress’ inability to pass a more comprehensive bill. “But still we’ve got this risk out there that we know is real of one of these models becoming the Terminator.”

Paul, however, blocked Kennedy’s request to pass the bill through a unanimous consent agreement, saying from the Senate floor, “I think we should have as many facts as possible before we dictate rules for the whole economy.”

“I don’t oppose the spirit of this bill but I do ask that we make sure that we have all the information,” the Kentucky lawmaker added.

Paul tried to amend Kennedy’s bill to establish a group that could make recommendations on AI guardrail policies to the Senate Commerce Committee. Kennedy rejected that suggestion.

“My mama didn’t raise a fool,” he said, adding, “a committee is a way to kill this.”

Kennedy’s push for a vote comes after he told reporters Monday that he intended to roll out legislation and attempt to pass it this week, even while he acknowledged that he didn’t yet have any formal buy-in from his colleagues. He also appeared to know by earlier in the day Wednesday that he was running into a roadblock, saying in an interview that he expected Paul to offer a counterproposal.

Congress

House votes to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress

Published

4 hours ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House voted Wednesday by unanimous consent to hold billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with two congressional subpoenas sought by the Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

The matter is now in the hands of the Justice Department, which will determine whether to ultimately bring charges against Black. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It marks the first time a witness has been held in contempt over the course of the Oversight panel’s yearlong probe into Epstein and the web of powerful people who enabled his abuse for years before his conviction on sex trafficking charges.

“This vote is an important step towards justice and accountability,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California. “Leon Black has continued to defy two congressional subpoenas and we need to know why he gave Jeffrey Epstein $180 million dollars. We will continue to center the survivors in our fight to hold those responsible for these horrific crimes. We are just getting started.”

Black, according to the Oversight Committee, had a close personal relationship with Epstein for years as well as financial connections, with Black paying Epstein over $158 million. He was brought in for a transcribed interview with the panel members in June but refused to turn over certain nondisclosure agreements he entered into with women tied back to Epstein, resulting in subpoenas to compel their release.

Black has refused to comply with the demand, instead choosing to sue the Oversight Committee on allegations the leaders overstepped their authority in making their demands. It did not stop the committee from moving forward with contempt proceedings, voting Tuesday to recommend the full House take action.

“As a result of his extensive dealings with Epstein, Mr. Black possesses firsthand information regarding the activities of Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell and their efforts to establish relationships and curry favor with influential individuals while engaged in sex trafficking,” the panel said in its contempt resolution.

Susan Estrich and Aaron Cutler, Black’s attorneys, in a statement called the action against Black “politically motivated and completely retaliatory by a Chairman who is focused solely on himself and his own political ambitions without any regard for the truth and the law.”

“We intend to pursue our litigation challenging this action and will hold the Committee and Chairman [James] Comer [R-Ky.] accountable in the courts,” the lawyers added.

Comer, in a statement, said, “no one is above the law. Leon Black defied two subpoenas, and the U.S. House of Representatives acted swiftly to find him in contempt of Congress. We will continue to seek transparency for the American people and justice for survivors in our investigation of the federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein and [co-conspirator] Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases.”