FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is looking to crack down on universities that receive federal funding but discriminate against students based on their viewpoint in a new attempt to protect free speech on college campuses.
The Iowa Republican will introduce a new bill on Thursday, the Students Bill of Rights Act of 2024, which would safeguard free speech on public campuses.
'EXPECT NPR TO SUFFER’ UNDER GOP ADMIN: REPUBLICANS RENEW CALL TO DEFUND OUTLET AMID BIAS SCANDAL
"Freedom of speech is a core American value that our heroes fought and died to secure – we must protect it for future generations," Ernst said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. "I want college students in Iowa and across America to engage in debates, challenge their ideas, and express their viewpoints freely, without facing discrimination or abuse. Echo chambers only serve to stunt the developing mind."
MORE THAN 40 SENATE REPUBLICANS CALL FOR MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL IN LETTER TO SCHUMER
According to Ernst's office, the measure was prompted in part by concerns over the free expression of Jewish and pro-Israel students at various schools across the country amid the war between Israel and terrorist group Hamas.
HANDFUL OF VULNERABLE DEMS WILL DECIDE FATE OF MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
The goal of the Iowa Republican's bill is to push back on "left-wing activists on college campuses," who she accuses of eroding First Amendment rights, as well as attacks on Jewish students, her office said.
Ernst's bill proposes a universal speech and association protection standard for any public universities and colleges that receive funding through Title IV.
BIPARTISAN SENATORS PUSH BACK AS KEY DEM SIGNALS DOOM FOR TIKTOK BILL
It addresses four areas to protect students from viewpoint discrimination. The measure specifically carves out provisions to assure students are assisted in finding faculty sponsors or otherwise gaining recognition at their schools; mandates institutions to disclose fund distribution and security fee charges to student organizations; mandates institutions similarly disclose policies in place to protect guest speakers; requires institutions to implement disciplinary measures for any students who threaten the safety of speakers invited to campuses.
Since the onset of the Israeli war in Gaza, higher-education institutions have become hotbeds for anti-Israel demonstrations. Prestigious schools have been accused of allowing threats and attacks against Jewish students to occur, even prompting a congressional hearing.
At the same time, a group created to express support for Israel recently faced difficulty in its quest to gain recognition at Columbia University Law School, illustrating the obstacles for some students to organize. After initially being denied by the law school's Senate, Law School Students Against Antisemitism was ultimately approved for recognition as a student organization in February after a re-vote.
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of Republican senators are calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. D-N.Y., to make sure a full impeachment trial is held for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In a letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, 43 GOP senators led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., demanded "that the Senate uphold its constitutional responsibility to properly adjudicate the House of Representatives’ impeachment."
READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL
The correspondence comes as Republicans have accused their Democratic colleagues of planning to initiate a motion to table the impeachment trial when it reaches the Senate, effectively killing it.
Schumer’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
HANDFUL OF VULNERABLE DEMS WILL DECIDE FATE OF MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
The letter was also signed by nearly the entire Republican conference.
The signers included Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Marco Rubio of Florida, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Josh Hawley of Missouri, John Boozman of Arkansas, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Ted Cruz of Texas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, James Risch of Idaho, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Markwayne Mullin and James Lankford of Oklahoma, Todd Young of Indiana, Katie Britt of Alabama, Joni Ernst of Iowa, JD Vance of Ohio, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, and Mike Braun of Indiana.
GOP PLANS TO GRIND SENATE TO A HALT IF DEMOCRATS TABLE MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
Notable non-signers are Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who have each criticized the House's effort to impeach Mayorkas. Romney reiterated this week that he didn't see any high crimes or misdemeanors that would warrant the impeachment trial.
GOP SENATORS CONVINCE SPEAKER JOHNSON TO DELAY MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE DELIVERY
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed to deliver the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to Schumer next week, rather than Wednesday as initially planned. He was persuaded to delay the delivery by several GOP senators, who did not want a trial initiated at the end of the week, when senators would be looking to quickly get on flights back to their respective states.
When the articles are brought to the Senate, they will set a certain procedure into motion and all senators will be sworn in as jurors. The concern among Republicans is that Schumer and Senate Democrats will seek to use a procedural maneuver to quickly off-ramp the trial. A motion to table, which could pass with a simple majority of 51-49, would kill hopes of a full trial.
A group of Senate Republicans is planning to potentially hold up all legislative business in the upper chamber if Schumer doesn't allow a full trial to play out. Because the Senate relies on unanimous consent among members for much of the business conducted, such a protest would make it virtually impossible for anything to get through the body.
While Republicans have made clear they expect Democrats to seek a quick dismissal of the impeachment trial proceedings, Schumer has not indicated the caucus' plans.
This was the week when the corporate media decided to mansplain Donald Trump to women and anyone else who might care about their reproductive rights.
“Don’t worry your pretty little heads about what he says,” we were told. “We’re going to tell you what he means.”
