Republicans on Brink of Gaining Extra House Seat in Swing State

Republican state senators in North Carolina have answered President Donald Trump’s plea to gerrymander the state’s congressional map so the GOP may maintain its tenuous U.S. House majority in 2026.

The state Senate on Tuesday passed a Trump-approved map that—if adopted, as expected, by the state House this week—would oust Democratic U.S. Representative Don Davis, one of North Carolina’s three Black members of Congress, from his seat.

The governor, a Democrat, is barred under state law from vetoing redistricting maps, so the only possible redress would come from the courts, which are likely to hear cases arguing that the new maps disenfranchise Black voters.

North Carolina would be the latest state, joining Texas and Missouri, to do rare, mid-decade redistricting at Trump’s behest, with Republicans in a handful of other red states, including Florida, Louisiana, Indiana, Kansas, and Ohio, possibly gearing up to follow suit.

During debate over the new North Carolina map, GOP lawmakers were not shy about the naked partisanship behind them.

“The motivation behind this redraw is simple and singular: Draw a new map that will bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation,” said Republican state Senator Ralph Hise, who helped lead the redistricting effort. “Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the United States House of Representatives, and if Democrats flip four seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they will take control of the House and torpedo Trump’s agenda.”

If what House Oversight Chair James Comer says is true, then shouldn’t Republican lawmakers be rushing to release the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein?

During a press conference Tuesday, Comer suggested that there was far more significant evidence linking the alleged sex trafficker to a former president than there was to President Donald Trump.

“Let’s be clear. The Democrats don’t care about transparency or accountability in this matter. The evidence we’ve gathered does not implicate President Trump in any way,” he said. “Public reporting, survivor testimony, and official documents show that Bill Clinton had far closer ties to Epstein.”

But if the files truly exonerate the president and condemn a prominent Democrat, why are Republicans making every effort to avoid the release of the government’s documents?

Democrats are the ones demanding the files be released in full, and Republicans—namely House Speaker Mike Johnson—are the ones blocking it. The speaker has repeatedly refused to swear in Arizona Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who is poised to provide the deciding signature on a bipartisan petition for a vote to release the Epstein files in full. Trump’s White House has even stepped in to bully the president’s party into silence. Only a handful of Republicans are currently backing the petition.

In attempting to attack the Democrats, Comer revealed Tuesday just how deluded his own party has become.

Clinton has reportedly been linked to Epstein, having traveled multiple times on Epstein’s plane for humanitarian trips to Africa, according to court documents. The former president also reportedly penned a birthday note to the convicted sex criminal. But unlike Trump, Clinton’s letter made no mention of “enigmas” who never age, and was not written inside the silhouette of a naked woman.

In fact, Comer previously said he had no intention of investigating the president’s note to Epstein. Trump’s word was good enough for him—making clear that the Republican representative is the one who doesn’t care so much about accountability or transparency.

Clinton has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities. Trump did, too, but he also admitted that he knew Epstein “stole” 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell while she was working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in 2000 to become Epstein’s traveling masseuse. Giuffre alleged that she was sexually exploited by Prince Andrew and Epstein’s other “adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen, and/or other professional and personal acquaintances.”

The White House is denying a TMZ report that Trump could commute the sentence of disgraced music producer and domestic abuser Sean “Diddy” Combs as soon as this week. The report comes days after Trump freed serial liar, convicted fraudster, and former New York Representative George Santos.

“There is zero truth to the TMZ report, which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news,” the White House said in a statement to NBC News. “The President, not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations.”

Still, Trump himself has remained silent on the report, which was based on an anonymous source.

Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, but was controversially acquitted on heavier charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He was sentenced to 50 months in prison, fined $500,000, and ordered to remain under five years of supervised release.

Combs’s lawyers have already publicly asked Trump for a pardon, and the president has been fairly vague on how he feels about it.

“He was essentially, I guess sort of half-innocent … I guess [the ruling] wasn’t as good as a victory,” Trump said when asked about a pardon for Combs in an interview with Newsmax in August. “I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile…. So I don’t know, it’s more difficult.”

TMZ stands by its reporting.

Diddy would be another addition to the long list of rappers and entertainers Trump has granted clemency to, including Kodak Black, NBA Youngboy, and Lil Wayne, all of whom received either full pardons or commutations.

Thirteen Senate Democrats voted alongside Republicans Tuesday to instate a conservative judge to the Northern District of Alabama.

