Gov. Youngkin announces special election to fill Gerry Connolly's seat
This announcement comes weeks after Connolly following the of his esophageal cancer.
'Gerry was a fighter': Lawmakers mourn death of Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly
Connolly has held the seat for Virginia's 11th District since 2008 and served as the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Before joining Congress, he sat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for 14 years.
In April, Connolly said he for his Democratic seat at the end of his term because of health concerns.
Youngkin issued a writ of election on June 3 and noted that the deadline to as a candidate for Virginia's 11th Congressional District seat will be July 11 at 5 p.m.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Minnesota state lawmaker resigns following burglary conviction
A Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker who was found guilty of burglarizing her stepmother's home resigned from office on Friday. 'I am stepping down from the MN Senate, but I can't do that without expressing my gratitude,' former state Sen. Nicole Mitchell posted on the social platform X. 'Thank you to my family, friends, & constituents who shared the issues they care about & trusted me to work on their behalf.' 'It's been a true honor to serve MN & the community I grew up in,' she added. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Mitchell separately penned a note to constituents thanking them for support as she formally tendered her resignation to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). 'It has been a true honor to serve the state of Minnesota and the community I grew up in,' Mitchell, 51, wrote in the email message to supporters, per the Tribune. Mitchell, a former Weather Channel meteorologist and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, was convicted on two felony counts last week after breaking into the home of her father's widow last year. She alternately claimed she was trying to check on her estranged stepmother and that she was attempting to recover personal items from her father, who died in 2023. 'I was just trying to get a couple of my dad's things because you wouldn't talk to me anymore,' police video of her arrest showed Mitchell telling her stepmother the night of the burglary. Mitchell, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2022, hasn't been sentenced in the case, but she could face 20 years behind bars. Walz, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee last fall, will be responsible for calling a special election to pick Mitchell's successor in her deep Democratic seat, but the governor's office didn't immediately respond to The Hill's requests for details. Democrats held a one-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate, so Mitchell's vote was viewed as crucial to passing Democratic legislation while she was awaiting trial. She refused to resign before her conviction last week but was expected to ultimately step down by Aug. 4.
The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats seek to capitalize on Epstein uproar
PRESIDENT TRUMP is hoping to leave questions about his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case in the rearview mirror as he begins his weekend trip to Scotland, while Democrats lean into the controversy and seek to leverage it for political gain. Trump will open his third golf course in Scotland this weekend, with the newest to be named after his late mother. The president will also meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to 'refine' a trade deal with the U.S., while seeking to further negotiations on a trade deal with the the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. But the political frenzy in Washington has shown no signs of abating, driven by Trump's demands that Republicans drop the issue, the Justice Department 's new interest in Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, subpoenas from Congress, and Democratic efforts to stoke an issue they hope will split Trump's MAGA base. 'The Radical Left Democrats are doing everything in their power to distract and obfuscate from our GREAT six months of service to America, results of which many are saying is the BEST six months in Presidential history,' Trump posted Friday on Truth Social, hitting 'yet another Democrat CON JOB.' Trump has instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release grand jury transcripts, but a judge ruled they must remain sealed. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a Thursday interview with CBS News' Major Garrett that the Epstein files are 'not a hoax.' 'They are real victims here, but that's part of a delicate — the balance that's being done here is, I tried to explain in my press conference this week, man, we want full disclosure,' Johnson added. 'If I had — if I had these things in my possession, I would have put them out a long time ago, but I would also have been very careful to protect the innocent,' the Speaker added. Todd Blanche, the No. 2 Department of Justice (DOJ) official, has taken the unusual step of interviewing Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell's attorney said she answered hours of questions on Thursday and thanked the government for trying to 'uncover the truth.' Blanche continued the interview on Friday, and has said he'll share more information 'at the appropriate time.' Trump was asked Friday if he'd consider a pardon for Maxwell if she delivers new information on the case. 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about,' he said. Maxwell's attorney David Oscar Markus responded outside the federal courthouse where the interview took place: 'We haven't spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet. The president this morning said he had the power to do so and we hope he exercises that power in the right and just way.' The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed testimony from Maxwell and will interview her next month. Trump is eager to move on. 'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' he told reporters before boarding a plane to Scotland. 'I have nothing to do with this guy,' he added. The media is busy digging up old interactions between Trump and Epstein, who ran in similar social circles until Trump says he cut off contact with the disgraced financier for being a 'creep.' Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal over a story saying he sent a risqué birthday card to Epstein. The Journal now reports that many other high-profile individuals also contributed to a birthday album for Epstein, including former President Clinton, designer Vera Wang, and billionaires Leon Black and Les Wexner. The House approved subpoenas to compel testimony from Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as several other senior Democrats from the Obama and Biden administrations. 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'Your silence has been pretty deafening,' Khanna will say at the summit in Vance's home-state of Ohio. Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are cosponsoring a bill seeking to force the release of the Epstein files. Democratic strategist James Carville said Trump could face 'political catastrophe' with his MAGA base, which has long fixated on Epstein as a symbol of elite corruption. Axios reports that the House Democratic messaging arm sent an alert to members this week urging them to 'amplify' the Journal story connecting Trump and Epstein. But not all Democrats think they should be gleefully leaning into the controversy. Some members say they should be spending summer recess focusing on the core issues most important to voters, such as the economy. 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Los Angeles Times