First, let’s tease out the most charitable take. The media always wants a ”story.” Thus, the thinking goes, Trump’s video statement this week describing his position on abortion must have been rooted in some political necessity. The Republican Party’s 2024 electoral hopes are obviously hemorrhaging on the issue of reproductive choice, so Trump must recognize his vulnerability on that issue, and must have felt it necessary to accommodate all of us by moderating his position. After all, it’s common for politicians to shape-shift on policy matters, even marginally. Those subtle changes in policy are eagerly picked up and parsed by the news media because they create conflict and drama that, in turn, provides a narrative for the press.
But Trump is not a “normal” political candidate. For Trump, to acknowledge any shift or change on his abortion position would have gone against every ingrained aspect of his personality. It would be an admission, in effect, that he had miscalculated, or done something wrong.
RELATED STORY: Trump's attempt to address abortion loses big—with everyone
So when Trump issued his scripted video—because he clearly couldn’t handle the intense discomfort of a live press conference—it was carefully crafted to acknowledge no error on his part. There was no sense he felt he’d miscalculated the impact of his long-asserted intent to overrule Roe v. Wade through his appointment of three virulently anti-abortion Supreme Court justices.
Instead, he bragged about it, spewing a bunch of ambiguous verbiage deliberately designed to say nothing else. For someone incapable of owning up to his mistakes, on abortion or anything else, it really couldn’t be otherwise.
But nearly all the mainstream media—Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and CBS—wanted that “story,” that sensible, rational narrative to present to their viewers. So what they all did—every one of them, in fact—was invent a story out of whole cloth: that this was evidence that Trump was actually behaving like a normal political human being and moderating, ever-so-slightly, his position on abortion.
In doing so, they did all Americans a grotesque disservice, because Trump didn’t change a thing about his position. It was the media that did that for him, as astutely pointed out by Media Matters’ Matt Gertz:
Former President Donald Trump’s strategy of ducking questions on abortion requires mainstream reporters to let him off the hook and leave pro-choice swing voters with the false impression that he is more moderate than he actually is. So far, it’s working.
Major news outlets are falsely claiming that Trump said abortion “should be left to the states” in a video announcement Monday on his Truth Social platform. In fact, Trump said only that abortion “will” be left to the states, a statement of law that does not address how he would respond if Congress passed a federal abortion ban or how regulators would treat abortion under a second Trump administration.
Gertz has the receipts. As he posted on the social platform X, the media complicity in distorting what Trump said was as repetitive as it was egregious:
This is not some minor quibble. What Gertz illustrates here is literally serial misinformation being spun by every recognized paladin of “mainstream” news. And that misinformation was dutifully picked up and disseminated by subsidiary outlets to foster and spread a phony narrative that Trump has somehow moderated his position on abortion. He hasn’t.
By reporting in headline after headline that Trump said abortion “should”—rather than “will”—be left to the states, the media have created the impression that for Trump, the abortion issue is now settled, and implicitly, that he won’t take abortion restrictions further should he be elected again in 2024.
So, to the casual reader of these headlines, which is as far as many readers go, that means he’s abandoned his intent, expressed just last month, to establish a national abortion ban, and It means no effort to outlaw mifepristone through the FDA. However, as Kaili Joy Gray and Kos have both written on this site, that is not what Trump said at all.
Anyone in the mainstream news who has followed Trump over the past eight years should have known that he does not ever acknowledge his own misjudgments. He didn’t do it for his disastrous COVID-19 response. He never gave the slightest indication that he erred in the heinous conduct that led to either of his impeachments.
So he wasn’t about to do it for an issue, such as abortion, for which he clearly has no personal sentiments. The problem here is that the media still continue to treat Trump as a normal politician, equivocating in a way that the media have come to expect. That conventional narrative may be a way to reassure themselves or their audience, but it’s false.
Trump is fundamentally incapable of making such an admission. There has not been a single instance in Trump’s public career where he has admitted any error in judgment, let alone admitted it to the news media. His past actions can’t be questioned, and if they are questioned his response, invariably, is to become angry and dismissive. This peculiarity of Trump’s personality was entrenched by his mentor, Roy Cohn, one of the most malignant and ruthless political operatives of the 20th century. Cohn had a singular rule that he hammered regularly into his young protege: Never, ever admit mistakes.
Gertz observes that Trump’s statement was simply a reiteration of what the existing law on abortion actually is: nothing more, nothing less. The media ran with that and assumed that Trump was “limiting” himself by those statements. As Gertz points out, he did no such thing:
Trump did not say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if Congress passed it. Nor did he say whether federal regulators under his administration would move to ban medication abortions or restrict sending them through the mail, or how he will vote on the abortion referendum in his home state of Florida, or whether he will continue to appoint judges who will further curtail abortion rights.
So the media narrative as implied—and literally spelled out in many headlines—was wholly false. Instead, what we got were headlines that had the pernicious effect of minimizing the threat Trump actually represents, and more importantly, misrepresenting what he does or does not intend to do on abortion.
Nor did the situation improve on the nightly news. Gertz followed up by examining Monday’s broadcasts for ABC’s “World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Nightly News” and “Today Show,” and CBS’ “Evening News.” All of them reiterated that Trump said abortion “should” be left to the states. CBS’s broadcast put it in a chyron, while a reporter falsely intoned that Trump had “suggested today that the federal government should stay out of the abortion rights debate.”