The Senate voted 66–32 in favor of confirming Harold “Hal” Mooty III as a U.S. district judge. Donald Trump nominated Mooty last month, and his confirmation needed a simple majority in the Senate.

The Democrats that voted in favor include:

• Senators Chris Coons (Delaware)
• Dick Durbin (Illinois)
• John Fetterman (Pennsylvania)
• Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire)
• Martin Heinrich (New Mexico)
• Tim Kaine (Virginia)
• Mark Kelly (Arizona)
• Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
• Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
• Adam Schiff (California)
• Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)
• Peter Welch (Vermont)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island)

Maine Senator Angus King, a political independent, also voted to confirm Mooty. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Thom Tillis, a Republican, did not vote.

It’s the first serious order of business that the upper chamber has conducted since the government shutdown 21 days ago.

Mooty will join a growing faction of federal judges who have symbolically pledged their allegiance to Trump. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September, Mooty made his ideological stances known by refusing to provide a direct answer as to who won the 2020 election.

“Our system of government determines who won an election to the office of president of the United States by who is certified as the winner based on the Electoral College vote,” Mooty said at the time, when pressed on the issue. “This process resulted in Joe Biden serving as the forty-sixth president of the United States.”

He similarly skirted answering questions pertaining to the Capitol riots on January 6, repeatedly claiming that it “would not be appropriate” to answer such inquiries as a judicial nominee.” However, his response wavered on the perspective of January 6 in the national recollection.

“I denounce any and all acts of violence against law enforcement and government officials; however, the characterization of the events of January 6 is subject to ongoing political debate,” Mooty said.

Mooty’s queried understanding of the Twenty-Second Amendment—and its power limiting a president to just two terms—was similarly concerning.

“As written, the Twenty-Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution currently limits any president to two terms in office,” Mooty said in September.

Three more roll-call votes are scheduled for Tuesday, including motions to invoke cloture on the appointment of Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe to be U.S. district judge for the Middle District of Florida and William W. Mercer to be U.S. district judge for the District of Montana.

If cloture is invoked, the Senate will proceed to a vote to confirm Gaylord Moe at 5:30 p.m. E.T., according to Senate Republican cloakroom staff.

President Donald Trump is facing backlash from American ranching groups after he said Sunday that the United States may “buy some beef from Argentina” in order to “bring our beef prices down.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed Tuesday that Trump is “in discussions with Argentina”—with more details to come—though she claimed that not “very much” beef would be imported, in part due to a “foot-and-mouth disease issue” facing Argentina.

Or perhaps she made the addendum because of the outrage the Trump administration has been facing.

Trump’s proposal to take in Argentine beef has stoked fears about depressed domestic beef prices among cattle ranchers and industry groups. And it’s salt in a fresh wound, as farmers are already displeased with the administration’s multibillion-dollar lifeline to Argentina under Trump ally President Javier Milei—a move that benefited a major agricultural competitor as American farmers suffer under Trump’s trade policies.

Farm Action, an agricultural watchdog group, called the plan “a betrayal of the American rancher,” lamenting that, “after crashing the soybean market and gifting Argentina our largest export buyer, [Trump is] now poised to do the same to the cattle market.”

The National Farmers Union similarly observed that Trump “recently bailed out Argentina with $40 billion in U.S. taxpayer-backed aid, and Argentina’s response was to strike new deals selling soybeans to China—deals that hurt American crop farmers. The last thing we need is to reward them by importing more of their beef.”

“Increasing imports under current rules ultimately benefits foreign suppliers and multinational packers, while putting U.S. ranchers on the losing end and depriving American consumers of honest transparency at the meat counter,” said the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association in a statement, which went on to warn that Trump’s approach “weakens our industry’s foundation and undermines rural America.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation urged Trump “to carefully consider the damage importing more beef and cattle from other countries will have as cattle farmers decide whether to invest in rebuilding America’s herds.”

“This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices,” said the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which called on Trump “to let the market work, rather than intervening in ways that do nothing but harm rural America.”

When asked by a reporter on Sunday to address U.S. farmers who feel they are being stiffed, Trump grew testy and condescending. “Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady,” he told the journalist. “You don’t know anything about it.” Having aggrieved major ag groups, the president will need a more convincing answer.

House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t stop lying through his teeth about Arizona Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva—and Democrats are calling him out.

