Congress

Trump allies to Gaetz: Don’t back down

Published

1 year ago

December 23, 2024

The release of a House ethics report that alleges former Rep. Matt Gaetz had sex with a minor makes his return to elected office more precarious — yet several allies of President-elect Donald Trump urged him to stay in the game.

“Gaetz has to come back,” Steve Bannon, the onetime Trump adviser, said Monday on his “War Room” podcast. “Gaetz must return like Trump returned. Don’t back down — double down.”

The Republican ex-representative has denied the allegations in the 37-page ethics report that include accusations of illegal drug use and soliciting prostitutes. A Department of Justice investigation into his conduct yielded no charges.

Gaetz was forced to drop out of the confirmation process to be the next attorney general under Trump — in part due to concerns from senators over the ethics report. He had already resigned from Congress shortly after Trump announced him as the pick.

In recent weeks Gaetz has floated running for governor of Florida, Senate or returning to the House. Supporters like state Sen. Joe Gruters, whom the president-elect endorsed for Republican National Committee treasurer over the weekend, insisted he could still contemplate a return to public office.

“Matt Gaetz was fully cleared by a highly partisan DOJ, and the release of this report serves no purpose other than to attempt to damage his reputation by those with personal or political grievances against him,” Gruters said. “The public can see through these tactics, and Matt Gaetz continues to have a bright future in elected office or any other path he chooses to pursue.”

Asked about Gaetz’s political future, Florida-based Republican political operative Jamie Miller also raised the absence of DOJ charges and said that the newly released report put the matter in the “court of public opinion.”

“There doesn’t seem to be new information in this report that hasn’t been previously leaked,” he said. “The question becomes, does the public believe that these were youthful transgressions or do they see them as character flaws?”

A representative for the Trump transition did not immediately respond to questions over whether Gaetz might be considered for another role in the incoming administration.

Gaetz has a job lined up beginning in January, when he’ll be anchoring his own primetime show on the conservative One America News Network. Prominent trial attorney John Morgan also told Blue Light News that he and Gaetz were discussing the possibility of him joining his firm, Morgan & Morgan.

Morgan was untroubled by the ethics report. He said he didn’t know if the allegations of illegal drug use were true, but argued that “many people” have used drugs. He also said Gaetz would have been prosecuted if the allegations of sex with a minor were true.

“If we start making people guilty based on rumors and vendetta then we are not who we are supposed to be,” said Morgan, who is friends with Gaetz but has given generously to Democratic campaigns over the years.

Gaetz could still become governor of Florida if he were to run when Gov. Ron DeSantis is termed out of office in 2026, given that he could win a plurality of voters during a Republican primary, Morgan added.

Gaetz never faced a difficult election in his ruby-red district, though after he led the push for ousting Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, the California Republican tried to wage a revenge campaign by unsuccessfully backing a GOP challenger in the 2024 election cycle.

One Florida-based Republican lobbyist, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the fact that Gaetz had dropped out of the running for attorney general was worse for his political prospects than the ethics report release, given that Gaetz could cast the latter as a McCarthy-establishment move. But Trump had not shown a willingness to fight for Gaetz to be confirmed as attorney general.

The person refused to rule out the possibility that Gaetz’s political future was over, citing Trump’s ability to overcome indictments, convictions and impeachments.

“In the age of populism anything is possible,” the person said.

David Custin, a Republican political campaign consultant who counts Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez among his clients, agreed that Gaetz could still return to elected office.

“If the past decade in Florida and USA politics have taught us anything, it’s that you can’t merely dismiss someone’s political future based on accusations of wrongdoing,” he said. “Rep. Gaetz is innocent until proven guilty. His high IQ, political strengths and talent mean that his political future isn’t limited.”

Gaetz floated coming back to Congress for a limited time, in light of the fact that the special election for his replacement is set for April 1. He said on X last week that he was considering going to Congress to be sworn in with the new House then file a privileged motion to “expose every ‘me too’ settlement paid using public funds” of former and current members. Afterward, he would resign and head to OAN.

Throughout the day on Monday, Gaetz posted on X what appeared to be transcribed interviews with witnesses, calling different allegations into question including that financial gifts to women could be characterized as prostitution.

