Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
The legal reasoning of the Department of Justice isn’t too outlandish according to John Bolton, the former Trump National Security Advisor told CNN.
The problem is politically Trump is going to “slaughter” Garland, according to Bolton.
The Daily Caller reports, that Bolton told CNN that Trump doesn’t care about normal procedures, and Garland having to follow normal procedures of the DOJ is leaving him vulnerable.
So vulnerable, Bolton called him a lamb.
Botlon said, “If we were in a Colosseum with two gladiators, one of them Donald Trump, the other Merrick Garland, we’d be about to witness the slaughter of the lambs. The Justice Department understandably wants to follow its normal procedures. It’s facing an adversary who couldn’t care less about the normal procedures.”
Bolton also criticized the department’s PR strategy. Saying the need to do more to explain what they are up to in investigating Trump.
So far the department is “not doing enough” to justify why they needed to search Mar-a-Lago, according to Bolton.
Another big issue is that the DOJ and FBI violated Trump’s rights but violating the search warrant. The FBI overstepped its authority abd took documents that were attorney-client privileged and not considered presidential records.
As we reported yesterday, the FBI took three of Trump’s passports wrongfully.
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a redistricting effort to potentially secure additional Republican congressional seats in the state.
DeSantis announced the move, saying he will be convening a special session for the state legislature to adjust current maps. The move comes as red and blue states across the country have pursued redistricting to secure an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.
“Today, I announced that I will be convening a Special Session of the Legislature focused on redistricting to ensure that Florida’s congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state. Every Florida resident deserves to be represented fairly and constitutionally,” DeSantis wrote.
“This Special Session will take place after the regular legislative session, which will allow the Legislature to first focus on the pressing issues facing Floridians before devoting its full attention to congressional redistricting in April,” he added.
Currently, Republicans hold 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional districts. Florida Republicans may also face challenges because of language in the state’s constitution that puts tight restrictions on gerrymandering.
Texas and California have also pursued major redistricting efforts, with Texas overcoming some initial pushback from the courts.
In early December, the Supreme Court delivered a significant victory to Texas Republicans, clearing the way for a new congressional map that could add up to five GOP-leaning seats in 2026. In a 6-3 ruling, the justices halted a lower court order and said Texas can use the map while the legal fight plays out.
🚨 BREAKING – MASSIVE VICTORY: Supreme Court UPHOLDS Texas' 2026 Congressional redistricting map in a 6-3 ruling
Florida is another key battleground where redistricting could bolster Republican prospects. Governor Ron DeSantis has already demonstrated a willingness to redraw maps, most notably by dismantling a North Florida district long viewed as favorable to Democrats. Further tweaks ahead of 2026 could reinforce Republican dominance in the state by locking in gains made over the last two cycles and reducing the number of truly competitive districts. (RELATED:Supreme Court Clears Texas To Use GOP-Friendly Map In 2026)
Similarly, in states like Ohio and Tennessee, GOP legislators continue to test the limits of court rulings and constitutional constraints, seeking maps that better reflect — in their view — statewide partisan preferences, which currently favor Republicans.
While these redistricting efforts are unlikely to produce a dramatic wave of new GOP seats on their own, they could prove decisive in a narrowly divided House. With margins expected to be razor-thin, even two or three additional Republican-leaning districts may be enough to offset losses from retirements or difficult midterm headwinds.
On Tuesday, Michael Cohen, once President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and later one of his fiercest critics, appeared on Dan Abrams’ SiriusXM show to discuss a wide range of topics—from his treatment in prison to a plea for pardons.
During the interview, Cohen revealed that he has written letters to both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump urging sweeping clemency for Americans with criminal records who have paid their debt to society. Reading from the letter he sent to Trump, Cohen said:
“It is urged clearly, unequivocally, and without delay that the president issue an executive order granting a full and unconditional pardon to all non-violent felons who have completed their sentences. This act would be more than a gesture of compassion.”
He continued:
“It would be a defining stroke of moral leadership. Over 70 million Americans carry the lifelong burden of a criminal record, despite having fulfilled their legal debt to society. They are our neighbors, coworkers, parents, veterans, and citizens who live under silent exile, denied employment, housing, education, and the right to fully participate in the country they call home. With a single act, the burden can be lifted.”
