Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Trending
  • Reader Wire
  • Members
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Contact Us

Limited-Time Membership Offer

As the midterm election cycle begins to accelerate, members get the full Political Wire experience — including exclusive analysis, the ad-free site, bonus newsletters, the weekly news quiz, Trial Balloon and more.

Get 20% off a new Political Wire membership.


Tax Official Ousted After Warning White House

July 17, 2026 at 4:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Treasury Department’s top tax policy official was forced out of his job after he warned that the White House was at risk of violating a federal law prohibiting senior officials’ involvement in IRS audits, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Kenneth Kies, an assistant Treasury secretary and acting chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, is leaving those posts in the coming weeks.”

“Kies at times clashed behind the scenes with White House officials, the people said. That included a recent meeting in which he contended that a potential White House request would violate Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Code, one of the people said. That law prohibits the president, vice president, White House staff and certain agency heads from directly or indirectly requesting that the IRS conduct or terminate an audit or investigation of any particular taxpayer.”

Trump Alleges Massive Chinese Election Scheme

July 17, 2026 at 4:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Axios: “Trump, citing newly released ‘raw’ intelligence, claimed that China carried out ‘the largest compromise of election data in history’ during the 2020 election — obtaining 220 million U.S. voter files (there weren’t quite that many registered voters in the U.S. then) and creating ‘ballots for Biden.'”

“One catch: Voter rolls listing names and addresses are readily available in nearly every state. Some even post them online to promote transparency. Having such information isn’t akin to affecting an election.”

New York Magazine: Trump alleges wild election conspiracy in White House speech.

Iran Reports Civilian Targets Hit in Strikes

July 17, 2026 at 4:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Iran on Friday claimed it had targeted U.S. military forces in Syria and Bahrain, widening its attacks in the region as the U.S. completed its sixth consecutive night of strikes on the Islamic Republic,” CNBC reports.

“The escalating standoff comes as the fragile truce signed by the U.S. and Iran last month showed further signs of unravelling.”

Financial Times: U.S. escalates attacks on Iran as it expands range of targets.

Republican Rifts Deepen Over $95 Billion Budget Plan

July 17, 2026 at 4:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It was a plan House G.O.P. leaders hoped would satisfy everyone in their party: With a special budget bill, they would bypass Democratic opposition and provide tens of billions for the Iran war while imposing new election restrictions President Trump has demanded,” the New York Times reports.

“Instead, a day after the leaders released the plan, which hews closely to a spending request the White House sent to Capitol Hill last month, it became clear it is a product that no one really likes.”

Trump Hasn’t Scheduled Netanyahu Meeting Yet

July 17, 2026 at 4:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“White House officials were surprised in recent days to read in the Israeli press that President Trump would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday,” Axios reports.

“In fact, no meeting has been scheduled.”

”Netanyahu has visited the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office a year and a half ago — more than any other world leader. Each of those meetings was scheduled within a matter of hours or days. This time, Netanyahu has been trying to get an appointment for more than two weeks.”

Trump’s Own Docs Reveal Russian Assistance

July 17, 2026 at 4:04 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday night in a speech that alleged the country’s election integrity is at risk,” Mediaite reports.

“During his 26-minute address, he urged viewers to visit the official White House website, where they could find newly declassified documents he said bolstered his case.”

“However, one of the documents released said that the Russian government sought to assist Trump in his 2020 reelection bid against Joe Biden.”

Trump’s Health Nominees Are in Flux with Vote Pending

July 17, 2026 at 4:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration’s nominees to lead two critical health agencies are in limbo a day after their confirmation hearing before the Senate Health Committee,” Politico reports.

“Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the committee chair, wouldn’t say on Thursday which way he’d vote on Erica Schwartz’s bid to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Sean Kaufman’s to head the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.”

Trump Threatens Networks Over Speech Snub

July 17, 2026 at 2:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump threatened again to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC and NBC on Thursday, after those networks decided not to preempt their regularly scheduled programming to cover his address on election integrity live,” Axios reports.

Deadline: Donald Trump says ABC and NBC should lose broadcast licenses because they didn’t carry his primetime address on election claims.

Trump Again Claims Noncitizens Voted Illegally

July 17, 2026 at 1:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security claimed on Thursday that they had uncovered a significant number of noncitizens registered in four states, but offered no evidence to support their findings nor any description of their investigative process,” the New York Times reports.

“Election officials in at least one state — Nevada — immediately rebuffed the claims regarding noncitizens on their voter rolls.”

“Evidence-free claims that noncitizens have voted in elections have been core to the president’s political message — and central to his justification to enact the SAVE America Act, federal voting legislation that Democrats claim is aimed at tipping the scales to benefit Republicans.”

A Trump Obsession That Carries a Cost for Democracy

July 17, 2026 at 1:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump used a lot of alarming words on Thursday night as he addressed the American people about threats to the integrity of elections in the United States: ‘Deep state.’ ‘Rigged and stolen.’ ‘Conspiring.’ ‘Manipulation.’ ‘Corrupt.’ ‘Fraud.’ ‘Cover up.'” the New York Times reports.

