Author: Mike Lillis

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) hammered President Trump on Monday for this weekend’s U.S. attack on Venezuela, saying the raid was an “unprecedented” exercise lacking both a legal authorization and a practical justification. Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Jeffries said the Jan. 2 incursion, which led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás…

Top House Democrats are accusing the Trump administration of scapegoating a Navy admiral to deflect blame for potential war crimes. The Democrats contend the White House decision to single out Adm. Frank Bradley as the person who ordered a “double-tap” strike against suspected drug runners in the Caribbean is part of a broader pattern of…

California Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday that attacking shipwrecked survivors is a crime of war, and that any member of the U.S. military involved in such actions — including Defense secretary Pete Hegseth — should be punished. “I served on active duty as a JAG for four years,…

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that public pressure will force Republicans back to the negotiating table in search of a bipartisan deal to reopen the government. Asked at the Capitol why he thinks President Trump will change course and enter talks over the health care provisions Democrats are demanding, Jeffries didn’t hesitate for a moment.  “Public sentiment,” he told reporters on the Capitol steps. “The American people are paying close attention, and they know that it was Donald Trump and Republicans who have shut the government down.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has rejected that premise. He and…

House Democrats have launched a series of investigations into Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, amid allegations that he accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents as part of an influence-peddling probe. Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is pressing the Justice Department to turn over a reported tape showing Homan accepting the money last year as part of an FBI sting. Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, wants the panel’s Republicans to demand Homan’s testimony — by subpoena if necessary. Republicans have shown little appetite for scrutinizing Trump, however,…

Congress is cruising at a steady clip toward a government shutdown at the end of the month, with both parties — and both chambers — pointing fingers at the other while refusing to blink.  Lawmakers from both chambers are in their home states this week after the House passed a GOP-crafted government funding bill that was swiftly rejected by the Senate, along with a competing proposal to keep the government open. Senators aren’t expected to return until Sept. 29 and House lawmakers not until October. The impasse has created a game of shutdown chicken, as Congress lurches toward the Oct.…