Again, no such language appears anywhere in Trump’s video speech. As Gertz notes, ABC egregiously characterized Trump’s statements as a “reversal” of Trump’s prior statements regarding a national abortion ban. And, as Gertz observes, none of the networks addressed Trump’s ludicrous claim that Democrats support “infanticide.”
Viewed in the most charitable light, this is a massive, disturbing failure on the part of nearly every major news outlet in this country. The damage will reverberate well into the campaign season as voters are now going to have to reconcile what they they were told by their feckless media, whose misleading headlines are typically the solitary source of their information, with what is actually at stake for voters as the 2024 election approaches.
But it’s also difficult to reconcile the glaringly collective aspect of this. As Gertz points out, Trump is someone who habitually, routinely lies, to the point where very little he says can be given any credulity at all. It’s difficult to fathom why nearly every major news outlet leapt to the same erroneous conclusion about what he said, and pushed it to their viewers and readers in the exact same fashion. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow also pointed this out, while acknowledging her high regard for all of the sources involved.
And now it’s even harder to argue with those who suggest that the media has normalized Trump and his pathologies, that its fixation on the horse race aspect of the 2024 election has clouded its own ability to distinguish facts from fiction.
That doesn’t mean we need to cynically reject everything the corporate-owned media decides to report about Trump, but it also doesn’t make us conspiracy theorists for calling out such blatant and obvious failures. Again, to reiterate a common phrase, despite eight long years of Roy Cohn’s protege living rent-free in our heads, none of this is normal. It’s not normal for the American public, and it should never, ever be normalized for those whose job it is to keep that public informed.
RELATED STORY: Rachel Maddow dissects pathetic media coverage of Trump's abortion video
Campaign ActionThe Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
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● AZ Supreme Court: Arizona voters will likely have the chance to overturn their state Supreme Court's new ruling banning nearly all abortions when they head to the polls this fall, but they'll also have the opportunity to reshape the court itself.
As Bolt's Daniel Nichanian points out, two of the justices who voted with the majority will be up for election to new six-year terms in November, Clint Bolick and Kathryn Hackett King. They won't have actual opponents, though, but rather will face what are known as "retention" elections. Under this system, which is used for members of the judiciary in many states, voters are presented with a simple "yes/no" question asking whether a particular judge should "be retained in office."
It's rare for judges to lose retention elections, but it's also rare for a state supreme court to thrust itself into the national limelight the way that Arizona's just did. And abortion will be a top—if not the top—issue this year in Arizona, particularly because reproductive rights supporters say they've already collected enough signatures to place a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine the right to an abortion into the state constitution.
Should Bolick or Hackett King lose, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs would be able to appoint replacements, drawn from a list created by the state's Commission on Appellate Court Appointments. But while that commission is, under the state constitution, supposed to be politically diverse, Hobbs' Republican predecessor, Doug Ducey, stacked the board with nominal independents who have ties to the GOP.
Hobbs could reshape the commission with her own appointments, which implicates yet another set of important Arizona elections. Commission members must be approved by the state Senate, which Republicans control by a narrow 16-14 majority. Every member of the Senate, though, will be up for election this year. With abortion so salient—GOP leaders have refused to consider legislation—reversing the court's ban—Democrats have a strong chance of flipping the chamber.
It would, however, be some time before the court could see a majority of Democratic appointees, though such a shift is by no means impossible. The two dissenters in the abortion case, Chief Justice Robert Brutinel and Vice Chief Justice Ann Timmer, will hit the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2028 and 2030, respectively. Should Hobbs win reelection in 2026, she'd get to fill those vacancies as well. (Bolick, should he survive retention, would face mandatory retirement in 2027, while Hackett King would not do so until 2050.)
It's only April, but the Washington Post's new report on GOP golden boy Tim Sheehy is a strong contender for the craziest political story of the year. On this week's episode of "The Downballot," co-hosts David Nir and David Beard dissect the countless contradictions in Sheehy's tales about a bullet wound that he either received in Afghanistan or in a national park three years later. The Davids also explain why the Arizona Supreme Court's appalling new ruling banning nearly all abortions could lead to two conservative justices losing their seats this fall.
Our guest this week is Sondra Goldschein, who runs the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, an organization dedicated to improving America's badly lagging "care infrastructure." Goldschein explains how issues like paid medical leave laws and greater access to childcare affect an enormous swath of the electorate—and why they're closely tied to voters' perceptions of their economic fortunes. She also highlights candidates her group is working to elect to make these policies a reality.
Subscribe to "The Downballot" wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you never miss a show. You'll find a transcript of this week's episode right here by Thursday afternoon. New episodes every Thursday morning!