Cohen even coined a name for the plan: “TEPO, the Trump Emancipation Proclamation Order.” He argued that such a move could be “the single most important act of kindness that any president can bestow on 70 million Americans and their families.”
While this appeal may surprise some given their adversarial past, it comes amid a historically expansive use of Trump’s clemency powers in his second presidential term. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, President Trump has issued thousands of pardons and commutations, including blanket clemency for roughly 1,500 individuals connected to the January 6, 2021, Capitol events and a number of high-profile figures such as Ross Ulbricht and others.
Trump’s defenders argue these pardons are part of his ongoing fight against what he describes as a politicized justice system, correcting overreach and restoring fairness where the courts or prosecutors exceeded their bounds. Opponents often frame the clemency spree as politically motivated, though Trump’s supporters see it as a restoration of constitutional pardon authority to benefit everyday Americans and loyal citizens alike.
Cohen’s Prison Treatment and Claims About Bill Barr
Cohen also recounted his own prison experience after being sentenced in 2018 to three years for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to Congress. He described harsh conditions and claimed that then-Attorney General Bill Barr had him sent back to prison under what he characterized as “draconian conditions,” with extreme cold and heat in holding areas that made his time there especially difficult.
Break with MeidasTouch and Media Fallout
Cohen addressed his recent departure from the MeidasTouch Network, a left-leaning media company that cut ties with him after a Substack post in which he suggested prosecutors coerced him into testifying against Trump. Cohen insisted:
“It is true, not personal. … I specifically state that I am not here to defend Donald Trump. That is not the intention of this statement which I wrote or my Substack article.”
He described the split as a misunderstanding driven by headlines rather than the full context of his words.
The Trump–Cohen History
The rift between Trump and Cohen runs deep. Once a loyal lawyer who said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, Cohen later turned on his former boss, cooperating with prosecutors and ultimately testifying in Trump’s New York criminal case—where Trump was convicted on business-record charges related to reimbursements made to Cohen during the 2016 campaign.
At the time Cohen was seeking a pardon from Trump, that relief never materialized. Trump publicly brushed off questions about pardoning Cohen, reportedly saying, “most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble.”
A Florida freshman representative is taking drastic measures since the release of the Durham report.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fl.) has filed a motion to have Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) expelled from Congress.
“He used his position on House Intelligence to push a lie that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars and abused the trust placed in him as Chairman,” Luna said in a statement Wednesday. “The Durham Report makes clear that the Russian Collusion was a lie from day one and Schiff knowingly used his position in an attempt to divide our country.”
Schiff, who was the top lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee when Democrats the House majority, has repeatedly claimed that Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.
While the Durham report did not recommend any new charges it did offer a blistering review of how the FBI launched and carried out the investigation. It caps a four-year investigation by Durham.
“I’m convinced when this dark chapter of our history is written, it will reflect that those Republican members who lacked the courage to stand up to the most unethical president in U.S. history, Donald Trump, consoled themselves by attacking those who did,” Schiff said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday.
The California Democrat also knocked the conclusions of the Durham report, fighting back against the idea that it proved that his claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia were a lie.
“Durham spends four years trying to prove this deep state conspiracy theory that Trump kept telling his base was going to be proven,” Schiff said. “The whole thing, of course, was a big bust.”
BREAKING NEWS:
A MAGA Republican Member of Congress just filed a motion to expel me from the U.S. House of Representatives.
I stood up to Donald Trump and held extreme MAGA forces accountable. Now they want payback.
They’ll go after anyone who defends the rule of law.
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A prominent Utah lawmaker appears to be gearing up for a Senate bid, potentially teeing up a competitive primary challenge against incumbent Senator Mitt Romney (R).
Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson announced Thursday that he is launching an exploratory committee to consider running for Senate, according to reports from Fox News.
“I’ve really loved the opportunity that we’ve had to keep government small and out of people’s lives, it’s part of why Utah is so special,” Wilson said of his time in public office.
