Schumer calls for Vought to be canned
GOP lawmakers are discussing packaging together up to four bills, though the size of that package could shrink if including a certain bill could threaten to bog down the chamber's ability to pass it. Leaders could, for instance, decide against including the fiscal 2026 bill to fund the departments of Commerce and Justice, which has been plagued by intraparty squabbling over an amendment that would bar funds for relocating FBI headquarters.
'I hope we get a four-bill package pulled together and get to the floor next week,' said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), a leadership ally and member of the Appropriations Committee, adding that he believes there is a 'good chance' that this will happen.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn't made a decision about whether or not to start moving the first government funding bill on the floor next week, but wants to get one funding package across the finish line before the chamber leaves for the August recess that is scheduled to begin in early August.
Asked about next week's schedule, Thune indicated to reporters that, in addition to confirming more of President Donald Trump's nominees, Republicans are looking at either getting the ball rolling on the annual defense authorization bill or moving government funding legislation.
In addition to the measure to fund Commerce and Justice, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved three other bills funding the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the legislative branch.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) has stressed wanting to focus on moving bipartisan funding bills and has a good relationship with Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel. Thune, on Thursday, also said that 'we plan to move approps bills that will have cooperation from the Democrats.'
Collins on Thursday told reporters it was up to Thune about how to proceed but that she would like to see the first so-called minibus of spending measures on the floor before August recess.
Still, Congress is expected to need a short-term funding patch to keep the government open past the end of September. And Democrats are actively worried that Senate Republicans will be pressured by the administration and the House to set aside the appropriations process and either fund the government entirely through stopgap measures and pass more party-line spending cuts like those included in the rescissions bill the Senate advanced early Thursday morning.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Appropriations Committee, acknowledged that an appropriations package could come to the floor as soon as next week, but suggested it was largely a waste of time.
'There is no approps process, it's as dead as Jimmy Hoffa,' Kennedy said. 'The Appropriations Committee has been a pointless exercise for a while, everybody knows that. Nobody wants to admit it.'
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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USA Today
37 minutes ago
- USA Today
What to know on Trump, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Jeffrey Epstein files: The latest
The Justice Department talked to Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, after weeks of bubbling outrage over a memo that appeared to close the Epstein case. Over two days, Justice Department officials questioned Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, as the White House continues to battle calls for more transparency over what Epstein did and who else may have been involved. It's unclear what came out of the interview, but Maxwell's lawyer David Markus said his client answered all of the government's questions, which covered about 100 people. "She answered questions about everybody and she didn't hold anything back," Markus said, without specifying who was mentioned. The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on what came out of the interview. The talks follow more than two weeks of bubbling outrage from members of President Donald Trump's base over the department's announcement in early July that it won't release its files on Epstein. DOJ said a systematic review of the files didn't turn up any list of clients involved in Epstein's crimes. Even some congressional Republicans have clamored for the files' release or introduced legislation to try to force the Trump administration's hand. Republican leadership has so far blocked the legislation and White House officials continue to resist those calls. Still, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has suggested that Maxwell could reveal new details about Epstein's circle and crimes. Here is all the latest on the fallout: July 25: Maxwell lawyer signals desire for pardon Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of trafficking a minor to Epstein for sexual abuse, and for conspiring to entice and transport minors for illegal sex acts. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, and has an appeal pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Markus indicated July 25 that his client could ask for a pardon soon, following the two days she spent talking to Justice Department officials July 24-25. "We haven't spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet," he said. "The president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way." Trump has the power to pardon Maxwell fully as well as to commute her prison sentence. But to many, that might look more like reducing than enhancing accountability – especially if Maxwell offers little in return. In the morning on July 25, Trump said he hasn't thought about pardoning Maxwell, but also didn't rule it out. "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about," Trump said. "I certainly can't talk about pardons now." July 25: 16% of voters in poll approve of Trump administration on Epstein Only 16% of of voters who responded to a poll released July 25 by Emerson College Polling approved of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files. Fifty-one percent disapproved, while 33% were neutral. The poll surveyed 1,400 U.S. voters from July 21-22. Its margin of error is ±2.5 points, according to the polling organization. July 23: Florida judge shields Epstein grand jury testimony In addition to approaching Maxwell, the Justice Department asked federal judges in Florida and New York to unseal transcripts of testimony before grand juries investigating Epstein and Maxwell. If judges allow for the transcripts' release, the department said it will first redact both victim-related information and personal identifying information from the transcripts. On July 23, federal Judge Judge Robin L. Rosenberg rejected the request in Florida, writing that she doesn't have the power to order the records' release because of a past ruling from an appeals court that presides over her trial court. Judges in New York haven't yet ruled on the administration's requests there. July 23: Reports emerge that AG Bondi told Trump in May he is named in Epstein files Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that he was named multiple times in the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNN. A White House official did not dispute that Trump's name is mentioned in the Epstein files, telling USA TODAY that briefing binders Bondi prepared for MAGA influencers in February included the president's name. But the official rejected any suggestion that Trump engaged in wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Being named doesn't mean the person did anything criminal. July 22: House Speaker Mike Johnson starts summer recess early to avoid Epstein House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, announced on July 22 he is shutting down the House for its summer recess early to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Johnson said there was "no daylight" between the Trump administration and the House, and the White House needed "space" to address the issue. Members of Congress were scheduled to leave Washington for several weeks starting July 24, but Johnson said he would cut the schedule short and end with votes on July 23. Johnson took that step after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, co-sponsored legislation calling for the release of the government's Epstein records. July 22: New footage shows Epstein at Trump wedding Archived video footage and photos revealed by CNN July 22 showed Jeffrey Epstein attended Trump's wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza Hotel in 1993. Maples is the second of Trump's three wives. The couple divorced in 1999. "You've got to be kidding me," Trump told CNN when asked about the wedding photos on a phone call. He called the outlet "fake news" and hung up. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the images were "out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious." July 22: House committee agrees to seek Maxwell testimony The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed on July 22 to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell to testify. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, said he pressed for the subpoena in order to learn more about Epstein's criminal conduct. 'This deposition will help the American people understand how Jeffrey Epstein was able to carry out his evil actions for so long without being brought to justice,' Burchett said. July 18: Trump sues Wall Street Journal over lewd Epstein birthday letter On July 17, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump sent Epstein a lewd birthday letter for his 50th birthday, which took place in early 2003. Trump called the letter a "FAKE" on social media July 17 and sued the newspaper's publisher for libel on July 18. The letter contains typewritten dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey," and at a later point "Trump." In the dialogue, "Donald" says, "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey" and that, "Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?" The dialogue ends with "Trump" saying, "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret." The dialogue is encased within a seemingly hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the Journal reported. The letter includes a pair of arcs denoting the woman's breasts, and a "Donald" squiggly signature mimicking pubic hair. USA TODAY could not verify the details or origin of the letter. Contributing: Joey Garrison, Bart Jansen, Melina Khan, Savannah Kuchar, Christopher Cann - USA TODAY
USA Today
37 minutes ago
- USA Today
Department of Justice wants to inspect swing state voter rolls
The Justice Department effort has targeted battleground states. It follows a March executive order. The Department of Justice is going state by state to scrutinize how officials manage their voter rolls and remove ineligible voters. The effort is so far focused on battleground states and follows President Donald Trump's widely challenged executive order in March that sought to create new requirements to register to vote and backed a range of voting policies long supported by Republicans. In nearly identical letters to state election officials in Minnesota, Nevada and Pennsylvania, the Department of Justice asked them to describe how they identify people who are felons, dead, nonresidents or noncitizens, and how they remove them from their voter lists. A letter to Arizona officials said the state should be requiring people who have driver's license numbers to register to vote using that number instead of the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. The Department of Justice said the office should conduct a review of its voter file. The department also sued Orange County, California for not providing enough identifying information in response to a records request; and filed documents in support of lawsuits brought by the right-leaning group Judicial Watch that say Illinois and Oregon have not been not removing enough people from their voter rolls. 'It is critical to remove ineligible voters from the registration rolls so that elections are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud,' said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement that a spokesperson provided to USA TODAY. She said the department would 'vigorously enforce' federal law that requires states to 'conduct a robust program of list maintenance.' From 2024: Republican Party sues over absentee ballots, voter rolls in battleground states Several of the states in question have competitive elections in November 2026, when all seats in the House and one-third of the seats in the Senate are on the ballot. Minnesota has a race for an open Senate seat. Arizona and Pennsylvania have multiple competitive House races, and there will be a tight race for a House seat in California that includes part of Orange County. Americans are more likely to get struck by lightning than to commit in-person voter fraud, according to a study from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan good government group based at New York University. 'I do think this is part of a broader effort number one to lay the groundwork for attempts to overturn election results that they don't like in 2026,' said Jonathan Diaz, the voting advocacy director at Campaign Legal Center. 