“There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses,” he wrote.

Speaking at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in Phoenix on Sunday, Gaetz was coy about his future in politics, after acknowledging that there was “writing on the wall” surrounding his attorney general nomination that “would cause a delay of the important work that we see ahead.”

“Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress,” Gaetz said. “It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate, maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks.”

“But for the moment, I’ll enjoy being one of you,” Gaetz told the crowd.

Rubio’s seat will open up for an election in 2026 given that the senator is expected to be confirmed as secretary of state. Starting early next year, however, DeSantis will appoint someone to fill the seat in the meantime and that person could subsequently run for the seat as an incumbent.

No candidates have yet announced a Florida gubernatorial run for the 2026 contest. Trump hasn’t weighed into the forthcoming race, but his endorsement would likely carry significant weight, just as it did when he backed DeSantis during the 2018 Republican primary.

Several Florida Democrats have made it no secret that they hope Gaetz is the 2026 gubernatorial nominee so that they can have a shot at elected office in a once-battleground state that has swung heavily to Republicans and Trump in the last couple of election cycles.

“The findings from the House Ethics Committee report confirm that Matt Gaetz belongs nowhere near the halls of Congress or in any other elected office,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, who used to be friends with Gaetz several years ago when she was a marijuana lobbyist. “The truth always comes out in the end.”

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate to confirm Jay Clayton as soon as Thursday

Published

27 minutes ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate could vote as soon as Thursday on Jay Clayton’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence — a lightning speed pace that will necessitate buy-in from all 100 senators.

Confirming Clayton could help shore up enough votes from Democrats to extend a government surveillance program that expired last Friday over opposition to Trump’s pick for acting director, Bill Pulte.

“He will come out of the committee Thursday, at least hopefully, and then if we get consent, we can move,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview Monday about Clayton, who Trump only nominated for the job late last week.

Democrats “ought to be happy with Clayton,” said Thune, adding that he’s a “good” and “solid” pick.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, floated Sunday to CBS News that Clayton could be confirmed this week if every senator cooperates.

Senate Intelligence will hold a hearing Wednesday on Clayton’s nomination. If every member of the panel agrees, he could then get a committee vote Thursday. Confirming Clayton on the Senate floor hours later would require getting agreement from every senator to speed up the process. Opposition from a single member will punt Clayton’s confirmation to next week.

Confirming Clayton Thursday would, crucially, limit — and potentially circumvent — Pulte from becoming acting director of national intelligence, which Trump has slated to take place Friday, June 19.

The president’s decision to put Pulte in charge after Tulsi Gabbard’s departure at the helm of the Office of National Intelligence sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats saying they will withhold support for extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Pulte is in the acting role. Congress allowed the key government spy authority lapse last Friday without a deal.

Trump threw another curveball into a FISA extension over the weekend when he posted on social media that he was against reauthorizing Section 702 unless a GOP elections bill is attached. That bill, known as the SAVE America Act, does not have the votes to get through Congress.

Thune threw cold water Monday on tying the two issues together.

“Yeah, he’s, as you know, passionate about getting that done and wants to use every opportunity to take a shot at it,” Thune said of Trump and his desire to enact the elections bill.

But, Thune said, “we can’t get FISA done” if the policies are linked.

Congress

Senate eyes vote on updated housing affordability legislation

Published

2 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning to put an updated version of a bipartisan housing affordability bill on the Senate floor for a vote this week, according to two people familiar with the bill dynamics and two Senate Democratic aides granted anonymity to discuss ongoing plans.

The version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that the Senate will vote on will include most of the House-passed language, including a provision restricting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The legislation would also add back Senate bills that were dropped from the House package that passed last month, the two people and the two aides said.

The Senate legislation comes after talks between Thune, Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The updated Senate package was also discussed with the House and the White House, the aides said.

Still, it’s unclear if House leadership and the White House have signed off on the legislation.

The Senate and House have gone back and forth for months on language for a housing affordability bill as lawmakers on both sides look for a win to tout during a midterm election season dominated by cost-of-living issues.

