McCarthy launching public affairs firm with political allies
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is launching a public affairs firm with several of his political allies following his departure from Congress.
Watchtower Strategy will be a 'full-service public affairs firm' that specializes in strategy, advocacy and strategic communications, the group said in a release Tuesday.
McCarthy will be joined at the firm by former White House communications aide Cliff Sims; Arthur Schwartz, an ally of Vice President Vance's; and GOP allies Jeff Miller, Dan Conston and Brian O. Walsh.
'The launch of Watchtower Strategy comes at a pivotal and promising moment for our country,' McCarthy said in a statement. 'Navigating this moment can be both and opportunity and a challenge.'
'The Watchtower team is trust, tested, and built for success,' he continued.
McCarthy left Congress in late 2023 after being ousted from the Speakership by far-right conservatives. He's been at odds with the conservatives in his party and remained active in the media since his departure from the House.
He will serve as the firm's chair, the group said.
Conston, the group's CEO, said in the release that they are in a position to provide 'sound counsel' and engage in some of Washington's biggest fights.
The group argued their firm is able to offer CEOs and executives their unique experience over the upcoming policy and reform debates.
'With decades of experience at the highest levels of politics and government, Watchtower Strategy's leadership knows how to get things done,' they wrote. 'The firm is built to help clients navigate Washington's toughest challenges—whether shaping policy outcomes, managing high-stakes crises, or guiding top executives through complex decisions.'
The firm won't be engaged in lobbying, according to Punchbowl News.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Latest Donald Trump approval ratings: new poll finds good news for president
Registered voters like what they see from President Donald Trump, according to a new poll. A survey released by Napolitan News Service found that 51% of respondents approve of Trump's handling of the presidency. Of those respondents, 30% said they 'strongly' approve of the work Trump has done so far, while 21% said they just 'slightly' approve. The poll also found that 46% of respondents disapprove of Trump's work in the Oval Office. Among those who said they disapprove, 35% said they 'strongly' disapprove, while 11% said they only 'somewhat' disapprove. Only 2% of respondents said they were not sure about how Trump has handled the job of the presidency, according to the poll. The poll was conducted between May 27 and June 3 with a sample size of 3,000 registered voters. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 1.8%. The Napolitan News Service is part of the Napolitan Institute, founded by veteran Republican pollster Scott Rasmussen, The organization bills itself as involved in 'rigorous, unbiased polling,' providing 'deep insights into American sentiment.' These numbers represent an incremental improvement in Trump's approval rating when compared to Neapolitan News Service's previous poll, conducted between May 20 and May 29. In that poll, 50% of respondents said they disapproved of Trump's handling of the presidency, while 49% said they approved. The previous poll's sample size also was 3,000 registered voters. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8%. The last time a Napolitan News Service poll found that a clear majority of respondents approved of Trump's handling of the presidency was in May. The poll, conducted between May 7 and May 15, found that 52% of respondents expressed approval, while 48% expressed disapproval. Like the other two polls, the survey's sample size is 3,000 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8%. Other polls conducted around the same time as the Napolitan News Service poll offer mixed results for the president's approval rating. A YouGov/Economist poll conducted between May 30 and June 2 found 49% of respondents disapproving of the job Trump is doing as president, while 45% approve of the work he is doing. The poll's sample size is 1,610 U.S. adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2%. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted between June 4 and June 6 found that a majority of respondents (55%) disapprove of Trump's work as president compared to 45% who said they approve. The CBS News/YouGov poll's sample size is 2,428 U.S. adults. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2.4%. Over 12,000 Harvard alums lend weight to court battle with Trump in new filing Mass. Sen. Warren: DOGE accessed 'sensitive' student loan data at Education Dept., calls for probe Markey: Trump using National Guard in LA to distract from big cuts in 'Big Beautiful Bill' Can the Mass. GOP flip this Taunton state House seat? | Bay State Briefing ABC News suspends correspondent over social media post critical of President Trump Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
ActBlue fires back at GOP investigation, saying it appears unconstitutional and partisan
ActBlue is fighting back against a House Republican investigation into its workings, saying the probe appears to have become an unconstitutional abuse of power to help the White House. The Democratic online fundraising platform said Monday in a letter obtained by POLITICO that it was reevaluating whether to cooperate with the ongoing congressional investigation into fraud on its platform in light of President Donald Trump's executive action to investigate potential foreign contributions on ActBlue and House Republicans' public statements supporting the White House. 'If the Committees are now working to gather information on behalf of Department of Justice prosecutors, rather than for legitimate legislative purposes, that would fundamentally transform the nature of your investigation — and violate ActBlue's constitutional rights,' ActBlue's lawyers wrote in the letter Monday to GOP Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil. The allegations are an escalation in the conflict between House Republicans and ActBlue, the behemoth Democratic fundraising platform that has long been in GOP crosshairs as it has helped the left build a massive fundraising advantage. ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones told POLITICO last month that ActBlue believes the platform has 'nothing to hide' but needs to better communicate its role in light of the attacks. In the letter, lawyers representing ActBlue ask the congressional committees investigating the platform to clarify the purpose of their work. They argue public statements from Jordan, Comer and Steil indicate they are seeking to help the Trump Justice Department's separate investigation into ActBlue, rather than carry out congressional oversight. And they note that the "selective focus" of the investigation does not appear to include WinRed, the GOP's primary online fundraising counterpart — and thus may be intended to hurt Democrats, not provide legitimate oversight of American elections. 'The Committees' selective focus on ActBlue also suggests that the investigation may be a partisan effort directed at harming political opponents rather than gathering facts to assist in lawmaking efforts,' the letter reads. 