Dems gear up for midterms: ‘The last time they cut Medicaid, we booked the House'
On Thursday, House Republicans narrowly passed a budget plan that would remove health care coverage for nearly 14 million Americans on Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood joins 'The Weekend' to discuss how Democrats plan to make this a defining issue in the midterms.
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CNN
6 minutes ago
- CNN
‘It is a whole different environment': Republicans revisit key Biden investigations with new momentum
The House Judiciary Committee is expected to interview former Hunter Biden special counsel David Weiss behind closed doors on Friday, two sources familiar with the interview told CNN, as part of a broader Republican effort to revisit previous probes into the Biden family that stalled last Congress but are gaining new momentum now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. The scheduled interview, which could still be moved, would be the second time the Republican-led panel will interview Weiss about his work as Republicans continue to probe whether the investigation was hampered by political interference. Weiss has still never testified publicly about his six-year criminal probe into the president's son, which included three convictions, but was ultimately short-circuited as a result of the former president's unconditional pardon of his son. House Judiciary Republicans have long wanted to call Weiss, the Trump-appointed US attorney, back for questioning after his first closed-door interview in 2023. Committee Republicans were also able to finally secure interviews with two Department of Justice tax division prosecutors involved in the Hunter Biden probe who they had been aggressively pursuing for months, one of the sources familiar told CNN. The Justice Department is working with Weiss to provide access to documents he may need for his interview, a person briefed on the matter said. Any delays in getting access to documents would be a scheduling issue and the ability to have personnel who can oversee it, the person briefed on the matter said. It's not the only Biden investigation Republicans are reexamining that leans into a fresh political appetite with GOP control of Washington. House Oversight Chair James Comer is returning to his probe of the former president's mental fitness in an entirely new landscape after a recent book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson put Joe Biden's physical and mental decline back in the spotlight. Comer told CNN he is in the process of scheduling key interviews with Biden's White House physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, and other senior aides who had all rebuffed his efforts last Congress. Beyond the five initial interviews from Biden's orbit, the Republican Chairman told CNN he wants to look at the executive orders Biden signed in his last six months in office and use of the autopen. In the weeks immediately after Biden's disastrous 2024 debate performance that unraveled his presidential campaign and upended the Democratic party, Comer requested to interview Biden's doctor and subpoenaed three senior Biden aides to discuss their roles in the Biden White House, which never materialized. Now, Comer said in an interview with CNN, 'it is a whole different environment.' At the time of his 2024 interview requests, Comer's impeachment inquiry into the Biden family's business dealings had fallen apart and the Biden administration felt no incentive to comply with the House Oversight Committee. Probing Biden's decline now, Comer says, will be a lot easier than trying to convince his colleagues of an alleged Biden family foreign influence peddling scheme, which even Comer conceded was difficult to do, particularly in a minute or less on Fox News. Republicans failed to uncover evidence to support their core allegations against the president, and lacked the votes in their divided, narrow majority last Congress to impeach the president. 'The money laundering and the shell companies, the average American couldn't understand that. I mean, that was hard to understand,' Comer told CNN. 'You know, I did not do a good job explaining that.' But with his investigation into Biden's mental and physical decline, Comer said, 'people see a president that clearly is in decline. They saw it in the debate.' Democrats sought to dismantle the Republican-led 11 month impeachment inquiry into Biden last Congress at every turn. Comer told CNN that although those Democrats aren't jumping at the opportunity to cooperate now, he does not see them as being obstructive either. 'I take that as a step in the right direction,' he told CNN. Tapper and Thompson's book documents how Biden, his closest aides and his family forged ahead with the former president's doomed 2024 reelection bid despite signs of his physical and mental decline. In a previous statement to CNN, a Biden spokesman criticized the book, saying that evidence shows that 'he was a very effective president.' Former Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, who launched a long-shot challenge to Biden and was outspoken about his concerns over the former president's age, told CNN he did not think there needed to be an investigation on Capitol Hill at this point into Biden's fitness as president. 'This case already went to trial, the jury of American voters convicted the party of the accused, and handed out the harshest political punishment possible-losing the single most consequential election in modern history,' Phillips told CNN. Instead, Phillips called on Biden to authorize his physician to disclose his health file and condition under oath. 'Only if the former president refuses, or if questioning uncovers possible criminal activity, should an investigation be initiated,' Phillips added. Biden was recently diagnosed with an 'aggressive form' of prostate cancer.
