New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday brushed off a group of moderate Democrats‘ new warning against socialism, warning his wing of the party has already proved its appeal with voters after a slate of socialist candidates scored major primary victories in New York. Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, was asked on ABC News’s This […]
Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin criticized his former political party for embracing socialist ideology, as the Democratic Party leans into more far-left candidates following progressives’ primary wins in New York and across the country. When discussing the recent primary wins by left-wing candidates, Manchin was asked about a Gallup poll showing that 66% of […]
The committee took statements from individuals, combed through federal campaign finance filings and examined congressional financial disclosures as part of its investigation.
Tensions boiled over among House Democrats Sunday after Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s proposed an amendment to nix $3 billion in military aid to Israel. During a […]
President Donald Trump's new appointee is raising alarm among staff inside the Department of Homeland Security and many are willing to quit over the appointment. The Daily Beast reported on Monday that Trump has tapped an obscure state trooper from Oklahoma to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing a piece from PunchUp. Senior officials say that they were shocked deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was not appointed to the role.Richard “Lance” Schroyer is a former highway patrol officer and Marine, his biography says. Officials inside of DHS think that the real puppetmaster of ICE has been Miller, and they thought he was the likely nominee along with border chief Tom Homan. The Beast noted that the Senate hasn't confirmed a head of ICE since the Obama administration. However, they did approve DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. According to insiders, Schroyer's announcement sent shockwaves through DHS. “He’s Markwayne’s guy,” one senior official told PunchUp.“Everyone was blindsided by the selection [of Schroyer], including Homan and Miller,” one source said. There is a concern that it could be a signal that Miller's power over immigration and deportations is being whittled away. “He may be getting boxed out,” the source added.That said, the Homan wing isn't doing well either. It “seems Homan is losing some power,” another senior ICE official told PunchUp. He evidently wasn't "a fan" of Trump's idea to rebrand ICE as "NICE."“Everyone loves it, but I have been told by the legendary Tom Homan that the Agents do not love it as much as the other population," Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 20. “I think Homan is going to lose all power," another official said about the matter. Schroyer will take over a massive agency with a significant budget, despite having no experience leading an agency or office of any kind. Three insiders told PunchUp that the rank and file are ready to self-deport from their jobs. “Troops not happy at all. Senior leaders not happy,” said one senior ICE source. “No experience. He was a trooper. But that’s it. Never a boss. Never a leader. Never had to manage a budget. Now he has $78 billion. Now he has 32,000 employees.”Agents, the person said, are ready to walk. “Many say they will retire,” the source said. “You’re gonna see a lot of senior leaders” who “retire, leave,” they told PunchUp. “Because it’ll be a power struggle. A new person in there, no one will know what is going on, and we’re gonna look like idiots.”They think Schroyer is "nice" but that he has “no experience really with 287g ops." He's already been working quietly as a senior advisor to Mullin. Schroyer also worked previously as Mullin's residential security detail. "The pair were so close," the report said, citing a source, and noted that he was invited to have dinner with the family while working on the detail. One agency veteran said that it's part of an ongoing pattern of appointing friends with no experience to jobs. “This guy will be his ‘fish cop,’” the senior ICE official said when speaking to PunchUp. The report recalled previous Secretary Kristi Noem's deputy director of ICE, 29-year-old loyalist Madison Sheahan. She eventually left ICE and ran for Congress but lost in the primary. “Putting his person in with no experience just to have his guy on the inside. He’s going to be the new Noem," the official said.
President Donald Trump was mocked on Monday after the Supreme Court shut down his appeal of the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse verdict, leaving a $5 million judgment against him standing.In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. They also found he defamed her when he denied it. The verdict carried $5 million in damages, which Carroll can now move to collect.Legal experts reacted to the major decision, detailing the significance."Trump starts today as a loser. E. Jean Carroll wins. The Supreme Court has declined to hear his appeal of her defamation verdict against him. It’s over, and it’s time for him to pay up," Joyce Vance, lawyer and former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote on X."That’s the end of the line for Trump on the Carroll case," Ron Filipkowski, MeidasTouch editor and attorney, wrote on X."Roberta Kaplan, attorney for E. Jean Carroll: 'Today's Supreme Court decision affirms once and for all the jury's unanimous verdict that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll. His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today's ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,'" Kyle Griffin, executive producer of The Weeknight on MS NOW, wrote on X."What this means is that the jury verdict that determined that @realDonaldTrump had sexually abused my friend E. Jean Carroll by penetrating her v----- with his fingers, and therefore had defamed her by denying that he had done so, will stand as a final and conclusive judgment. The highly respected district judge who tried the case, the Hon. Lewis A. Kaplan, correctly stated multiple times that the jury's finding of sexual abuse under New York law meant that, in common parlance and under the law of most jurisdictions, Donald Trump was found to have raped E. Jean. So henceforth and forever more, it will be completely accurate—and utterly inactionable under the common and constitutional law of defamation—to state the following fact: DONALD J. TRUMP IS AN ADJUDICATED RAPIST," George Conway, attorney and Lincoln Project co-founder, wrote on X.
