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DOJ tells Republicans that Epstein files even worse for Trump than they thought: report

Several House Republicans have reportedly heard from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein documents are especially compromising for President Donald Trump.

That's according to reporting from former MSNBC, CNN and Fox News reporter David Shuster, who posted to his X account on Wednesday that there is "speculation/rumors sweeping through [the] GOP caucus" about the details of the Epstein files.

"A few GOP house members say they’ve heard from FBI/DOJ contacts that the Epstein files (with copies in different agencies) are worse than Michael Wolff’s description of Epstein photos showing Trump with half naked teenage girls," Shuster wrote.

Shuster is likely referring to an October interview in which Trump biographer Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast that he had personally seen "about a dozen Polaroid snapshots" of Trump and Epstein, in which Trump was photographed with several topless young women on his lap. Wolff said Epstein pulled the photos out of a safe and spread them out "like a deck of cards" on his dining room table. The author told the Beast he saw the photos while visiting Epstein's home at the convicted sex offender's invitation, as Epstein wanted Wolff to write a book about him.

The veteran journalist further reported that Republicans were "spooked" by Attorney General Pam Bondi's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, after she refused to answer a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) about whether she had personally seen the photos after the contents of Epstein's safe were confiscated. After Whitehouse asked her about the photos, Bondi then questioned him about receiving campaign donations from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who associated with Epstein.

"She didn’t give a denial," Shuster wrote.

According to Shuster, Republicans' anxiety about the contents of the Epstein files is compounded by "more than 100+ Republicans" who are reportedly planning to vote for the bipartisan discharge petition by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), which only needs one more signature in order to force a floor vote. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz), who won a late September special election to fill the seat vacated by her late father, promised to be the 218th and final signature on the discharge petition, though she has yet to be sworn in.

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'I don't see the best economy': MAGA voter begs Trump to 'please do something' about costs

President Donald Trump is now hearing directly from his financially strained supporters who are struggling under the weight of skyrocketing costs of living.

The Daily Beast reported that during a Wednesday interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Trump argued that Republicans mainly lost Tuesday's elections due to playing catch-up with Democrats on the issue of affordability. Baier then read a message to Trump from North Carolina Republican voter Regina Foley, who said she voted for Trump in the past three elections but that she was "not happy" about skyrocketing costs.

"I want the Republicans to keep control of Congress in 2026, but something HAS to be done fast!” Foley said. "I don’t see the best economy right now. Wall Street numbers do not reflect my Main Street money. Please do something, President Trump."

Trump then launched into a spirited defense of his second-term policies, acknowledging that while the prices of certain items are high, Democrats are unfairly exploiting the term "affordability."

"We've done so much, energy is way down. Look at energy. We'll have $2 gas. That brings everything else down. Groceries are way down other than beef," he said. "... Our country is doing well. The stock market is hitting record highs, like 48 times during my nine months ... They have this new word called affordability and they don't talk about it enough. The Democrats did, and the Democrats make it up because we took over a mess. Think of energy. Energy was so expensive, and now I have it down to half what it was."

Earlier on Wednesday, Baier himself warned Republicans about being aware of difference between the performance of the stock market, and the daily realities of American families dealing with high costs of food, healthcare and housing.

"This dichotomy between how Wall Street’s doing and how big business is doing and how you feel about it at home is something Republicans really have to look at closely," Baier said.

Trump's comments on grocery prices are also inaccurate: In September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that grocery prices are up by 29 percent on average since February of 2020. Consumer Price Index data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that the U.S. city average for food prices is at an all-time high.

Click here to read the Beast's full report (subscription required).

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'Something unwell about her': Republicans say Nancy Mace 'having a sharp mental decline'

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is rapidly becoming a pariah among her Republican colleagues, according to a new CNN report.

In a Wednesday segment, CNN host Jake Tapper detailed how House Republicans, staffers and consultants are all becoming more vocal in their belief that Mace is in the midst of a mental health crisis. He began the segment by noting that two of her Palmetto State colleagues — Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — have publicly distanced themselves from her following Mace's profane outburst at police officers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who were escorting her to a flight.

"It is never acceptable to berate police officers, airport staff, and TSA agents who are simply doing their jobs, nor is it becoming of a Member of Congress to use such vulgar language when dealing with constituents," Scott wrote in a Tuesday post to his Facebook page.

Tapper then observed that Mace "has since posted dozens and dozens and dozens of times about the incident," including a recent press conference in which she doubled down on berating airport police and TSA personnel over a miscommunication about where to meet her upon her arrival at the airport (they located her within minutes of the mix-up). According to the incident report, Mace called officers "f—— incompetent" and said "this is no way to treat a f—— U.S. representative."

"Did I drop an f-bomb? I hope so. Did I call them incompetent? I hope I did. Because they earned it," Mace said. "So I am not going to apologize for holding people accountable."

Tapper reported that Mace's "outlandish" and "erratic" behavior has also alarmed many of her GOP colleagues in the House of Representatives. Wesley Donehue, who is Mace's former political consultant, tweeted this week that it was "time for Nancy Mace to resign and get the help she needs."

According to Tapper, multiple "House Republican sources" say they "have watched her behavior get increasingly odd" before the dust-up at the Charleston International Airport. He also quoted an unnamed "former senior staffer" for Mace who said that her behavior "went from kind of funny to devastatingly sad in terms of her not getting help and displaying this behavior on a national stage."

"One House Republican tells me that Mace's colleagues are 'totally befuddled with her' and that her actions have become 'a big question' within the conference," Tapper said, adding that the source communicated that "the general feeling is there is something unwell about her. She's really going through a crisis. It's sad."

"In a statement to CNN, Donehue — her former consultant — tells me: 'Over the past two to three years, Nancy Mace has been having a sharp mental decline. I'm no doctor, but that's what I believe,'" Tapper reported.

"'She went from being very reasonable person to being someone who cannot control her emotions,'" Donehue continued, per Tapper. "The House Republican told me that there isn't any real infrastructure for the House Republican leadership to deal with this type of situation."

Watch the segment below:


- YouTube www.youtube.com

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'There's nothing that could move me': 7 GOP senators give Trump a 'hard no' on new demand

President Donald Trump's initial response to Republicans' lopsided losses in multiple elections on Tuesday night was to call on Republicans to end a longstanding practice in the U.S. Senate in order to ram through his policies with minimal opposition. But multiple senators are already pouring cold water on the proposal.

In a series of Truth Social posts Tuesday night, Trump demanded that Senate Republicans "TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER" and make it possible for the GOP to pass restrictions on voting, ban mail-in ballots and impose a national voter ID law, among other policies. As long as the filibuster remains in place, those policies would need 60 votes in the Senate in order to clear the upper chamber of Congress (Republicans currently have just 53 seats).

However, Semafor correspondent Burgess Everett reported Wednesday that scrapping the filibuster isn't likely anytime soon, according to multiple Republican senators. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) all communicated to Everett that the idea was a non-starter.

"There’s nothing that could move me," Tillis said.

Additionally, Bloomberg congressional reporter Steve Dennis tweeted that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was the top Senate Republican for more than a decade, stopped him in a Capitol hallway and said of abolishing the filibuster: "We're not going to do that."

There are likely more than just those seven who are opposed to eliminating the filibuster, according to Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who told Everett that several more of his colleagues are not fans of the idea.

"There’s 10 to 15, probably, hard no’s in the Senate," Daines said. Let’s focus on getting the government back up here with 60 votes. I think we’re getting close."

