Latest from The Hill
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Paul believes Senate vote for NPR, PBS cuts will be ‘very close'
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that President Trump's request to cut billions in funding to public broadcasters NPR and PBS would face a 'very close' vote in the Senate. 'I suspect it's going to be very close. I don't know if it will be modified in advance, but I can't really honestly look Americans in the face and say that I'm going to be doing something about the deficit if I can't cut $9 billion,' Paul told CBS's Margaret Brennan on 'Face the Nation.' Republicans including Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have expressed reservations about making deep cuts to NPR and PBS. Some in the GOP are also wary of pulling funding for PEPFAR, the global HIV/AIDS program started under President George W. Bush. Senators will work out the details of the recissions package this week, facing a Friday deadline to approve the cuts. 'Even though there are people who make arguments for it, and I can make an argument for a different way to cut it, we're going to be presented with a $9 billion cut and a $2.2 trillion deficit,' Paul said. 'So we have to cut spending. Absolutely have to cut spending.' On Thursday, President Trump threatened to withhold his backing for any Republican who goes against a recissions package, which includes sweeping cuts to foreign aid and public media. 'It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,' a Truth Social post from the president said. 'Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,' he added. Rounds and other senators have raised fears about the impact of public broadcasting cuts on rural areas that rely on local, government-funded stations for information. Rounds told reporters he planned to negotiate with the White House Office of Management and Budget to tweak the cuts. 'It's not our goal to come back in and totally eliminate a number of the rescissions, but specifically to take care of those that were in some of these rural areas,' Rounds said, according to Deseret News. 'This is their way of getting emergency messages out to people. That's the way in which they communicate in a very rural area.'
The Hill
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Chip Roy on Texas flooding: ‘Real story' is ‘heroism of those who showed up' to help
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said Sunday the 'real story' of the deadly flooding in Texas is the 'heroism of those who showed up' to help, as opposed to who's to blame. 'I think the real story is not all the finger-pointing that the media wants to point to. It's the heroism of those who showed up like Ian there with the Coast Guard, who I was standing next to when we met with the president, talking about his feelings as a dad,' Roy told anchor Shannon Bream on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'There was another young man in the Coast Guard talking about how he keeps Jolly Ranchers in his pocket, and he was handing Jolly Ranchers to the little girls that were on the helicopter with him,' he added. 'It's the heroism of all of the first responders in Kerrville.' Roy added later that as you drive into Kerrville, which was at the center of the flooding, there's a large cross on a hill. 'And if you ask me what the story of this whole tragedy is, it's the cross. And it's the power of the cross,' he said. At least 129 people were killed in flooding that began on July 4 along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, with about 170 people still missing as search operations stretch into a second week. Federal, state and local officials have faced questions about why early warning systems were not installed in known flood zones, and why a summer camp was allowed to expand in a dangerous flood plain. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has denied reports that federal aid to Texas was delayed due to a new rule requiring her sign-off on all Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants or contracts worth more than $100,000. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) used a football analogy to criticize those seeking to assign blame for the tragedy, drawing criticism from Democrats. 'Every football team makes mistakes,' Abbott said. 'The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who is to blame. The championship teams are the ones that say 'Don't worry about it, man. We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score again and then we're going to win this game.'' President Trump and first lady Melania Trump went to Texas Hill Country earlier this week. 'I've been to a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes and I've never seen anything like this,' Trump said at a roundtable featuring local, state and federal officials after touring the area. Trump has also commended Noem over the federal response to the Texas floods, while the administration has changed its tune on terminating FEMA entirely after the disaster. Noem said Sunday her department was on the ground in Texas almost immediately after the flooding began. 'Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from the Department of Homeland Security there, helping those individuals in Texas,' she said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'It was a heartbreaking scene. And I think it's been well covered about what the Coast Guard did, how they were deployed immediately and helped rescue so many individuals from those floodwaters.'
