What we’re watching: Thune and Johnson gameplan with Trump

Published

2 years ago

December 16, 2024

Blue Light Newsroom

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

🗓️ What we’re watching

President-elect Donald Trump met with Speaker Mike Johnson and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune in his suite at the Army-Navy game on Saturday to discuss how to implement his agenda, Playbook reports this morning. Johnson and Thune are anxious to get the internal debate over next steps settled, and both know only Trump can do the settling.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is taking aim at his party’s isolationist wing in a new op-ed in Foreign Affairs, a rare rebuke of Trump.
Trump renewed his push to end daylight saving time, calling it “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

👀 What’s Trump up to?

He’s making an announcement at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s secretary of Defense pick, told him that he would release the person who accused him of sexual misconduct from her nondisclosure agreement.
On Saturday, Trump chose Devin Nunes to run the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an independent group within the Executive Office that oversees the U.S. intelligence community’s compliance with the Constitution. Nunes was a former Republican representative from California and chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He is the current CEO of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social.
Trump’s national security adviser pick, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), said that the U.S. needs to take a stronger stance on consequences for foreign hackers following recent hacks targeting Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance by a Chinese-backed group. “We need to start going on offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us,” he told CBS News on Sunday.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Trump administration picks

Trump tapped businessman Bill White to serve as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Saturday. White stepped down as CEO of the New York Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in 2010 due to an investigation into a state pension scandal launched by then-Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo. He was a major donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Nvidia’s Huang heads to Capitol Hill for AI talks

Published

54 minutes ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will meet with lawmakers in Washington to discuss American leadership on artificial intelligence, the company said Monday.

A spokesperson for the chipmaker said Huang would hold talks with both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to talk about latest developments with the technology.

“Jensen is in DC to meet with leaders on both sides of the aisle to discuss American leadership in AI, including leading in open source,” the spokesperson said.

Huang is scheduled to sit down Tuesday with Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has expressed serious concern about security threats following last week’s OpenAI autonomous cyberattack.

The senator’s office confirmed the meeting. Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It comes as Huang defended open-source AI on X, writing that such models “strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.”

Huang’s visit comes as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also expected to meet with Warner, although a spokesperson for the senator said the talks were separate. Earlier Monday, Open AI announced it was in talks with Nvidia, a technology company that makes chips to use artificial intelligence, for a data center project.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Texas Republican is under House Ethics investigation

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics Committee said in a statement Monday it is investigating Rep. Lance Gooden, a four-term Texas Republican.

It’s unclear what the committee is probing, but the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent investigative branch of the House, sent over findings regarding Gooden to the committee June 10.

The Ethics panel plans to release an update on its investigation by Nov. 9. Committee representatives declined to comment beyond the statement.

In 2021, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint asking for an investigation into Gooden’s apparent failure to report his stock trades in a timely manner, which is a requirement under a federal law known as the STOCK Act. The complaint was sent to the OCC.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.