Mamdani, 34, said it's a turning point in the Democratic Party with rank-and-file members opposing -- rather than supporting -- Israel in Middle East conflicts.
The America 250 events were supposed to bring the country together, and Republicans were counting on it being a layup ahead of the last push before the midterm elections. It isn't working out that way, however. NOTUS reported on Monday that President Donald Trump's takeover of the events has been a disaster as he turned them from non-partisan pro-America events into MAGA spectacles.After the majority of the performers for his concert pulled out, Trump hosted a small political rally with only a few people willing to perform. The "Good Liars" calculated that about 1,000 people showed up for the event. The so-called "state fair" in the District of Columbia has been about as sparsely attended, and another concert was canceled after Vanilla Ice claimed "inclement weather in the area" inspired him to pull out at the last minute.The fair has gotten rough reviews, with an overpriced food court offering $25 pretzels, melted ice cream and empty booths inside the pavilion. At one point, a MAGA influencer dressed as Uncle Sam was arrested for lewd behavior. “I think that’s sad,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told NOTUS when speaking about the 250 flop.“If the celebration of the miracle of democracy that comes from the founding of this nation becomes partisan, shame on us,” commented Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).As one Democrat explained, the president simply can't have an event that isn't about him.“He can’t help himself — especially with things that don’t involve him, don’t praise him, don’t highlight him — President Trump couldn’t help but try making America’s 250th birthday all about himself,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Ca.) blasted during a Senate hearing last week. Padilla has also complained that taxpayer dollars are being wasted for another Trump vanity project. “Which donors have supported those efforts, let alone what requests might have been made alongside those contributions? How much of this has been pay-to-play or quid pro quo?” Padilla asked.For those alive during the 200th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. it was such a huge event that people still remember it. “I remember the 200th [anniversary] in 1976 and how the whole country celebrated together, and it’s unfortunate that it seems to be turning into a more partisan event,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said when speaking to NOTUS reporters. “A campaign rally is not celebrating the 250th anniversary of the country,” she said. “I expect to attend something in New Hampshire for the 250th, and I think a lot of people will be attending events in their home states.”Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) lamented that she hopes the public celebrates what it means to be an American.“We’re already divided enough as a country, and I think this needs to be the one time where we all just say, isn’t it amazing that we’ve made it this far?” she said.Even Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) agreed it shouldn't be a partisan ordeal. Fitzpatrick wants to investigate where the money went. $150 million was allocated by Congress for the events.“There’s plenty of room for everybody and everything,” said West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. “I don’t think the nation’s birthday needs to be a partisan event. I think July 4 should be a unifying event.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt marked her return from maternity leave Monday by immediately attacking Democratic candidates as "communists" on Fox & Friends.Leavitt gave birth to her daughter, Viviana "Vivi" Riccio, eight weeks ago and stepped away from the briefing room podium in late April. Her first TV appearance back was on Fox & Friends Monday morning."How does it feel to return for America 250?" co-host Lawrence Jones asked."Well, becoming a mother changes your perspective on everything," Leavitt said. "And you realize how blessed we are to live in this country, to bring up babies in a nation where they can be whatever they want to be," she continued. "And I look forward to raising them in this wonderful country.""So I'm back to work, and motherhood is in full swing," she added.In a pivot to Iran, co-host Brian Kilmeade noted that American forces had recently exchanged fire with Iranian-backed attackers. The targets included U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as merchant ships in the region."So as far as we're concerned, we're holding up our end of the ceasefire," Leavitt insisted. "Violence will be met with violence."Then co-host Ainsley Earhardt raised the rise of democratic socialists — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) and D.C. mayoral Democratic primary winner Janeese Lewis George (D-DC) — and asked why President Donald Trump would agree to meet with them."Well, the president is always willing to sit down and meet with anyone," Leavitt replied. "However, I know the president and many Americans are extremely concerned about how far left the Democrat [sic] party is moving.""You see these candidates — this is not your granddaddy's Democrat [sic] party," she charged. "These are communists! The president is right to call them that.""They want to abolish private prisons. They want to abolish the police. They want to abolish private property," Leavitt continued. "These are radical Marxist ideas that have never worked in the history of the world.""And I think it's a choice coming up between communism and common sense," the press secretary continued. "And you see Democrat elected officials right here on Capitol Hill — Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer — are afraid to stand up and speak out against these radical communists who are taking over their party," Leavitt said. "It's quite scary."Trump's approval rating sits 16 points underwater, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, with public perceptions of his economic stewardship sinking even lower, the Washington Examiner reported.