New York Representative Pat Ryan slammed Johnson Monday for using him as an excuse for delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in, and accused him of attempting to block a House vote to release the government’s files on alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

During a press conference earlier Monday, Johnson claimed he was simply following the precedent set by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had waited 21 days to swear in Ryan in 2023—but unlike Grijalva, Ryan had requested that date specifically.

“Hey Mike—if you’re gonna keep invoking my name, at least get the facts right,” Ryan wrote on X. “No one CANCELLED scheduled votes to delay my swearing-in. You’re deliberately cancelling votes to protect pedophiles and take away health care from the American people.”

Notably, the Louisiana Republican swore in special election winners during pro forma sessions in April, but he has refused to do so with Grijalva, who is poised to provide the deciding signature on a bipartisan petition for a vote to release the Epstein files in full.

Ryan wasn’t the only Democratic lawmaker to pull apart Johnson’s lies.

Speaking on CNN last week, Johnson snidely suggested that Grijalva should stop posting political “stunt” videos about him and get to work. “She should be taking constituent calls, she should be directing and helping them navigate the crisis her colleagues have created for her constituents,” he said.

But Minnesota Representative Kelly Morrison pointed out Monday that by not swearing her in, Johnson was preventing her from doing just that.

“Unlike Mike Johnson, I actually spoke to Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva this week,” she wrote on X. “She does not have access to an official website for constituents to receive updates, an office phone number for constituents to call, or a Congressional email to receive news like the rest of Congress.

“Why? Because until Johnson swears her in, she is not a member of Congress,” she wrote.

Before Russell Vought became the director of the Office of Management and Budget, he was Donald Trump’s side project.

In the background of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, the Republican presidential candidate and the Project 2025 architect shared regular calls, though the topic wasn’t always politics. Instead, Trump was fixated on getting the recently divorced Vought laid, reported Zeteo’s Swin Suebsaeng on Tuesday.

Vought’s ex-wife, Mary Vought (of the Heritage Foundation), had left him in 2023. Trump, in turn, appointed himself as Vought’s wingman.

“Trump spoke to Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist who’s now one of the president’s most hardline enforcers, about the ‘gorgeous’ and ‘beautiful ladies’ who roam Trump’s club, Mar-a-Lago, so often that it ‘weirded out’ some of his advisers,” sources told Zeteo.

“And Trump spoke crudely of all the ‘pussy’ that Vought would surely get as the president’s favorite ‘bachelor.’”

The report is a crass and unsurprising illustration of the president, who famously boasted on a hot mic that he grabs women “by the pussy” before millions of Americans voted him into the nation’s highest and most powerful political office for the first time.

But Trump’s gross language doesn’t bode well as his administration continues to bungle the release of the Epstein files.

Prior to his death, pedophilic sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein described himself as one of Trump’s “closest friends.” The socialites were named and photographed together on several occasions and were caught partying with underage girls in New Jersey casinos. Epstein was invited to attend Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples in 1993, and in 2002, Trump told New York magazine that Epstein was a “terrific guy.”

“He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump told the magazine.

But Trump also has a terrible track record with how he treats women all on his own. The current president was found liable by a jury two years ago for sexually abusing Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, and was convicted as a felon for crimes relating to his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

Three police officers in Fairhope, Alabama, took down and arrested a 61-year-old woman at the local No Kings protest for wearing a giant penis costume. 

In a statement posted on Facebook on Monday, Fairhope police said they responded to a complaint Saturday about the penis costume, stating that they “observed an individual in a phallic costume near the Baldwin Square Shopping Center.” They approached Jeana Renea Gamble and told her to take the costume off because it was “deemed obscene in a public setting.”  When she refused, she was tackled to the ground and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 

A video of the arrest posted on Bluesky captures bystanders yelling at police that she posed no threat.

Indivisible Baldwin County, which was involved in organizing the local No Kings protest, condemned Gamble’s arrest. 

“Ms. Gamble was peacefully expressing her point of view on Saturday. Her violent arrest for expressing herself in ways the police found rude is indefensible, morally and legally,” they said in a statement. “Public officials must take seriously their duty to uphold the First Amendment. Their complete failure to do so in this situation runs against the free expression values that created the city of Fairhope and against the liberty guarantees enshrined in Alabama law and the United States Constitution.”

Gamble is scheduled to appear in court on November 5. 

It looks like President Donald Trump’s administration is finally leaning into the fact that it’s staffed by witless bullies, after an aide for Pete Hegseth gave a moronic response to a reporter’s question about the defense secretary’s highly questionable accessory choices.

