
The Friday news dump from hell
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Happy Saturday. It's Adam Wren here back in your inbox. Send me tips and scoops.
President Donald Trump was wheels down at 9:08 p.m. last night, back from his Middle East trip. The flight was bumpy at times but uneventful.
He returned to a news cycle far more turbulent.
On his way back from Abu Dhabi, he sent a crystal-clear message to Capitol Hill, as our Rachael Bade writes in her latest Corridors column: 'Tidy up the house, kids, because dad's coming home from his big work trip.'
'Republicans MUST UNITE behind, 'THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!' … STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!' Trump said on Truth Social.
OMINOUS MOOD MUSIC: 'Don't be surprised in the coming days when the White House activates allies on the outside while Trump employs the inside game to move people to 'yes,'' Rachael writes. 'Indeed, the Trump administration official whom I texted with Friday warned obstructionists they'll pay a price. 'Voters gave them a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass a good bill,' the person told Rachael. 'And for those who vote against, they should know their careers are in jeopardy.''
One to watch: After failing to advance the megabill in a dramatic vote yesterday, the House Budget Committee has noticed a 10 p.m. vote on Sunday for the legislation as negotiations between the holdouts and leadership continue. More from POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes
BULLETIN: Trump will hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine on Monday at 10 a.m., the president said in a post on Truth Social this morning.
DRIVING THE DAY
A news dump from hell came for Republicans and Democrats alike Friday, and Trump's Washington is still sorting through the collateral damage this morning. Like the Red Wedding episode of 'Game of Thrones,' few characters escaped its wrath.
Its blowback threatens to extend deep into the coming days.
LET'S GO TO THE TAPE:
3:46 p.m. — Trump's efforts to expel alleged Venezuelan gang members suffered another legal setback from his own Supreme Court, with seven justices extending the block on deporting dozens of men held in a deportation center in Texas. Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
THE DAMAGE: It's a temporary blow to Trump's strategy of using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to aid his immigration agenda. BUT: 'Friday's ruling noted that it was not resolving the legality of Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act,' as POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney write. 'That question is being litigated in lower courts.'
Trump railed against the decision on Truth Social, posting that 'The Supreme Court of the United States is not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.'
4:45 p.m. — Moody's Ratings downgraded the U.S. government's Triple A credit rating for the first time in a century, citing 'the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.'
The White House immediately went into attack mode. 'If Moody's had any credibility, they would not have stayed silent as the fiscal disaster of the past four years unfolded,' White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the news 'should be a wake-up call to Trump and Congressional Republicans to end their reckless pursuit of their deficit-busting tax giveaway.'
THE DAMAGE: 'The announcement comes as Republicans are debating President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' that would extend 2017 tax cuts, with some hard-line conservatives fighting to limit the increase to federal spending deficits,' POLITICO's Victoria Guida writes. 'But those deficits would increase even under conditions outlined by that group.'
BUT: OMB Director Russ Vought is clapping back at those critiquing the bills cost. 'The bill satisfies the very red-line test that House fiscal hawks laid out a few weeks ago that stated that the cost of any tax cut could be paid for with $2.5 trillion in assumed economic growth, but the rest had to be covered with savings from reform,' Vought said in a lengthy post on X.
6:08 p.m. — POLITICO reports that audio of former President Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur would soon leak.
Now, Republicans are using it to again eviscerate Biden. 'Whoever had control of the 'AUTOPEN' is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment,' Trump posted earlier this morning on Truth Social. 'It is a major part of the real crime, THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!'
WHAT REPUBLICANS ARE SAYING: 'We all knew that President Biden suffered from severe mental decline during his presidency,' Mike Davis, the GOP lawyer and close Trump ally, told Playbook this morning. 'But the Hur tapes make clear it was much, much worse than the American people knew. The Biden White House and its Cabinet engaged in the biggest cover up and scandal in American political history by hiding this.'
WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE SAYING: 'Trump was extra chaotic yesterday because he doesn't want to talk about the economy — Walmart raising prices, our credit rating getting downgraded, record-low consumer sentiment, or the GOP budget chaos,' said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and senior adviser to Kamala Harris' 2020 presidential primary campaign. 'Instead, he throws out bullshit distractions: attacking Taylor Swift and leaking the Hur tapes to embarrass Biden — the latter being a completely classless move.'
