Political Wire Members get the complete experience: exclusive analysis, a 24/7 trending news, no advertising, the weekly news quiz and more.
Stay ahead of politics without spending all day following it.
Join today for instant access.
“The White House is vetting top labor official Julie Su and the president of the country’s largest flight attendants’ union, Sara Nelson, to lead the Department of Labor after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh steps down in March,” the Washington Post reports.
“Leaders of the organized labor movement have also recommended the outgoing executive director of the National Football League’s union, DeMaurice Smith, as a potential candidate to fill the position.”
“Donald Trump’s team has quietly launched a nationwide campaign to buttress his chances of getting sympathetic delegates at next year’s nominating convention and identify opportunities to shape party rules that could help his campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“The behind-the-scenes effort comes at a time when most Trump rivals have not even launched campaigns and focuses on the most esoteric part of the Republican nominating process — the state rules and party leaders that actually select presidential nominating delegates.”
“His team has invited state party officials to Mar-a-Lago, arranged private meet-and-greets between state leaders and Trump as he travels, endorsed state officials they believe will be supportive of him and met with senior Republican Party officials in Washington to discuss how the delegate selection process will unfold.”
“Three days after delegates elected her to lead the Michigan Republican Party, Kristina Karamo reaffirmed her belief in a conspiracy theory, claiming shadowy forces are working to achieve global domination right here in Michigan,” MLive reports.
Said Karamo: “What prompted me to run for chair of the Michigan Republican Party is the fact that Michigan has become ground zero for the globalist takeover of the United States of America.”
She added: “This is not me being emotional and dramatic and trying to just rally the troops — these are facts. These are facts that these people’s actions are consistent with people who have one agenda, and that is to intentionally implode the United States of America.”
Mike Pence has declined an invitation to the Conservative Political Action Conference, ABC News reports.
“Pence did not attend the event in 2022 and declined an invitation in 2021. This year’s absences come as the chairman of CPAC — which bills itself as the ‘largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world’ — is embroiled in a sexual assault scandal.”
“President Joe Biden’s aides have ruled out the creation of a legal defense fund to help pay for any personal legal fees in response to investigations, such as the special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents,” NBC News reports.
“The president’s advisers decided against establishing such a fund because of concerns about questions that could be raised if he did, including that doing so might generate political blowback or give the appearance there’s potential wrongdoing he needs to defend.”
A group of Republican lawmakers sent letters on Friday to Robert Bauer and Cristina Rodríguez — the two former co-chairs of the Supreme Court reform commission that released its final report in December 2021 — requesting documents and communications, Politico reports.
Former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told Tulsa World that his decision to retire was due to the long-term effects of Covid-19, adding that certain symptoms were still affecting him day-to-day.
Said Inhofe: “Five or six others have long Covid, but I’m the only one who admits it.”
The HuffPost notes Inhofe voted against multiple coronavirus aid packages meant to help Americans at the height of the pandemic.
“Nikki Haley had a busy first week as an official 2024 presidential candidate, announcing in her native state, then hustling to early voting New Hampshire and Iowa and going on a media blitz,” the AP reports.
“But as fundraising starts to build for the potential GOP field, she’s running into a potential home state conflict: donors waiting for the possible entrance of Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Both Republicans are popular among the state’s voters, and some previous Haley donors have said they’re waiting to see if Scott — stockpiling cash that he could ultimately transfer into a presidential bid — enters the race.”
“For now, Haley, who also served as United Nations ambassador during the Trump administration, hasn’t revealed how much money she’s taken in since her Feb. 15 launch.”
CNBC: Nikki Haley heads to fundraiser hosted by Wall Street executives.
“U.S. officials say China is considering delivering artillery and drones to Russian forces that could prolong the war, even as Beijing called for peace talks to end the fighting on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The officials said no weapons deliveries have yet taken place. But, if China were to go ahead and deliver lethal aid to Russia, the resulting tensions could shape Western relations with Beijing for years and potentially have profound consequences on the battlefield in Ukraine, at a point when both sides are gearing up for a spring offensive.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that if China provides lethal aid to Russia, it would be a “game-changer,” NBC News reports.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) lied to a Seattle judge about working for Goldman Sachs while speaking at a 2017 bail hearing for a “family friend” who later pleaded guilty to fraud in an ATM skimming scheme, Politico reports.
U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for the announcement.
She added: “How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?”
“Germany, France and Britain see stronger ties between NATO and Ukraine as a way to encourage Kyiv to start peace talks with Russia later this year, officials from the three governments said, as some of Kyiv’s Western partners have increasing doubts about its ability to reconquer all its territory,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Vice News: “For the last five years, Deborah Sullivan has been at the forefront of the QAnon movement, fighting a non-existent Democratic cabal of elites running a child sex trafficking ring. As the self-described QAnon ‘Meme Queen’ she has produced more than 4,500 memes about the conspiracy, many of them focusing on former President Donald Trump, who she believes is secretly working to save the children.”
“But earlier this month, when Sullivan’s own son was convicted of repeatedly abusing his stepdaughter in Oklahoma City, her passion for ‘saving the children’ seems to disappear. Instead, she defended her son as ‘innocent,’ blasted the justice system as ‘crooked,’ and attacked the 12-year-old girl at the center of the case as ‘a horrible liar.'”
“Now she is appealing to her community of fellow Qanon believers to come to her aide, including a direct plea to Trump himself.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, blasted Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) over his comments this week questioning her loyalty to the U.S., NBC News reports.
Said Chu:”Rep. Gooden’s comments on Fox News questioning my loyalty to the USA is absolutely outrageous. It is based on false information spread by an extreme, right-wing website. Furthermore, it is racist. I very much doubt that he would be spreading these lies were I not of Chinese American descent.”
“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is privately telling big-dollar donors that bad candidates for governor and Senate were a top reason the GOP didn’t win more House seats in 2022, emphasizing that quality candidates matter up and down the ticket,” Axios reports.
“More than 271,000 Ukrainian refugees have been admitted to the United States since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began one year ago, according to the Department of Homeland Security, far above President Joe Biden’s stated goal of admitting 100,000,” NBC News reports.
“Just over two-fifths, or more than 117,000, of those who were admitted came via the Biden administration’s ‘Uniting for Ukraine’ program, which allows Americans to sponsor Ukrainians to prove that they will be financially supported in the U.S.”
“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have agreed to create a bipartisan task force that will establish a process to remove members from committees,” NBC News 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.
“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.