Both chambers overwhelmingly passed their own versions of the housing bill — the Senate 89-10 in March, and the House 396-13 in May. The White House supported the Senate-passed bill and then backed the House-passed bill after it retained most of the Senate’s language on reining in private equity and other large Wall Street investors in the housing market — a top priority for President Donald Trump.

The Senate’s updated legislation would remove two of the House’s community banking deregulation bills due to budget scoring concerns, said two of the people familiar: two bills that would modify the Federal Deposit Insurance Act around failed insured depository institutions. The Senate bill also added back a provision to authorize the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program for seven years, as opposed to a permanent reauthorization in the Senate’s March legislation.

The Senate additionally re-inserted several upper-chamber priorities, including the BUILD NOW Act, which would incentivize communities to build more housing through the Community Development Block Grant program; the Rental Assistance Demonstration bill, which would raise the cap on housing authorities to convert voucher-based assistance; the Moving to Work bill, which would aim to add a new cohort of MTW public housing agencies; and the VALID Act, which would require Federal Housing Administration mortgage disclosures to include cost comparison information for veterans.

The package retains core wins for the leaders of both the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees and their members and reflects input from all four leaders of those panels, one of the people familiar said.

Congress

Capitol Agenda: The new faces of the Freedom Caucus

Published

6 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Freedom Caucus is suddenly confronting an unsettled future after more than a decade at the center of GOP politics on Capitol Hill.

Some of its most prominent members are leaving Congress next year after seeking higher office, including former chair Rep. Andy Biggs and several media-friendly voices like Reps. Chip Roy, Byron Donalds and Ralph Norman.

Meanwhile, the group’s current chair, Rep. Andy Harris, is term-limited.

Who will step in to fill the shuffling ranks and maintain the caucus’ role as a hard-right vanguard is very much in question — especially as the group faces a potential shift to a Democratic House majority, which has historically made them less pivotal, and the looming transition to a Republican Party without a President Donald Trump.

The group — which is no stranger to reinventing itself — has a number of relatively unknown members ready to become the new faces of the hard right in the House.

— ERIC BURLISON: The second-term Missouri congressman and current HFC board member said he is considering running to be the next chair.

Last summer he was a vocal member demanding the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and has become a leading Republican pushing for more information on UFOs.

— ANDREW CLYDE: Another board member, Clyde has amassed significant power by Freedom Caucus standards by winning seats on the Appropriations and Budget panels.

He said in an interview he had not yet thought about running for chair but noted that “you don’t have to be the chairman to have outsized influence.”

— BRANDON GILL: This Texas freshman, the youngest sitting House Republican, is already seen as a rising star in the House GOP.

He’s made a name for himself through provocative social media posts and splashy legislative moves, such as seeking to impeach James Boasberg, the federal judge who ruled against some of Trump’s deportations last year.

Gill has said he wants to emulate Rep. Jim Jordan, the only founding member of the caucus still serving in the chamber.

— CLAY HIGGINS: Another board member and a more senior member of the group, Higgins said he has not ruled out seeking the chair post but is also “not interested in campaigning” for the job.

Higgins was the only lawmaker to oppose the release of the Epstein files. He said in an interview he’s hoping the group focuses more on policymaking in its next iteration rather than obstructing leadership prerogatives.

— ANDY OGLES: Inside the HFC, Ogles has emerged as a serious force over two terms, with his name floated for chair even before the end of his first term.

He also did not rule out running for chair or another caucus leadership position in a recent interview.

What else we’re watching:

— THUNE RACES TO BREAK SPY POWERS LOGJAM: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is racing to try to confirm the next director of national intelligence and end a stand off over extending a key surveillance power before members break for two weeks. The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing for Jay Clayton Wednesday — less than a week after the chamber formally received the nomination from the White House. Getting Clayton confirmed is a crucial step to unlocking Congress’ willingness to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

— ANTI-FRAUD OPTIONS FOR RECONCILIATION 3.0: Republican leaders say proposals to crack down on fraud in federal safety net programs could be included in another reconciliation package this year. Turns out, a menu of options is developing in plain sight: Just look at the stack of about a dozen bills the House has passed in recent weeks to prevent waste and abuse.

Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.