Biden aides were not expecting the audio to drop as early as this weekend and had been told as much by the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with the back and forth. But they did ultimately expect it to drop soon: By May 20, DOJ had been ordered by a judge to say whether it will stand by Biden's assertion of executive privilege to block the release of the tapes.
Biden advisers had expected the audio to come out by that date — and it was one of the reasons they brought on extra communications help.
It all amounts to perhaps one of the best-timed book releases in recent history. 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' ($27) the book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson, will be officially released on May 20. Thompson was one of two authors on the Axios report Friday on the audio.
6:36 p.m.: Axios publishes its first crack at the audio.
THE DAMAGE: Biden's legacy and reputation took another significant hit. Harris also took a hit, as Axios notes: 'Biden's defenders included then-Vice President Harris, who blasted Hur's report and called his comments about Biden's age 'gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate,'' they write. ''The way that the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated —gratuitous,' Harris said then. '.... We should expect that there would be a higher level of integrity than what we saw.''
'The transcripts were released by the Biden administration more than a year ago,' Biden spokesperson Kelly Scully said. 'The audio does nothing but confirm what is already public.'
LISTEN: Axios posted the full audio.
THE BIG PICTURE: Surveying all of this from a careful remove is former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), one of the few elected Democrats who spoke up at the time Biden decided to run for reelection and mounted his own ill-fated primary bid.
My colleague Holly Otterbein checked in with Phillips, who texted some spicy takes after the story went up. Phillips told Holly he isn't convinced that Democratic primary voters will care about the topic in 2028.
'Based on their overwhelming selection of Joe Biden in 2024 despite abundant evidence that doing so would result in disaster, I suspect the gaslighting by 2028 aspirants won't matter a bit,' he said.
RELATED READS:
Another unforced error: 'When a Guatemalan man sued the Trump administration in March for deporting him to Mexico despite a fear of persecution, immigration officials had a response: The man told them himself he was not afraid to be sent there. But in a late Friday court filing, the administration acknowledged that this claim — a key plank of the government's response to a high-stakes class action lawsuit — was based on erroneous information,' POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reports. ICE officials 'now say they have no record of anyone being told by the man, identified only by the initials O.C.G. in court papers, that he was unafraid of going to Mexico.'
Laying down the law: A federal judge in Maryland 'upbraided the Trump administration Friday for what she described as 'bad faith' delay tactics in the face of court orders requiring the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by U.S. immigration authorities,' Kyle and Josh report. Notable quotable: 'I'm like the cat with the ball of string and I'm trying to keep up with the ball of string,' U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said.
More Biden scrutiny: The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into Biden's use of an autopen to issue pardons in the final days of his presidency. Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told the Republican National Lawyers Association's policy conference yesterday that he believes they've 'identified the staffer' who operated the autopen, The Washington Examiner's Kaelan Deese writes. 'If what we think is going to play out on the autopen [investigation], it's going to create a strong case on the pardons,' Comer said.
9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US
1. A NEW GAZA PLAN: The Trump administration is 'working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya,' NBC's Courtney Kube, Carol Lee and Gordon Lubold report, noting that the plan is 'under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libya's leadership.' In exchange, the U.S. would 'potentially release to Libya billions of dollars of funds that the U.S. froze more than a decade ago.' However, the report was met with pushback after publication. An admin spokesperson told NBC that the reported plan was 'untrue,' adding that the 'situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense.'
On the ground: Just a day after Trump left the region, Israel 'launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages, following days of strikes across the Palestinian territory that killed hundreds of people,' AP's Ibrahim Hazboun and Samy Magdy report.
2. MORE ON THE TRUMP TRIP: Trump's sudden announcement this week that he was lifting sanctions on Syria 'triggered a scramble across the US government to implement the decision,' CNN's Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt report. 'Trump administration officials had for months been carrying out quiet engagements to pave the way for sanctions relief and a potential high-level engagement with the former jihadist turned interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, but the announcement sanctions would swiftly be removed altogether took some officials by surprise.'
On Iran: Trump's stated intention to strike a nuclear deal with Iran — which was the subject of much chatter during his Middle East trip — is likely to 'test the harder-line wing of Mr. Trump's supporters in the Republican Party and whether they will fall in line with what would be a departure from their longstanding demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear program,' NYT's Steven Erlanger writes. 'More than 200 congressional Republicans urged him in a letter this week to stand firm with Iran.'