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) told Semafor that Tuesday's elections may prove to be a turning point in negotiations to end the ongoing federal government shutdown, which officially became the longest in U.S. history this week.

"There are some changes in circumstance with regard to the president weighing in, and we’re going to see how those shake out — saying ‘the shutdown needs to end’ … I think it will catch the attention of Republicans," Baldwin said.

Click here to read Semafor's full report in its entirety.

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'Let me clean it up': Head of conservative group begs to keep his job amid civil war

Kevin Roberts, who is president of the Heritage Foundation (the group behind the far-right Project 2025 playbook) is now scrambling to remain in his role as his organization continues to splinter.

Roberts made headlines recently when he refused to disavow former Fox News host Tucker Carlson following Carlson's friendly interview with white nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes. Roberts' defense of Carlson was deeply divisive within Heritage, and prompted the group's workforce to split into camps with some pro-Fuentes staffers at odds with Heritage workers opposed to Fuentes (who regularly praises Adolf Hitler and frequently makes anti-Semitic remarks).

The conservative Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday that Roberts is now admitting that he "made a mistake" when defending Carlson and regretted not taking a more vociferous stance against Fuentes and his ideology. Roberts said he felt a "moral obligation" to take back his previous comments.

"I made a mistake and I let you down and I let down this institution. Period. Full Stop," Roberts said during a recent all-staff meeting at Heritage. He also told Heritage's board of directors: "I made the mess, let me clean it up."

In his defense of Carlson, Roberts said that wouldn't be a participate in efforts to attack "friends," though on Wednesday he said he regretted not condemning the former Fox host's "softball" interview with Fuentes (who once dined with President Donald Trump and rapper Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago in 2022) or giving him a platform to help him spread his views to millions of viewers. Roberts maintained he "didn't know much about this Fuentes guy."

"We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda," Roberts initially said. "That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation."

Roberts faced significant pushback from Heritage staffers during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting. National Review correspondent Audrey Fahlberg reported Wednesday that one "young female staffer" directly confronted Roberts for not only standing by Carlson, but for not denouncing him sooner.

"I condemn Nick Fuentes's hateful rhetoric," the staffer told Roberts. "That being said, I would like to point out that some of the most vocal people against Tucker Carlson have been calling him an antisemite since he started to hold more anti-interventionalist views."

Click here to read the Free Beacon's full report.

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'It's coming for you': Analyst reveals 'terrible news for red America'

Tuesday night's elections across several states delivered overwhelmingly positive news for Democrats. But one columnist is also directly warning MAGA Republicans that the lopsided victories for diverse candidates signifies that the GOP is badly losing its culture war.

In a Wednesday column for the San Francisco Chronicle, op-ed columnist Drew Magary announced he had "terrible news for red America" in that their war on "woke" had clearly failed given Democrats' victories on Tuesday night. He pointed out that Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race, Abigal Spanberger won the Virginia gubernatorial race by promising to build more affordable housing and Democrat Mikie Sherrill was elected to be the New Jersey's next governor after promising to codify abortion protections in the Garden State's constitution.

"Everywhere you looked, woke or woke-adjacent candidates won big," Magary proclaimed. "Even more distressing, the state of Woke-ifornia just voted YES to a gerrymandering plan."

"Because Tuesday, amid the fiery embers of a self-immolating democracy, woke staged an electoral renaissance, and now it’s coming for you," he added.

Magary went on to argue that he felt no sympathy for MAGA, as last year he "watched as American voters handed the country over to a criminal enterprise headed by a broken television set" and has since "spent the near entirety of 2025 watching that enterprise eat its way through this country’s federal workforce, its military, its legacy media and even the White House itself." He observed that "woke was felled by this onslaught, and outright bigotry had become the new order."

However, Magary opined that Tuesday marked a significant change in that order, as voters came out specifically to vote for "woke" candidates and policies, saying: "These people spent eight months living in a woke-free America and collectively decided, 'We don’t want this.'"

"What we DO want is to be left the f—k alone. Contrary to what Ted Cruz might tell you, that’s what woke does," he wrote. "Woke lets you drive around town without the threat of a cop pulling you over to gun you down. Woke lets you be gender fluid without an emergency PTA meeting springing up outside your door. Woke lets you go to college without entering into a modern sharecropping agreement. It lets children read, lets every citizen be able to vote without a fuss, leaves the original recipe for Tylenol intact, and endeavors to keep our air and water clean. Woke, in other words, is good."

"You conservatives tried to kill woke, only for it to mount an impressive comeback," he added. "I hope that leaves you triggered, and I hope no one offers you sympathy for it."

Click here to read Magary's full column.

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Newsom responds to Republicans' lawsuit against new district maps with three-word taunt

This week, Californians voted overwhelmingly for Prop 50, which replaces the Golden State's current U.S. House of Representatives district map with a new one designed to give Democrats an edge in five Republican districts. The California Republican Party (CAGOP) is now suing to stop the new maps from taking effect, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is doubting that the suit will succeed.

According to Politico, the CAGOP sued in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, claiming the new maps Prop 50 puts in place violate the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution on the basis of race, "without cause or basis to justify it." The 14th Amendment contains the Equal Protection Clause, which requires states to provide fair legal treatment to all citizens. The 15th Amendment prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote (which was ratified after the Civil War).

"While the Constitution entrusts States with designing congressional districts, the Supreme Court has also held that states may not, without a compelling reason backed by evidence that was in fact considered, separate citizens into different voting districts on the basis of race," the complaint read.

After Prop 50 passed, Steve Bannon — who was President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist during his first term — urged the Trump administration to have Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon (who oversees the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division) sue California and win a temporary restraining order, and preventing Prop 50's new maps from going into effect through litigation. However, California Democratic Party leaders remain confident that Prop 50 will survive any court challenges.

On Wednesday, KCRA News political director Ashley Zavala reported that Gov. Newsom's office issued a statement in response to the CAGOP's lawsuit — and included a taunt against both Republicans and Dhillon.

"We haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, but if it’s from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, it’s going to fail," stated Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards. "Good luck, losers."

Click here to read Politico's full report.

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'2026 will be a blood bath': MAGA says 'warning signs are flashing' after blowout losses

Republicans saw wall-to-wall losses in virtually every major election on Tuesday night, and many MAGA activists are starting to fear what next year's midterm elections may bring.

GOP candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia lost to their Democratic opponents by substantial margins, with Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears by roughly 15 percentage points in Virginia. Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey's gubernatorial race by more than a dozen percentage points. In New York City, Democrat Zohran Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary) by more than nine points. And in California, Prop 50 — the measure allowing for new congressional redistricting maps favorable to Democrats to temporarily replace the current maps until the 2030 Census — passed overwhelmingly despite a flood of money from GOP donors against the initiative.

In a series of posts to his Truth Social account, President Donald Trump lamented that because he wasn't on the ballot, his party was unable to get a win. He also urged Senate Republicans to "TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER" and pass legislation making it harder for Americans to vote.

"Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from 'Packing,' No Two State addition, etc," Trump wrote in a subsequent post.

MAGA's reactions to 2025 election results suggested a dismal mood among Trump's supporters in response to the GOP's nationwide defeat. Turning Point USA executive Tyler Bowyer shared Trump's frustrations about him not being on the ballot, but also chastised Republican leadership for not doing the ground work to be more competitive.

