CNN: “According to figures compiled by congressional Democrats, which have not been previously reported, the administration has so far withheld $425 billion that Congress had agreed to spend on programs like biomedical research, state and local crime fighting efforts and energy programs.”
“It’s a number that congressional Democrats are likely to point to as they push for guardrails in upcoming talks with GOP leaders, who also voted to approve that spending.”
House Democrats, with help from more than half a dozen Republicans, succeeded in killing a motion to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) for clashing with ICE officers in April, Axios reports.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla defended the safety and efficacy of its COVID vaccine and suggested President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in its development,” Axios reports.
He called Trump’s Operation Warp Speed “a profound public health achievement.”
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Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar praised a U.S. strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs and said that all traffickers should be killed, the AP reports.
Said Persad-Bissessar: “I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently.”
Associated Press: “Speaker Mike Johnson says when President Trump called him recently to discuss the novel idea of a midterm political convention he thought: ‘That’s genius.'”
“The idea is to give Republicans a chance to make their case to voters, who tend to reject the party in power during midterm cycles. Republicans are struggling to hold onto their majority in Congress.”
Jeffrey Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips said that she and other victims will compile their own “client list,” McClatchy reports.
Said Phillips: “We know the names… Now, together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know were regularly in the Epstein world… Stay tuned for more details.”
“Advisers to President Trump have discussed the possibility of giving Mayor Eric Adams of New York City a position in the administration as a way to clear the field in November’s mayoral election and damage the chances of the Democratic front-runner, Zohran Mamdani,” the New York Times reports.
“The talks have also involved finding a possible place in the administration for the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.”
“The goal would be to give former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a better chance of defeating Mr. Mamdani in November’s general election.”
A man Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) “blocked from rising to the federal judiciary in 2022, is now seeking to unseat her in the 2026 midterms,” the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
“Lowndes County District Attorney Scott Colom has officially thrown his hat into the ring for next year’s U.S. Senate race.”
Chelsea Clinton isn’t eyeing a congressional bid in Manhattan, ABC News reports.
Rep. Buddy Carter’s (R-GA) Senate campaign went up with a seven-figure ad blitz seeking to tie him closely to President Trump — and to the Laken Riley Act, even though primary rival Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) was the main sponsor of the bill, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Maine brewery owner Dan Kleban (D) announced in a video that he is mounting a Senate bid because Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has “been in Washington for 30 years, she stopped looking out for us, she lied about protecting abortion rights, and she refuses to stand up to Donald Trump when it really matters.”
House Democrats are moving to formally reprimand Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) in response to a GOP lawmaker’s effort to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Politico reports.
“Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a candidate for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, incorrectly claimed in a social media post Monday that she had won the endorsement of Berrien County Commissioner Chokwe Pitchford,” the Detroit News reports.
“The post was later deleted from online by the campaign. But Pitchford said he felt the need to publicly disassociate himself from Stevens’ campaign, posting a message on the website X to clarify that he’d never communicated with Stevens’ team about even the possibility of an endorsement.”
“The House of Representatives is preparing to vote this week on a GOP measure to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver and remove the New Jersey Democrat from the Homeland Security Committee,” NPR reports.
“McIver was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on criminal counts stemming from a visit to an immigration detention facility that resulted in a physical altercation with law enforcement. She pleaded not guilty.”
“Florida’s surgeon general on Wednesday announced plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools, which would make it the first state to completely withdraw from a practice credited with boosting vaccination rates and controlling the spread of infectious diseases,” the Washington Post reports.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said Wednesday that every vaccine mandate “drips with disdain and slavery.”
Fox News was sued by conservative news outlet Newsmax over antitrust claims, CNBC reports.
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday called demands that his administration release the Jeffrey Epstein files a distraction from his successes, as a group of victims of the notorious sex offender called for those documents to be publicly disclosed,” CNBC reports.
Said Trump: “This is a Democratic hoax that never ends.”
ABC News: Trump dodges questions about Epstein files.
“A confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog circulated to member states said Wednesday that Iran increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels before Israel launched its military attack on June 13,” the AP reports.
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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