'Such an action would raise substantial First Amendment concerns.' Spokespeople for the GOP committees investigating ActBlue did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon. A spokesperson for ActBlue also did not immediately comment. The letter comes as the Trump administration is also going after ActBlue. Trump signed a memorandum in April ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the potential use of foreign 'straw' donations in online fundraising, citing concerns about foreign influence in elections based in part on the work of the GOP-led congressional committees. ActBlue was the only platform named in the order. The memorandum calls for Bondi to report back in 90 days, which would be late July. Under federal law, only U.S. citizens and green card holders can give to campaigns and political action committees. Republicans have long argued that ActBlue, which processed billions of dollars in donations for Democrats last year, is not strict enough in weeding out potential foreign contributions. ActBlue has countered that it has processes to catch illegal donation attempts and that similar challenges exist on other platforms, including WinRed. The platform's lawyers also suggested that ActBlue's further cooperation with the congressional probes could depend on the extent of the committees' work with the Justice Department. 'In light of your public statements, it is essential that we receive more information about your agreement to coordinate the Committees' activities with the Executive Branch, so that ActBlue may properly evaluate its ongoing efforts to cooperate with the Committees,' the platform's lawyers wrote. ActBlue previously turned over thousands of pages of internal documents to the committees, some voluntarily, and then later under subpoena. The committees released an interim report in April that cited cases of fraud identified in the ActBlue documents as a means to argue that the platform had an 'unserious' approach to fraud prevention.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
In looming Hegseth hearings, Republicans may air their budget peeves
The first time Pete Hegseth testified before Congress the hardest questions he faced were from Democrats who accused him of sexual and alcohol abuse — both of which he denied as 'anonymous smears.' Now, as America's defense secretary returns to Capitol Hill for a week of testimony, he's likely to get sharper questioning from his own party. After five months atop the Pentagon, Hegseth has dismissed top U.S. officers, slashed the Defense Department's workforce and fired much of his own staff. For a defense secretary confirmed by the narrowest margin possible, the rapid changes have concerned even some Republican members of Congress. 'This is it. This is really the first oversight' of Hegseth's time as secretary, said Mark Montgomery, a retired rear admiral and former Senate Armed Services Committee aide. Alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth will testify in multiple hearings focused on defense spending. But in an unusual twist, these hearings will occur without the Pentagon actually releasing its budget request, which is already months late. As in his January hearing, Hegseth will likely face blistering criticism from Democrats aghast at his handling of the Defense Department — from sharing sensitive attack plans on a group chat to tasking the U.S. military with more missions on American soil. But he may also face hard questions from Republicans, many of whom have publicly chafed at the administration's plans for military spending. Hegseth returns to Capitol Hill to defend Trump's defense budget plan In May, the administration asked Congress for a $892.6 billion base defense budget, of which around $850 billion would go to the Pentagon. The number amounts to a cut when accounting for inflation. 'It's going to be hard to say you're actually putting forward a 'Peace through Strength' policy when you're asking for less money than your predecessors projected,' said Elaine McCusker, a top official in the Pentagon's comptroller office during the first Trump administration. Per the scarce budget documents already released by the administration, the Pentagon's procurement account is poised for a major cut — almost $20 billion less than the Biden Pentagon had projected, McCusker said. The drop could harm some of the administration's top priorities, such as the Golden Dome missile defense system and investments in shipbuilding, both of which are also popular in Congress. 'It appears the Trump administration's [fiscal year 2026] defense budget request will double down on the Biden administration's material neglect for the glaring national security threats challenges about which they speak with great alarm,' chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote in a May statement. Both McConnell and Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against Hegseth's confirmation. Many top Republicans in Congress are calling for the kind of military buildup the administration is asking of its European and Asian allies — closer to 5% of GDP spent on defense. The administration has defended its budget by saying it's not the only military spending planned for this year. Congress is also debating a massive party-line bill that would include $150 billion for defense, spread over four years. This bill includes much of the money slated for top priority weapons purchases, like missile defense and warships. 'This budget provides that level [of spending] while ensuring that only Republican-votes are needed by using reconciliation to secure those increases without Democrats insisting on increasing wasteful government,' Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted on X in May. Still, such supplemental defense bills haven't been counted as part of the defense budget in the past and would introduce new uncertainty. Pentagon officials plan the funding for major weapons programs years into the future to make sure funding is predictable. If, say, Golden Dome is only funded in a stand-alone spending bill, then there's no guarantee it will get more money in the future. 'The appropriate defense budget isn't that you give it a huge chunk of change but that you grow it year over year,' Montgomery said. Privately, some Republicans are also concerned about the increased use of U.S. forces on American soil to support immigration enforcement. Some 9,000 active-duty troops have either been deployed to the southern border or are approved to do so. Such missions are under even higher scrutiny after the protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration's recent deportations in the city. Over the weekend, Trump called up 2,000 National Guard troops to protect officials carrying out the mission. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has decried the choice and said he plans to sue for their removal. Meanwhile, U.S. Northern Command posted on X Sunday that parts of an infantry brigade team from the California National Guard have already begun deploying to Los Angeles. Hegseth, who has said active duty Marines may follow, shared the post from his personal account.
