Congress
Tom Cotton shares poll showing overwhelming GOP support for Iran strikes
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Monday shared with GOP colleagues results from a new poll that showed overwhelming support among Republicans for President Donald Trump’s strikes in Iran.
The poll is the first conducted of Trump voters since Saturday night’s efforts to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities.
Nine in 10 respondents support the airstrikes on the three facilities, according to the poll from GrayHouse, the polling and data analytics firm that has become a go-to for Senate Republicans. The survey included 450 people who voted for Trump last year.
The numbers are meant to undercut the idea that Trump’s hawkish pivot is dividing the Republican base, which has taken on an increasingly isolationist flavor since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Senate GOP conference spokesperson. Cotton is chair of the Senate Republican Conference.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have repeatedly criticized past leaders for bogging down the United States in foreign conflicts, and some on the right, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Tucker Carlson, voiced concern that the president was making a similar mistake.
But only 10 percent of respondents thought Saturday’s strikes were the same kind of military intervention that has led to long-term problems in the U.S. and only 13 percent thought strikes constituted a “war” with Iran.
The spokesperson said one goal of the poll is to show that the isolationist influencers “don’t remotely speak for Republican voters who back Trump’s effort as close to unanimously as you can be.”
Cotton, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have emerged as two of Trump’s chief defenders, arguing that a nuclear-armed Iran posed an existential threat to America and its allies.
Congress
Charles to argue for a strong US-UK partnership in address to Congress
King Charles will use his speech to Congress to help repair the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Britain that has been under strain over the Iran war.
The king plans to focus on reconciliation and renewal in a speech Tuesday before the House and Senate that is expected to run about 20 minutes, according to royal aides.
Charles will celebrate “one of the greatest alliances in history,” which has been tested as President Donald Trump complains about Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s reluctance, along with other NATO allies, to provide assistance to the U.S.-led attacks on Iran, the aides said.
He will reference the shared national security interests of the U.S. and the U.K., including NATO, the Middle East, Ukraine and the trilateral AUKUS pact with Australia.
Starmer’s handling of some of those issues has provoked criticism from Trump, who derisively referred to the prime minister as “not Winston Churchill” after the U.K. initially didn’t allow the U.S. to use its bases to bomb Iran at the beginning of the war.
When asked earlier in this month about his relationship with Starmer and the state of the U.S.-U.K. partnership, Trump told ITV News it was “not good at all.”
Charles is expected to acknowledge that tension by noting that the two nations have not always seen eye to eye, but that “time and again, our two countries have always found ways to come back together,” according to royal aides.
In his address, Charles also plans to tout the need to respect the rule of law and democratic traditions, and argue for the importance of trade and technology deals — a message that may go over less well with the administration.
Royal aides said the king’s remarks will also include a brief message of sympathy for Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Dan Bloom contributed to this report.
Congress
Oversight of WHCD ramps up on Capitol Hill
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, following a briefing Monday from U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran, said he saw “no indication” of a security lapse at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“It’s a challenge to bring that many people, 2,500 or whatever the number was … but they gave us a good explanation,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters of Curran’s presentation to himself and the panel’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Curran is currently making the rounds on Capitol Hill after a shooter attempted to blow past the magnetometers outside the hotel ballroom where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson and several Cabinet members were in attendance.
The incident has prompted members of leadership and key committee chairs to request briefings with Curran. He also met Monday with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.), according to a panel spokesperson, who added that they were trying to set up a briefing for all members take place later this week.
An aide with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the office had been in touch with Secret Service and the FBI and that the top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, expected to be “briefed soon.” Spokespeople for Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chair, did not immediately respond to a question about if he would also be briefed.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter Monday asking Paul to hold a hearing in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, saying it could be used “to assess the adequacy of presidential security arrangements and resources in the current threat environment.”
Paul didn’t address whether or not he would hold a hearing when talking to reporters Monday, but said that his panel would investigate the security posture around Saturday’s dinner.
“We’re looking into it,” Paul said.
Durbin, meanwhile, said it was not clear whether Grassley intended to call for a hearing with Curran, and that his counterpart had not committed to next steps his committee might take.
“I appreciate Secret Service Dir Sean Curran coming 2my office 2day 4 bipart briefing w me+Sen Durbin USSS is closely reviewing its security posture+the attacker’s bkground Overall Secret Service response has been swift&transparent I commend their bravery + ongoing work,” Grassley wrote on X.
Congress
Over 1,000 TSA officers have quit amid shutdown
More than 1,110 officers at the Transportation Security Administration have quit since the ongoing DHS shutdown began Feb. 14, a spokesperson told Blue Light News on Monday.
That’s a sizable jump compared with a week ago, when DHS on April 20 said that over 830 TSA personnel had departed the agency due to the record-breaking lapse in appropriations.
The latest figure, first reported by Blue Light News, could have implications for this summer’s FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June. The TSA spokesperson in a statement Monday said replacements need four to six months of training to “perform regular airport duties.” As of late March, there were about 50,000 TSA officers total, according to the White House.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that President Donald Trump via executive action has allowed DHS to “grab emergency funding” from last year’s GOP megalaw to pay department employees, but that money will be exhausted if the shutdown continues into the first week of May.
Should that occur, airport security lines could become snarled again, like they were earlier during the spending stalemate — which waylaid travelers across the country.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that a Senate-passed bill to fund most of DHS, including TSA, will have to change to get the House’s OK. That suggests there will be a further delay in reopening a large swath of the department.
During last fall’s 43-day federal shutdown, around 1,110 TSA officers left the agency, a 25 percent increase in separations compared with the same time frame in 2024.
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