3. MAGA REVOLUTION: Trump's desire to dramatically overhaul the federal government appears to be well on its way to becoming reality. The administration's 'push for early retirement and voluntary separation is fueling a voluntary exodus of experienced, knowledgeable staffers unlike anything in living memory,' WaPo's Hannah Natanson, Dan Diamond, Rachel Siegel, Jacob Bogage and Ian Duncan report.
The scale: 'The first resignation offer, sent in January, saw 75,000 workers across government agree to quit and keep drawing pay through September, the administration has said. But a second round, rolling out agency by agency through the spring, is seeing a sustained, swelling uptick that will dwarf the first, potentially climbing into the hundreds of thousands, the employees and the records show.'
4. THE TAIL WAGS THE DOGE: 'How DOGE has tried to embed beyond the executive branch,' by NPR's Shannon Bond and Stephen Fowler: 'NPR has identified close to 40 entities — inside, adjacent to and outside of the government — where DOGE and the Trump administration have turned their attention in recent weeks. Some of them have already been effectively dismantled by DOGE … Some have been targeted for elimination by the president in his budget proposal for next year … Some of them aren't government agencies at all … Nearly all of the meetings have been conducted by a small group of young staffers, including at least one college student, with no federal government experience and little apparent knowledge about what these entities do.'
5. COMEY COMES IN: James Comey was questioned by the Secret Service over a social media post in which the former FBI director posted a photo showing the numbers '86 47' arranged in seashells on the beach, which quickly set off the right, who claimed that Comey was calling for a threat against Trump's life, NYT's Eileen Sullivan and Michael Schmidt report. 'The interview is said to have taken place at a Secret Service office in Washington. Mr. Comey is said to have voluntarily consented to the interview, the official said, and was driven to the interview by Secret Service agents.'
6. THE NEW IVF DEBATES: 'Inside the I.V.F. Deliberations at the White House as Key Report Nears,' by NYT's Caroline Kitchener: 'Provide insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization to all members of the U.S. military. Declare I.V.F. to be an 'Essential Health Benefit' — and extend coverage to the nearly 50 million Americans insured through the Affordable Care Act. Push Congress to pass a law requiring private insurance companies to cover I.V.F. procedures for any person struggling with infertility. Those are among the sweeping potential policy changes under discussion at the White House as aides prepare to release a highly anticipated report on combating infertility.'
7. TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: 'Meet 'Ice,' 'Ogle' and other crypto millionaires who bought a night with Trump,' by WaPo's Drew Harwell, Jeremy Merrill, Chris Dehghanpoor and Carol Leonnig: 'The gala dinner at the Trump National Golf Club on Thursday will link the president to an unusual collection of deep-pocketed crypto players from around the world, some of whom have told The Washington Post they hope to influence his views on how their industry is regulated or otherwise capitalize on the presidential access.' The identities of these invitees have mostly remained hidden and 'they may be able to stay that way, with one crypto investor saying he was told by the event's organizers that no cameras or journalists would be allowed in the room.'
8. RAISING ARIZONA: The conventional wisdom for Democrats trying to win in battleground Arizona is that they need to 'do nearly everything right — and still hope for a little luck. By that standard, next year's elections are looking worrisome for Democrats in the Grand Canyon State,' NYT's Kellen Browning writes. 'Their standard-bearer, Gov. Katie Hobbs, is among the nation's most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2026. And, rather than bolstering her with vital political muscle and support, the party has been consumed by an acrimonious and seemingly petty feud between the new state Democratic chairman and Arizona's two Democratic senators.'
9. YOU DON'T KNOW JACK: 'Meet New Jersey's JD Vance,' by POLITICO's Daniel Han: Jack Ciattarelli, 'a former state lawmaker who is making his third run for governor, has embraced Trump's agenda. It may be enough to propel Ciattarelli to the party nomination next month given Trump's popularity among the party base and Ciattarelli's own narrow loss to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021. But if it does, Ciattarelli would likely find himself navigating thorny terrain much like Vance has: Appealing to a broad spectrum of voters as a commonsense conservative while remaining sufficiently loyal to Trump.'
CLICKER — 'The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics,' edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies
GREAT WEEKEND READS:
— 'Stephen A. Smith Is Running. To Be Joe Rogan,' by NYT's Matt Flegenheimer: 'America's best-known sports-talker is hosting boldface Democrats and MAGA luminaries and teasing a 2028 run. But what he really wants is ubiquitous political influence, and things of that nature.'