5 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
In Epstein furor, Trump struggles to shake off a controversy his allies once stoked
WASHINGTON — Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his administration just finished 'the best six months ever.' But over and over, the journalists kept asking Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein case and whether he would pardon the disgraced financier's imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. 'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' Trump insisted. He shut down another question by saying, 'I don't want to talk about that.' It was another example of how the Epstein saga — and his administration's disjointed approach to it — has shadowed Trump when he's otherwise at the height of his influence. He's enacted a vast legislative agenda, reached trade deals with key countries and tightened his grip across the federal government. Yet he's struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration. The Republican president's supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there's nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump's former friendship with Epstein. Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term. 'This is a treadmill to nowhere. How do you get off of it?' said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. 'I genuinely don't know the answer to that.' Trump has demanded his supporters drop the matter and urged Republicans to block Democratic requests for documents on Capitol Hill. But he has also directed the Justice Department to divulge some additional information in hopes of satisfying his supporters. A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said Trump is trying to stay focused on his agenda while also demonstrating some transparency. After facing countless scandals and investigations, the official said, Trump is on guard against the typical playbook of drip-drip disclosures that have plagued him in the past. It's clear Trump sees the Epstein case as a continuation of the 'witch hunts' he's faced over the years, starting with the investigation into Russian interference during his election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton nearly a decade ago. The sprawling inquiry led to convictions against some top advisors but did not substantiate allegations Trump conspired with Moscow. Trump's opponents, he wrote on social media on Thursday, 'have gone absolutely CRAZY, and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM.' During the Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors were a straightforward foil for Trump to rail against. Ty Cobb, the lawyer who served as the White House's point person, said the president 'never felt exposed' because 'he thought he had a legitimate gripe.' The situation is different this time now that the Justice Department has been stocked with loyalists. 'The people that he has to get mad at are basically his people as opposed to his inquisitors and adversaries,' Cobb said. In fact, Trump's own officials are the most responsible for bringing the Epstein case back to the forefront. FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, regularly stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein before assuming their current jobs, floating the idea the government had covered up incriminating and compelling information that needed to be brought to light. 'Put on your big-boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,' Patel said in a 2023 podcast. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi played a key role too. She intimated in a Fox News Channel interview in February that an Epstein 'client list' was sitting on her desk for review — she would later say she was referring to the Epstein files more generally — and greeted far-right influencers with binders of records from the case that consisted largely of information already in the public domain. Tensions spiked earlier this month when the FBI and the Justice Department, in an unsigned two-page letter, said that no client list existed, that the evidence was clear Epstein had killed himself and that no additional records from the case would be released to the public. It was a seeming backtrack on the administration's stated commitment to transparency. Amid a fierce backlash from Trump's base and influential conservative personalities, Bongino and Bondi squabbled openly in a tense White House meeting. Since then, the Trump administration has scrambled to appear transparent, including by seeking the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the case — though it's hardly clear that courts would grant that request or that those records include any eye-catching details anyway. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche has taken the unusual step of interviewing the imprisoned Maxwell over the course of two days at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla., where her lawyer said she would 'always testify truthfully.' All the while, Trump and his allies have resurfaced the Russia investigation as a rallying cry for a political base that has otherwise been frustrated by the Epstein saga. Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who just weeks ago appeared on the outs with Trump over comments on Iran's nuclear ambitions, seemed to return to the president's good graces this week following the declassification and release of years-old documents she hoped would discredit long-settled conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. The developments allowed Trump to rehash long-standing grievances against President Obama and his Democratic advisors. Trump's talk of investigations into perceived adversaries from years ago let him, in effect, go back in time to deflect attention from a very current crisis. 'Whether it's right or wrong,' Trump said, 'it's time to go after people.' Megerian and Tucker write for the Associated Press.