"When Trump isn’t on the ballot and you don’t make investments in chasing votes, you get voters who stay home," Bowyer wrote.

Former Trump campaign chairman and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told his podcast viewers that Republicans should take Tuesday night's losses to heart, saying: "The midterms start tonight, and the warning signs are flashing." He observed that "Democrats just flipped two Georgia commissioners," marking "their first statewide wins in 30 years."

Far-right influencer Mike Cernovich (who spawned the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory) tweeted: "Ted Cruz and Mark Levin are walking Trump into impeachments and then prison. 2026 will be a blood bath." MAGA podcaster Jack Posobiec likewise warned that "2026 will be worse if we don't course-correct."

"Lame duck status is going to come even faster now," wrote conservative commentator Erick Erickson. Trump cannot turn out the vote unless he is on the ballot, and that is never happening again."

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Trump's favorite CNN pundit gets laughed at by panel after GOP loses major elections

Republican candidates in every major marquee election on Tuesday night lost by substantial margins. One MAGA-aligned pundit tried to spin the result as bad for Democrats, but one of his fellow panelists quickly countered him.

During a CNN election night panel, conservative commentator Scott Jennings — who once spoke alongside Trump at an April rally — downplayed Democratic wins in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections. Even though moderate Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill posted double-digit margins of victory over Republicans Winsome Earle-Sears and Jack Ciattarelli, he argued that New Jersey and Virginia are blue states and that a Republican victory in either race was always a long shot.

Jennings also seized on Democrat Zohran Mamdani's decisive win in the New York City mayoral race as an opportunity for Republicans. He then offered his sarcastic "condolences" for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), predicting that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) would unseat him in 2028.

"I see the energy in the Democratic Party tonight behind a socialist, and I see the energy in Virginia Democrats looking the other way on a violent candidate for attorney general who says he wants to murder Republicans and their children," Jennings said. "If you think you're getting rid of Graham Platner in Maine now, think again. This is a terrible night for [the] national Democratic image, given what is happening inside their party."

"Mamdani is an avowed socialist," he continued. "It's not what people say that he is, it's what he says that he is. He's now the leader of their party—"

"He's the leader of the Democratic Party?" CNN host Anderson Cooper asked incredulously.

"Well, who is the leader?" Jennings said. "Can someone tell me?"

"He's a life raft for Republicans who have to go on TV and got their a—— kicked," Democratic strategist David Axelrod interjected, as panelists laughed.

"You own this now! You own this!" Jennings continued, as Cooper talked over him to give another election night update.

Watch the segment below:


- YouTube www.youtube.com

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Why Americans refused to believe Dick Cheney about Trump

Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney — who passed away on Monday night at the age of 84 — spent his final year warning Americans about President Donald Trump and unsuccessfully campaigning against him. But one author says Cheney's legacy made it impossible for his message to reach Americans.

In a Tuesday op-ed for the New York Times, Ron Suskind — who wrote "The One Percent Doctrine" about the George W. Bush administration — argued that Cheney set an example of what runaway executive power looked like, making his criticisms of Trump during the 2024 election ring hollow. He likened the Trump presidency to the Bush administration's War on Terror — "without the war."

"[Cheney] wrote a playbook of how to exercise executive authority beyond constitutional boundaries and the rule of law," Suskind wrote. "Donald Trump has added pages and is working on a sequel."

According to Suskind, Cheney blazed the trail that Trump later walked by plowing ahead with the controversial invasion of Iraq, imposition of mass surveillance infrastructure and declaration of emergencies to circumvent traditional means of implementing policy. The author also pointed out that Cheney bulldozed his way through Republicans not on board with his vision, like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman. And like Trump, Cheney also pursued costly tax cuts that were overwhelmingly beneficial to the very wealthy.

"Disastrous as those all actions were, Mr. Trump has undertaken even more significant expansions of power and illegality, often under even more dubious claims of emergency," Suskind wrote. "... Mr. Cheney made it possible."

Suskind pointed out that Cheney's red line for Trump was the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol. And he observed that Cheney's eventual endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election was a "remarkable development." However, by then, he argued that "it was too late" for him to persuade anyone, since he "had done as much as anyone in history to undermine Americans’ trust in their institutions and leaders."

"A false case for war will do that. So will the worst financial crash in 80 years, whose consequences middle- and working-class Americans were left to suffer unblunted," Suskind wrote. "Many of them went on to join Mr. Trump’s army of grievance and anger."

"For all his belatedly discovered democratic principles, Mr. Cheney helped to create the world that Mr. Trump inhabits," he added. "The contempt he showed for any constraints on his power paved the way for Mr. Trump and the contempt he now shows for everything but his own naked interest."

Click here to read Suskind's full New York Times op-ed (subscription required).

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Southern MAGA senator distances himself from 'vulgar' Nancy Mace

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is now getting criticism from her own side of the political aisle following her eruption at local police officers who were escorting her to a flight.

In a Tuesday post to his official Facebook page, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) made it clear that he didn't support his Palmetto State colleague's recent outburst at the Charleston International Airport. Mace was reportedly "loudly cursing" at both airport police and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents due to confusion about where they were supposed to meet her, according to an official report submitted by an officer with the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department. Scott publicly distanced himself from Mace's purported verbal assault on law enforcement and emphasized that he went out of his way to respect them.

"For reasons that are unclear, Rep. Nancy Mace invoked my name during and in the aftermath of her situation at the Charleston International Airport," Scott's post read. "So let me be clear on a number of points. I have used that airport since long before I was ever in Congress and every interaction I have had - without exception - has been positive. The women and men of the airport police are professional, courteous, and go beyond the call of duty."

"Because I have lived with death threats for longer than I can remember, the airport police do take extra security precautions, for which I am grateful," he continued. "I follow their lead, do what they ask, and respect the many responsibilities these officers have to balance. I have gotten to know many of them personally and try to never miss a chance to express my gratitude."

"Those who know me know that I do not use profanity - in public or private. It is never acceptable to berate police officers, airport staff, and TSA agents who are simply doing their jobs, nor is it becoming of a Member of Congress to use such vulgar language when dealing with constituents," he added. "Not only are these officers sworn to protect us, but we also take an oath to represent them. We work for them, not vice versa."

According to the police report, even after officers managed to locate Mace to escort her to her flight, she continued to yell at them, calling them "f—— incompetent" and saying "this is no way to treat a f—— U.S. Representative." The officer who submitted the report "stated he was in disbelief regarding her behavior" and that "a U.S. Representative should not be acting the way she was." Mace also chided officers that they wouldn't treat Sen. Scott or Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a similar fashion. Scott ended his Facebook post by directly addressing Mace — without mentioning her name.

"For those who want to invoke my name, please have the courtesy to note my actions and how I treat police officers, TSA agents, and fellow travelers with the respect they deserve," he wrote.

Click here to read Scott's post in its entirety.

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DOJ attorneys fact-check Trump in real time

Attorneys for the Department of Justice are attempting to walk back President Donald Trump's remarks about funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) in a new filing.

Politico legal correspondent Josh Gerstein reported Tuesday that the DOJ is pushing back on accusations that the Trump administration is defying a federal judge's order as "incorrect," and insisted that it simply needed more details on how to fund SNAP with a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) contingency fund.

"As Defendants referenced previously ... the U.S. Department of Agriculture ('USDA') notified the States of the reduction and generated the table required for States to calculate the benefits available for each eligible household in that State; this action completes USDA’s direct, immediate steps necessary to deplete the full amount of SNAP contingency fund," the filing read.