DE-Sen: Lisa Blunt Rochester (D): $1 million raised
MA-Sen: Elizabeth Warren (D-inc): $1.1 million raised, $4.4 million in cash on hand
MD-Sen: Larry Hogan (R): $3.1 million raised (in 51 days)
AZ-06: Kirsten Engel (D): $1.2 million raised, $1.8 million cash on hand
CA-40: Young Kim (R-inc): $1.3 million raised, $3 million cash on hand
CO-05: Jeff Crank (R): $300,000 raised, $225,000 cash on hand
IL-17: Eric Sorensen (D-inc): $745,000 raised, $2.1 million cash on hand
MD-06: Joe Vogel (D): $231,000 raised, $235,000 cash on hand
NE-02: Tony Vargas (D): $777,000 raised, $1.6 million cash on hand
PA-17: Chris Deluzio (D-inc): $750,000 raised, $1.45 million cash on hand
VA-10: Eileen Filler-Corn (D): $370,000 raised, $430,000 cash on hand
WA-05: Michael Baumgartner (R): $400,000 raised (in one month)
● MD-Sen: Attorney General Anthony Brown announced Wednesday that he was supporting Rep. David Trone in the May 14 Democratic primary, a declaration that Trone made public in a campaign ad. Brown is arguably the most prominent Black politician who has opted to support Trone, who is white, over Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who would be Maryland's first Black senator.
But while most of the state's political establishment is backing Alsobrooks, Brown and Trone are longtime allies. As a member of the House in 2018, Brown endorsed Trone in the primary for a nearby seat, and as Time's Eric Cortellessa reminds us, the wealthy Trone financed ads to help his colleague's successful 2022 bid for attorney general.
● MT-Sen: VoteVets has already launched what Politico reports is a $200,000 ad buy focused on a truly bizarre Washington Post story about former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy and a gunshot injury.
The Republican is shown saying, "I have a bullet stuck in this arm still from Afghanistan," before a narrator says Sheehy may have actually been wounded in a parking lot at Glacier National Park. "Sheehy told investigators the bullet in his arm is from a gun falling and firing on a family hiking trip," the voiceover continues. "Come on, Tim, it's one more shady story that doesn't add up."
● NC-Gov: Quinnipiac University's first look at the race for governor shows Democrat Josh Stein leading Republican Mark Robinson 48-41, with Libertarian Mike Ross and Green Wayne Turner at 4% and 2%, respectively. The omission of those two third-party candidates doesn't make much of a difference, though, as the school shows Stein ahead by a similar 52-44 margin in a head-to-head contest. Respondents favor Donald Trump over Joe Biden 41-38 in a five-person field and 48-46 when only major candidates are included.
This is the largest lead for Stein that we've seen in any poll, and it's also considerably different from what other surveys have shown over the last month. An early March poll from the conservative firm Cygnal showed Robinson up 44-39, while SurveyUSA and Marist College found Stein ahead only 44-42 and 49-47, respectively.
● WV-Gov: Campaign finance reports for the first quarter of the year are now in, and MetroNews has rounded up the numbers for all the major Republicans competing in the May 14 primary for West Virginia's open governorship:
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey: $876,000 raised, $1.7 million cash on hand
Former Del. Moore Capito: $337,000 raised, $1.1 million cash on hand
Businessman Chris Miller: $216,000 raised, additional $50,000 self-funded, $1.2 million cash on hand
Secretary of State Mac Warner: $73,000 raised, $193,000 cash on hand
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, who has the Democratic side to himself, raised $18,000 and ended March with $21,000 in the bank.
● CA-16: A pair of voters unexpectedly requested a recount on Tuesday, just days after election authorities certified that both Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian would advance to an all-Democratic general election with former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. However, it remains to be seen if any recount will actually take place.
Politico explains that California requires anyone who asks for a recount to pay for it before the April 15 deadline. If payment isn't submitted by then, the current results of the March 5 top-two primary that have Low and Simitian tied for second place would stand. (California, unlike many states, does not have automatic recounts no matter how close a race is.)
Election officials in Santa Clara County, which forms 84% of the 16th District by population, say that a 10-day manual recount would cost a total of $320,000. A five-day machine recount would have a considerably smaller $84,200 price tag, but the Mercury News' Grace Hase writes that such a process is less likely to catch any tabulation errors.
San Jose Spotlight's Jana Kadah adds that a manual recount would cost another $85,000 in San Mateo County, which forms the balance of the district. (It's not clear how much a machine recount in San Mateo would be.)
One of the two requesters, former San Mateo County Board of Supervisors candidate Dan Stegink, told Hase he was willing to pay for a recount. Santa Clara County officials also say they don't know if Stegink could split the cost with the other requester, 2020 Biden Delegate Jonathan Padilla.
Low's campaign was quick to highlight that Padilla worked on Liccardo's 2014 bid to lead San Jose to argue that the former mayor was behind the recount request. Low's team also invoked a very different politician in slamming the request. "This is a page right out of Trump’s political playbook using dirty tricks to attack democracy and subvert the will of the voters," the campaign said in a statement.
Liccardo's campaign denied it had asked Padilla to do anything, but a spokesperson didn't sound upset about the development. "We understand why, under these extraordinary circumstances, there would be an effort to make sure these votes are fully considered," said a Liccardo consultant.
Simitian, by contrast, didn't express a preference either for or against a recount. "Eventually, this process will work itself out," he said in a statement.
