Sanders says he does not regret supporting Graham Platner in Maine Senate race

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said he did not regret supporting former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) after a former girlfriend’s accusations of sexual assault came to light and led the progressive candidate to drop his bid. CBS News’s Margaret Brennan asked Sanders about his support for Platner on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,”…

Democrats May Be in Big Trouble in Their Maine Senate Do-Over

Democrats favored to win House, underdogs in Senate 100 days out

Democrats are favored to win the House but are slight underdogs in the fight for the Senate with 100 days to go before the midterms, according to the latest forecast from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).  Both parties are dealing with headwinds as they head into the home stretch of the high-stakes election. Republicans are worried…

Judge's 'unexpected' Epstein files demand reveals dark truth about Todd Blanche: expert

A federal judge's “unexpected” demand to Attorney General Todd Blanche regarding the Epstein files proves a bedrock judicial principle is “on life support," a legal expert argued Sunday.Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan gave Blanche five days to provide the court with unredacted versions of certain Epstein-related files for private review as it litigates a lawsuit filed by lawyer and media figure Katie Phang. Phang sued Blanche for allegedly violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act by unlawfully redacting certain files.Blanche provided the court with an explanation as to why certain files were redacted, but Sullivan, doubting Blanche’s explanation, demanded he provide proof supporting his claims. Such a demand, as noted by Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, demonstrated how the Trump administration had all but gutted the key judicial principle known as the “presumption of regularity.”“It was commonly used to advance the idea that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, courts should presume government employees, including DOJ lawyers, acted properly in the execution of their duties. Now it’s on life support and Judge Sullivan’s order is another nail in its coffin,” Vance wrote in an analysis published Saturday on her Substack.“This most recent order suggests that Judge Sullivan doesn’t believe the government when it says something is the case, even when that ‘something’ is as simple as the identity of the person in a ‘to’ line in an email. But the government has acted like it has something to hide, even after Congress passed the Transparency Act and Trump signed it into law.”Specifically, Phang has raised doubts that redacted names on a handful of Epstein-related files were lawfully withheld. The Justice Department (DOJ) has claimed the redactions in question were permitted under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but Sullivan is refusing to take the DOJ at their word.“So the Judge isn’t accepting what the government has represented to it as truthful, and is requiring documentation to support its claims,” Vance wrote.“Under any other president, the Attorney General would have been disturbed by the suggestion prosecutors couldn’t be trusted. There would be disciplinary review. But here, the acting Attorney General is the defendant in the case. It’s paradigmatic of how far DOJ has fallen.”

Meet the South Carolina Democrat looking to flip Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat

Dr Annie Andrews says her ‘mission remains the same’ as she now aims to unseat Darline Graham, sister of the late Republican senatorIt was early Sunday morning and Dr Annie Andrews was far from the political fray, dropping her youngest daughter off at a summer camp, when she heard the news.“It was shocking and unbelievable,” she says of the death of Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator who defined South Carolina politics for a generation aged 71. “It’s a profound moment for the whole state of South Carolina.” Continue reading...

Former Trump food official calls for independent review of federal government response to Cyclospora outbreak

Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas, who served under both President Trump and former President Biden, criticized the federal government’s handling of a Cyclospora outbreak that has impacted thousands of Americans. In an interview with Politico, Yiannas called for an independent review of the government’s response to this outbreak and cited…

Trump's 'get-out-the-vote' fail exposed by laughing expert: 'Doing it for the other side!'

President Donald Trump’s pitch to GOP voters this election cycle may very well be what hands Democrats a historic midterm victory, former Trump official Miles Taylor predicted on MS NOW’s “The Weekend" Sunday.“I genuinely think that we are seeing Donald Trump mount an absolutely historic get-out-the-vote effort," said Taylor, a former senior advisor for the Department of Homeland Security. "The only problem for him is he's doing it for the other side."His fellow panelists burst out laughing. Earlier this month, Trump claimed that if his controversial voter ID bill known as the SAVE America Act became law, Republicans would maintain control of Congress for 100 years. He also told Christian GOP voters that if they supported him in 2024, they “don’t have to vote again” as he and Republicans would have it “fixed so good.”“Almost three in four Democrats in this country say this is the most important midterm in their lifetimes, extraordinary enthusiasm about getting out to vote in this election. On the other hand, Republicans, their enthusiasm is very soft this election cycle,” Taylor said.“It's because there's been a guy at the head of their party for the past two years who's said, 'if you re-elect me, you'll never have to vote again,'" Taylor said. "Unfortunately for him, they seem to be listening! They seem to be thinking, 'maybe we don't need to vote again!' This is the same man who weeks ago on July 3 said, 'if you let me pass the SAVE America Act, Republicans will win for 100 years' – he's telling his side, 'we don't need you to show up, we've got it covered!'”Taylor continued, “That's showing up in the data, and if that holds until election day, it's gonna be a rout for Donald Trump.”Eugene Daniels, “The Weekend" co-hi concurred with Taylor’s prediction, noting that Trump’s claims about supposed Chinese efforts to influence the 2024 election could also have a suppressing effect on GOP voter turnout.“And he's telling his voters that your vote won't count, he's telling them over and over again that they're gonna steal the election! So if I'm a voter, why would I vote?” Daniels said.“If China or Venezuela or these random countries that he chooses are going to make my vote not count, why would I vote? I've talked to Republican strategists who would love for him to stop talking about this, but it's been 10 years and I don't think he's going to.”Taylor argued that while Trump’s own words may very well suppress GOP voter turnout, they were also a key factor in Democrats’ enthusiasm heading into November.“If you look at the data right now, there is a remarkable enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, and it's largely driven by Trump himself,” Taylor continued. “Donald Trump has made Democrats feel like the fundamental right to vote is at stake, and a lot of folks worry that would result in voter suppression.”

Trump intensifies push for GOP senators to end filibuster

The president has repeatedly called on GOP senators to abolish the SAVE America Act with a simple majority vote.