'So they can cook up some story about how these states' voter rolls can't be trusted and so we can't trust their election results if Democrats win.' Trump's March executive order alleged that previous administrations didn't do enough to keep noncitizens of the voter rolls and said having accurate voter rolls protects voters. What DOJ wants from the lawsuits In Orange County, the Department of Justice wrote in a federal lawsuit in June that the Attorney General received a complaint about a noncitizen receiving a ballot, and that the department requested five years of data on how the county removes noncitizens from voter registration rolls. The county provided information but redacted identifying numbers and signatures, among other things, according to the lawsuit. The Department of Justice says that's illegal, and wants the federal court to force the county to provide the full information. Diaz said the Department of Justice in general is 'asking for a lot of very specific data about individual voters, which normally would not be necessary.' He said that information is much more specific than what states would provide to political campaigns or journalists, who often obtain voter registration files. The Department of Justice also asked Nevada and Minnesota for copies of their statewide voter registration list with both active and inactive voters. Inactive voters generally have not voted in recent elections and are put on the inactive list to preserve their registration while queuing them for future removal. Diaz said the requests read "like a fishing expedition." He predicted that the Department of Justice may find a human error, such as a noncitizen who checks the wrong box when getting their drivers license and registers to vote, and then "make that a referendum on the entire electoral system." 'They are looking for anything they can find so they can yell about noncitizen voting or dead people voting or whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is," Diaz said. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a right-leaning organization that advocates for government transparency, said many states are not doing enough to maintain clean voter rolls. He said his organization has sued multiple jurisdictions over the years to get about 5 million names removed from voter rolls, including in New York City and Los Angeles. Fitton said a voter registration list is 'a pool of names from which someone with problematic intent can draw to engage in fraud. And the appearance of dirty voting lists undermines voter confidence and participation.' The conservative Heritage Foundation alleges there have been about 1,600 cases of voter fraud over a period of many years. That compares to more than 150 million people voted in the 2024 presidential election alone. Fitton acknowledged that showing up to vote in another person's name requires a level of "chutzpah" that "might be a step too far to even political fraudsters." He posited that it'd be easier to impersonate a dead voter, but concluded: "All that is speculation. The law requires the names to be cleaned up, and it's not being done." In its federal lawsuit in Oregon, which the Department of Justice is backing, Judicial Watch alleges the state has too many people on its voter rolls in comparison to its voting-age population, and wants the federal court to force the state to develop a new removal program. Oregon contends that the organization doesn't have the right to sue and hasn't proven it's been harmed, which are both necessary for the suit to move forward. In Illinois, Judicial Watch says that 11 counties removed no voter registrations between November 2020 and November 2022, and 12 other counties removed 15 or fewer during the same time period. The suit does not allege that anyone voted illegally, but questions whether so few voters could have moved or died. The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment on pending litigation. 'When Illinois voters cast their ballots, they should be confident that their vote is given its due weight, undiluted by ineligible voters,' the Department of Justice wrote in its July 21 filing in the case. 'This confidence is the bedrock of participatory democracy.'
NBC News
38 minutes ago
- NBC News
Gabbard and White House 'lying' about intel on Russian interference in 2016, ex-CIA official says
The former senior CIA officer who helped oversee the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russia's interference in the 2016 election says Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and the White House are 'lying' when they claim that it was an attempt to sabotage President Donald Trump. Susan Miller, a retired CIA officer who helped lead the team that produced the report about Russia's actions during the 2016 campaign, told NBC News it was based on credible information that showed Moscow sought to help Trump win the election, but that there was no sign of a conspiracy between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. 'The director of national intelligence and the White House are lying, again,' Miller said. 'We definitely had the intel to show with high probability that the specific goal of the Russians was to get Trump elected.' She added: 'At the same time, we found no two-way collusion between Trump or his team with the Russians at that time.' Miller spoke to NBC News after Gabbard alleged Wednesday that the 2017 intelligence assessment was based on 'manufactured' information as part of a 'treasonous conspiracy' by the Obama administration to undermine Trump and tarnish his electoral victory. Gabbard cited a 2020 report from Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which she declassified and released this week, that asserted there was insufficient information to conclude Russia had been trying to tip the scales in favor of Trump. Miller said 'it is clear that Trump and his followers have a script they want to follow, despite the facts.' She said that when her team briefed Trump and others about their assessment in 2017, they made clear there was no way to gauge the impact of the Russian information warfare on the vote, and that Trump was the country's lawful commander in chief. 'Both me and my team readily acknowledged — to Trump and others in the USG [U.S. government] we briefed — that we could not say if this attempt by the Russians actually worked unless someone polled every single Trump voter to see if this disinformation was what led them to vote for Trump,' she said. 'Both my team and I and DCIA [the director of the CIA] said clearly in our report to Trump himself and to the intel committees [in Congress] that Trump was our president,' Miller said. Trump thanked the CIA director for the briefing, Miller said. 'That part was left out by Gabbard,' Miller said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence dismissed Miller's comments. 