I’m a husband, dad, successful business owner and I’m exploring a run for the U.S. Senate in 2024 because I know Utahns deserve a bold, proven, and conservative fighter to represent us and our values in our nation’s capital. Learn more and donate: https://t.co/hf0HoVa2r9pic.twitter.com/IBumyA1dyU
He continued, “I really believe that what Washington needs is to be a lot more like Utah. We’ve got this amazing opportunity to send Utah values back to D.C., and to have a conservative fighter back there, doing things back there the way we do them here in the Beehive State.”
“I’ve been in elected office for a while. And one thing that I know is these offices don’t belong to any of us individually, they belong to the people that elect us,” Wilson said.
Wilson added, “And so my decision is going to be based on what I hear from people, what I believe is in the best interest of the state of Utah, and what is, quite frankly, in the best interest of my family.”
Romney has yet to announce if he will run for another term in the Senate but earlier this week filed preliminary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
Romney was the GOP nominee in the 2012 presidential election and was defeated by former President Barack Obama. The Republican lawmaker has become a controversial figure within the party over the past years, frequently butting heads with then-President Donald Trump. Romney twice voted to impeach Trump.
Speaker Brad Wilson is one of the best leaders and human beings I have ever met. I would hate to lose him from the legislature, but I know he would represent Utah well no matter what happens. The next few months will be very interesting in Utah politics. https://t.co/bHdzPNVzkA
The House Select Committee officially issued a subpoena to testify before the panel to former President Trump on Friday morning.
Last week, the committee investigating the Jan. 6th Capitol riot voted unanimously to subpoena during what could be its last public hearing last week.
“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) wrote in a joint statement.
“The Unselect Committee has willfully ignored the fact that days before January 6, 2021, I recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol and throughout Washington, D.C. on January 6th because I knew, just based on instinct and what I was hearing, that the crowd coming to listen to my speech, and various others, would be a very big one, far bigger than anyone thought possible,” Trump wrote.
Despite Trump’s ire towards the House panel a source close to the former president insists he “loves the idea of testifying.” The source told Fox News, that if Trump does in fact testify he plans to “talk about how corrupt the election was, how corrupt the committee was, and how Nancy Pelosi did not call up the National Guard that Trump strongly recommended for her to do three days earlier on January 3, 2021.”
According to The New York Times’ chief political analyst and pollster Nate Cohn silent Trump supporters could skew poll results once again, leaving prognosticators scratching their skulls in the finals hours before Election Day.
The Times reported in Arizona, Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris by four points, and in Michigan, he has a one-point advantage. Harris, on the other hand, is beating Trump by one in Georgia, and three in Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
On Sunday, the Times and Siena College released their final poll from the seven battleground states, and the results were inconclusive.
In his write-up of the results, Cohn submitted that they don’t “point toward a relatively clear favorite” for a few reasons, even if Harris was perhaps slightly more pleased by its finding.
“On average, Ms. Harris fared modestly better than our last round of surveys of the same states, but her gains were concentrated in states where she was previously struggling,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, the so-called Blue Wall (Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) does not look quite as formidable of an obstacle to Mr. Trump as it once did. As a result, Ms Harris’s position in the Electoral College isn’t necessarily improved.”
Cohn also warned that nonresponse bias from Republicans may be continuing to skew the results, just as they did in 2016 and 2020:
It’s hard to measure nonresponse bias — after all, we couldn’t reach these demographically similar voters — but one measure I track from time to time is the proportion of Democrats or Republicans who respond to a survey, after considering other factors.
Across these final polls, white Democrats were 16 percent likelier to respond than white Republicans. That’s a larger disparity than our earlier polls this year, and it’s not much better than our final polls in 2020 — even with the pandemic over.
“It raises the possibility that the polls could underestimate Mr. Trump yet again,” he concluded.
In a shocking upset in New Mexico, Democrat Gabe Vasquez has successfully unseated GOP incumbent Rep. Yvette Herrell.
Vasquez declared victory Wednesday afternoon while the race at that time was still too close to call. However, the Associated Press has since called the race for Vasquez.
I could not be more proud to be elected to Congress by my fellow New Mexicans. Whether you voted for me or not, I will fight my heart out for you, because public service is a sacred responsibility that I will never take for granted. #NM02pic.twitter.com/50ndIYFFM0
Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, became the first Republican Native American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives following her 2020 victory when she flipped the seat from blue to red.