During a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, Hegseth wore a tie that had the same colors and pattern as the Russian flag. The tie was so similar that Tass, the Russian state news agency, remarked that Hegseth “stood out” from the “restrained” attire of colleagues by wearing a “tie in the colours of the Russian tricolor.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, even shared a photograph of the secretary to X.

HuffPost reported Monday that when a reporter asked Hegseth’s office if he was aware of the attention the tie had garnered from Russia, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell replied, “Your mom bought it for him—and it’s a patriotic American tie, moron.”

It looks like this is becoming a thing—though it may be localized to questions from HuffPost, for now. Last week, when HuffPost reporter S.V. Dáte asked who had picked Hungary as the next venue for talks between Trump and Putin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had stupidly replied: “Your mom.” A minute later, White House communications director Steven Cheung replied, “Your mom did.”

JD Vance responded to the tie controversy on X Friday: “Or maybe he was wearing the colors of America.” Or maybe Hegseth was wearing the colors of Cuba, or Czech Republic, or Cambodia, or any of the roughly 30 countries with red, white, and blue flags. But strangely enough, only one nation seemed to perceive it as a sneaky signal of support.

President Donald Trump’s hand-selected prosecutor reportedly voluntarily offered up information about sensitive grand jury matters while complaining to a legal reporter about a social media post.

Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal lawyer whom he recently installed as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, reached out to Lawfare’s Anna Bower almost two weeks ago to discuss the recent indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud. 

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” she began, messaging Bower on Signal. “You are reporting things that are simply not true. Thought you should have a heads up.”

Halligan proceeded to discuss her efforts to indict James. Throughout the entire exchange, she never requested that she be allowed to speak off the record—until Bower later reached out to the Department of Justice for comment. 

Halligan took issue with Bower’s sharing excerpts from The New York Times to X. The Times had reported that James’s second home was being occupied by her niece Nakia Thompson, who testified before a grand jury that “she had lived in the house for years and that she did not pay rent.” 

Bower wrote on X that the article was “important exculpatory evidence” because the reporting undermined the prosecution’s central claim that James used the second property as a rental home. But Thompson seemed to have testified before a separate grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia, not the one in Alexandria that had indicted James. Thompson did not testify again. 

“Did they get something wrong?” Bower asked Halligan, referring to the Times report. 

“Yes they did but you went with it! Without even fact checking anything!!!!” Halligan replied. “And they are disclosing grand jury info—which is also not a full representation of what happened. I guess I expect them to do that but I was surprised by you running with it.”

When Bower prompted Halligan to specify what she would like corrected, the interim U.S. attorney referred her to the indictment, which alleged that James had received thousands of dollars in rent.

“I can’t tell you grand jury stuff,” Halligan added. But her correspondence with Bower had already touched on grand jury materials, which is wildly abnormal and legally risky.

While James’s tax information was not publicly available, the New York attorney general’s ethics disclosures revealed that she had previously collected rent on the property—but only once in 2020, and for a sum between $1,000 and $5,000. When Bowers relayed these findings, Halligan started ranting. 

“You’re biased. Your reporting isn’t accurate. I’m the one handling the case and I’m telling you that. If you want to twist and torture the facts to fit your narrative, there’s nothing I can do. Waste to even give you a heads up,” she wrote. 

When Bower reached out to the Department of Justice for comment, they said that Halligan was “attempting to point you to facts, not gossip, but when clarifying that she would adhere to the rule of the law and not disclose Grand Jury information, you threaten to leak an entire conversation.

“Good luck ever getting anyone to talk to you when you publish their texts,” DOJ added. 

Later, Halligan texted Bower again to insist they had been speaking off record. “You’re not a journalist so it’s weird saying that but just letting you know,” she wrote.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not how this works. You don’t get to say that in retrospect,” Bower replied. 

“Yes I do. Off record,” Halligan responded.  

“I am really sorry. I would have been happy to speak with you on an off the record basis had you asked,” Bower replied “But you didn’t ask, and I still haven’t agreed to speak on that basis. Do you have any further comment for the story?” 

Even then, Halligan continued. “It’s obvious the whole convo is off record. There’s disappearing messages and it’s on signal. What is your story? You never told me about a story.”

This isn’t the first gaffe Halligan’s made since being installed. She previously submitted faulty paperwork in both James’s case and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.