Hase also obtained an early April Liccardo internal poll from Lake Research Partners that shows him leading Low 26-21, with Simitian at 20%. The story did not include results testing Liccardo in one-on-one matchups.
Kadah previously reported on Monday that another firm, McGuire Research, has been testing Liccardo in various scenarios. There's no word on the results or the client, but the existence of the poll led to speculation that the former mayor or his allies were trying to determine whether he'd benefit if only one of his opponents were to advance―speculation that only intensified when Stegink and Padilla filed their recount requests a day later.
● MD-06: Del. Joe Vogel is airing what appears to be the first negative TV ad of the May 14 Democratic primary for Maryland's open 6th District, and the Washington Post's Katie Shepherd reports he's spending $35,000 to link former Commerce Department official April McClain Delaney to hardline Republicans.
The ad, which Maryland Matters says is Vogel's first television commercial, opens with the candidate declaring that "every Democrat for Congress" has a similar agenda, which is an unusual line for any campaign ad. However, he continues, "The difference is our approach. McClain Delaney donates to extreme Republicans and is friends with Tucker Carlson and Paul Ryan."
The 27-year-old lawmaker goes on, "I come from the school shooting generation, where we know you can’t hope politicians do the right thing. You have to make them." Vogel does not mention any of the other 12 Democratic candidates seeking to replace David Trone, who is running for Senate.
Vogel, writes Shepherd, previously deployed some of these arguments against McClain Delaney at debates. McClain Delaney has countered that her bipartisan friendship with the Ryan family began when her husband, former Rep. John Delaney, and the Wisconsin Republican served together in the House.
Vogel has also faulted McClain Delaney for making a contribution to Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who was once one of the most prominent ultra-conservatives in the Senate, in 2005. (DeMint resigned in 2013 to lead the Heritage Foundation.) Shepherd says that Delaney responded by shaking her head and "at one point throwing her hands into the air" during the debate, though she did not dispute the donation.
As for Carlson, Vogel's ad cites a 2018 piece from MOCO 360 about John Delaney's longshot White House bid that identified the far-right media personality as a friend of the then-congressman. The story did not touch on McClain Delaney's connection to the former Fox News commentator.
Vogel launched this spot around the same time that he released a mid-March GBAO internal that showed Delaney leading him 17-10, with a 48% plurality undecided. We haven't seen any other polls here all year.
Delaney, for her part, began airing ads a month ago, and she uses her most recent spot to tout herself as someone who will protect children from "Big Tech." Shepard says the only other Democratic candidate who has taken to the airwaves is Ashwani Jain, a former Obama administration official who won just 2% in the 2022 primary for governor.
● MI-03: A super PAC called West Michigan For Change announced Wednesday that it had taken in $1 million to promote attorney Paul Hudson, who is the leading Republican running to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten. The group, which did not bring in any money last year, did not say where the influx of cash came from.
Joe Biden carried this constituency 53-45 in 2020, and Scholten's 55-42 victory two years later made her the first Democrat to represent a Grand Rapids-based seat in the House since the mid-1970s. Scholten's allies at House Majority PAC don't seem convinced that those decisive wins mean this seat is out of reach for the GOP, however, as the group recently booked $1.3 million in ad time for the Grand Rapids media market.
● NH-02: Businessman Vikram Mansharamani became the first notable Republican to launch a bid to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster on Wednesday, though his last campaign for office was anything but impressive. Mansharamani self-funded about $300,000 last cycle in his bid to take on Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, but he ended up taking a distant fourth place in the primary with less than 8% of the vote.
Mansharamani is also unlikely to be the last Republican to join the September primary. The Union Leader reports that state Rep. Joe Sweeney and 2014 nominee Marilinda Garcia are considering, though there are no quotes from either would-be candidate.
On the Democratic side, Concord Mayor Byron Champlin and businessman Gary Hirshberg this week joined Kuster in endorsing former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern rather than running themselves.
● NJ-10: Democratic Rep. Donald Payne's office said Tuesday evening that he'd "suffered a cardiac episode based on complications from his diabetes during the weekend," but that his "prognosis is good and he is expected to make a full recovery." Payne is seeking reelection this year in New Jersey's safely Democratic 10th District.
● Filing: Candidate filing closed in five more states over the last week: April 4 was the deadline in New York, Tennessee, and Virginia, while the respective deadlines for Oklahoma and North Dakota were April 5 and April 8. We'll have more on each state below.
● New York: While the state publishes a list of candidates who filed to run for Congress in the June 25 primary, it doesn't include all House seats. That's because candidates running for a district contained entirely within either a single county or New York City file with their local election authorities, while everyone else files with the state.
Under the new congressional map, 11 districts (the 5th through the 15th) are located wholly within the city, while the only two single-county seats anywhere else in the state are the 1st District in Suffolk County and the 4th District in Nassau County. Election authorities in those jurisdictions have not released candidate lists yet, though Politics1 has compiled an unofficial roster for each seat.