Throughout his campaign, Vasquez faced repeated criticism over his support to defund police officers despite a streak uptick in crime in New Mexico over the past year. Fox News previously reported that the Democrat pledged to cut police budgets by more than 50% if elected.
“I wholeheartedly and absolutely support police reform and the #blacklivesmatter movement, and will not be stopping short of transformational reform that brings justice to our city and to people of color in our community. You can count on my support,” Vasquez wrote to a constituent demanding “at least” a 50% reduction of the Las Cruces police department budget.
The Republican presidential primary field just gained an unexpected new entry.
Thursday morning, former CIA clandestine agent Will Hurd announced he’s running for president.
Hurd, a one-time CIA officer from Texas who served three terms in Congress before deciding against running for re-election in 2020. He officially declared his candidacy in an interview with CBS News and also filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run.
“This is a decision that my wife and I decided to do because we live in complicated times and we need common sense,” Hurd told CBS News.
“To be frank on this, that we’re not talking about these things,” he said. “I’m pissed that our elected officials are telling us to to hate our neighbors. Our neighbors are not our enemies. They’re our fellow Americans who we just happen to have a disagreement with.”
“These are the issues that we should be talking about,” Hurd continued. “And I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past.”
The Democratic National Committee welcomed Hurd to the race by seeking to tie him to Trump.
“Will Hurd spent his career in Congress in lockstep with Donald Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda – voting to rig the economy for the ultra-wealthy, ban abortion nationwide, gut Planned Parenthood, and repeal the Affordable Care Act, all while cozying up to the gun lobby,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “The GOP primary field is overflowing with MAGA Republicans desperate to win over the right-wing fringes, and Hurd is just the latest entrant into an incredibly chaotic and extreme 2024 field.”
Hurd has an uphill battle ahead of him in an already crowded primary field. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have largely dominated the polls thus far. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson have lagged behind in the polls.
Former Vice President Mike Pence also recently entered the race after months of speculation.
This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.
Republicans are looking forward to 2024 now that official projections reveal the GOP fell short of its goal to re-take the Senate this year.
While the expected “red wave” turned out to be more of a “red ripple” conservatives refuse to be knocked down for long. Republicans are already setting their sights on which vulnerable Democrats to target during the next election cycle in hopes of turning the upper chamber red.
Early reports indicate West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin should expect to find himself within the GOP’s crosshairs in 2024.
Despite the fact Sen. Manchin has sided with Republicans more than any other Democrat lawmaker, strategists are predicting that won’t stop Mitch McConnell from pouring millions of dollars into West Virginia next cycle to flip Manchin’s seat.
West Virginia Attorney General and failed 2018 Senate hopeful Patrick Morrisey has already been named a likely challenger to seek Manchin’s seat.
While speaking to The Hill, Morrisey said Manchin lost significant political capital when he voted in favor of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included major components of President Biden’s agenda.
Manchin stonewalled President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better plan but ultimately was the deciding vote for the renegotiated Inflation Reduction Act.
“Sen. Manchin deeply disappointed West Virginians and let them down tremendously when he supported the ‘Build Back Broke’ bill last summer. That legislation really hit our state very hard. You can dress up the pig any way you want but most people in West Virginia understand that that bill is going to hurt us,” Morrisey told the outlet.
“He let the air out of his balloon and it’s not going to be so easy to pump it back up,” he said.
Morrisey, who is “evaluating options” about what to do in 2024, said “we’re looking very closely at the Senate race.”
Morrisey and his team estimated they will have at least $12 million to spend on a Senate Republican primary alone.
“I learned a lot from a past experience in a terrible political environment. The environment in 2024 is going to be much, much stronger” for Republicans, he predicted.
Morrisey narrowly lost his bid to unseat Manchin in 2018 by 3 percentage points or about 19,000 votes, which turned out to be closer than what the polls indicated before Election Day.
The Hill also lists Gov. Jim Justice (R) and Rep. Alex Mooney (R) as other potential challengers to Manchin.
However, on Tuesday Rep. Alex Mooney, R, W.Va., announced that he will run for Senate in 2024 in a bid to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin.
Listen in to @HoppyKercheval today. I’ll be on at 10am and have an important announcement about the future of our state.