'Susan is wrong. And the American people can read for themselves hundreds of reasons why she is wrong in the declassified HPSCI report,' said ODNI spokesperson Olivia Coleman, referring to the 2020 Republican House intelligence report. The Republican House report was emphatically rejected at the time by Democratic lawmakers on the panel. But a bipartisan Senate probe released the same year endorsed the intelligence agencies' assessment that Russia had spread disinformation and leaked stolen emails from the Democratic party to undermine Hillary Clinton's candidacy and bolster Trump's prospects. Trump's current secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was the acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time and endorsed the conclusions of the panel's report. When asked about Miller's defense of the intelligence assessment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: 'Director Gabbard declassified documents in the name of transparency to show the world that the Obama administration was indeed behind the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. Those who participated in criminal activity will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.' The CIA declined to comment. 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,' Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesman for former President Barack Obama, said in a statement this week. 'But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' In advance of the 2016 election, intelligence reporting indicated Russia was trying to influence the election with disinformation, Miller said. After the vote, John Brennan — who was CIA director at the time and is now a paid NBC News and MSNBC contributor — asked her to put together a task force that would rigorously examine Russia's role in the election. Miller, who served nine tours abroad with CIA during her 39-year career, was head of agency counterintelligence at the time. She said she put together a team with a range of skills and expertise, including analysts and officers working in counterintelligence. As they began their work on the assessment, Miller said, she and the rest of her team were keenly aware of the polarized political climate in the country in the aftermath of the election. They were facing pressure from officials both inside and outside the CIA. 'There were people that hated Trump that wanted us to find that Trump was complicit. And there were those that loved Trump. They wanted us to find nothing. And we ignored all of it,' Miller said. 'We just kept ourselves neutral,' she added. 'We just decided to let the data speak for itself. ... We had very, very good data coming in.' Brennan did not pressure or micromanage the task force, she said. Gabbard, current CIA Director John Ratcliffe and the White House have accused Brennan of fabricating intelligence about the 2016 election to undermine Trump. Brennan has rejected the allegations as 'baseless.' The task force examined every possible angle, Miller said, including whether Trump and his campaign somehow conspired with the Kremlin to skew the election outcome. They did not find intelligence to support that scenario, she said. After sifting through all the intelligence and publicly available information, the team concluded that Russia had waged a large-scale information warfare campaign to undermine America's democratic process, damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy and boost Trump's chances. 'The paper was multiple pages long, but the summary of it is 100% they tried to influence the election, and 100% we can't say if it worked unless we polled every voter,' Miller said. When the assessment was wrapping up and a draft was being edited, then-FBI Director James Comey asked that the report include a dossier about Trump by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, according to Miller and a Senate report from 2020, which cited accounts from multiple officials, including Comey and Brennan. The dossier featured unverified allegations about Trump that had not been corroborated by U.S. intelligence agencies, and CIA officials argued against adding references to the dossier in the report. 'We had already written the paper and it was going through edits,' Miller said. The FBI's stance annoyed Miller. Her view was that 'we can't just shove this in' to the assessment at such a late stage and that 'it's going to take us another six months to go and try to figure out if this is true,' she said. But the FBI insisted that if the dossier were not included, the bureau would withdraw and not endorse the intelligence assessment, according to Miller. 'The FBI said that 'unless you tag it onto the end of it, then we're not going to sign off on this,'' she said. In the end, the CIA and the FBI worked out a compromise. The dossier was included in an annex to the assessment, with a disclaimer that the claims in the file had not been verified by the intelligence community. Comey could not be reached for comment. Later on during the first Trump administration, Miller was called up to the general counsel's office at the CIA. There, she said, an agency lawyer told her she was facing possible criminal charges over her role leading the assessment. Miller assumed it was a joke. 'I laughed out loud.' But it was not. Miller decided to hire a lawyer, though it was unclear what potential criminal charge was in play. The administration eventually used a special counsel, John Durham, to investigate how the previous administration had handled probes into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign. Durham's team questioned Miller for hours. They asked her questions about whether she had an anti-Republican bias that influenced how the assessment was written, Miller said. 'I was answering questions like, 'Tell us how you hate all Republicans, and that's why you wrote this paper.' Actually, if you look at my registration, I'm a Republican.' Miller was never charged with any crime and she said she was never disciplined in any way over the intelligence assessment. She retired during the Biden administration after 39 years with the CIA. Earlier this month, Ratcliffe declassified an internal 'lessons learned' review looking at how the intelligence assessment was drafted. The internal review found that some standard procedures were not followed and that the report was rushed, but did not question the conclusions of the assessment. Miller said no one at the CIA contacted her for the internal review. The CIA declined to comment. Nine years since the 2016 election, Russia is likely pleased to see yet more political acrimony in Washington over what transpired, according to Miller. 'Putin and his BFFs in the Kremlin are toasting vodka shots as we speak at the turmoil this is creating,' she said.
