Del. Helmer sues fellow Va. Dems over groping claim ahead of primary
Members of the Loudoun County Democratic Party released a statement last June, days before the Democratic congressional primary, alleging that Helmer had engaged in harassment of a committee member in 2018. The statement did not detail that conduct, but a Virginia woman and her lawyer later claimed Helmer had groped her at a political event that year.
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New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Texas House passes redistricting bill stalled by AWOL Democrats
The Texas House on Wednesday passed a highly contentious, mid-decade redistricting bill – just days after dozens of Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin, ending a two-week-long effort to block the legislation backed by President Trump. In a 88-52 party-line vote, Republican state lawmakers approved the newly drawn congressional map, which could net the GOP up to five additional seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm election. In the partisan showdown over House Bill 4, Democrats fumed over the timing of the redistricting push and also claimed the legislation undermined minority representation, violated voting rights protections and lacked public input. Advertisement 3 More than 50 Democrats stalled House Bill 4 for about two weeks after they fled the state capital earlier this month. REUTERS State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D), one of several Democrats who fled to Chicago prevent the House from establishing a quorum, accused Republicans of drawing up the new map 'in the cloak of darkness' and not giving the Texas Legislative Black Caucus – which she said, 'potentially will lose two seats' – a 'role in this process.' State Rep. Todd Hunter (R), the author of the bill, shot back: 'You absolutely did … but you left 17 to 18 days.' Advertisement 'Now you're getting on the microphone saying, why didn't I involve you? Well, I wasn't going across state lines to find you. I was here,' Hunter continued. 'Don't come into this body and say we didn't include you – You left us for 18 days, and that's wrong,' he later added. In defense of the legality of the effort, Hunter argued that 'redistricting can be done at any point in time.' 'The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance,' he added, noting that he believes Supreme Court precedent is on his side. Advertisement Countering claims that minority Texas residents are being harmed by redistricting, Hunter noted that 'four of the five new seats are hispanic majority … that's a pretty strong message, and it's good.' 3 The Texas Capitol filled with protesters ahead of debate on the redistricting bill. AP 3 Democratic Texas Rep. Mihaela Plesa on Tuesday tore up the Department of Public Safety escort form that Democrats returning to the state capital were forced to sign in order to leave the chamber. Getty Images Of the more than 50 state Democratic lawmakers that fled the state capital earlier this month in opposition to House Bill 4, 20 were listed as absent for Wednesday's session, however several appeared to show up before the final vote. Advertisement The Rotunda at the Texas Capitol filled up with protesters opposed to redistricting on the morning of the final vote. The gallery also had to be warned on several occasion to not applaud Democrats debating against the measure. The Republican-controlled House shot down all 12 Democrat-proposed amendments ahead of the vote, including a bid to block the implementation of the new map until the federal government releases files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats, in an attempt to stretch out the debate, also sought to add amendments delaying the new map from taking effect until 2028 and linking implementation to the establishment of an independent redistricting commission and a federal court ruling that the map does not suppress minority voters. The majority of the missing Dems returned Monday – amid threats of arrest, removal from office and after paychecks began being withheld – and were only allowed to leave the chamber after they agreed to be released into the custody of a Department of Public Safety officer, who would ensure they return for the redistricting vote. Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier (D) refused to sign the permission slip imposed by Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows and slept in the chamber for the two nights leading up to the vote. The runaway lawmakers decided to make their return after an initial special session was adjourned Friday and after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to redraw district lines in the Golden State in a bid to cancel out the Texas GOP's new map.. The Texas House Democratic Caucus said in a statement that they would 'launch the next phase in their fight against the racist gerrymander that provoked a weeks-long standoff with Governor [Greg] Abbott and President Trump.' 'Don't delete your emails, don't delete your text messages,' state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D) – one of several Democrats promising a legal challenge to the new map – warned Republican lawmakers just before the vote.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Trump's elections power grab
MAIL FAIL — Donald Trump has long been a critic of voting by mail, even falsely blaming the explosion of mail-in voting in 2020 for his electoral loss. This week he took his grievances to the next level: Trump said that he would soon be moving to ban the practice. In a lengthy Truth Social diatribe, Trump said he would 'lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we're at it, Highly 'Inaccurate,' Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT,' claiming no other country in the world uses mail-in voting. Trump continued, saying he would sign 'an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.' There's just one problem: the president's entire premise for his purported executive order is bunk. The U.S. is far from the only country to allow for vote by mail. The vast majority of Americans already vote on paper ballots, and voting machines are faster, cheaper and more accurate at tabulating those ballots than counting by hand. More important, the Constitution is clear on who has the power to regulate elections: the states and Congress, not the president. 