Political Wire

Archives for 2026

Another Senior Official Resigns From Justice Department

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“Another senior official resigned from the Justice Department after the midterm elections, and one more appears to be nominated for a federal judgeship,” the Washington Sun reports.

“Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, head of the Civil Division, on social media on Monday. Blanche praised Shumate for the administration’s legal victories in culture war cases involving corporate diversity policies, restrictions on transgender care, and immigration enforcement.”

Another Bonus Quote of the Day

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“There’s really not a limit to the things that we can do if we’re willing to work hard and we’re willing to to drive our goals. We have, you know, God willing, a 56-seat majority, and I think we need to use it.”

— Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI), quoted by the Washington Sun.

Low Unemployment, but Job Worries Persist

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“Americans have conflicting views of the job market: They are more worried about unemployment rising nationwide, even as they are more confident that they could find another job if they lost their own,” Axios reports.

“The perceived probability that unemployment will rise over the next year climbed to 45.3% in October, the highest since April 2020, according to the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations — an increase driven by those without a college degree.”

“The perceived probability of finding another job if one lost their current position rose to 46.5%, the highest in about a year.”

Hegseth Video Likely Violated Federal Law

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“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of government employees and taxpayer-funded resources to create a self-promoting video attacking Democrats and other political opponents probably violated federal law,” the Washington Post reports.

“The video is part of a highly unorthodox Defense Department messaging campaign that debuted on social media Thursday, as Hegseth stepped up efforts to save his job after Republicans’ historic collapse in this week’s midterm elections.”

Massie Says Hegseth’s Impeachment Odds Are Up

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“Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Monday that the chances of the House voting to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are better following the Republicans’ sweeping midterm losses,” the Washington Sun reports.

Said Massie: “I think the odds went up because of the election. There might be some members of Congress who want to put some daylight between themselves and the administration and this war, and this might be the most practical way.”

Ex-Trump Aide Says Staffers Treated Trump ‘Like a Baby’

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“A former White House aide who quit last month took broad aim at some of President Donald Trump’s senior advisers, saying they had treated the president ‘like a baby in many respects’ and prioritized money for the midterms over Make America Healthy Again policy goals,” the Washington Post reports.

“Calley Means, who also served as a top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Sunday on CBS News’s ‘Face the Nation’ that he was concerned that Trump ‘has been subverted’ by top aides and strategists who he alleged were seeking money from major industries for the midterm elections.”

A New MAGA Group Looks to Push GOP Further Right

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“A new Republican group thinks their party is too old, too moderate and too weak. So they’re launching an effort to replace the outgoing generation of politicians with a younger crop of America First-aligned lawmakers,” Politico reports.

“American Ascent launches Monday with an eye toward building a bench of young conservatives that could flip some of the dozens of congressional seats that will be held by aging lawmakers in 2028.”

Prosecutors Float Charging New York Times in Comey Case

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“Federal prosecutors told a judge last month that they were considering treating The New York Times as a conspirator in a criminal case accusing James B. Comey, the former FBI director, of leaking sensitive national security information,” the New York Times reports.

“The assertion, which came during a closed-door hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, raised extraordinary First Amendment concerns and would, if pursued, mark a major escalation of the Trump administration’s recent attacks against news organizations.”

Freedom Caucus Lays Out Legislative Priorities

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“Members of the House Freedom Caucus are out with a wish list of priorities they want GOP leaders to accomplish before the party loses its governing trifecta in January,” Politico reports.

Said the Freedom Caucus board in a letter: “In the two months remaining in the 119th Congress, we have an enormous amount of unfinished business to preserve and protect the Republican from an incoming majority party hell-bent on radically changing it.”

Democrats Plan for a Flurry of Subpoenas

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“Congressional Democrats plan to use their subpoena power to target private companies and individuals as a way of circumventing what they anticipate will be massive resistance by the Trump administration to their demands for documents and testimony from government officials,” MS NOW reports.

“As they map out their plans to investigate what they say has been rampant corruption and lawbreaking during the second Trump administration, Democrats are counting on a widespread refusal to answer subpoenas by President Donald Trump and his appointees, said sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy. It’s seen as unlikely that the Trump Justice Department will prosecute anyone for defying a Congressional subpoena, and the federal government could pay any fines Congress or a court can impose after a contempt finding.”

“But a lot of pertinent evidence exists outside of government, in the correspondence files and email accounts of law firms, corporations and former officials, who are far more likely to comply.”

How Hegseth Decides On Senior Officer Promotions

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“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth short-circuited a merit-based process for  promoting senior officers and instead relied on newly invented criteria that disproportionately removed from advancement women and people of color who had already been approved for promotion,” MS NOW reports.

“MS NOW spoke exclusively to a senior official with in-depth knowledge of flag and general officer selection and assignment who described in detail for the first time how, he says, the results of internet searches were used by Hegseth’s office to withhold promotions from women and people of color.”

“The senior official also described how Hegseth intentionally scuttled the promotions of senior officers who were perceived to support DEI initiatives, played a role in implementing the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, were involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan, or had a connection to former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark A. Milley.”

Inside the Dems’ Secret Strategy to Flood the Internet

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Semafor: “The DNC’s toxic brand among some audiences was hampering the reach of its posts. In early 2025, the organization relaunched its rapid response online efforts under a new brand, @FactPostNews, an account intentionally designed to look like an independent news aggregator, not a messaging arm of the party.”

Said a DNC official: “If you talked to the admins of some accounts, they wouldn’t even realize that they were essentially pushing DNC messaging to their audiences who were not explicitly political.”

Bob Woodward Nears the End of an Era

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George Packer: “Like clockwork over the course of half a century, a Woodward book has appeared and Washington has descended into a temporary frenzy, which sometimes even resulted in political change, not least the end of a presidency. If his many best sellers endure beyond their historical moment, their relevance will be as an epic court chronicle, a contemporaneous record of an age of almost unbridled presidential power. But as his work nears an end, his kind of journalism is seeing its influence disappear. The taboos that once shamed his subjects have fallen.”

Pre-order · Out November 24, 2026Secrets
A Reporter's Memoir
by Bob Woodward · Simon & Schuster
Pre-order on Amazon
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More on this book from Political Wire →

Trump Questions Midterm Election Results

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“President Donald Trump on Monday questioned the legitimacy of the midterm election results, resurrecting his pattern of raising doubts about electoral losses for himself and other Republicans,” CNBC reports.

“Trump’s social media post raising questions about the election came six days after his fellow Republicans suffered historic defeats at the polls nationwide, including in several GOP strongholds like Texas and South Carolina.”

Said Trump: “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest. How could the Polls be so wrong??? Some early voting ‘dumps’ were so large that it was impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote. It’s all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter!”

Rolling Stone: Trump finally gets around to claiming the midterms were rigged.

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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