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“Sean Penn, coming off his third Oscar win for One Battle After Another, has been quietly setting up a passion project. And it’s a doozy,” Deadline reports.
“The currently untitled film will follow the early life of a cop who goes on to be caught up in the January 6th Capitol riots. Penn has scripted and will direct the movie, which has five-time Oscar nominated actor Bradley Cooper in talks to star in the lead role. There’s no deal yet.”
“Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Wednesday slammed the deal between the Trump administration and Iran, two days before the two sides are set to sign it,” The Hill reports.
Said Cassidy: “The details that I’ve seen so far look … awful. This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder.”
“President Donald Trump’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the White House budget office told lawmakers Wednesday that the administration will stop federal cash from flowing to ‘divisive ideologies’ under new grant rules in the works,” Politico reports.
“Hal Duncan, who is seeking Senate confirmation to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said during his confirmation hearing that the White House will ensure federal grants are aligned with Trump’s priorities by changing the way more than $1 trillion is approved each year.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “North Carolina’s 11th congressional district could be a key barometer in determining how big of a Democratic wave occurs in 2026.”
“The district, wedged in the western corner of North Carolina, has not elected a Democrat since 2010, but it got a little less red between 2020 and 2024.”
“Electoral trends, combined with the perceived strength of the challenger Jamie Ager (D) and potential weaknesses of the incumbent Chuck Edwards (R, NC-11), lead many Democrats to believe they have a chance in this unlikely district.”
“European Council President Antonio Costa has made contact with the Kremlin in an effort to engage Russian President Vladimir Putin in discussions about how to end the war in Ukraine,” Bloomberg reports.
“Hillary Clinton savaged ex-President Joe Biden’s decision to try to run again in 2024 during an event in New York City on Monday night,” Mediaite reports.
Said Clinton: “He made a terrible mistake. He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country. He had said that he would not run again. And counterfactual narratives are always a bit tricky. But I believe if he had kept to that plan and said, in, say, the late summer of ’23, that he wasn’t going to run, that he was going to pass, you know, the torch to the next generation, we would have had a real contest.”
She added: “So I think it was a terrible miscalculation on the part of President Biden. But once he didn’t move, and and did not, you know, admit that he had said he was going to step aside and then decided not to, and held on for as long as he did, we were in a terrible dilemma.”
“A new U.S.-wide cell phone network marketed to Christians is set to launch next week,” MIT Technology Review reports.
“It blocks porn, which experts in network security say marks the first time a U.S. cell plan has used network-level blocking for such content that can’t be turned off even by adult account owners. It’s also rolling out a filter on sexual content aimed at blocking material related to gender and trans issues, which will be optional but turned on by default across all plans.”
“House Democrats face a conundrum — they are optimistic about retaking the majority in the midterms, but with redistricting reshuffling the map it means Southern lawmakers’ power will be greatly diminished,” NOTUS reports.
“Bracing for the loss of some of their colleagues, Black Democrats from the South are appealing to leadership to help the region maintain power and influence in the caucus, even if its numbers shrink.”
“President Donald Trump lauded Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that Washington and New Delhi were ‘very close’ to finalizing a long-awaited trade agreement,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “We’ve been there for a little while and he’s a very tough negotiator, one of the toughest, actually.”
“Supporters of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham expect senior members of Keir Starmer’s cabinet to tell the UK prime minister to agree a handover of power in the coming days, in an attempt to make it impossible for him to continue in post,” Bloomberg reports.
“Burnham is standing in a special election on Thursday that he’s expected to win, which would give him the Parliamentary seat he needs to bid for Starmer’s job. But Burnham would rather not directly launch a leadership challenge immediately after the by-election.”
“President Trump insisted on Wednesday that the United States was not in effect paying Iran to agree to the recently negotiated peace agreement, and he angrily proclaimed that his deal was better than the one former President Barack Obama signed with Tehran in 2015,” the New York Times reports.
“Speaking to journalists on his last day at the Group of 7 summit in France, Mr. Trump denied reports that the preliminary deal, the contents of which have yet to be released, included any U.S. investment in a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran or any immediate sanctions relief.”
“Democratic socialists are flexing their growing political strength in the nation’s capitol, with Janeese Lewis George leading in vote counting in Tuesday’s Democratic primary to be Washington, D.C.’s next Mayor,” Time reports.
“If the results hold, she will be all but certain to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser as the city’s leader in January.”
“Viktor Orban’s vast media empire, which played a key role in sustaining the Hungarian nationalist leader in power for the past 16 years, collapsed two months after a historic election defeat,” Bloomberg reports.
“Hundreds of journalists working the pro-Orban Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. were reportedly given notices of termination this week and several publications will be shuttered and others rationalized.”
“Donald Trump said the U.S. would not invest in a $300 billion fund floated for Iran, and has not pressured Gulf states to contribute, following a backlash over reports of a potential agreement to help finance the Islamic republic’s reconstruction,” the Financial Times reports.
“U.S. senators from both political parties are urging President Donald Trump to reject FTX co-founder Sam Bankman Fried’s pleas for a pardon after the cryptocurrency fraudster applied for clemency last week,” Bloomberg reports.
“Donald Trump’s feud with the Senate over national intelligence has turned into something much bigger,” Bloomberg reports.
“It’s now a proxy fight over power, and a sign of the increasingly contentious relationship between him and the Senate GOP.”
“Retired staff sergeant Wilmer Trujillo served roughly 20 years in the U.S. Army and the Texas National Guard, with deployments and assignments in Afghanistan, Iraq and South Korea,” CBS News reports.
“But Trujillo says he is now facing the most difficult battle of his life, as he implores the government he began serving in uniform after high school to not deport his wife.”
Said Trujillo: “It breaks me because the country I worked my entire life for is ripping my family apart, and taking away my wife. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
“President Trump arrived late to Wednesday’s morning G7 meeting but wasn’t fazed as he walked into the session already in progress, declaring to his fellow leaders he was the ‘boss,'” the New York Post reports.
“The rest of the G7 leaders were seated and were beginning their discussion on economic issues when Trump walked into the room.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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