“But the bottom-line message he clearly wanted to leave with the public was this: He is not a loser, regardless of the result of the 2020 election. There were dark forces at work to thwart him. And if his party loses this fall’s midterm election, he intimated, that may not be an honest outcome either.”

Trump Fails to Show Any Illegal 2020 Votes

July 17, 2026 at 12:24 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rick Hasen: “Donald Trump gave a national address where he made some recycled claims (‘burn bags,’ anyone?) about supposed voting machine vulnerabilities, about thousands of supposed noncitizens registered to vote, alleged voter registration fraud in Michigan, and about a cover-up concerning interference from China in the 2020 election. Among his biggest claims was that China had access to millions of American voting records. He said that there will be newly-declassified documents to back them up.”

”What Trump did NOT do was even purport to show a single ineligible voter voted in the 2020 election, or that any voting machines were actually compromised, voting machines or voter registration databases breached, or election results inaccurately reported.”

”Overall, this was an underwhelming announcement delivered with low energy that changes nothing about how state and local election administrators should run elections.”

Trump Makes Outlandish Election Safety Claims

July 16, 2026 at 11:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump made at times outlandish claims about the safety of American voting systems in a White House address on Thursday night, drawing selectively from documents his aides published online to insinuate that U.S. elections have been compromised for years and that government officials had suppressed the evidence,” the New York Times reports.

”Mr. Trump, who has in recent months increasingly pressed his yearslong and unsubstantiated argument that the outcomes of U.S. elections have been ‘rigged’ by various forces, also laid out a purported effort by the Chinese government to undermine him in 2019. But the documents posted by the White House, although heavily redacted, were far more guarded in their conclusions.”

Trump Speaks from the White House

July 16, 2026 at 8:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump is expected to deliver remarks tonight on “fair elections” and election security, though he may range into other topics.

The speech is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

Share your reactions in the comments.

The Last Gasp of the GOP Majority?

July 16, 2026 at 7:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Punchbowl News: “Top Republicans spent two weeks unable to pass a rule because of hardline conservative discontent with the GOP agenda. Speaker Mike Johnson was twice forced to send members home early due to the floor freeze.”

“This week, Johnson and the GOP leaders finally got a rule approved. But earlier today, Republicans again fell flat and were forced to yank the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act from the floor because of GOP opposition.”

“The opposition was so staunch that three Republicans — Reps. Max Miller (Ohio), Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.) and Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) — sided with Democrats on the minority’s procedural motion to send the bill back to committee. That’s practically unheard of in the House.”

“All of this evidence leads us to an obvious question: How will House Republicans fare next week?”

Republicans Are Dreading Trump’s Speech

July 16, 2026 at 7:14 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Magazine: “Trump intends to talk a lot about the 2020 election in his ‘address to the nation’ tonight, according to multiple reports. And that has Republicans ‘scared shitless,’ according to Politico. Rants about 2020 around the White House or even at MAGA rallies are one thing. But as part of a nationally televised White House address, election denialism will become impossible to deny, deflect, or dismiss.”

”We are told he may offer fresh claims of newly discovered foreign-government interference with the election that ejected him from power. But unless there’s a smoking gun, it will sound just like the endlessly debunked allegations that led to Trump’s absolute low point on January 6. That he wants to go there yet again and take the whole country with him is remarkable.”

Quote of the Day

July 16, 2026 at 6:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If the president declares Georgia’s elections illegitimate, or if the president declares Georgia’s sitting United States senators illegitimate, he is declaring Georgia voters illegitimate. It’s Donald Trump who tried to defraud Georgia voters in that election.”

— Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), quoted by ABC News.

USA Today: Ossoff on Trump 2020 election speech: “World’s most famous sore loser.”

Senate Opposes Pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried

July 16, 2026 at 6:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday declaring that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a pardon,” The Hill reports.

“Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on fraud charges tied to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, officially requested a pardon from the Trump administration in early June.”

ABC and NBC Will Not Air Trump’s Speech

July 16, 2026 at 6:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump is delivering a prime-time address on Thursday, but where the speech will air live on traditional television remains an open question,” the New York Times reports.

“Neither ABC nor NBC is planning to pre-empt regularly scheduled entertainment programming at 9 p.m. when Mr. Trump speaks. Fox News, which airs ‘Hannity’ during that time slot, has not said if it will broadcast the president’s address.”

“CBS, CNN and MS NOW did not respond to inquiries about their programming plans for Thursday evening.”

“The uncertainty is a direct result of the potential for Mr. Trump’s speech to become partisan or incendiary.”

Hollywood Reporter: NBC and ABC won’t carry Trump primetime election speech.

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 8873
  • Next Page »

Your Account

Sign in

Members Only

  • Trump’s Election ‘Bombshell’ Was a Dud
  • No Calculator Needed
  • Why I’m Not Worried About Trump Stealing the Midterms
  • Alito and Thomas May Think They’re Irreplaceable
  • The Price of Staying Relevant
Trial Balloon

Add Trial Balloon to your podcast player to get new episodes each week.

About Political Wire

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.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2026 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC