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Report: Tom Cotton Removes Name From Cabinet Consideration

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A surprising move…

As President-elect Donald Trump begins to start forming his administration one high-profile name will be notably absent: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

Cotton had been widely seen as a front-runner for a top cabinet position in the next Trump administration, but a source close to the senator told Fox News on Thursday that he asked that his name be pulled from consideration

Cotton has two boys under the age of 10 and wants to remain close to them and not upend their lives.  He also feels “confident” about securing the No. 3 position in the new GOP Senate majority, the Republican Conference chair when the election is held next week.

The source said Trump understands Cotton’s decision and knows “he is with him all the way in the Senate.”

It’s unclear who Trump will select to serve in his new administration but some familiar faces are expected to return.

Ben Carson is being weighed to return once again as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Betsy DeVos could return as Secretary of Education. Mike Pompeo too could return as Defense Secretary.

New faces include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who could serve as Secretary of the Interior or Energy Secretary. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is in the running for Secretary of State, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could serve as Secretary of Agriculture or Health and Human Services.

Romney Says Biden Should Have Pardoned Trump ‘Immediately’

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Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

These are shocking words for RINO Romney…

On Wednesday, the Utah Senator and avid Trump critic said that President Joe Biden made a huge mistake by not immediately pardoning former President Donald Trump.

During a discussion with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle about Trump’s ongoing hush money trial in New York, Romney said, “I think President Biden made an enormous error. He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

After Ruhle questioned, “Is that Joe Biden’s job?” Romney replied, “I’ve been around for a while. If LBJ had been president and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he’d have been all over that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not bring that forward or I’m gonna drive you out of office.’”

“But I’m pretty sure you support having separate but equal branches of government,” said Ruhle.

“I do,” replied Romney, before adding:

Had I been President Biden when the Justice Department brought an indictment, I would have immediately pardoned him. I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned the little guy. And number two, it’s not gonna get resolved before the election, it’s not gonna have an impact before the election, and frankly the country doesn’t want to have to go through prosecuting a former president.

I think the American people have recognized that President Trump did have an inappropriate affair with someone who is a porn star. I think they realize that. I think they realize that he took classified documents he shouldn’t have and didn’t handle them properly. I think they understand that as well. I think they realize that he’s been lying about the election in 2020. They know those things, so these things are not changing the public attitude, and frankly we ought to get beyond these and focus on the big issues that really matter to the American people: our inflation, our border, what’s happening around the world.

Chris Cuomo Slams Democrats For Not Criticizing Kamala Harris ‘Because Trump’

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

The hard truth…

Chris Cuomo called out Democrats for their apparent refusal to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris since she became the Democrat’s nominee for president.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, the former CNN and current NewsNation anchor claimed her supporters now treat her like “Black female Jesus” when, according to him, many of them didn’t even like her just months prior.

“Kamala Harris is not a godsend, alright?” Cuomo said. “You people didn’t even like her six months ago! Now, all of the sudden, she’s black female Jesus the way [Barack Obama] was Black Jesus. And let me tell you something: he had a lot more going for him than Kamala Harris does — and not just as firsts go — but his type of campaigning, his type of persuasion his charisma. He was imbued with things that she is not. And I don’t mean that as a criticism. It’s just a point of comparison. And her process fucked her also. There’s a convenience in it, but it fucked her also because there are a lot of misgivings about her. There is an underlying feeling that she didn’t get this the right way, she may not have won a primary. She didn’t even make it to the first round of primaries when she did run; and that is both fair and unfair at the same time.”

Cuomo then claimed Democrats refuse to criticize her as she’s running against Donald Trump. He believes that’s a mistake.

“But look, this idea of, ‘Don’t say anything bad about her because Trump,’ I don’t buy that,” he continued. “I don’t buy that, and it’s not how you get to a better place. It’s a relative assessment. She has negatives. So does he. Does he have more? Yeah. He also has a way more intense following. That’s why this race is so tight. Now explain that to me. Unless you want to write off half this country as bigots, how do you explain it being so tight? Maybe you’re not as right about everything as you think you are. Maybe you should be a little bit more to open to the people that you disagree with. Maybe they’re not all racists.”

Indiana Governor Vows To Help Primary Republicans Against Redistricting Plan

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) on Thursday sharply criticized a bloc of Republican state senators who joined Democrats to defeat a GOP-backed redistricting proposal—an effort supported by President Donald Trump. Braun said he will actively assist Trump in backing primary challengers against lawmakers who, in his view, sided against fairer maps and against the interests of Indiana conservatives.

“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump. Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences,” Braun said in a post on X.

“I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers,” he added.

Redistricting Bill Fails Despite Republican Majority

The Indiana Senate rejected the proposed mid-cycle redistricting plan in a 19–31 vote, with more Republicans voting against the measure than for it. The bill sought to strengthen GOP representation by adjusting district lines to reflect population changes—an approach Trump has pushed in multiple states as Democrats continue to deploy aggressive legal and political strategies to secure map advantages nationwide.

Following the vote, Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz blasted the dissenting Republicans. “We’ll be launching primary challenges against every last traitor who voted no, effective immediately! Pack your bags, your time is up!” he wrote on X.

Some Republican lawmakers defended their decision. State Sen. Spencer Deery (R) argued the proposal conflicted with his conservative philosophy of stable governance.

“Make no mistake, I, like many of those who will join me in voting no today, are constitutional fiscal and religious conservatives,” Deery said. “My point is that my opposition to mid-cycle gerrymandering is not in contrast with my conservative principles. My opposition is driven by them.”

Trump Names Names

Trump directly criticized several figures he sees as obstructing the GOP’s ability to compete more effectively, including former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and strategist Cam Savage.

“They found some Republican ‘SUCKERS,’ and they couldn’t be happier that they did! Guys like Failed Senate Candidate Mitch Daniels, who I opposed in his Race against Senator Jim Banks, and Cam Savage, whoever that is, are fighting against the Republican Party, all the way,” Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the vote.

He also singled out Indiana Senate Leader Rod Bray (R) for failing to rally Republican support.

“Bray and his friends are the favorite Republicans of [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries], Crazy Nancy Pelosi, and Cryin’ Chuck Schumer. Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” Trump said.

National Context: A Broader Redistricting Fight

Indiana’s internal GOP clash comes amid a broader national battle over congressional maps, where Democrats have aggressively leveraged courts and commissions to secure more favorable districts:

  • New York: Democrats redrew maps to target several GOP-held seats after the state’s high court allowed a do-over, boosting Democratic recruitment in key suburban districts.
  • North Carolina: Republicans successfully redrew districts after a conservative shift in the state Supreme Court, likely netting the GOP multiple additional U.S. House seats.
  • Alabama & Louisiana: Federal courts forced both states to create additional majority-Black districts, likely giving Democrats two more congressional seats in 2024 and beyond.
  • Wisconsin: A liberal state Supreme Court struck down longstanding legislative maps, creating uncertainty heading into 2025 and potentially benefiting Democrats.
  • Georgia: The state drew new maps after a court ruling, but Republicans managed to preserve their overall advantage.

In this landscape, conservatives argue that refusing to strengthen GOP maps—especially in red states—amounts to unilateral disarmament. That argument underpins Trump’s pressure campaign in Indiana, where he insists the party must use every legal tool available to secure representation that reflects the electorate.

A Turning Point for Indiana Republicans?

With Trump and Braun both committing to fund and endorse primary challengers, several Indiana state senators could soon face serious political consequences. For Trump-aligned voters and officials, the vote represents a missed opportunity to counter Democrats’ redistricting gains nationwide. For the GOP lawmakers who opposed the measure, it is a stand for what they call principled conservatism.

Elon Musk Vows To Keep His PAC ‘Grinding’ And To Help Future Republican Primaries

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Billionaire Elon Musk has no plan to back away from politics anytime soon.

SpaceX owner Elon Musk vowed to keep up his political activities in a social media post on Tuesday, saying he would take an active role in the GOP primaries ahead of the 2026 midterms.

“Normally, PACs go somewhat dormant after a big election,” Musk wrote on X, adding:

@America PAC is going to do the opposite and keep grinding, increasing Republican registrations in key districts around the country, in preparation for special elections and the midterms.

“And, of course, play a significant role in primaries,” Musk added.

Musk’s PAC reportedly spent some $200 million to help get Trump reelected in recent months. Musk himself, the world’s richest man, donated some $120 million to aid in Trump’s reelection bid – making him Trump’s second biggest backer after billionaire Timothy Mellon.

Musk’s pledge to stay active in GOP politics is the first sign his interest in the party extends far beyond Trump as activism.

CBS In Chaos? ‘60 Minutes’ Producer Resigns Amid Trump Legal Battle

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Bill Owens, the executive producer of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” announced his resignation on Tuesday, claiming a loss of editorial independence. The decision comes in the wake of a $20 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against CBS, alleging deceptive editing in a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

As Mediaite reports:

Owens said Tuesday in a memo to staffers obtained by Mediaite that he decided to step aside because “over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for ‘60 Minutes,’ right for the audience.”

Owens is the third producer to run 60 Minutes in its more than 50 years on the air.

“So, having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” Owens wrote.

Owens made clear the show will continue without him. “The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,” he wrote.