The DOJ's filing came on the heels of Trump posting to his Truth Social platform that despite the ruling, SNAP benefits "will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!"

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also attempted to clean up Trump's statement, telling reporters on Tuesday that the administration had no intention of defying the federal judiciary. Like Trump, she laid blame at the feet of Democrats, even though the shutdown does not impact the USDA contingency fund.

"The administration is fully complying with the court order. I just spoke to the president about it," Leavitt said. "The recipients of these SNAP benefits need to understand it’s going to take time to receive this money because the Democrats have forced the administration into a very untenable position."

On Friday, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ordered the administration to tap into the U.S. Department of Agriculture's contingency fund to ensure SNAP benefits are paid out through November. However, Trump said that while he intended to use the contingency fund, he asked the court for more detailed instructions on how the money was to be distributed.

Click here to read the DOJ's filing in full.

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Catholic bishops linked to Trump admin accuse him of violating 'religious liberty'

Two Catholic bishops who sit on and advise President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission are now directly confronting the administration with concerns that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is violating the religious liberty of detained immigrants.

Religion News Service's Jack Jenkins reported Tuesday that Bishops Robert Barron (who Trump appointed to the commission) and Kevin Rhoades (an advisor to the commission) are now publicly speaking out against the DHS' treatment of migrants awaiting deportation. Barron oversees the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in the St. Paul-Minneapolis in Minnesota, and Rhoades oversees the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.

Rhoades said he was concerned that Catholic immigrants being detained by the DHS were being denied communion and other religious services that are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Barron wrote on X that he had been "in touch with senior officials in both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and have brought forward the concerns of the Church regarding detainees’ access to Sacraments."

"It is important that our Catholic detainees are able to receive pastoral care and have access to the sacraments," Bishop Rhoades told Jenkins. "Their religious liberty, part of their human dignity, needs to be respected."

The bishops' comments come on the heels of a class-action lawsuit brought by detainees at the Broadview, Illinois immigrant detention center, with faith leaders saying that they had "provided religious services at Broadview for years but are now denied the ability to provide pastoral care under Defendants’ command." Jenkins noted that there were three documented instances of the DHS refusing to allow communion for detainees — including two efforts led by local Catholic clergy.

Treatment of immigrants remains a contentious issue driving a wedge between Trump and his Catholic supporters. Pope Leo XIV said last month that Catholic bishops should be "more forceful" in pushing back against the administration's attitude toward immigrants. The pontiff has also called on political leaders to respect the "human dignity" of people fleeing violence and instability in their home countries and seeking safe harbor elsewhere.

Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order creating the National Commission on Religious Liberty, which he argued was necessary to fight "anti-Christian bias." Bishop Barron attended the official signing at the White House in May.

Click here to read Jenkins' full report.

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'Bad for business': CEO suing Trump in Supreme Court rails against 'unlawful' policy

The Supreme Court is preparing to hear a CEO's lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his claiming of emergency powers to unilaterally impose tariffs, and the executive is confident that his company will prevail.

Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg is asserting that Trump's use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977 to slap tariffs on imported goods without the consent of Congress is "unlawful." He told MSNBC on Tuesday that the tariffs amount to an "asphyxiating tax" of millions of dollars each year and are inhibiting his company's ability to make business decisions.

"The size of the problem and the size of the implications meant that we had to take action to defend ourselves. I think that the case is actually pretty simple," he said. "The government brags that it's $50 billion a month in proceeds. That's just not bearable. And they've also promised that this is permanent. So we either choose to pay a tax we believe is unlawful, or we challenge it and ask the court to review it and decide."

Woldenberg went on to say that he and his legal team were pushing for a decision to come down shortly after Wednesday's oral arguments. His main argument is that in 2024, his tariff-related expenses were $0, but in 2025 they will be approximately $14 million — with that cost potentially doubling in 2026.

"We're behaving the way someone would behave if they had a sudden and irreversible expense of $14 million," he said. "We're hiring fewer people. We're spending less money on [capital expenditures]. We're developing fewer products. We're reducing our marketing spend. It's it's bad for business because it's diverting us from exercising our business judgment, which is how we got this far and what we want to do going forward."

"I think that the math that the administration is showing is a one sided equation. They don't really care to think about the costs," he continued. "They contend that there are advantages that I think are principally negotiating advantages. But many of the the problems that they say they've they've solved were problems that are a result of high tariffs."

Watch the segment below:


- YouTube www.youtube.com

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'Making up new rules': Legal experts mock Trump DOJ over 'fatally flawed' move

On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a filing in the cases of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James defending the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan. But multiple attorneys, professors and journalists are blasting the DOJ in what they view as a last-ditch attempt to keep Halligan in her role.

Reuters reporter Brad Heath posted to Bluesky on Monday that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have "retroactively appointed former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan as a 'special attorney' for DOJ and has 'ratified' all of her actions to date, including her presentations to the grand juries that indicted Trump's foes." Legal journalist Chris Geidner posted the DOJ filing and the appointment while quipping that Bondi "dressed up as a lawyer on Halloween."

"Evidently, time travel is now one of the Trump administration's powers," Columbia University history professor Karl Jacoby wrote.

In a post to his X account, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick tweeted that while he is not a lawyer and doesn't know the intricacies of the judicial system, he still had "no clue how Pam Bondi can legally go back in time and appoint Halligan to a position as of six weeks ago."

Harper's Magazine contributing editor Scott Horton wrote: "Realizing that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan is fatally flawed, Pam Bondi engages in some quick steps to try to salvage things. Will it work? It shouldn't, actually."

Questions over the legality of Halligan's appointment have continued to linger since she was installed to replace former interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert — who was forced out of the role after declining to bring charges against Comey and James. Conservative attorney George Conway argued last month that Halligan's appointment was not lawful according to the federal statute that governs U.S. attorney vacancies, and that her indictments of Comey and James should be thrown out.

"We really need to talk about 'ratification,'" wrote lawyer Cathy Gellis on Bluesky. This administration keeps thinking it can take garbage decisions made with no authority and somehow retroactively clean them up ... this is not how anything can possibly work."

"At some point the courts really need to start holding the DOJ in contempt. With real consequences," neuroscientist Kevin Wright wrote.

"As long we’re making up new rules and powers for ourselves, I hereby retroactively unappoint Bondi and deratify everything she’s done in office," comics writer Greg Pak posted.

Click here to read the DOJ's filing in full.

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'He's into it': Body language experts explain VP and Kirk widow's 'super-intimate' embrace

Erika Kirk — the widow of slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk — recently went viral after hugging Vice President JD Vance onstage at a rally at the University of Mississippi. Now, body language experts are giving their opinion on what they believe the hug may signify.

Last Wednesday, Kirk — who now leads her late husband's organization — introduced the vice president, and as he came onstage, they embraced, with HuffPost's Jillian Wilson writing that Kirk and Vance were "hugging tightly with their bodies pressed up against each other." At one moment, Kirk's hand can be seen in Vance's hair, and Vance's hand can be seen dropping to Kirk's hip briefly before he walked to the lectern.

Wilson interviewed several experts to break down the embrace, including behavioral analyst, body language expert and bestselling author Traci Brown. She told Wilson that the hug was "a super-intimate move."

"[B]eyond that, it controls his attention — so, she’s controlling what he’s looking at," Brown told HuffPost.

"His hands drop to her hips, and that is not formal, and that is, in many instances, not appropriate," she added. "However, it’s what they’re doing."