— 'The Big Takeover: The secret plans to give Trump command of America's police,' by the Phoenix New Times' Beau Hodai: 'For months, a Project 2025 subgroup drafted plans to place domestic law enforcement under Trump's thumb. We have their files.'
— 'Addicted to ICE,' by Bloomberg's Rachel Adams-Heard, Polly Mosendz and Fola Akinnibi: 'Like a growing number of US communities, Torrance County, New Mexico, is convinced its financial survival depends on locking up immigrants.'
— 'How the Trump Administration Is Weakening the Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws,' by ProPublica's Jesse Coburn: 'At least 115 fair housing cases have been halted or closed, according to HUD officials, some of whom fear race-based cases could be the next category abandoned.'
— 'Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?' by The New Yorker's Clare Malone: 'How the paper that brought down Richard Nixon is struggling to survive the second term of Donald Trump.'
— 'Coming Out of the Closet Was a Liberation. Why Are Some Peeking Back In?' by NYT's Mark Harris: 'Long a place of hiding and shame, it's now being reconsidered in queer culture — and beyond.'
— 'Anna Wintour becomes an unlikely activist as Washington quashes DEI,' by WaPo's Robin Givhan: ''It's a challenging time,' the longtime Vogue editor in chief said. 'I feel we need to be courageous.''
— ''We're Definitely Going to Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI,'' by The Atlantic's Karen Hao: 'The true story behind the chaos at OpenAI.'
TALK OF THE TOWN
Donald Trump will not attend the Indy 500 on Memorial Day weekend, a spokesperson confirmed.
Sean Combs is actively lobbying some Trump associates for a pardon if he faces jail time — which, as Rolling Stone notes, is straight from The Onion to reality.
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — 'FBI leaving Hoover Building, moving 1,500 employees out of D.C. area, director says,' by Washington Business Journal's Michael Neibauer
OUT AND ABOUT — Tammy Haddad, Teresa Carlson, Helen Milby and Juleanna Glover hosted a party for Edward Luce's new book, 'Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet,' ($29.12) last night. SPOTTED: British Ambassador Peter Mandelson, Polish Ambassador Bogdan Klich and Anna Klich, New Zealand Ambassador Rosemary Banks, Stuart Jones, Peter Baker, Don Graham, Karalee Geis, Bob Costa, Phil Rucker, Josh Dawsey, Alex Marquardt, Evan Hollander, Matt Gorman, Kevin Walling, Alex Slater, Senay Bulbul, Liz Johnson, Charlotte Smith, Maryam Mujica, Adam Branch, Govind Shivkumar, Sydney Paul, Peter Pham, Chloe Autio, Tina Anthony, Jeremy and Robyn Bash, Ed Roman and Angeli Chawla.
— SPOTTED at the Wicked Game acoustic guitar concert at Marx Cafe last night with Sidewalk Soul: Christina Sevilla, Jack Doll, Neil Grace, Raquel Krähenbühl, Josh Meyer, Tim Noviello, Steve Rochlin, Jack Detsch, Alina Bondarenko, Nihal Krishan, Shaila Manyam, David Lunderquist, Riikka Hietajarvi, Gilles Bauer, Ruth Schipper, Barbara Wegerson, Victoria Leacock Hoffman, Adam Forbes and Fabian Giorgi.
TRANSITIONS — The Congressional Management Foundation has added Karsen Bailey as director of congressional outreach and Colin Driscoll as senior manager of congressional events. Bailey previously director of operations for Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) and is a Bob Casey alum. Driscoll previously was scheduler and operations manager for Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and is a Joe Courtney David Cicilline alum. … Colleen Roh Sinzdak is now a partner at Milbank's Supreme Court and appellate practice. She previously was assistant to the Solicitor General at DOJ. … Patrick Clifton is joining Fierce Government Relations. He most recently was VP of corporate affairs at LG and is a Trump White House and Rob Portman alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo … NYT's Mike Shear and Reid Epstein and Peter Wallsten …… Mike Smith … NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Courtney Clawson … Rachel Palermo … Rick Wiley … Margarita Diaz … WaPo's Olivia Petersen … POLITICO's Sean Scott, Maura Reynolds and Thao Sperling … WSJ's Robin Turner … Cheryl Bruner … The Intercept's Akela Lacy … Randy Schriver … Shannon Buckingham … Phillip Stutts … Derrick Robinson … Deirdre Murphy Ramsey of Precision Strategies … David Brancaccio … Margaret McInnis of Rep. Marcy Kaptur's (D-Ohio) office … Brielle Hopkins … Nik Youngsmith of the House Administration Committee … Tim Del Monico … Emily Druckman of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association … Ralph Neas … former Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) … Adi Sathi … former Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) … Jenna Lowenstein … Jeremy Lin … EPA's Wynn Radford … NRCC's Pieter Block
THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):
CNN 'State of the Union': Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent … Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Van Jones and David Axelrod.