'The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations,' the Elections Clause reads. 'It says nothing about the president of the United States being able to step in by waving a magic wand in the Oval Office,' Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat and one of the country's longest-serving chief election officers, told Nightly. It's not clear what form any prospective presidential order would take. In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said 'the best lawyers in the country' are writing the executive order 'to end mail-in ballots because they're corrupt.' The White House responded to a series of questions from Nightly on the forthcoming EO — including where the president's legal authority would come from — with a statement from spokesperson Harrison Fields that answered none of them, instead blasting Democrats having 'eroded faith in our elections.' When asked at a Tuesday press briefing about the White House's plans, press secretary Karoline Leavitt was vague on details, saying there will be 'many discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill and also our friends in state legislatures across the country.' The mere assertion that he has the authority to issue national election policy by decree is a fairly audacious power grab, one that crosses a significant red line on elections — a line that Republicans have vigorously defended in the past. 'We used to at least pretend that we had some intrinsic fear of centralized power, especially presidential power,' said Stephen Richer, the former GOP Maricopa County, Ariz., recorder who became a Republican pariah for loudly standing up for the security of elections post-2020. 'And I think when you're talking about the means for installing federal officers, you should be doubly skeptical of any centralization of that power.' It's not hard to find examples of this skepticism. Sixteen Republican secretaries of state called Democrats' H.R. 1 — their sweeping elections legislation first introduced in 2019 — a 'unnecessary bill [that] federalizes and micromanages state election systems,' arguing Congress should not 'dictate a one-size-fits-all election policy to the states.' Similarly, fifteen Republican secretaries called in 2022 for Biden to rescind an executive order that directed federal agencies to register people to vote. 'If any adjustments need to be made, such adjustments are the province of Congress, not the Executive branch,' they wrote. The pushback thus far has been much more muted. When Trump issued an executive order earlier this year looking to dictate requirements around voter registration and mail balloting, Democratic-led states sued — and federal courts blocked key parts of that order as an attempt to usurp the constitutional powers of Congress and the states. Should Trump go ahead with trying to outright ban mail voting, Democrats expect the same result. 'I sure hope that the White House knows that the courts stand ready to significantly pare back executive orders where they step over the constitutional line, and we're going to be there as we were in round one,' Simon, the Minnesota Democrat said. While Republicans are not ringing the alarm bells about Trump's intentions, they too want to defend the states' reputation as so-called laboratories of democracy — and still want to gingerly remind the president of that line. 'Couldn't be more appreciative and supportive of President Trump's focus on election integrity,' Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, who heads both the bipartisan National Association of Secretaries of State and the Republican Secretaries of State Committee, said in a statement, stressing he was speaking in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the organizations. But 'regarding specifics mentioned in the President's social media post, we will wait to see the details before commenting,' he continued. 'That said, election procedure decisions have and should continue to be made at the state level, and I trust President Trump will keep these important principles in mind as he crafts future executive orders.' Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at zmontellaro@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @ZachMontellaro. What'd I Miss? — DOJ goes 0-3 in requests to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury materials: A federal judge rejected the Justice Department's effort to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits in the Jeffrey Epstein case today, writing that the government itself is the 'logical party' to make the Epstein files public and criticizing its motion as a 'diversion' tactic. 'The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,' U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in a 14-page opinion. Berman's decision is the third by a federal judge to deny nearly identical motions by the Justice Department to make public certain grand jury material in the cases of Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and his onetime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. — Pentagon says US will play a minimal role in Ukraine's security guarantee: The Pentagon's top policy official told a small group of allies Tuesday night that the U.S. plans to play a minimal role in any Ukraine security guarantees, one of the clearest signs yet that Europe will need to shoulder the burden of keeping lasting peace in Kyiv. The comments from Elbridge Colby, the Defense undersecretary for policy, came in response to questions from European military leaders in a huddle led by Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine. Defense chiefs from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Finland pushed the U.S. side to disclose what it would provide in troops and air assets to help Ukraine maintain a peace deal with Russia, according to a European official and another person briefed on the talks. — Gabbard to cut ODNI staff by nearly 50 percent: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced plans today to overhaul her office, cutting hundreds of staff and consolidating teams focused on countering malign influence and