Author Patti Wood, who the Washington Post described as "the Babe Ruth of body language experts," opined that the hug suggested that the hug between Vance and Kirk was more than a formal gesture between professionals in a work environment. She commented that Vance's "facial expressions are positive" and that both his smile and refusal to pull away from the tight embrace suggested "he's into it."

"In the hug, also, they’re pressed up against each other, he is smiling, and the little crème de la crème on the sexual aspect of that interaction, besides the pelvis placement, is she’s running her hands through his hair," Wood told Wilson. "She’s got her hands inside of his hair, and if you look at the fingers, there’s a tightening, that’s a curling around of the fingers, meaning she is pulling him closer."

Communication and body language expert Karen Donaldson told the outlet that while the gesture was intimate, that doesn't necessarily mean it was romantic. She referred to a body language concept called "proxemics," which is how experts interpret what the distance between two people can mean. In a professional setting, the typical distance between two people can be anywhere from 12 to 25 feet. In a social environment, that distance is reduced to four to 12 feet. And in a personal setting, that distance is reduced to one to four feet. Donaldson suggested that the closeness between Vance and Kirk signified a "heavy emotional connection."

"When we go just below the lower part of your ribs, that’s someone’s intimate space. That signals that there’s a connection, but it’s a little bit more on the intimate side," Donaldson said. "They’re facing each other directly and they are in each other’s intimate space — and what I want to say about that is it’s mutual, because no one’s pulling away."

Click here to read Wilson's full article in HuffPost.


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Trump 'didn't mention' name of Republican candidate once while campaigning for GOP

President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind dozens of Republican candidates on the ballot ahead of Tuesday's elections across the country. But he has yet to specifically name one particular candidate in one of the most high-profile races.

On Monday, CBS White House correspondent Kathryn Watson reported that Trump joined a tele-rally for Virginia Republicans, with the Old Dominion State holding elections for statewide offices. Watson tweeted that while the president urged participants to "vote for Republicans up and down the ballot," he "didn't mention gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears by name once." Earle-Sears —who is the first Black female lieutenant governor in Virginia history — is running against Democrat Abigail Spanberger in Tuesday's gubernatorial election.

This comes on the heels of a Politico article from last weekend, in which the outlet reported that while Trump endorsed more than 50 Republican candidates on Sunday, he notably didn't endorse Earle-Sears. He has, however, repeatedly mentioned Spanberger by name in multiple Truth Social posts.

"Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?" Trump wrote in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters.

Earle-Sears, who is currently trailing Spanberger in the latest polls by double digits, has been criticized for campaigning on cultural issues like limiting transgender rights, while Spanberger has been focusing on economic issues. Trump has only referred to Earle-Sears as "the Republican candidate," and told reporters in October that he hoped the GOP would prevail in Virginia while calling Spanberger a "disaster."

Trump has campaigned more visibly for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey, mentioning him by name multiple times and participating in multiple tele-rallies with him. Ciattarelli's race against Democrat Mikie Sherrill is considered the closest of the major upcoming elections, though Ciattarelli is behind Sherrill by anywhere from six to eight points in the latest polls.

Tuesday's elections will also crown a new mayor in New York City, where Democrat Zohran Mamdani has a significant lead over both former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary) and Republican Curtis Sliwa. California voters will be voting on Prop 50, which will put new congressional maps in place aimed at giving Democrats an advantage in five Republican-held districts. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has endorsed Prop 50 as a response to Republican gerrymandering efforts in Texas and elsewhere.

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Civil war erupts within major GOP group as 'growing number' of workers side with extremist

One major conservative group is experiencing a massive rift in its workforce, and the source of the division is reportedly a polarizing far-right influencer.

That's according to a Monday article in the New York Post, which reported that insiders at the Heritage Foundation (the group responsible for the authoritarian Project 2025 playbook) are sharing stories of "revolt" within the GOP-aligned organization. Many within Heritage are alarmed after the group's president, Kevin Roberts, refused to disavow right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson after his friendly interview with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

"We will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda," Roberts said at the time. "That includes Tucker Carlson, who remains, and as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation."

"I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes said," Roberts continued. “But canceling him is not the answer either.”

One source told the Post that Roberts' statement was "the most embarrassed I’ve ever been to be a Heritage employee," adding: "It’s not close." Another accused Carlson of "playing footsie with literal Nazis." A separate Heritage staffer said Roberts' refusal to "cancel" Carlson amounted to "safe space wokeism."

"If we are labeled on the same side as Nick Fuentes, then we deserve to lose," a fourth source said. "Talking with some of the interns I think that there are a growing number of them who actually agree [with Fuentes]."

Fuentes, who has openly praised Adolf Hitler and repeatedly maligned the Jewish community, spent part of his interview with Carlson blaming Jewish people for the state of American politics. He also heaped praise on World War II-era Russian leader Josef Stalin, calling himself a "fan" of the dictator who killed millions of his own citizens.

Click here to read the Post's full report.

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Karl Rove predicts major 'upset' in upcoming elections — and silver lining should GOP lose

Longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove is cautioning Democrats from being overconfident heading into Tuesday's high-profile elections taking place across several states.

Mediaite reported Monday that Rove told Fox News that even though polls show Democrats leading in the top three marquee contests of the evening — New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial elections and the New York City mayoral race — Republicans have reason to be hopeful in two of those three elections. He also argued that while Republicans will likely lose the gubernatorial election in reliably blue Virginia, they may capture a separate statewide seat.

" Trump lost [New Jersey] in 2020 by 16 points. He lost it by six last time around. So the number one thing that the Republican candidate needs to do is he needs to build on the Trump bump," Rove said of New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. "He needs to get those people who moved into the Trump column between 2020 and 2024, he needs to them out in an off-year election. To do that, he needs hold on to the Trump Hispanic and non-White gains."

"If I were a betting man, I’d say New Jersey could be an upset, the Republicans are gonna gain in the legislature," he continued. "In Virginia, I think we’re going to have a surprise because the Republicans are gonna hold on to the AG slot. And I think they’re gonna keep their losses in the House of Delegates to less than what the Democrats hoped they would get."

According to polls from late October, Ciattarelli trails Democrat Mikie Sherrill by six to eight points, while Democrat Abigail Spanberger has a solid double-digit lead over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia. And even though Democrat Zohran Mamdani has a significant lead over both former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary) and Republican Curtis Sliwa in New York City's mayoral race, Rove said a Mamdani win would provide plenty of political ammunition for Republicans in the future.

"In New York, we’re gonna get the gift that keeps on giving," he said. "We’re gonna have a Democratic socialist mayor who wins in the low 50s or mid 50s, in a city where 62 percent of the eligible voters are registered Democrats, 22 percent are registered independents, and only 16 percent are Republicans, conservatives, or members of little fringe left-wing parties."

CNN data analyst Harry Enten said last week that If Democrats sweep all three of the major races on Tuesday, it would only be the sixth time in 90 years they've accomplished the feat. Each of the past five times Democrats won all three elections, they went on to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the following year's midterm elections.

Click here to read Mediaite's full report.


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'This is the breaking point': GOP pollster says shutdown has hurt Republican 'brand'

One longtime Republican pollster and messaging guru is warning that the government shutdown is having an impact on both parties, and that Americans may soon lose faith entirely in democracy.