ABC 'This Week': Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Sarah Isgur and Faiz Shakir.
FOX 'Fox News Sunday': Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Speaker Mike Johnson … Adam Boehler. Legal panel: Ilya Shapiro and Tom Dupree. Sunday panel: Kevin Roberts, Susan Page, Tiffany Smiley and Juan Williams. Sunday special: Modern Warrior Live.
NBC 'Meet the Press': Mike Pence … Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Ashley Etienne, Stephen Hayes, Andrea Mitchell and Amna Nawaz.
NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday': Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) … Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.). Panel: George Will, Sarah McCammon, Julie Mason and Julia Manchester.
MSNBC 'The Weekend: Primetime': Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) … DNC Vice Chair David Hogg.
CBS 'Face the Nation': Robert Gates … retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
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Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump aides want Texas to redraw its congressional maps to boost the GOP. What would that mean?
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas' free newsletters here. Republicans representing Texas in Congress are considering this week whether to push their state Legislature to take the unusual step of redrawing district lines to shore up the GOP's advantage in the U.S. House. But the contours of the plan, including whether Gov. Greg Abbott would call a special session of the Legislature to redraw the maps, remain largely uncertain. The idea is being driven by President Donald Trump's political advisers, who want to draw up new maps that would give Republicans a better chance to flip seats currently held by Democrats, according to two GOP congressional aides familiar with the matter. That proposal, which would involve shifting GOP voters from safely red districts into neighboring blue ones, is aimed at safeguarding Republicans' thin majority in Congress, where they control the lower chamber, 220-212. The redistricting proposal, and the Trump team's role in pushing it, was first reported by The New York Times Monday. Without a Republican majority in Congress, Trump's legislative agenda would likely stall, and the president could face investigations from newly empowered Democratic committee chairs intent on scrutinizing the White House. Here's what we know about the plan so far: On Capitol Hill, members of the Texas GOP delegation huddled Monday night to discuss the prospect of reshaping their districts. Most of the 25-member group expressed reluctance about the idea, citing concerns about jeopardizing their districts in next year's midterms if the new maps overextended the GOP's advantage, according to the two GOP aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, was skeptical of the idea. 'We just recently worked on the new maps,' Arrington told The Texas Tribune. To reopen the process, he said, 'there'd have to be a significant benefit to our state.' The delegation has yet to be presented with mockups of new maps, two aides said. Each state's political maps must be redrawn once a decade, after each round of the U.S. census, to account for population growth and ensure every congressional and legislative district has roughly the same number of people. Texas lawmakers last overhauled their district lines in 2021. There's no federal law that prohibits states from redrawing district maps midcycle, said Justin Levitt, an election law professor at Loyola Marymount University and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice's civil rights division. Laws around the timing to redraw congressional and state district maps vary by state. In Texas, the state constitution doesn't specify timing, so the redrawing of maps is left to the discretion of the governor and the Legislature. Lawmakers gaveled out of their 140-day regular session last week, meaning they would need to be called back for a special session to change the state's political maps. Abbott has the sole authority to order overtime sessions and decide what lawmakers are allowed to consider. A trial is underway in El Paso in a long-running challenge to the state legislative and congressional district maps Texas drew after the 2020 U.S. Census. If Texas redraws its congressional maps, state officials would then ask the court to toss the claims challenging those districts 'that no longer exist,' Levitt said. The portion of the case over the state legislative district maps would continue. If the judge agrees, then both parties would have to file new legal claims for the updated maps. It isn't clear how much maps could change, but voters could find themselves in new districts, and Levitt said redrawing the lines in the middle of the redistricting cycle is a bad idea. 'If the people of Texas think that their representatives have done a bad job, then when the [district] lines change, they're not voting on those representatives anymore,' Levitt said. 'New people are voting on those representatives.' The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Democrats' national arm for contesting state GOP mapmaking, said the proposal to expand Republicans' stronghold in Texas was 'yet another example of Trump trying to suppress votes in order to hold onto power.' 'Texas's congressional map is already being sued for violating the Voting Rights Act because it diminishes the voting power of the state's fast-growing Latino population,' John Bisognano, president of the NDRC said. 