There are no reports of any big names launching last-second campaigns, which isn't a surprise in a state where getting on the ballot can be a challenge. Most major party congressional candidates were required to hand in 1,250 valid signatures to compete in the primary, though Republicans running in the dark blue 13th and 15th Districts had a smaller target to hit because their party has so few registered voters in those constituencies.
Not everyone who submitted petitions by Thursday will necessarily make the primary ballot, however, because campaigns have long been aggressive about going to court to challenge the validity of their opponent's signatures. One former leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party expressed a common view of this age-old practice in a 2022 interview with City & State.
"Fuck them!" Frank Seddio said of anyone who might get knocked off the ballot for a lack of signatures. "Breathing shouldn't be the only qualification for running for office."
● North Dakota: Former Miss America Cara Mund filed to run for North Dakota's only House seat as a Republican about half an hour before the deadline, telling the North Dakota Monitor that there weren't any moderates competing in the June 11 primary.
Mund, a supporter of abortion rights, ran against GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong in the 2022 general election as an independent candidate and wound up as his only opponent after the Democratic nominee dropped out. Mund's effort attracted national attention, but Armstrong went on to fend her off by a 62-38 margin in this dark red state. That performance was significantly better than Joe Biden's landslide 65-32 loss two years earlier, but it still fell far short of victory.
The GOP field to succeed Armstrong, who is running for governor, consists of former State Department official Alex Balazs, former state Rep. Rick Becker, Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak, and one minor candidate. Democrats are running Marine Corps veteran Trygve Hammer and perennial candidate Roland Clifford Riemers.
The GOP primary to replace retiring Gov. Doug Burgum, meanwhile, remains a duel between Armstrong and Burgum's choice, Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller, while state Sen. Merrill Piepkorn has the Democratic side to himself.
● Oklahoma: Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin and each of the five members of Oklahoma's all-Republican House delegation are seeking reelection, and there's no indication any of them have anything to worry about in either the June 18 primary or the November general election. An Aug. 27 runoff would take place in any primary where no one earns a majority of the vote.
● Tennessee: The biggest news in the Volunteer State was Davidson County Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston's decision to challenge freshman Rep. Andy Ogles in the Aug. 1 Republican primary for the 5th District, a development we covered in a recent Digest. She's not Ogles' only intra-party challenger, though, as cybersecurity executive Tom Guarente is also in.
Guarente has attracted relatively little attention, but his presence on the ballot could cost Johnston enough support to allow the incumbent to win with a plurality. (Unlike many Southern states, Tennessee does not use primary runoffs.) The eventual winner will be favored in the general election for a seat that Donald Trump carried 55-43 in 2020.
Over in the dark red 8th District in West Tennessee, GOP Rep. David Kustoff learned last week that he'd once again face a primary battle against radiologist George Flinn, a self-funding perennial candidate who owns a network of radio and TV stations. Flinn, who served on the Shelby County Commission in the 2000s, had already waged several well-funded but doomed campaigns when he entered the 2016 primary to replace retiring Rep. Stephen Fincher in the prior version of the seat.
Flinn's resources were almost enough to propel him to victory in what was a packed race, but Kustoff edged him out 27-23. Flinn tried again two years later, but Trump's support helped Kustoff win an expensive rematch 56-40. Flinn went on to take just 3% in the 2020 Senate primary, secure 2.5% as an independent in the 9th District against Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, and wage an abortive 2023 bid for mayor of Memphis.
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, by contrast, found out he'd have no primary opposition in the 2nd District, an East Tennessee constituency that hasn't elected a Democratic representative since 1852. There was talk earlier this year that Kevin McCarthy and his allies would target Burchett, who was one of the eight Republicans who voted to end McCarthy's speakership in October. However, they never found a backup candidate after former state Rep. Jimmy Matlock announced in February that he wouldn't run.
● Virginia: The Virginia Department of Elections says that it will post its list of candidates "on, or shortly after April 15." Primaries will take place on June 18. For the first time in many years, Republicans will rely on state-run primaries to pick all of their candidates, eschewing conventions or party-run "firehouse" primaries. (Democrats, who have almost always preferred traditional primaries, will also use them exclusively.)
MT-Sen: Jon Tester (D-inc)
OH-Sen: Sherrod Brown (D-inc)
CO-04: Lauren Boebert (R-inc)
PA-17: Summer Lee (D-inc)
A handful of Democratic senators in vulnerable election contests in November could decide whether there's an impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
"We have to look at the impeachment documents first," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told reporters Tuesday in a departure from his previous suggestion the impeachment amounted to "political games."
The Montana Democrat is in the throes of arguably the most competitive Senate election matchup in 2024. He is expected to face former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy. The race is one of four "toss-ups," according to leading non-partisan political handicapper The Cook Political Report.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., also left his options open for how he would vote if Democrats seek a quick procedural off-ramp for the trial, which Republicans expect.
READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL
"We'll see what transpires from there, once being sworn in," Casey told Fox News Digital. "I don't think anyone knows what will transpire."
Casey faces a significant challenge in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where the likely Republican nominee is Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund executive and combat veteran. The Cook Political Report has the contest rated "lean Democratic."
