Mike Johnson Doubles Down on Wild Threat Ahead of Netanyahu Speech

Speaker Mike Johnson is doubling down on threats to arrest anyone who interrupts or protests Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress Wednesday, including members of Congress themselves.

He told fellow Republicans Tuesday that protests would not be tolerated, and he plans to send a “Dear Colleague” letter warning other members of Congress about protesting.

Tuesday’s message reiterates Johnson’s warning last week to arrest any Democratic lawmakers who seek to interrupt or disrupt the speech. He called for “extra sergeants at arms on the floor” to deal with and arrest any dissenters, whether from the House floor or the gallery. Several Democrats have said they plan to boycott the speech or protest.

Congress’s invitation to Netanyahu comes at a time when the Israeli prime minister is facing arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court along with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and top Hamas leaders over accusations of war crimes in Gaza. A meeting with President Joe Biden was pushed to Thursday after briefly being up in the air. Vice President Kamala Harris won’t be presiding over Netanyahu’s address to Congress, and will instead be campaigning in Indianapolis while planning to meet privately with the Israeli prime minister later.

Netanyahu isn’t getting the red-carpet treatment that he has gotten in years past in Washington, D.C., because of the brutality of his war in Gaza. His willingness to drag out the war for more than nine months with a staggering civilian death toll has contributed to Biden’s drop in popularity among young people and communities of color. It seems that Johnson’s invitation to speak and the loads of laundry washed on his behalf may be the only major benefits Netanyahu gets from his U.S. visit.

A new report from CNN reveals more evidence that Trump vice presidential pick J.D. Vance once believed accusations of sexual assault against his running mate.

Earlier this month, Mediaite reported that, in a 2016 MSNBC appearance, Vance said he believed Jessica Leeds’s accusation that Trump groped her. Sarcastically noting Trump’s tendency to lie, he said, “This is sort of he said/she said, right? And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump who always tells the truth? Just kidding, or do you believe that woman on the tape?”

On Tuesday, CNN reported that Vance repeatedly expressed similar sentiments online.

In October 2016, after the Access Hollywood tapes were released, Vance tweeted a since-deleted post asking, “What percentage of the American population has @realDonaldTrump sexually assaulted?”

Vance also reportedly liked tweets that read, “Maybe the Central Park 5 could take out a full-page ad to condemn the coddling of thug real estate barons who commit serial sexual assault,” and, “I wish there was a 2nd Vice Presidential debate just to see [Mike Pence] deny that Trump said he grabbed p*ssy.”

On Facebook, he shared a Washington Post op-ed by a Southern Baptist Convention leader who condemned conservative religious leaders’ support of then-presidential candidate Trump “following the disclosure of his sexually predatory recorded comments.” Vance posted an excerpt of the article that read, in part, “[Trump] has reaffirmed who he is over and over again, even during this campaign—from misogynistic statements to racist invective to crazed conspiracy theorizing.”

Vance’s team told CNN that the posts in question “from nearly a decade ago are old news that have been addressed numerous times since he entered the political world. They don’t reflect his views on President Trump today and haven’t for many years.” Indeed, after Trump was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, Vance quickly said he believed his “friend” Trump.

The unearthed social media activity—piling atop a mountain of examples of Vance once railing against his current running mate—has fueled ongoing conversations questioning his convictions and speculating that Trump may be regretting his vice presidential pick.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will resign Tuesday following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump earlier this month.

Cheatle’s official announcement is expected later in the day, but two law enforcement officials have confirmed her exit to NBC News. Her ouster comes amid widespread criticism from both Republicans and Democrats over security failures at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

In her resignation letter, which NBC obtained from a senior official who received it, Cheatle wrote that she takes “full responsibility for the security lapse,” and that “scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson called Cheatle’s decision “overdue” after hearing the news. “She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that,” he said, according to Politico.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said he was grateful for Cheatle’s decades of public service. “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” Biden said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again.” He added that he plans to appoint a new director soon.

Cheatle’s resignation comes one day after she appeared before the House Oversight Committee, where she failed to give satisfying answers about the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and critically injured two others. Trump’s ear was also wounded, although his official medical report has not been released.