'To draw an even more extreme gerrymander would only assure that the barrage of legal challenges against Texas will continue.' When Republicans in charge of the Legislature redrew the district lines after the 2020 census, they focused on reinforcing their political support in districts already controlled by the GOP. This redistricting proposal would likely take a different approach. As things stand, Republicans hold 25 of the state's 38 congressional seats. Democrats hold 12 seats and are expected to regain control of Texas' one vacant seat in a special election this fall. Most of Texas' GOP-controlled districts lean heavily Republican: In last year's election, 24 of those 25 seats were carried by a Republican victor who received at least 60% of the vote or ran unopposed. The exception was U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, who captured 57% of the vote and won by a comfortable 14-point margin. With little competition to speak of, The Times reported, Trump's political advisers believe at least some of those districts could bear the loss of GOP voters who would be reshuffled into neighboring, Democratic-held districts — giving Republican hopefuls a better chance to flip those seats from blue to red. The party in control of the White House frequently loses seats during midterm cycles, and Trump's team is likely looking to offset potential GOP losses in other states and improve the odds of holding on to a narrow House majority. Incumbent Republicans, though, don't love the idea of sacrificing a comfortable race in a safe district for the possibility of picking up a few seats, according to GOP aides. In 2003, after Texas Republicans initially left it up to the courts to draw new lines following the 2000 census, then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Sugar Land Republican, embarked instead on a bold course of action to consolidate GOP power in the state. He, along with his Republican allies, redrew the lines as the opening salvo to a multistate redistricting plan aimed at accumulating power for his party in states across the country. Enraged by the power play, Democrats fled the state, depriving the Texas House of the quorum it needed to function. The rebels eventually relented under threat of arrest, a rare power in the Texas Constitution used to compel absent members back to return to Austin when the Legislature is in session. The lines were then redrawn, cementing the GOP majority the delegation has enjoyed in Washington for the past two decades. However, what's at play this time is different than in the early 2000s, when Republicans had a newfound majority in the Legislature and had a number of vulnerable Democratic incumbents they could pick off. Now, Republicans have been entrenched in the majority for decades and will have to answer the question of whether there's really more to gain, said Kareem Crayton, the vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice's Washington office. 'That's the tradeoff. You can do that too much so that you actually make them so competitive that the other side wins,' Crayton said. 'That's always a danger.' Texas Republicans are planning to reconvene Thursday to continue discussing the plan, according to Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, who said they will attend the meeting. Members of Trump's political team are also expected to attend, according to Hunt and two GOP congressional aides familiar with the matter. Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She's based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@ Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.


The Hill
31 minutes ago
- The Hill
ICE raids accelerate, protests spread
Evening Report is The Hill's P.M. newsletter. Sign up here or subscribe in the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here THE WHITE HOUSE vowed Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids would continue 'unabated,' as protests spread from Los Angeles into other major American cities. Demonstrations have sprung up in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Denver, San Francisco and other major cities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sought to rally the nation to his side, as U.S. Marines prepared to join National Guard troops dispatched to keep the peace in Los Angeles. 'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles,' Newsom said in a direct-to-camera address. 'This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' The White House warned protesters there would be consequences if demonstrations in other cities get out of hand. 'Let this be an unequivocal message to left-wing radicals in other parts of the country who might be thinking about copy-catting the violence in an effort to stop this administration's mass deportation efforts,' said press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'You will not succeed. Any lawlessness will only strengthen this president's resolve to defend the majority of Americans who want to live their lives peacefully, free from the fear of violent criminal illegal aliens.' The New York Police Department said at least 80 people were arrested at anti-ICE protests in lower Manhattan on Tuesday night. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) deployed the National Guard to deal with protests in his state. 'Peaceful protest is legal,' Abbott posted on X. 'Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest. @TexasGuard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.' ICE took more than 70 people into custody during an immigration enforcement operation at a meat packaging facility in Omaha. Leavitt said more than 330 people in the country illegally have been arrested in Los Angeles over the past few days, and that more than 100 had prior criminal convictions. 'This administration is going to continue the mass deportation effort that the president promised the American public,' she said. President Trump's border czar Tom Homan said the protests are making immigration raids and deportations 'difficult' and 'dangerous' for the officers seeking to carry them out. 