GOP PLANS TO GRIND SENATE TO A HALT IF DEMOCRATS TABLE MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
In keeping with their fellow vulnerable colleagues, senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, each avoided saying what they plan to do if a motion to table the impeachment trial is put forward.
"I am not as convinced as you are that the question before the Senate will be a tabling question. I know the press is saying that. I have not heard that," Baldwin told Fox News Digital.
Numerous Democrats recently shared their expectations with Fox News Digital that their caucus will look to quickly dismiss the impeachment trial via a procedural maneuver. Senate Republicans have also accused Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of planning to do so. However, Schumer has given no indication about his plans for an impeachment trial.
"They still haven't sent anything over. How do you know they're going to?" Brown asked, referencing the House.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decided Tuesday to delay sending impeachment articles against Mayorkas to Schumer until next week. He did so at the request of several GOP senators who did not want the impeachment trial proceedings to take place at the end of the week, when senators will be heading home.
"Why don't we actually do something on the border instead of waiting for the dysfunctional House to send over impeachment articles for the first time in 100 years?" Brown asked. Similar to Tester, Brown is embroiled in a "toss-up" race against Trump-endorsed GOP nominee Bernie Moreno.
Baldwin's matchup, like Casey's, is considered "lean Democratic." The frontrunner for the GOP nomination in Wisconsin is businessman Eric Hovde.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., told Fox News Digital she wants to see the impeachment trial dismissed.
"We should dismiss this," she said Wednesday.
Rosen's race was recently moved from "lean Democratic" to "toss-up" by the political handicapper, illustrating the pivotal role swing state Nevada figures to play in November. The Republican primary in Nevada has yet to take place, but the frontrunner, who has the blessing of GOP Senate leaders, is Army veteran Captain Sam Brown.
GOP SENATORS CONVINCE SPEAKER JOHNSON TO DELAY MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE DELIVERY
Several of the vulnerable Democrats pointed to a bipartisan border package that had been recently negotiated by senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., James Lankford, R-Okla, and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., earlier this year. The measure quickly lost steam after former President Trump came out against it.
"That would have solved a lot of the problems on our border," Rosen told Fox News Digital.
"We have the legislation there that would fix these problems," she said. "You don't impeach. We are a legislative body."
"The law would hire — we'd be able to hire thousands more Border Patrol agents and do a much better job at stopping fentanyl at the border. So, we should get that done," said Casey.
MCCONNELL LOOKS TO CEMENT LEGACY AS ‘REAGAN REPUBLICAN’ WITH CRUSADE FOR UKRAINE SUPPORT
However, Republicans argued at the time that the negotiated package didn't go far enough and included harmful provisions.
While its unclear what some of the Democrats in tough re-election battles will do once the impeachment articles against Mayorkas are delivered, there are also questions on the Republican side.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters Tuesday "a high crime or misdemeanor has not been alleged, and the standard has not been met for a conviction.
"I don't know that you want to go on for several weeks pointing out the obvious, which is that the border is a disaster. Secretary Mayorkas is following the position of his party and of the president who was elected."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, refused to indicate what action she would take.
"I'm going to be sworn in as a juror. The role of senators is both juror and judge. And, thus, I don't comment on how I am going to vote until it occurs," she explained.
Senators on both sides of the aisle are pushing back after Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., poured cold water on hopes a House-passed bill that would require social media app TikTok to divest from China would ever reach the Senate floor.
"I'm not surprised at all. This is exactly what I predicted would happen," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters. He was reacting to recent comments from Cantwell, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
After the House bill passed with an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives last month, it was referred to the Commerce Committee in the Senate rather than being expedited in the same fashion. This puts the measure under Cantwell's purview as chairwoman, and she is charged with scheduling markups and potential hearings.
PENCE WORRIES TIKTOK BILL COULD GET LOST IN 'FOG OF PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS,’ URGES SENATE VOTE
The Washington Democrat had already signaled what some feared would be a long process, indicating her interest in holding several public hearings regarding the TikTok bill. However, she reportedly shared new detailed criticisms of the bill with reporters Monday, suggesting it would not hold up to judicial scrutiny.
Cantwell claimed the measure "could be better," Punchbowl News reported. "You also can’t, as a Congress, just decide one day, ‘Ah!’ And pass a law. Well, you can, I just don’t know if it’ll hold up in court.
"Let’s get something that can be upheld."
She notably has her own proposal regarding TikTok, called the GUARD Act, which she said would allow the executive branch, specifically the Department of Commerce, to regulate apps owned by foreign adversaries, such as TikTok. The measure would not force divestment from China.
MCCONNELL SAYS TIKTOK BILL DESERVES 'URGENT ATTENTION' AMID CHINA SECURITY THREAT CONCERNS
Asked by Fox News Digital if she still planned to hold hearings on the House-passed measure, Cantwell said, "We're trying to figure out our schedule for that. So, we'll let you know soon."
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, criticized the suggestion, telling Fox News Digital, "It's the right thing for national security, and looking for excuses is embarrassing."
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, further claimed the bill was designed to be taken to court and prompt a quick decision.
