Trump's DNI pick Jay Clayton makes opening statement in Senate confirmation hearing
Source: NBC News Politics · Bias: Center Left
Summary
Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Director of National Intelligence, delivered his opening remarks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. There is a bipartisan push to replace Trump’s selection of Bill Pulte as acting director following Tulsi Gabbard's resignation.
Trump's DNI pick Jay Clayton makes opening statement in Senate confirmation hearing
Center Left
Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Director of National Intelligence, delivered his opening remarks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. There is a bipartisan push to replace Trump’s selection of Bill Pulte as acting director following Tulsi Gabbard's resignation.
President Donald Trump's negotiations with Iran have even stumped Fox News, The New Republic reported.Fox News host Brian Kilmeade grilled Trump during an interview Tuesday after the president had claimed talks were underway "right now," despite Iran’s foreign ministry saying the country has no interest in direct talks."We hear that you’re talking right now with leaders on Iran,” Kilmeade told Trump. “But Iran has come out publicly and said ‘we’re not talking to the U.S.—""Well, they just came out and said ‘we are talking’ a little while ago," Trump said, interjecting Kilmeade's comment. "So could you tell me who you’re talking to, Mr. President?" Kilmeade asked.Trump avoided directly answering the question."For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they’ll come out and say 'we’re not talking' or 'we didn’t discuss nuclear,'" Trump said. "Well, that’s all we discussed, because they’ll never have a nuclear weapon, they understand that. We’ve had some very good talks."Trump then shifted the conversation to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "It does not inspire confidence when the president can’t confidently say who he has been in contact with while supposedly trying to negotiate an end to his increasingly unpopular and expensive war," The New Republic reported. "This conversation came after a recent pause in violence in the region, and ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Tuesday—in which he most likely lobbied Trump to start bombing Iran again."KILMEADE: We hear that you're talking with leaders from Iran. But Iran has come out publicly and said 'we're not talking to the US'TRUMP: Well, they just came out and said we are talkingKILMEADE: So could you tell me who you're talking to?TRUMP: We've had some very good… pic.twitter.com/bAqKISTbjU— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 28, 2026
WASHINGTON — The latest survey of the U.S. Senate race from Texas Public Opinion Research shows Democrat James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton, 45% to 40%, marking the Austin state representative’s largest lead in any public poll taken during the general election period.Since Paxton locked up the GOP nomination in late May, polling of the contest has found a neck-and-neck race with neither candidate able to break 50%. But TPOR’s poll found Talarico leading among voters who do not have a college degree — a group that has consistently favored Republicans in Texas and across the country — and dominating among independents, less than a quarter of whom said they planned to vote for Paxton. The attorney general also had weaker Republican support than in other recent surveys, with nearly one in five GOP voters saying they were undecided or would vote for Talarico.TPOR labels itself as a nonpartisan public opinion research group. It is directed by Democratic strategist Luke Warford.The group surveyed 1,048 likely voters between July 15 and July 17, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. Of those poll respondents, 53% voted for Donald Trump and 42% voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, making the sample only slightly bluer than the 2024 electorate, which favored Trump by a 14-point margin in Texas. Trump carried Texas by 5.6 percentage points in 2020, two years after the last midterm held during his presidency.TPOR’s previous poll, fielded just after the May 26 runoff in which Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn, found Talarico leading 47% to 44%.Texas’ U.S. Senate race figures to be one of the most closely watched and expensive contests in the nation. Democrats have not won a statewide race in the Lone Star State in over 30 years, but they believe a combination of Trump’s lagging approval ratings, Paxton’s ethical baggage and Talarico’s fundraising and populist messaging could deliver the victory that has eluded them for decades.Republicans are taking the threat of Talarico seriously but nevertheless believe that, as the bitter primary between Paxton and Cornyn fades from memory and they highlight Talarico’s progressive views on social issues, Republicans will coalesce behind the attorney general. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as “Lean Republican.”Paxton’s 40% vote share is the lowest he has received in a public poll post-runoff. Other surveys have found Republicans were consolidating behind him. But the TPOR poll had Talarico winning 7% of self-described Republicans, and an additional 12% remained undecided. Meanwhile, only 1% of self-identified Democrats indicated they would vote for Paxton, and 6% were undecided.For comparison, a New York Times/Siena poll of the Texas contest fielded in June, which found the overall result tied at 47%, found Talarico winning 5% of Republicans and only 4% unsure.Perhaps the biggest outlier was Talarico’s lead among non-college-educated voters, who favored the Democrat by nine percentage points — 45% to 36%. He led by 1 percentage point among those with at least a bachelor’s degree.In recent elections, education has been one of the most reliable predictors of how people vote, with a sharp partisan dividing line between those with and without degrees. Exit polling found that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz beat Democrat Colin Allred by 18 percentage points among non-college-educated Texans in 2024. Even in 2018, when Democrat Beto O’Rouke came within 3 percentage points of victory, Cruz still won that bloc by a 6-point margin, exit polls found.In the New York Times/Siena poll, Paxton had an 8-point lead among voters without a degree, and in TPOR’s own poll in May, Paxton led by a whopping 21 points among that group.Other results hewed closer to recent polling of the race. The TPOR poll found Talarico leading heavily among Black and Latino voters, while Paxton maintained a strong lead with white voters. Black voters broke 71% for Talarico and 8% for Paxton, while Latinos preferred Talarico by a 66% to 20% margin.Paxton led among white voters, 53% to 33%.Talarico’s polling lead owes to his strength with independents and non-college educated voters. The poll found Talarico garnering 43% of independents to Paxton’s 23%; 29% remain undecided. Among self-described moderates, Talarico’s lead is even more pronounced, with the Democrat ahead 54% to 20%.The poll found that 14% of voters of all political stripes remain unsure about their pick. Among undecided voters, there is evidence Paxton has more room to grow: 19% of that bloc said they leaned toward the Republican, compared to 10% who leaned toward Talarico. Two-thirds reported being truly on the fence.Some conservatives have cast doubt on the validity of TPOR's polling given its Democratic ties. Warford is also a founding partner of Agave Democratic Infrastructure Fund, a political action committee dedicated to building Democratic campaign infrastructure in Texas.