The Lawsuit’s Allegations

President Trump’s lawsuit, initiated in December 2024, accuses CBS of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the federal Lanham Act. The core of the complaint is that “60 Minutes” edited Harris’ interview to portray her more favorably, potentially influencing public opinion during the presidential election. Specifically, the lawsuit points to discrepancies in Harris’s responses about the Israel-Gaza conflict, suggesting that the edits were made to enhance her image and disadvantage Trump’s campaign.​

Resignation Amid Corporate Considerations

CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, is reportedly considering settling the lawsuit to facilitate an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, which requires FCC approval. This move has sparked internal conflict, with Owens and other CBS journalists opposing a settlement, viewing it as a compromise of journalistic integrity.

CBS’ Response and Transparency Efforts

In response to Trump’s allegations, CBS released the full, unedited transcript of the Harris interview in February, asserting that the editing was standard journalistic practice aimed at clarity and brevity, not deception. The network maintains that its editorial decisions are protected under the First Amendment.

The ongoing situation underscores the tensions between media organizations and political figures, raising questions about journalistic independence, corporate influence and the role of the press in democratic societies. As CBS navigates legal challenges and corporate decisions, the resignation of a key figure like Owens highlights the complexities at the intersection of media, politics and business.​

READ NEXT: Ex-Fox News Star Jumps Into High-Stakes Governor’s Race [WATCH]

CNN Commentator Reports Every Single Trump Nominee May Get Confirmed

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CNN’s Manju Raju predicted President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees will cruise through the confirmation process.

Raju’s colleague Jim Acosta kicked off a segment on Monday morning by noting that “13 of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks will be on Capitol Hill this week for their confirmation hearings before the Senate,” including Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio.

“Manu, are any of these picks in jeopardy? What do you think?” asked Acosta.

“Right now, it appears that a lot of them — if not all of them — will be confirmed. But there are still questions about how they will perform at this, these critical sometimes make-or-break moments during these confirmation hearings,” answered Raju. “Do they stumble? Do they offer any ammunition to one side or the other?”

He continued:

But for the moment, the Republicans are in line. And that’s really all that these nominees need in order to be confirmed. Remember, in order to get confirmed by the United States Senate, you need to have a simple majority of support. That means for the Republican-led Senate, which is 53-47, they can afford to lose three Republican senators on any party line vote. At the moment, we’re not hearing any opposition from Republican senators, many of them keeping their cards close to the vest. But there are several ones that we’re watching very closely this week.

One of them, Pete Hegseth, coming before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow. He has had a number of controversies emerge, including allegations of sexual assault back in 2017, allegations of excessive drinking on the job, and mismanagement of a veterans organization that he headed up. He has denied all of that. How does he perform when he is asked about that at the hearings?

New Poll Shows MAGA Candidate Overtaking Incumbent By Double Digits

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Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is trailing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) by a whopping 16 points in the 2026 Republican Senate primary, according to an internal poll reported by Punchbowl News on Monday.

The poll from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) found Paxton leading with 50% support to Cornyn’s 34%, with 17% undecided.

Paxton, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, officially announced his candidacy last month. He is positioning himself as a more pro-MAGA alternative to Cornyn, who hardline Texas conservatives have painted as a moderate. Cornyn, Texas’s senior senator, has held his seat since 2002 and served in Senate leadership. He was a leading contender to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as GOP leader, but eventually lost the race to Sen. John Thune (R-SD).

Cornyn faced backlash over his work in crafting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety law passed in 2022 after a massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The legislation included enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 and was the first major federal gun control measure in decades.

Punchbowl News reported in a hypothetical three-way GOP primary, Paxton leads with 44%, followed by Sen. John Cornyn at 34% and Rep. Wesley Hunt at 19%, according to an internal Tarrance Group poll conducted April 27 to May 1.

In general election matchups against potential Democratic challenger Colin Allred, Cornyn leads by six points.

West Virginia Democrat Senator Already Has a 2024 Challenger

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Joe Manchin via Wikimedia Commons

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.

Mooney announced his challenge in a radio interview on MetroNews Talkline on Tuesday morning. 

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.

Jack Smith Claims He Has ‘Proof’ Trump Tried To Overturn 2020 Election

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A stunning claim…

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith claimed in closed-door congressional testimony on Wednesday that investigators had proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump “criminally” conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Smith made the remarks in his opening statement to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said in his opening statement, which was obtained in advance by the Associated Press. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.

Smith added that his probe had “developed powerful evidence that showed President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gatherings took place.”

Smith’s investigation, which began in 2022, focused on Trump’s alleged effort to overturn his 2020 election loss, as well as the classified documents that were stored at Mar-a-Lago.

Charges were filed in both investigations, but later dropped due to the longstanding DOJ policy against the indictment of a sitting president.

President Trump has yet to comment on Smith’s bold accusation.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.