CBS News
11 minutes ago
- CBS News
Teens arrested in Baltimore with multiple guns, ammo, device to create fully automatic weapons
While Baltimore is seeing record-low homicides, the city is dealing with persistent juvenile crime concerns. Four teenagers were arrested with multiple guns over the weekend. Police said the teens also had a device that turns a semiautomatic weapon into a fully automatic firearm. Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley spoke to WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren about the department's successes and challenges ahead of a pivotal budget hearing Tuesday night. "If you don't put the guns down, we're going to come in," Worley said. "We're going to do an investigation. We're going to indict people. We're going to turn it over to the state's attorney or U.S. attorney or attorney general, and they're going to prosecute you." Four teens arrested From her front porch, Katherine Davis can see the 800 block of North Curley Street where police say four teenagers — ages 16, 17, 18 and 19— were taken into custody Sunday and found with five weapons and ammunition. Their cache included extended magazines and an auto-sear device that makes weapons fully automatic. Commissioner Worley said it can be made using a 3D printer. While Baltimore is seeing record-low homicides, the city is dealing with persistent juvenile crime concerns—including four teenagers arrested with multiple guns over the weekend. Baltimore Police Juvenile crime concerns "We come up with who is driving the violence, who is doing the shooting. All of the wraparound services are offered to them," Commissioner Richard Worley said. Worley told WJZ Investigates all categories of crime are down except shoplifting and said a small number of juveniles are causing the problems. "We had a 13-year-old over the weekend, we caught with a handgun in Cherry Hill," Worley said. "It's just incredible that these kids aren't learning, so there's got to be some discipline for the ones who continue to commit crimes." Last week, WJZ obtained video of what the business owner believes are young people breaking into a Southeast Baltimore restaurant. The week prior, police say a 15-year-old repeat offender on electronic monitoring robbed a 12-year-old at gunpoint and kidnapped him. Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates mentioned that incident in an op-ed published Tuesday, where he wrote, "…We need a system that first and foremost holds juvenile offenders accountable for their actions. This does not include continuing to release these repeat offenders back into the community… ." Worley told WJZ, "We can't continue to put them out there because what's going to happen, we're going to have a tragic event with one of these young people trying to commit a crime and someone who has an open carry permit or whatever it is, they're going to end up getting shot." Record-low homicides The city is seeing success in bringing down the overall number of shootings, with 56 homicides year to date, down 24% from last year to the lowest number ever recorded. Non-fatal shootings are down 25% from 2024, with 128 year-to-date as of Tuesday morning. "We get judged by the one number, the homicide rate, and 56 is still too many for our city, so we want to continue to keep the foot on the pedal, the foot on the gas, and continue to drive down those numbers," Worley said. Metro Crime Stoppers recently publicized $8,000 rewards for several May homicides. "The mayor's office did a fabulous job with cutting down the number of ghost guns coming into the city," Worley said. "Before the lawsuit and the ban on selling in the city, a lot of ghost guns made their way into the city." Police staffing shortage The commissioner said while BPD is still down roughly 500 officers, they have added almost 50 in the past six months. He said he is confident the department can be at full, budgeted staffing levels within three to four years. Back in Southeast Baltimore, asked if she's feeling safer, Katherine Davis said, "I do because I don't bother anybody, nobody bothers me. …I sit on my porch and mind my business, and as long as they mind theirs, I'm good."
Politico
12 minutes ago
- Politico
Ukrainian delegation to brief senators amid Russia sanctions push
A Ukrainian delegation is set to brief U.S. senators Wednesday as lawmakers weigh a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia and its biggest energy customers, China and India. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who told POLITICO he organized the meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said all 100 senators were invited to attend the closed-door session. 'It's a pivotal moment in Ukraine — and crunch time for the Senate on this bill,' said Blumenthal, noting that the legislation now has 82 co-sponsors, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The visiting delegation, he told POLITICO, includes Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Serhii Boyev, is traveling with Yermack. The sanctions package from Blumenthal and Graham is designed to increase pressure on Russia's wartime economy by targeting countries that buy oil and gas — a move Blumenthal said could be a 'game changer.' He also pointed to recent long-range drone attacks deep inside Russia — dubbed 'Operation Spiderweb' — as evidence of Ukraine's agility and resolve. Those strikes, he said, counter 'a false narrative that Ukraine is losing the war,' and could shift momentum in Washington in favor of increasing aid for Ukraine.'They can strike air bases 4,000 miles from Ukraine; They can hit anywhere,' Blumenthal said. 'Just in the skill and audacity of these attacks, it will rank with the United States raid on Osama bin Laden and the Israeli pager operation as one of the great military achievements in recent years.' Blumenthal said the White House remains hesitant to support the sanctions bill, but the battlefield momentum could sway President Donald Trump and skeptical lawmakers. 'Events will move the White House — and maybe some of the president's friends here,' he said, referring to Graham. 'Congress can … move ahead. [Trump] doesn't have to support it.'