Lawmakers demanded answers for how the shooter was able to get to his vantage point, but Cheatle offered little insight. She revealed that she believed “there was some sort of communication” about a suspicious individual between two and five times, and said that the Secret Service was not aware that the gunman was armed when it allowed Trump to take the stage.

When it came to Cheatle’s vague responses, the typically polarized committee found itself in agreement, for once.

“This committee is not known for … its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment in your lack of answers,” James Comer told Cheatle, according to Politico.

MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was predictably fierce when defending her beloved leader, but even Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said that the timeline for an initial report on the shooting, which Cheatle said would take 60 days, was “simply not acceptable.”

“It has been 10 days since an assassination attempt on a former president of the United States, regardless of party. There need to be answers,” said Ocasio-Cortez. The clip of the New York progressive lawmaker went viral, with many Republican social media users astonished they actually agreed with her.

This story has been updated.

Within 36 hours of being handed the reins of the Democratic Party, Vice President Kamala Harris has already begun to send out vetting materials to possible running mates. But for now, she appears to have skipped over one name that has gotten a lot of early buzz.

Vetting materials have been distributed to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) from The Wall Street Journal’s White House reporter Ken Thomas.

Notably missing from Harris’s list of potential vice presidential candidates was Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he had not received any materials from the Harris campaign.

Not only is Beshear one of the most popular governors in America, who has gained wide appeal despite being a Democratic leader in a red state, but ever since Harris was endorsed by President Joe Biden on Sunday, Beshear has repeatedly voiced his support for the new presumptive nominee and begun mounting attacks against Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.

Beshear appeared on CNN Monday night, launching an informal audition to go head-to-head with Vance. Beshear specifically went after Vance for his “phony” opioid charity, and touted his own record as an attorney general who was tough on opioid companies.

“We need folks that have substance; we need folks that are up for the job. And J.D. Vance certainly isn’t, and never will be,” Beshear said.

The Kentucky governor claimed that any of the names that have been floated for Harris’s vice president would “eat J.D.’s lunch every day on a debate stage leading up to November.”

“Listen, J.D. Vance is a phony. He’s fake. I mean, he first said that Donald Trump is like Hitler, and now he’s acting like he’s Lincoln. I mean, the problem with J.D. Vance is he has no conviction, but I guess his running mate has 34,” Beshear said.

Beshear had started bright and early on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday, when he lauded Harris’s character, as well as her record, and began attacking Vance’s harsh anti-abortion stance, one of the Trump pick’s weakest spots with voters. He also called him a phony.

Vance had responded to some of Beshear’s attacks by calling it “weird” for Beshear to call him fake, when Beshear had “inherited” the governorship from his father, Steve Beshear, who served as Kentucky governor from 2007 to 2015.

Beshear was quick to hit back Monday night. “Well, what was weird was him joking about racism today, and talking about diet Mountain Dew. But in all seriousness, he ain’t from here. He is not from Kentucky,” Beshear said.

He criticized Vance for profiting off his writing about people in eastern Kentucky, while being raised in Ohio. “He called them ‘lazy,’ acting like he understands our culture, and he’s one of us; he’s not,” Beshear said. “This is a guy who went out to Silicon Valley, that’s trying to be an everyman. He ain’t one of us.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has only been running for president since Sunday, and she’s started off her campaign with a shot at Donald Trump.

At Biden campaign headquarters in Delaware Monday, Harris spoke about her record before politics, when she “was a courtroom prosecutor.”

“In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said to cheers and applause.

This could signal the tone for how Harris’s campaign for president will go. Contrasting her prosecutorial background against Trump’s many legal cases will keep Trump on the defense. Trump and the GOP are already having trouble coming up with talking points against Harris, and the former president and convicted felon is already trying to back out of debating her.

Harris’s campaign is off to a great start, immediately setting a fundraising record on just her first day, while Trump’s campaign is wondering if making J.D. Vance the vice presidential candidate was a mistake. Trump is looking weaker, and the new Harris campaign will have to press their advantage to turn around the sagging poll numbers inherited from Joe Biden.