The Biden administration's war on conservatives, especially Catholics and prolife advocates, was swift and brutal.
The post Prolife Dad Arrested at Gunpoint by Biden Regime Reaches Settlement with Trump DOJ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Vice President JD Vance's assertion that "Christianity is America's creed" got some surprising pushback from one of the Supreme Court's most conservative jurists.Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered a blunt dismissal of Vance's Christian crusade tied to his publicity tour to promote his new book about his conversion to Catholicism, according to a report from The Hill.In a recent PBS interview, the President Donald Trump-appointed jurist systematically dismantled the vice president's claim that Christianity forms the ideological foundation of American governance.Vance recently claimed, "I’m not saying you have to be a Christian to be an American. I’m saying something simpler and truer: Christianity is America’s creed, the shared moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond."Gorsuch, without mentioning the veep by name, took exception with the growing Christian nationalism Vance's remarks seem to bolster."And so America was not found -- I mean we have a First Amendment for crying out loud. No established religion, everybody has a freedom of religion, everybody has the freedom of speech, we are all equal under law," he told PBS host Margaret Hoover, before adding, "Now you can not believe in those ideas. Fair enough. But then we have a problem."According to The Hill, Gorsuch observed, "...that Charles Carroll, who was also Catholic, signed the Declaration of Independence alongside members of other Christian faiths. He also explained that Amish and Quakers settled in the then-British colonies.""We were founded, a lot of our colonies, for our religious pluralism, right? And the opportunity to practice your own faith in your own way," Gorsuch patiently explained."Those things are perfect ideas that speak to every human heart and that unite us all," Gorsuch elaborated for emphasis. - YouTube youtu.be
The Pentagon never told the public that 70 American troops were wounded in a single day during President Donald Trump's Iran war, according to newly obtained records.The War Horse obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act request — a demand for government documents — covering the first six weeks of the war, from Feb. 28 through April 8.The data logged more than 400 casualties in that window and included details the Pentagon's public system has never provided — each service member's branch, rank, injury type, and the date they were wounded, the War Horse reported.Head trauma was the most common injury by far, accounting for at least 170 cases, according to the War Horse. Troops also suffered shrapnel wounds, broken bones, and smoke inhalation.Army soldiers made up most of the casualties — more than 270 troops, roughly one-third of them reservists — along with 64 officers, the War Horse reported.The single largest casualty day in the data came on March 18, roughly 24 hours after a U.S.-Israeli airstrike killed Ali Larijani, a senior Iranian political figure, the War Horse reported.Seventy casualties were recorded that day, according to the data. More than two dozen were classified as resulting from enemy attack. The Pentagon never announced the toll.Task & Purpose reported that the Pentagon revealed Saturday an overhaul of its Defense Casualty Analysis System — the official public database — pushing the total number of troops wounded or killed since February to 624, more than 200 higher than what had been publicly disclosed just days before.Earlier that week, the Pentagon had scrubbed four soldiers killed in July from the official count and removed 65 injured service members from the tally, Task & Purpose reported.The reason, experts say, traces to the War Powers Act — a 1973 law requiring the president to get congressional approval to continue military operations beyond 60 days. The Washington Examiner reported that the Pentagon split the war into two separate lists to reset that clock.One list covers Operation Epic Fury, which the administration says ended July 7. A second, new list — "Overseas Operations" — picks up casualties after that date, the Washington Examiner noted."It would have made it look like it was extended after 60 days," Alex Plitsas, an Army veteran and Atlantic Council expert, told the Washington Examiner."The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire," Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X. "The reality: By going more than 90 days without congressional authorization, War Secretary Pete Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable."