During a Monday segment on CNN, Frank Luntz commented on the upcoming gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as the mayoral election in New York City, arguing that candidates focusing on "affordability" over ideology — like Democrat Zohran Mamdani — were likely to prevail. When CNN host Boris Sanchez asked how the elections could impact the politics of the shutdown (which will officially become the longest government shutdown in history on Tuesday night), Luntz observed that it was difficult to determine the winner of a battle in which both parties' public images have suffered.

"This is the breaking point, when you don't pay our men and women in uniform and they have to go without their their weekly paychecks. And you start to have people who cannot afford their food and fuel, then it starts to have an impact," Luntz said. "Then people start to say, why is this happening? I believe that the shutdown is politically motivated. I believe that if they wanted to, they could find common ground, but they choose not to. And that has hurt the Republican brand, the Republican reputation. Their numbers are down."

"Everyone is being hurt by this," he continued, reminding viewers that the Democratic Party's approval rating has also taken a turn for the worse. "Everyone's credibility and respect and looking at the government and the public just looks at this and says: 'Why? Why can't you find some agreement? Why can't you give? Why can't you cooperate?' And that's going to be a very big question Wednesday and Thursday when this election is over."

Luntz also lamented that mid-decade redistricting battles have left a bad taste in the mouths of voters across the country. He noted that while Republicans started the fight by redrawing congressional district lines in Texas and elsewhere, Democrats have fought back through initiatives like Prop 50 in California and efforts to counter GOP redistricting in other reliably blue states.

"It's going to undermine the faith and trust that we have in democracy. And I think it's one of the worst things that could be happening right now," Luntz said. "So you've got a government shutdown. You've got inflation, affordability, and now you have redistricting. And I look at this objectively as someone who measures public opinion, and it is frightening how low these institutions, their credibility, how much they've fallen and how the lack of belief and faith and trust in our democracy seems to be hitting an all-time low."

"I'm hoping that the people who engage in this process pay attention, because we're reaching a breaking point, and it's coming," he added. "And after that breaking point, who knows? Who can predict what happens when the public finally says, to hell with you all? And that's where we're heading right now."

Watch the segment below:

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Key GOP attack on Biden in disarray thanks to Trump’s own words

President Donald Trump recently turned heads after admitting that he sometimes doesn't actually know who he's pardoning when granting clemency requests.

CNN reported Monday on Trump's remark, which he made in an interview with Norah O'Donnell on CBS News' "60 Minutes" last weekend. When O'Donnell asked him about his recent pardon of Chinese-born cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao (also known as C.Z., the former CEO of crypto exchange Binance). Zhao was sentenced in 2024 to four months in prison and was forced to pay $4.3 billion in penalties.

The CBS journalist pointed out that prior to the pardon, C.Z. "helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase" of a "stablecoin" (a cryptocurrency whose value is typically pegged to a real-world currency, like the dollar) created by his family's company, World Liberty Financial.

"How do you address the appearance of pay for play?" O'Donnell asked.

"Well, here's the thing, I know nothing about it because I'm too busy," Trump responded, before O'Donnell interjected by saying: "But he got a pardon."

"I have no idea who he is," Trump maintained. "I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people — of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration."

CNN reporter Aaron Blake observed that Trump made a similar comment to Kaitlan Collins, who is the network's chief White House correspondent. When Collins asked Trump about his pardon of Zhao, Trump appeared to not know who he was until Collins refreshed his memory.

"I believe we’re talking about the same person, because I do pardon a lot of people," Trump said at the time, though Zhao was the only person he pardoned that week.

Trump's apparent lack of knowledge about Zhao despite pardoning him mirrors Republicans' critique of former President Joe Biden's pardons, which both Trump and the GOP have argued are invalid due to his use of the autopen. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Biden of granting pardons without knowledge of "what the categories were apparently — much less the individual people that he pardoned."

Click here to read Blake's full analysis in CNN.

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Appeals court gives Judge Cannon ultimatum over Jack Smith’s final report

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon just got a stern warning from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to do her job before her superiors take over.

That's according to Politico legal correspondent Josh Gerstein, who reported Monday on the Eleventh Circuit's order regarding the handling of former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's final report. Appellate judges told Cannon she has 60 days to act on the remaining motions to unseal Smith's report, or else the Eleventh Circuit will take matters into their own hands.

"Petitioners filed their motions on February 14 and February 24, 2025, and filed notification on July 7 and July 10, 2025, informing the district court that their motions had been fully briefed for more than 90 days," the two-page order read, pointing out that those who have filed the motions "have established undue delay in resolution of their motions to intervene."

"To date, the district court has not ruled or conducted any other further proceedings on the pending motions," judges added.

Cannon — who President Donald Trump appointed to the Southern District of Florida in 2020 — was the presiding judge overseeing Smith's criminal investigation into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Cannon was routinely criticized throughout the case for "slow-walking" the legal process in what was widely regarded as the strongest of Trump's four criminal cases.

The Trump appointee ultimately dismissed Smith's 37 felony indictments against Trump after the Supreme Court granted Trump absolute broad criminal immunity for anything deemed an "official act" in the 2024 Trump v. United States case. Cannon cited Justice Clarence Thomas' argument in Trump v. United States that Smith's appointment as special counsel was not in line with the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which lays out the Senate confirmation process.

Despite Thomas' argument, there have been multiple DOJ special counsels who were not confirmed by the U.S. Senate whose investigations nonetheless were conducted without impediment. No special counsel since 1999 has been confirmed by the Senate due to existing DOJ procedures allowing an attorney general to appoint a special counsel to oversee an independent investigation.

Click here to read the Eleventh Circuit's order in full.

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Trump admin punishing inmates for protesting Epstein accomplice's 'VIP treatment': report

President Donald Trump's administration is now reportedly coming down hard on federal inmates for speaking out against the DOJ's apparent soft treatment of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

That's according to CNN, which reported Friday that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee — is now demanding answers from the warden at Maxwell's minimum security prison about what he alleges is "VIP treatment" for deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's chief accomplice. CNN host Jim Sciutto said Raskin is also questioning Maxwell getting "mysterious visitors, meal delivery and other special perks" and that the DOJ has "retaliated against inmates who dared to speak out about her fawning preferential treatment."

Elie Honig, a legal analyst for the network, told Scuitto that while he's less concerned with meal deliveries and meetings with visitors, the major red flag in Raskin's letter is the allegation that inmates have been punished for drawing attention to Maxwell's treatment.

"Apparently there are other inmates in this facility, other female inmates who have spoken out about preferential treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell and are now being punished," Honig said. "Representative Raskin points out one particular inmate who appears to have been kicked out of a training program and moved to a higher security prison. That is a major problem, if that's happening as retaliation."

Honig went on to remind viewers that Maxwell shouldn't even be at the Bryan, Texas prison — where she was moved earlier this year after a two-day meeting with Deputy Attorney General (and Trump's former personal attorney) Todd Blanche — due to Bureau of Prisons rules. Facilities like Bryan are typically only for white-collar offenses, whereas violent offenders like those convicted of sex crimes have to serve their sentences in more restrictive conditions.

"That takes a waiver. Somebody within the Justice Department ... has to specifically approve that, say, 'I waive the normal course of proceedings and I'm okay with Ghislaine Maxwell being moved to a lower security prison,'" Honig said. "To this day, we don't know who actually authorized that. And we've not gotten answers from DOJ about that."

