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“Members of the House Oversight Committee have discussed issuing subpoenas to people who could testify about secret settlements between some of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends and his accusers,” Politico reports.
“Some of Epstein’s accusers have signed confidential prelitigation settlements with friends of the sex offender whom they have also accused of misconduct.”
“Moderate Democrats are sounding the alarm after massive losses in New York’s primaries. They fear they’re on the verge of losing the party’s ideological civil war — and hurting its electoral chances,” Politico reports.
“Leftist candidates swept a trio of deep-blue House seats in New York City, a seismic victory that toppled two incumbents, including the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And after a string of progressive battleground wins in earlier primaries, moderates are making it very clear that the left’s winning streak is potentially just starting.”
“The far left is eyeing even bigger targets in key battleground primaries that will determine control of Congress as well as governorships in crucial swing states. Most immediately, moderates fear that a progressive primary sweep could imperil the party’s hopes of beating Republicans this fall.”
CNN: House Democrats’ anxiety rises after wins by Mamdani-backed candidates: “Are we going to let them take over the party?”
“The top strategist for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ reelection bid has left her campaign, just as she is gearing up for a bruising showdown against City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the Nov. 3 runoff,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said President Trump does not seem to care if Republicans retain control of Congress, Mediaite reports.
Said Haberman: “He’s not behaving like somebody who cares. Maybe he will start to at some point, but he is not right now. And I’m not sure whether he particularly believes he will suffer consequences, again, this is something else we talk about in the book if the House and even possibly the Senate flip.”
“It was almost as if the last 250 years never happened,” CNN reports.
“President Donald Trump kicked off celebrations for America’s semi-quincentennial on Wednesday night in a speech which implied that the nation’s greatness at this landmark moment was largely thanks to him.”
CNN: “From allies to adversaries, past supporters to potential rivals, and the primary voters who may ultimately decide his fate, there’s near-unanimous agreement in the Republican Party on this: Cruz is laying the groundwork for another presidential campaign, even if it means taking on Vice President JD Vance or whoever President Donald Trump ultimately endorses.”
“President Donald Trump is accelerating his effort to finish his border wall and setting an ambitious goal of completing it by the end of his administration,” CNN reports.
“He’ll need landowners whose property runs along the US-Mexico border to hand over their land to finish it.”
“Representative Thomas Kean Jr., who has been missing from Washington for nearly four months with little explanation, is back home in New Jersey,” the New York Times reports.
“He could be seen from the street on Wednesday evening, standing in a brightly lit front room of his Westfield home just before 8:45 p.m.”
“Senate Democrats plan to announce on Thursday that they will create a program to train congressional staff to serve as election observers, warning that President Trump may attempt to interfere with the results of the midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.
“Their initiative, which resembles a long-running program in the House of Representatives, aims to recruit Senate staff to serve as independent observers who can be sent to polling places on behalf of Congress to monitor voting procedures and ballot counting in states with Senate races.”
“The big-picture indicators of the U.S. economy — GDP, unemployment and so on — are doing fine while public opinion on economic conditions is at rock bottom,” Axios reports.
“The big picture: The juxtaposition is the result of not just the elevated prices reflected in macroeconomic data, but higher and more volatile prices for the specific items that dominate Americans’ day-to-day living expenses.”
“That’s the early conclusion of top Democratic economic policy minds who have embarked on a new effort to quantify — and develop policy responses to — the economic forces that ail American households.”
Punchbowl News: “Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has told several GOP senators in private meetings that he’s willing to take formal action to kill the $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund,’ according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.”
“Blanche has been meeting with senators — including the Republicans most skeptical of his nomination — as he works to secure the votes to become President Donald Trump’s confirmed attorney general. The sit-downs have been going relatively well for Blanche. But his GOP critics are watching carefully for progress on key concerns, including the anti-weaponization fund.”
Punchbowl News: “Trump is openly warring with GOP senators and grinding their legislative agenda to a halt. The president rarely talks about the tax-cut bill he helped name and pass. Some Senate Republicans are even questioning whether Trump is intentionally trying to blow up his party’s majorities in both chambers.”
“Trump is holding pretty much everything hostage over a bill that has almost no chance of passing unless the Senate changes its own rules — the SAVE America Act.”
Politico: “The president’s insistence that Congress pass the controversial election security legislation has ground both chambers to a halt.”
“The deadlock threatens to derail a host of other legislative efforts Republicans and the White House hoped to complete in the coming weeks, including a sweeping reconciliation bill filled with potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in Iran war military funding, billions of dollars in relief for farmers, fiscal 2027 funding bills and the annual defense policy bill.”
A new Siena poll in New York finds Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) way ahead of Bruce Blakeman (R) in the race for governor, 52% to 32%.
“The Senate rejected a resolution Wednesday to block President Donald Trump from resuming the war with Iran after he complained that the passage of a similar resolution Tuesday undermined ongoing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program,” the Washington Post reports.
“The resolution failed 50-47 on a late-night procedural vote. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who voted with Democrats for Tuesday’s resolution, flipped and voted against advancing this one. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has voted for every previous resolution since the war started, voted present rather than directly opposing Trump.”
“House Democrats are preparing themselves for a caucus in 2027 that is significantly more outspoken and left-wing than the one they have now,” Axios reports.
“It wasn’t all that easy to integrate the four-member ‘Squad’ into the Democratic fold. Now party leadership is going to have to contend with a much larger cohort of rabble rousers.”
“President Trump’s trade wars have waned. The price of gas is finally falling. But inflation has a new catalyst: America’s massive artificial-intelligence build-out is beginning to push up prices on everything from smartphones to electricity,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The question now is how widely that build-out might ripple through the economy, and how long it could keep inflation elevated. The answers will have big consequences for the economy.”
“After a trio of leftists in New York City defeated establishment-backed candidates in congressional primaries, a bouquet of flowers and a sympathy card arrived at the Capitol Hill office of Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader,” the New York Times reports.
“Progressives were cheering their victories in New York on Wednesday. The only faction that appeared even happier may have been Republicans fighting to cling to power in the midterms, who are eager to attempt to define the Democratic brand by its most boisterous and socialist voices.”
Politico: Hakeem Jeffries has met his nightmare scenario: The Squad 2.0 is coming to Capitol Hill.
“All branches of the U.S. military began once again requiring their recruits to get flu vaccines earlier this month, an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to lift the military’s vaccine mandate,” CBS News reports.
“The news comes as Lackland Air Force Base in Texas — home to the Air Force’s Basic Military Training program — grapples with a flu outbreak that has infected 275 people in recent weeks.”
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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