President Donald Trump's nominee for the attorney general post isn't merely a "yes-man," he's one who is willing to compromise his own profession and reputation to be a "yes-man." At least, that's what former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor wrote in his column Tuesday. Taylor spent the first Trump administration trying to sound the alarm from inside the White House, writing a column and then a book under the "Anonymous" title. Todd Blanche, who is likely to be confirmed on Thursday for the post, "has already endured humiliation after humiliation in order to protect his boss. Blanche is now poised to become arguably the most powerful lawyer on earth as Trump’s nominee to run the US Department of Justice outright," wrote Taylor. Were Blanche to lose the confirmation, it would be another in a long line of Trump failures. If he wins, Taylor thinks the job will destroy Blanche. "And the world will see how far Trump will go if he is unrestrained," he wrote. Chief among them is Blanche's directing new attention toward the Jeffrey Epstein files. As the senior Justice Department official overseeing the Epstein files, Blanche has been criticized for a botched rollout that exposed survivors’ names and images while keeping many powerful figures redacted. A federal judge this week was unconvinced by the department’s explanations, and has now ordered Blanche to turn over unreleased documents directly to the court.Blanche’s own actions have fueled further controversy after he personally flew to interview convicted trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, the Epstein co-conspirator. She was transferred to a prison "camp" shortly after their meeting. It is a significantly less restrictive confinementThe confirmation process also highlighted Blanche's evasive testimony. In more than 400 pages of written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche declined to answer over 160 questions as “inappropriate." One included whether he would revive a controversial “anti-weaponization” fund if ordered by the president. Two Republican holdouts are pressing him to commit in writing to no sweetheart deals for Trump, a promise he has so far refused.More than 1,200 former DOJ officials, from both parties, have urged the Senate to reject him, citing a “culture of fear” and questioning his fidelity to the Constitution. Supporters mustered fewer than 80 names in response.Blanche, Taylor argues, has become Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyer and was standing beside him when he became the first U.S. president convicted of a felony. Now, as he nears the nation’s top law enforcement post, critics warn he may serve as a legal shield for an administration already facing an unprecedented judicial paper trail. The question for Blanche is not just whether he will be confirmed, but who will stand beside him when the consequences of his choices come due.Taylor couldn't help but remember those who came before Blanche like former lawyer Michael Cohen, who went to prison for Trump and Rudy Giuliani who was disbarred and bankrupted after working for the president."Todd Blanche stood beside Donald Trump as a defense lawyer. He’s hoping to be rewarded for that loyalty," Taylor said of Trump. "The question that should keep him up at night is simpler than any a senator has asked: When the reckoning comes — for everything he’ll be asked to do on Trump’s behalf — who will stand beside Todd Blanche?" Taylor closed asking.
It appears that two outgoing Republican senators are prepared to tank the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, who hold Blanche’s future in their hands, are particularly concerned with the status of President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” a controversial move to provide financial assistance to anyone who feels they’ve been attacked for supporting the president. Cornyn noted in Blanche’s most recent confirmation hearing that even though Blanche claimed the fund was dead, there was no written agreement to actually kill it. Now, he’s demanding it in writing.“What I want is the written document to say the same thing he did in his sworn testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee, and, as you recall, what he said is the weaponization fund is dead. He said the audit immunity basically doesn’t extend to parties beyond the lawsuit, and it doesn’t also extend to future actions by federal agencies other than the IRS,” Cornyn said on Monday. “That’s what we’re trying to get them to agree to, which is again what his sworn testimony was. So I don’t know why they’re—I don’t know why they’re so reluctant to do that when he’s already sworn to it.”Tillis, too, said he wants changes to the settlement agreement with the IRS, which created the $1.776 billion slush fund and gave the Trump family immunity from future IRS audits. Tillis previously threatened to block Blanche’s nomination unless he met with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Blanche did so earlier this month, but survivors said the meeting was “demoralizing,” as Blanche continued to avoid answering their questions. “It just felt like more political posturing and using survivors the way that we’ve been used as political pawns,” Epstein survivor and anti-human trafficking educator Elizabeth Stein said at the time.Cornyn and Tillis’s “no” votes would effectively kill Blanche’s nomination, as he needs the support of all 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to move forward. As of right now, it looks like he won’t get it. The Senate Judiciary is planning to vote to advance fBlanche’s nomination on Thursday.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Washington Secrets. It’s a day dominated by the late Lindsey Graham, with a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in the morning, followed by a funeral service at Washington National Cathedral. Three world leaders will attend: President Donald Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. […]