Watch the segment below:


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'Trump can't be too happy': CNN data guru says upcoming elections may spell doom for GOP

The upcoming gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, along with next week's mayoral election in New York City, could be viewed as a reliable bellwether for how next year's midterm elections will go, according to CNN data analyst Harry Enten.

In a Friday segment on CNN's "OutFront," Enten told guest host Erica Hill that "Donald Trump can't be too happy" with the latest polling in those three races. Even though New Jersey's gubernatorial race is the closest of the three, Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli is still anywhere from six to eight points behind Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill.

Republicans have an even smaller chance of keeping control of the governor's mansion in Virginia, as Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears is trailing Democrat Abigail Spanberger by 14 points according to a recent YouGov poll. And Democrat Zohran Mamdani is poised for a clear victory over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (who is running as an independent) and Republican Curtis Sliwa. An Emerson College poll shows Mamdani ahead of Cuomo — his closest challenger — by roughly 25 percentage points.

"At this point in time, to me, it seems like the Democrats are most likely going to sweep all three of those races," Enten said. "And that's in part because of Donald Trump."

Enten went on to observe that there have only been five instances in the past 90 years where Democrats have swept all three off-year elections, with the latest instance happening in 2017. The other four times were in 1989, 1961, 1957 and 1953. However, Enten said that Democrats have reason to be hopeful if they repeat the feat next week.

"The five times that I mentioned that the Democrats swept all three of those races, each and every single time, the following year, they won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives," he said. "So if Democrats sweep on Tuesday, in my opinion, it's a very good sign looking forward to 2026 in taking back that majority from the Republicans."

Watch the segment below:


- YouTube www.youtube.com

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Trump becoming 'increasingly frustrated' as shutdown drags on into second month: report

Officials in President Donald Trump's administration reportedly didn't expect the ongoing government shutdown to last longer than 10 days. But as the shutdown approaches day 32, their boss is now pushing hard for it to end by any means necessary.

That's according to a Friday article by Politico's Myah Ward, Alex Gangitano and Dasha Burns, who reported that several unnamed sources in the Trump White House are confiding that Trump is "increasingly frustrated" with the shutdown and is now leaning on Senate Republicans to take extreme measures to quickly end it. Trump has recently been advocating for Senate Republicans to get rid of the filibuster (known as the "nuclear option") and pass the House of Representatives' continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded with a simple majority vote.

"Trump, he’s had it with these people, because he knows they’re playing politics," one White House source said. "Nobody thought it was going to last this long."

Administration officials admitted to underestimating Democrats' commitment to maintain a unified front despite pressure to relent and avoid some of the worst consequences of the shutdown. And that frustration was amplified after Democrats continued to refuse to give Republicans the 60 votes needed to get a government funding bill to Trump's desk, despite federal workers being furloughed and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought threatening permanent mass layoffs across various federal agencies.

Trump has demanded on his Truth Social platform that Senate Republicans "INITIATE THE NUCLEAR OPTION" to end the shutdown. However, should Democrats regain control of the Senate after next year's midterm elections, they could similarly pass legislation by a simple majority without fear of the filibuster.

"Democrats won’t do what’s best for the American people, the nuclear option will need to be invoked," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.

So far, Republicans appear unwilling to accommodate the president. When he became Senate Majority Leader, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said he was intent on keeping the filibuster in place. And his office told Politico on Friday that the GOP leader's "position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged."

Click here to read Politico's report in its entirety.

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Police and TSA accuse Nancy Mace of 'loudly cursing' at them in airport meltdown

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was recently accused of "unacceptable behavior" by Transportation Security Agency (TSA) and law enforcement agents at the Charleston International Airport, after she reportedly berated police and TSA staff escorting the congresswoman to her flight.

WIRED reported Friday that it obtained a full incident report of Mace's eruption via a South Carolina Freedom of Information Act request. The Republican lawmaker had told the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department she would be arriving at approximately 6:30 AM to the ticketing area in a white BMW, so officers could escort her to her gate. At roughly 6:35 AM, Mace's handlers told officers she was running behind schedule, but by 7:00 AM, the car in question never showed.

Police then received a call from Mace's team saying the congresswoman was at the Known Crewmember (KCM) entrance, which has a shorter checkpoint and is typically exclusively used by the flight crew. When Mace's escort arrived, she reportedly called officers "f—— incompetent" and said "this is no way to treat a f—— U.S. Representative."

Even as officers were escorting Mace to her gate, she continued to shout and use profanity, though agents appeared unsure whether her tirade was at them, if she was talking on the phone or if she was dictating text messages, according to the report. One officer "stated he was in disbelief regarding her behavior," adding that 'a U.S. Representative should not be acting the way she was."

When officers met with a TSA supervisor, he told officers that "he was very upset with how [Mace] acted at the checkpoint," and that the congresswoman "talked to several TSA agents the same way." He added that he would be "submitting a report to his superiors about her unacceptable behavior."

"Any other person in the airport acting and talking the way she did, our department would have been dispatch (sic) and we would have addressed the behavior," the police report read.

Mace fired back on her personal X account, telling "the FAKE NEWS" that the KCM "is the entrance ALL Members of Congress use at the airport," and said Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) use the same entrance when they arrive for flights.

Click here to read WIRED's full report.

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Over 100 judges have ruled against this Trump policy — including 12 of his own appointees

President Donald Trump continues to lose in court over one of his administration's most controversial policies, and even judges Trump himself nominated don't agree with him.

Politico's Kyle Cheney reported Friday that there are more than 100 federal judges who have issued at least 200 decisions that the administration’s systematic detention of immigrants facing possible deportation "appeared to violate their rights or was just flatly illegal." Cheney found that judges appointed by every president since Ronald Reagan have disagreed with the policy from the bench, including 12 of Trump's own appointed judges. This even includes judges from Trump's second term like U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek, who officially began his lifelong term at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida last month.

"Courts around the country have since rejected the government’s new interpretation," Dudek wrote in a Wednesday decision. "This Court now joins the consensus."

As Cheney reported, the detention policy began on July 8, of this year when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reversed a 30-year precedent and began incarcerating all immigrants facing deportation, even if they had lived in the U.S. for decades and have a clean criminal record. In addition to detaining immigrants, the ICE policy also doesn't allow immigrants to request a hearing with an immigration judge to request being released on bond.

According to Politico, Trump appointees Terry Doughty (from the Western District of Louisiana), Nancy Brasel (from the District of Minnesota), J.P. Hanlon (from the Southern District of Indiana) and Jason Pulliam (from the Western District of Texas) have also issued decisions against the policy. In a late October ruling, Judge Pulliam ruled that ICE deprived one immigrant of his due process rights without any "individualized assessment" of his circumstances.

Cheney's analysis found that most rulings came from judges appointed by Democratic presidents like Joe Biden (50 judges), Barack Obama (31) and Bill Clinton (6), though 12 judges appointed by George W. Bush, one appointed by George H.W. Bush and two Ronald Reagan appointees have also opposed the policy — in addition to the 12 Trump-backed judges. Only two judges sided with ICE's automatic detention policy: One Obama appointee, and one Trump appointee.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the legality of ICE's automatic detention policy by noting that it was recently upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals — which is under the oversight of the Trump administration.

Click here to read Cheney's full article in Politico.


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Federal judge forces Trump admin to fund food stamps through November

President Donald Trump's administration has been compelled to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) through November, after a decision by a federal judge.