'They're not going to stop us,' Homan told 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Llamas. 'They're not going to slow us down.' Organizers with 'No Kings' are planning about 1,500 demonstrations across the country to protest the military parade scheduled for Saturday in D.C. to mark the Army's 250th birthday. It's also Trump's 79th birthday. Protests and boycotts could also be in effect tonight at the Kennedy Center, where Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend a production of 'Les Misérables.' LOS ANGELES ON EDGE Hundreds of U.S. Marines are expected to be deployed soon alongside the thousands of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, which has been racked by vandalism, looting and some violent altercations with the police. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) instituted an 8 p.m. curfew on Tuesday night, resulting in dozens of arrests for those who stayed out. Two men have been arrested for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Los Angeles is 'at a good point.' 'We're hoping it's going to get under control, we hope the curfew will work and we're going to continue to do everything we can to keep California safe if the government of California is not going to help them,' Bondi said. Newsom fumed at what he described as federal interference that furthered the chaos. 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation,' he said. A judge rejected Newsom's request to limit troop deployment, pending a Thursday hearing. The Department of Justice called Newsom's lawsuit a 'crass political stunt.' On Thursday, three Democratic governors from blue 'Sanctuary States' will testify before Congress: Govs. Tim Walz (Minn.), Kathy Hochul (New York) and JB Pritzker. 'Sanctuary cities and states will no longer be allowed to shield illegal criminal from deportation,' Leavitt said. 💡Perspectives: • American Conservative: Trump, Newsom play to their bases. Who will win? • Washington Post: Dems ignored the border. The consequences are here. • The Liberal Patriot: Both parties lose the plot on immigration. • The New York Times: The military may find itself in an impossible situation. • City Journal: Trump's unapologetic defense of the rule of law. Read more: • Trump team to send thousands of migrants to Guantanamo. • McIver indicted on federal charges for immigration center encounter. • Senate Dems spar with Hegseth over legality of Los Angeles deployments. • Dems rage against Trump's moves in LA, as some worry about optics. • GOP backs Trump on LA, but there's skepticism over deploying Marines. CATCH UP QUICK NEWS THIS AFTERNOON Trump, Musk talk reconciliation President Trump and Elon Musk are talking about reconciliation, days after their relationship imploded in a mess of threats and allegations. Early Wednesday morning, Musk expressed regret over the feud, which he escalated by alleging Trump had ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,' Musk wrote just after 3 a.m. EDT. 'They went too far.' Trump, who threatened to end government contracts for Musk's companies, was asked if he could reconcile with Musk. 'I guess I could,' Trump said in a podcast interview. 'But you know, we have to straighten out the country. Yeah, and my sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it's ever been.' Trump said he was mostly upset at Musk for trying to sink his 'big, beautiful bill.' Musk has been raging at the levels of spending and debt in the Trump agenda bill ever since his time at the White House leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to an end. 'I have no hard feelings,' Trump told the New York Post's Miranda Devine. 'I was really surprised that that happened,' Trump continued. 'He went after a bill… And when he did that, I was not a happy camper.' The New York Times reports that Trump and Musk spoke on the phone ahead of Musk's expression of regret. The latest on the 'big, beautiful bill'… Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he'll keep senators in Washington during the July 4 recess to complete work on Trump's agenda bill by the self-imposed deadline. House Republicans are teeing up changes to the bill, with intent of voting later this week. The Hill's Mychael Schnell and Emily Brooks explain: 'The tweaks come after the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the sprawling package and identified provisions that do not comply with the upper chamber's procedural requirements for using the budget reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to circumvent a Democratic filibuster and approve the legislation by simple majority.' MEANWHILE… A pair of House panels voted to advance legislation laying out oversight of the crypto market, amid opposition from Democrats. And House Republicans advanced legislation that calls for more than $450 billion to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction and other programs for fiscal 2026. It's the first of the 12 annual funding bills House GOP appropriators are hoping to move out of committee before Congress leaves for its August recess. 