The Hill
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Musk slams Trump's defense of Bondi on Epstein controversy: ‘Just release the files as promised'
Tech billionaire Elon Musk blasted President Trump on Saturday over his defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi and her handling of the case related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Musk, in a late Saturday post on the social platform X, which he owns, responded to another X user who had attached a screenshot of Trump's Truth Social statement earlier that day and wrote, 'This is in the running for worst post ever made.' 'Seriously,' Musk said, agreeing with that sentiment about Trump's post. 'He said 'Epstein' half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein.' 'Just release the files as promised,' Musk added. Musk, a few minutes later, responded to a separate post calling the Epstein case Trump's 'Achilles' heel,' rebuking the president for pledging to release the files on the campaign trail and now dismissing the significance of the case. 'This is a very big deal,' Musk responded. 'What the hell kind of system are we living in if thousands of kids were abused, the government has videos of the abusers and yet none of the abusers are even facing charges!?' Earlier on Saturday, Trump took to Truth Social to offer a sweeping defense of his attorney general, who has come under scrutiny since the Justice Department released a memo on Monday that concluded Epstein did not keep a so-called client list of high-profile individuals to blackmail them. The memo also concluded there was no evidence to suggest foul play in Epstein's 2019 death, which had previously been determined to be a suicide. But segments of Trump's base of supporters have grown furious at Bondi, who had earlier indicated she had the so-called client list waiting on her desk. Trump has stood by Bondi and reiterated his support of his attorney general on Saturday in a lengthy post, in which he wrote, 'LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE'S GREAT!' 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?' They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,' Trump said on Truth Social. The president suggested some of his political opponents 'created' the Epstein files and that the outrage from some in the MAGA movement over the documents related to the case is exactly what Trump's longtime critics are looking for. 'For years, it's Epstein, over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 'Intelligence' Agents, THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,' and more? They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called 'friends' are playing right into their hands,' Trump wrote in the post, referring to the FBI's probe into the alleged ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. 'Why didn't these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn't they use it? They haven't even given up on the John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. Files,' Trump said on Saturday.
The Hill
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Republicans eagerly await Lara Trump's decision on North Carolina Senate seat
Republicans are eager to see Lara Trump enter the North Carolina Senate race, with many seeing her as their best opportunity to keep the seat after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced he wouldn't seek reelection. The daughter-in-law of President Trump and a former Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair, Lara Trump has quickly become an early favorite for the GOP nomination if she chooses to run. A source close to the president said she's considering a bid; it would clear the Republican field if she chooses to go forward. While she's turned down possible Senate bids in the past, she would bring significant name recognition and instant backing from the top levels of the GOP. 'She has, in my opinion, earned the right of first refusal if she wants to do it,' said North Carolina Republican strategist Jonathan Felts. 'And more importantly, regardless of what I think about it, the most powerful and the most popular Republican on the planet, he thinks so, too.' A potential Senate run for Lara Trump, who is married to the president's son Eric, has been teased for years. She was rumored as a possible candidate to succeed former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) in the state's 2022 Senate race, but she decided against it, citing the difficulty of running with young children. She endorsed then-Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) in the race; he went on to win. 'I am saying no for now, not no forever,' she said at the time about her own possible candidacy. She was also rumored last year to be an option for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to fill the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She removed her name from consideration despite 'encouragement from so many.' But speculation has been building for months that Trump would finally take the plunge for Tillis's seat in 2026, even before Tillis announced he wouldn't seek another term. A November survey from a Republican pollster found her leading Tillis in a hypothetical primary match-up by an overwhelming margin. With Tillis out, Trump has commanded the attention in the race for the past few weeks. The president mentioned Lara Trump when asked by reporters about who could replace Tillis, saying she's 'somebody that would really be great.' He acknowledged that she and Eric live in Florida, but he emphasized her ties to the Tar Heel State. 'She's a great person, Lara Trump. I mean, that would always be my first choice, but she doesn't live there now,' President Trump said. 'But she's there all the time, her parents are there. You know, she really knows North Carolina well.' And one of the other top names being floated, RNC Chair Michael Whatley, signaled he would defer to her if she wants to run and would expect the party to do so as well. 'What I will say is this: If Lara Trump is going to be interested, then she is certainly going to have the entire Republican universe — myself included — that are going to coalesce behind her,' he told the Washington Examiner in an interview. First-term Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.), another possible candidate, also said he wouldn't run if Trump does. A GOP operative who's worked on North Carolina Senate races described Trump's choice as 'personal' and a 'family decision.' But Republicans said a Trump candidacy would likely be their best-case scenario, particularly as former Gov. Roy Cooper mulls a bid for the seat on the Democratic side. Felts said having Trump on the ballot could help increase turnout for Republicans, noting her father-in-law's demonstrated prowess at encouraging voters who often don't participate to come to the polls. He said Republicans will have to maximize turnout in small rural areas to overcome Democratic strengths in other parts of the state. Felts said no candidate could reach the level of support the president would have, but he would give a boost. 