ABC News reported Friday that U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell (an appointee of former President Barack Obama) ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use its contingency fund to partially fund SNAP through next month. The contingency fund is capable of covering roughly two-thirds of the SNAP funding shortfall. The decision comes as U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani (another Obama appointee) sided with Democratic attorneys general and governors from 25 states, in declaring the Trump administration's decision to not use the contingency fund "unlawful."

"The court is orally at this time, ordering that USDA must distribute the contingency money timely, or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made," Judge McConnell wrote in his ruling.

"There is no doubt, and it is beyond argument, that irreparable harm will begin to occur -- if it hasn't already occurred -- in the terror it has caused some people about the availability of funding for food for their family," he added.

Due to the ongoing government shutdown, approximately 42 million Americans were on track to lose their food assistance beginning Saturday. The Trump administration stated last week that even though there is a USDA contingency fund of roughly $6 billion to keep SNAP afloat, it wasn't going to tap into those funds, asserting that the money was to be used for emergencies like "hurricanes, tornadoes and floods."

The states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Wisconsin took the administration to federal court earlier this week. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) joined the suit through their respective offices, as their states have Republican attorneys general.

Top Republicans in the House and Senate have been insisting that Democrats vote for the Republican-written government funding bill if they want SNAP benefits to continue without interruption. However, doing so would mean tens of millions of Americans likely experience a significant increase in their heath insurance premiums when Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits expire at the end of 2025.

An extension would require 60 Senate votes due to filibuster rules, and Democrats — who have just 47 seats in the Senate — would need 13 Republicans to break rank and vote to extend the ACA credits. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose adult children are expecting their monthly premiums to double, has consistently laid blame for the shutdown at Republicans' feet and accused her party of not having an alternative plan to the ACA to lower Americans' healthcare costs. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) suggested earlier this week that Greene write her own bill.

Click here to read ABC's full report.

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'Canary in the coal mine': Expert reveals most alarming moment of Trump's second term

More than nine months into President Donald Trump's second term, he's continuing to make headlines for constant scandals, including recent scandals like his call for a personal $230 million payout from U.S. taxpayers, his entertaining of an unconstitutional third term in office and his sudden demolition of the entire East Wing of the White House. But one expert says one moment from early on in his second term stands apart.

In a Thursday essay, the New Yorker's Susan Glasser remarked on the fast pace of the Trump administration since his second inauguration on January 20. She observed that with Trump remarking after being given a replica crown by South Korean leaders that he'd "like to wear it right now" (less than two weeks after the nationwide "No Kings" protests), his latest strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and him promising to resume nuclear weapons testing, it was easy to forget about older scandals.

"Remember when Trump imposed punitive new tariffs on Canada because he got mad about a television ad? ... When he circulated an A.I.-generated video of himself dumping poop on Americans protesting him? That was so last week," Glasser wrote. "And last week, in the Trump era, might as well have been an eternity ago. The black hole in which our previous outrage resides is vast."

However, Glasser argued that perspective was important in acknowledging what she characterized as numerous and blatant abuses of power over the last nine months, and sought opinions from various experts on what they viewed as the most significant scandal of the second Trump administration. Princeton world politics professor Gary Bass, for example, pointed to "pardoning the Jan. 6 insurrectionists," and "working to rig elections so that this nightmare never ends." Harvard University law professor Jill Lepore said she was "genuinely surprised when, asked if it was his duty to uphold the Constitution, he said, ‘I don’t know.’"

"Just a surprising thing to say, given that the oath he’d taken, twice, is to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,'" Lepore continued. "It seems a small thing, in a way, but I was struck by the glimmer of honesty here, a sort of shrug that seemed to say, ‘Eh, nah, who knows.’"

Conservative judge J. Michael Luttig (appointed to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by former President George H.W. Bush in 1991) remarked on a more recent event as one of the most significant Trump scandals.

"When addressing the generals from around the world he summoned to Quantico, he politicized the U.S. military in a single hour of American history," Luttig told Glasser, characterizing Trump's speech as "trashing our former Presidents and the ‘radical-left lunatics’ of the Democratic Party and announcing that, on his orders as Commander-in-Chief, the United States military will henceforth use America’s liberal cities as ‘training grounds’ for fighting the war against his political opposition, whom he called the ‘enemy from within.’"

Jake Sullivan — who served as National Security Advisor under former President Joe Biden — said the moment that set off "alarm bells" for him was the major law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (Paul Weiss) agreeing to provide $40 million in pro bono legal services to the Trump administration. Paul Weiss struck the deal in order to get Trump to cancel an executive order that would have ended all of the firm's federal contracts, withdrawn their attorneys' security clearances and banned them from federal buildings. Sullivan called that moment the "canary in the coal mine," as it led to further capitulation from other law firms as well as universities and media companies.

Click here to read Glasser's full essay in the New Yorker (subscription required).

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Noem doubles down after governor asks her to not use 'tear gas' near children on Halloween

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is ignoring a request from one state official to give trick-or-treating families a break on Halloween.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that during a Fox News interview, the DHS secretary ignored a plea from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) for the DHS to pause aggressive immigration enforcement actions in Chicago on Friday, when kids in the Windy City will be walking neighborhood streets in celebration of Halloween.

"Illinois families deserve to spend Halloween weekend without fear," Pritzker wrote in a Wednesday letter to Noem. "No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick or treating in their own neighborhood."

However, Noem told Fox News' Sandra Smith that despite Halloween festivities, ICE would still be "out on the streets in full force, and increase activities to make sure kids are safe."

"We will be out there to make sure that they can be safe, enjoy the holidays, spend some time with their families and their neighbors and communities," she continued. "And then they don’t have to be the victim of a crime because of these illegal aliens that are in our country victimizing them."

Pritzker was likely referring to an incident on October 25, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents fired tear gas canisters into a crowd of children headed to a Halloween event. Earlier this month, ICE agents deployed tear gas in Chicago's Brighton neighborhood, which affected 13 local police officers on the scene.

In response to the tear-gassing incidents, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis forced U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to wear a body camera and give daily reports to the court. She also voiced concerns about ICE agents not identifying themselves to members of the public when asked.

Click here to read the Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).

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Republican bashed after telling SNAP recipients to 'stop smoking crack' and stockpile food

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) ignited a firestorm of outrage after a recent tweet in which he blamed the 42 million Americans set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this weekend for their own plight.

On Thursday, Higgins posted to his official X account: "There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average. Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries. Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack."

Higgins' post was met almost immediately with anger and ridicule. Children's author Kristine Rudolph wrote on Bluesky: "Tell us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house without telling us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house." Pennsylvania Capital-Star editor-in-chief Tam Lambert posted that $4,200 per year in SNAP benefits amount to "about $80 a week."

Retired air traffic controller Vivian M. Lumbard argued that Higgins' post reveals how "none of these Republicans seem to understand how much groceries actually cost, especially if you have kids."

"$4200 equates to $350/month," she wrote. "I doubt I could cover all my groceries just for myself for that amount of money, even if I gave up meat."

Political consultant Jamison Foster quoted Lucille Bluth from the sitcom "Arrested Development" (who famously said: "It's one banana Michael. What could it cost? $10?) by writing: "It's one month of groceries, Michael. How much room can it take up? Ten closets?"

Political scientist Miranda Yaver broke down Higgins' post by pointing out that Republicans simultaneously expect Americans to "Stop eating processed foods. Make healthy choices: eat more fresh food" while claiming SNAP recipients are "irresponsible" if they "don't have a month's food supply on hand to live on when we can't keep the government open."

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