💡Perspectives: • The Spectator: The tech-MAGA alliance is far from over. • Very Serious: A terrible field of New York mayoral candidates. • The Hill: Trump, Congress can end abuse of taxpayers by PBS and NPR. • The Guardian: Trump wages war against U.S. citizens. • MSNBC: Americans prep for nationwide 'No Kings' rallies. Read more: • House GOP schedule interviews with former Biden aides. • Foreign investors recoil from 'discriminatory' tax in Trump's big bill. • 5 takeaways from the New Jersey primaries. • Sergio Gor cements himself as 'vital' part of Trump's White House. • Most voters in favor of Trump's 'most favored nation' drug price policy. IN OTHER NEWS US, China agree to new trade framework U.S. and Chinese officials announced an agreement in principle on a new trade framework after three days of meetings in London. The deal effectively restores a previous agreement, which the U.S. had accused China of breaking. Both countries will lower tariffs and roll back export controls on goods that are critical to technology. The deal still must be signed off on by President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump said over Truth Social the U.S. would impose 55 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, while China would impose a 10 percent tariff on U.S. products. In addition, China will supply magnets and 'any necessary rare earths,' while the U.S. will draw back restrictions on Chinese students attending U.S. universities, Trump said. Trump enjoyed a raft of good news on trade and the economy on Wednesday. An appeals court ruled that the bulk of Trump's tariffs can remain in place for now, extending a pause after a different court ruled the tariffs were illegal. 'A great and important win for the U.S.,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. And the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed inflation coming in lower than expected, contrary to economic forecasts that predicted tariffs would provoke a spike in inflation. Trump has openly pressured Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, but Powell has refused, citing uncertainty from the trade wars. Vice President Vance ripped the Fed on Wednesday, saying Trump has been proven right. 'The president has been saying this for a while, but it's even more clear: the refusal by the Fed to cut rates is monetary malpractice,' Vance posted on X. 💡Perspectives: • The Hill: Military spending is out of control. • The New Republic: The audacity of Trump's self-dealing. • USA Today: Progressives are destroying Democratic norms. • Wall Street Journal: Newsom positions himself as leader of the opposition. • The Economist: Is there a woke right? Read more: • GM investing $4 billion in production shift to US. Someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up to get your own copy: See you next time!
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far'
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far' Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, says he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president (Kevin Dietsch) (Kevin Dietsch/GETTY IMAGESvia AFP) Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, said Wednesday he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president, after the pair's public falling-out last week. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote on his social media platform X, in a message that was received favorably by the White House. Musk's expression of regret came just days after Trump threatened the tech billionaire with "serious consequences" if he sought to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill. Their blistering break-up -- largely carried out on social media before a riveted public since Thursday last week -- was ignited by Musk's harsh criticism of Trump's so-called "big, beautiful" spending bill, which is currently before Congress. ADVERTISEMENT Some lawmakers who were against the bill had called on Musk -- one of the Republican Party's biggest financial backers in last year's presidential election -- to fund primary challenges against Republicans who voted for the legislation. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump, who also branded Musk "disrespectful," told NBC News on Saturday, without specifying what those consequences would be. Trump also said he had "no" desire to repair his relationship with the South African-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, and that he has "no intention of speaking to him." But after Musk's expression of regret, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump was "appreciative," adding that "no efforts" had been made on a threat by Trump to end some of Musk's government contracts. "The president acknowledged the statement that Elon put out this morning, and he is appreciative of it," Leavitt said. ADVERTISEMENT According to the New York Times, Musk's message followed a phone call to Trump late on Monday night. Vice President JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susan Wiles had also been working with Musk on how to broker a truce with Trump, the report said. - 'Wish him well' - In his post on Wednesday, Musk did not specify which of his criticisms of Trump had gone "too far." The former allies had seemed to have cut ties amicably about two weeks ago, with Trump giving Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But their relationship cracked within days, with Musk describing the spending bill as an "abomination" that, if passed by Congress, could define Trump's second term in office. Trump hit back at Musk's comments in an Oval Office diatribe and from there the row detonated, leaving Washington stunned. ADVERTISEMENT Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that cutting billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts to Musk's companies would be the "easiest way" to save the US government money. US media have put the value of the contracts at $18 billion. With real political and economic risks to their falling out, both already appeared to inch back from the brink on Friday, with Trump telling reporters "I just wish him well," and Musk responding on X: "Likewise." Trump had spoken to NBC on Saturday after Musk deleted one of the explosive allegations he had made during their fallout, linking the president with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking. bur-arp/aha