'He's just a uniquely popular figure, but having a Trump on the ballot would be helpful,' he said. Still, Lara Trump could have some potential vulnerabilities if she runs. Despite playing an active role in campaigning for her father-in-law and other candidates previously, she has never run for office herself. North Carolina Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson said her candidacy would solve a problem Republicans had with Tillis, who was increasingly unpopular with the Republican base. But she could turn off the critical 1 percent to 3 percent of voters who swing in the middle. 'I think Thom Tillis had a better shot at those voters than Lara Trump does because he did not come across to those voters as a partisan warrior,' Jackson said. 'And frankly, I think the last thing voters are looking for is a partisan warrior right now, and I say that as either a Democrat or Republican nominee.' 'What is clear is with Thom Tillis being run out of the race by [President] Trump is that they're going to get a partisan warrior,' he added. Felts said he's not concerned about Lara Trump being untested as a candidate because she showed her strength while campaigning for others. He said she 'had audiences eating out of her hand' speaking at the state GOP convention in 2021, demonstrating her grassroots appeal. 'I know she's told Ted, she's all in for Ted,' Felts recalled thinking at the time. 'If she were to announce right now [she's running], I mean, the place would just go insane.' One other attack she could face is a perceived lack of loyalty to North Carolina. Despite being born and raised there, she and her family live in Florida. Accusations of carpetbagging have been a common attack in key Senate races in recent years. But Republicans emphasized that she still has deep ties to the state and knows it well. One North Carolina Republican insider pointed to former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R), who was originally from the state but hadn't lived there for years before her comfortable electoral victory to the Senate in 2002. 'She's very well known,' he said. 'She has taken time with the grassroots, speaking [at] a bunch of Lincoln-Reagan dinners across the state over the years, and so she's definitely a known commodity and considered North Carolinian by the key folks in this state.' The insider said she would start out with an advantage in name identification that the other possible GOP candidates couldn't match and get the voters who only vote every four years. 'It's just a question of, are there voters in the middle, unaffiliated voters' who preferred President Trump to former Vice President Kamala Harris but aren't fully invested in Trump himself, he added. 'I don't know. That would be tested for sure,' he said. 'I do think that that's offset by all of the enthusiastic Trump voters that would turn out in a midterm that might not otherwise.' Jackson stressed that the result in the battleground state will likely be close regardless of the candidates, though analysts agree candidate quality will matter considerably. 'North Carolina is a very big state. It's big. It's hard to win. I don't care which side of the aisle you're on,' he said. 'You're going to have a close race, and it's going to be a tough race.'
The Hill
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Christie says Trump ‘benefited' from Epstein conspiracy theories
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), an outspoken critic of President Trump, said the president benefited from the conspiracy theories surrounding the case of disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In an interview on ABC News's 'This Week,' Christie pushed back on the suggestion that it was mostly the people around Trump fueling the conspiracy theories. 'We cannot let the president off that easily,' Christie said. 'He benefited directly from it. He fueled it. He encouraged it. And he certainly didn't stop it.' 'Part of what bothers me in this context is that Donald Trump gets a pass. 'Oh, no, it wasn't him. It was somebody else,'' Christie continued. 'He took these people who were doing exactly what you just said and put them in charge of the people on the front line of protecting the American people from crime and terrorism and counterintelligence operations,' he added, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. 'He encouraged this and by putting them in those positions, he supported the work they were doing.' Bongino, a former police officer and Secret Service agent, hosted a radio show and podcast before joining the administration. He pushed, among other things, conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the Epstein case. Christie — who advised Trump in 2020 before launching a primary challenge against him in 2024 — said the president 'started this Epstein fire during the campaign' by suggesting, without evidence, that Democrats were implicated in Epstein's alleged crimes and that they were behind his death in 2019. Trump's Justice Department, however, came out Monday with a memo concluding there was no evidence suggesting Epstein kept a 'client list' to blackmail high-profile individuals. The memo also found there was no evidence to suggest foul play in Epstein's death, which had previously been ruled a suicide. The memo spurred fierce backlash from some of Trump's supporters, who had long been calling for the government to release files on Epstein that they thought would expose wrongdoing at the highest level of elite circles. 'What Donald Trump is learning is, when you start the fire, sometimes you can't put it out,' Christie said, adding that Trump leaned on the Epstein conspiracy theories 'to fire up his own base, that he was going to get to the bottom of it, and he was going to release it because he's absolutely in favor of transparency.' 'Well, now you get into the job and you realize, you know, maybe I don't want to do that,' he added. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been the target of much of the vitriol following the release of the DOJ memo, but Trump has continued to defend her. Christie said that's no coincidence. 'Let's be clear about this: Pam Bondi, there's no chance, in my opinion, that Pam Bondi made this decision on her own. No chance. She was instructed by the White House that we're not releasing this stuff. And that's why he's defending her,' Christie said.
