A meeting between Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and a U.S. delegation has been cancelled after Russian president Vladimir Putin rejected a peace deal brokered by Donald Trump’s envoy, The Independent reports.
Washington Post: Confident of military success, Putin refuses compromise in Moscow talks.
“MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has filed paperwork to run for governor of Minnesota, creating a campaign committee that will allow him to raise money,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
“Lindell’s possible entrance into the race would shake up what’s become a crowded field of Republicans who are seeking to challenge DFL Gov. Tim Walz. His close proximity to President Donald Trump and prominence in the Make America Great Again movement could make him a top contender for the GOP nomination, despite concerns about his electability and promotion of debunked election fraud theories.”
Just published: President Next: A Historical Roadmap to Forecasting the Future President by David Carlucci.
From smoke-filled rooms to social media storms, American presidential politics has been transformed by candidates who weren’t supposed to win.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said former Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t truthful about him in her new book, The Atlantic reports.
Said Shapiro: “I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.”
“What seemed to bother Shapiro, more than any one detail, was Harris portraying him in ways consistent with the whispers that had dogged him throughout the vetting process and throughout his career: that he was selfish, petty, and monomaniacally ambitious.”
He added: “She’s trying to sell books and cover her ass.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said he wants to strengthen rules to police insider trading by members of Congress, but believes that lawmakers should still be allowed to own stocks and other financial instruments, Punchbowl News reports.
Said Johnson: “We don’t want people cheating the system and abusing their office. So there’s probably a way to do that that still allows for lawful conduct by members… You don’t want another deterrence for good people running for office.”
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information, which could have endangered American troops and mission objectives, when he used Signal in March of this year to share highly-sensitive attack plans targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to four sources familiar with the contents of a classified Inspector General report,” CNN reports.
“The repercussions of Hegseth’s action are less clear since the IG concluded that the defense secretary has the authority to declassify information and Hegseth asserted he made an operational decision in the moment to share that information, though there is no documentation of such a decision.”
“The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to former special counsel Jack Smith, who led investigations into President Donald Trump, ordering him to appear at a closed-door session later this month,” Politico reports.
“The House Oversight Committee has received new materials from major financial institutions as part of its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as photos and videos of Epstein’s private compound from authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Politico reports.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a prominent ally of President Trump, criticized Speaker Mike Johnson, calling him an ineffective leader who is losing control over the GOP conference headed into the midterm elections, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Stefanik: “He certainly wouldn’t have the votes to be speaker if there was a roll-call vote tomorrow. I believe that the majority of Republicans would vote for new leadership. It’s that widespread.”
She added: “Whereas Kevin McCarthy was a political animal, Mike Johnson is a political novice and boy does it show, with the House Republicans underperforming for the first time in the Trump era.”
Coming soon: The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History by Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash.
Originally intended as a mechanism of mercy―to temper harsh laws and foster reconciliation―the pardon was once used with solemnity and circumspection. Today, it has evolved into a blunt and potent political instrument.
Charlie Sykes: “There is a temptation is to describe what happened yesterday as somehow a ‘new low.’ Our somnolent, gibbering, incoherent, deeply corrupt President, surrounded by his fawning toadies, unleashed a torrent of dehumanizing racist bile, disinformation, and threats.”
“But it’s not a new low. It’s the same old low. A scene we’ve seen repeated so often there is a kind of numbness to it. Outrage did not ensue.”
President Trump announced a pardon of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who with his wife, was charged in 2024 with bribery and acting as a foreign agent.
Said Trump: “The Radical Left Democrats are a complete and total threat to Democracy! They will attack, rob, lie, cheat, destroy, and decimate anyone who dares to oppose their Far Left Agenda, an Agenda that, if left unchecked, will obliterate our magnificent Country. Because of these facts, and others, I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, and Imelda. Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!”
“President Trump has claimed for months that his administration and Harvard University were close to a monumental deal to end his extraordinary pressure campaign against the university,” the New York Times reports.
“Even some at Harvard say that a deal appeared imminent this summer. But eight months after the rupture between Harvard and the government blew open, no deal has materialized.”
“The talks have stumbled around arguments about where any money will go.”
President Trump said he is terminating all documents, including pardons, that he said his predecessor Joe Biden had signed using an autopen, CNBC reports.
Wrote Trump: “Anyone receiving ‘Pardons,’ ‘Commutations,’ or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect.”
“Federal agents have started an immigration enforcement operation in New Orleans, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown expands to Democratic-led cities in red states,” Bloomberg reports.
“Rep. Elise Stefanik declared victory over Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday, saying she had secured the inclusion of a key provision she wanted attached to the annual Pentagon policy bill after a remarkable public spat with the speaker a day earlier,” Politico reports.
“Others involved credited President Donald Trump for playing mediator after the New York Republican threatened to “tank” the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act as part of her public targeting of Johnson.”
“More than a week after a federal judge tossed the Trump administration’s cases against two of the president’s top political foes, the Justice Department is weighing whether to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James,” NBC News reports.
“And the Justice Department is considering taking that step without the legal complications caused by the previous ‘unlawful’ actions of Lindsey Halligan as the purported top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia.”
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.