cyber threats. The move, dubbed ODNI 2.0, is the latest effort by the Trump administration to slim down the federal government, and comes after a wave of top-level departures at the ODNI's Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center earlier this year. According to a fact sheet released by ODNI, Gabbard has already eliminated 500 staff and reduced the office's size by 30 percent since she was sworn in to the role in February. The new plan would boost that number to over 40 percent and save more than $700 million annually. — Trump calls on Fed board member Cook to resign: President Donald Trump called on Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook to resign today after housing finance regulator Bill Pulte opened a new avenue of attack against the central bank. Pulte in recent days referred Cook to the Justice Department on allegations that she 'potentially [committed] mortgage fraud,' saying she had named two different properties as her primary residence on loan applications in 2021. Fed board members can be removed only 'for cause,' a provision that has not been fully litigated but has generally been interpreted to mean that the president can't fire a central banker over policy disagreements. — Fear of Trump funding 'wrench' escalates as Congress faces shutdown cliff: President Donald Trump's budget director has talked about attempting the ultimate override of Congress' funding prerogatives during the final 45 days of the fiscal year — and that time is now. With six weeks left until Oct. 1, lawmakers are staring down a government shutdown deadline alongside the threat of a 'pocket rescission,' a controversial White House tactic to cancel federal cash without the consent of Congress. It's also a ploy that the government's top watchdog, along with key lawmakers from both parties, say is illegal. 'The money evaporates at the end of the fiscal year,' White House budget chief Russ Vought said last month in defense of the gambit, adding it has 'been used before.' — Obama backs California effort to redraw districts in response to Texas: Former President Barack Obama is supporting California's mid-cycle redistricting effort as a 'responsible approach' to Republicans drawing new maps in Texas. Obama praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom's ballot measure proposal to redraw congressional districts and tilt at least five congressional districts in the state towards Democrats at a fundraiser on Tuesday for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. 'I believe that Governor Newsom's approach is a responsible approach,' he said, according to excerpts obtained by POLITICO. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.' — Pentagon says US will play a minimal role in Ukraine's security guarantee: The Pentagon's top policy official told a small group of allies Tuesday night that the U.S. plans to play a minimal role in any Ukraine security guarantees, one of the clearest signs yet that Europe will need to shoulder the burden of keeping lasting peace in Kyiv. The comments from Elbridge Colby, the Defense undersecretary for policy, came in response to questions from European military leaders in a huddle led by Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine. Defense chiefs from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Finland pushed the U.S. side to disclose what it would provide in troops and air assets to help Ukraine maintain a peace deal with Russia, according to a European official and another person briefed on the talks. AROUND THE WORLD ARCTIC SABER-RATTLING — Russia's saber-rattling in the Arctic is forcing Canada to deepen military cooperation with its Nordic NATO allies — a marked policy shift away from the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney has dispatched two top Cabinet ministers to Sweden and Finland this week in pursuit of new defense deals — including a look at Sweden's Saab Gripen fighter jet. Canada had previously decided on the Lockheed Martin F-35, a flagship export under President Donald Trump. But amid a trade war, at a time when other allies are turning away from the U.S. war plane, Canada is reconsidering its C$19-billion plan to buy a new fleet of F-35s. 'Clearly, there are trade tensions [with the U.S.], and we want to become closer to our friends,' Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday as Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch formally welcomed her to Stockholm. MOSCOW'S HARD LINE — Moscow isn't shifting on what it considers to be acceptable security guarantees for Ukraine, a top Kremlin official said today. The comments by Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov undercut hopes that any progress has been made toward ending the Ukraine war since Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska. Lavrov's remarks further indicate that the Kremlin has not softened on its maximalist positions on Ukraine: that it becomes a neutral rump state; drastically reduces its military; and abandons its NATO membership aspirations after Russia is finished with it. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP THE NEW AMERICAN SOUTH — In 1995, the rapper André 3000 declared that the cultural weathervane was pointing southward. A year later, his native Atlanta hosted the Olympics, one of the first signals that the South was beginning to see a reverse of the Great Migration that defined the region 50 years earlier. Since then, it has produced cultural touches such as Beyoncé, Mr. Beast and Bama Rush. The South's transformation into a major cultural hub was no accident. Over the last three decades, tax breaks, education incentives and growing cultural and economic clout have pulled more Americans and immigrants to the South. Amanda Mull reports on the region's transformation for Bloomberg. Parting Image Jacqueline Munis contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Texas Democrats seek to delay vote for GOP congressional redistricting bill
Democrats are asking questions and giving final remarks on the Texas House floor ahead of the vote on the GOP's plan to redraw the state's congressional map after Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin. NBC News' Ryan Chandler reports as Democrats seek to delay the 20, 2025