"It's anticipating court action and making sure that it's done very quickly," he said.
Citing his conversations with the Department of Justice and the legal advice provided by it, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said the approach "taken in the House bill [is] threading the needle appropriately," pushing back on Cantwell's remark.
GOP PLANS TO GRIND SENATE TO A HALT IF DEMOCRATS TABLE MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
"I think it's clearly constitutional and passes all the tests of legal sufficiency," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. "Selling assets is a common remedy that's used by the Justice Department in antitrust suits and is applied to a variety of other kinds of situations."
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., reiterated that he wants to see a vote on "a bill that separates TikTok and the Chinese government connection."
Representatives for Cantwell did not provide comment in response to the criticisms.
Hawley suggested again that lobbying from Big Tech was likely behind stalling on the TikTok measure, telling reporters, "TikTok does not want that bill to move across the Senate floor.
"And, therefore, it's highly unlikely to move across the Senate floor."
Several reports last month from Politico revealed that several former Cantwell staffers now lobby lawmakers on behalf of the social media app, which prompted both questions and criticism given her position charting the bill's trajectory through the Commerce Committee.
TikTok did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.
However, Hawley said he isn't willing to accept the TikTok bill never reaching the chamber floor for a vote.
He claimed that if the Commerce Committee tries "to bottle it up," he might seek to bring the TikTok bill to the floor by asking "for unanimous consent to set a vote and have a debate."
GOP SENATORS CONVINCE SPEAKER JOHNSON TO DELAY MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE DELIVERY
Asked if he thinks the measure would ever be brought to the floor, Warner told Fox News Digital, "I believe we need to work on something that is a national security threat and has been overwhelmingly supported."
Fetterman expressed optimism, saying he believes a vote on forcing TikTok to divest will eventually happen.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., noted it would be a decision for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the leader of the upper chamber.
Schumer didn't answer Fox News Digital when asked if he plans to ever bring the House-passed bill to the floor.
"I can tell you that it's important that we either have them divest or we're probably going to have to find a process in which they are eliminated from the platforms," Rounds said.
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More bad news from the second-most backpedaling presidential candidate.
A perfect break from your regularly scheduled outrage.
Right-wing fraudsters fined $1.25M for racist election robocall scheme
These two have hit the big leagues of dirtbaggery.
Abandoned GOP minority outreach center gets a sexy makeover
Frankly, it seems a much better use of the space.
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Campaign ActionWelcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail.
What's happening?
-Biden hints at executive order which will close the border
-Senate GOP readies for battle if Senate Dems reject Mayorkas impeachment
-Texas Democrat proposes Black Americans should not pay taxes as a form of reparations
More than a dozen House GOP privacy hawks have blocked the House of Representatives from advancing a Speaker Mike Johnson-backed bill to renew a controversial federal government surveillance tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
It comes hours after former President Trump posted on Truth Social, "KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME AND MANY OTHERS."
Nineteen Republicans voted against their party leadership to tank a procedural vote that would have allowed for the House to debate and then vote on the bill itself. The final vote was 193 to 228.
The House Judiciary Committee backed an amendment that would force U.S. officials to seek a warrant before querying communications made by an American, which national security-minded Republicans have largely opposed.
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that Johnson spoke out against the amendment during a closed-door meeting with fellow House Republicans on Wednesday, spurring anger from GOP hardliners.
SHUT IT DOWN: Biden hints at possible executive order to effectively close the border …Read more
HOT AIR: Rep. Jackson Lee trashed after insulting critics of her moon 'made of gases' gaffe …Read more
THIS MEANS WAR: Senate GOP readies battle plan if Dems table Mayorkas impeachment trial …Read more
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS: Senators demand FBI agents testify about 'highly credible' source who allegedly made up Biden bribery scheme …Read more
'NO AUTHORITY': Republicans push back on DOJ election law task force …Read more
'POLITICAL FARCE': Undecided voters question 'timing' of the multiple Trump indictments …Read more
FIGHTING WORDS: Trump lashes out at former VP Pence, who criticized his lukewarm abortion statement …Read more
BACKTRACKING?: Trump says Arizona pro-life law went 'too far' as Biden camp claims policy U-turn …Read more
GREEN NEW YEAR: Scalise kicks off 2024 fundraising rush with $12M in first 3 months …Read more
THREE STRIKES TOO MANY: Governor kills Maine proposal to end 'three strikes' law for petty theft …Read more
SHOW ME THE MONEY: Texas Dem suggests Black people should not pay taxes as form of reparations …Read more
MENENDEZ TRIAL: Nadine Menendez requests trial postponement due to 'serious medical condition' …Read more
TRUMP EXEC SENTENCED: Former Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg gets 5 months for perjury in New York AG's fraud case …Read more
'IT'S THEIRS': Fox footage shows migrants, smugglers swarming New Mexico …Read more
RISING AGAIN: Inflation accelerates more than expected in March as high prices persist …Read more
DEBT CRUNCH: Federal debt interest costs have eclipsed defense spending: CBO …Read more
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Only in Congress can you be late and early at the same time.
First, there was criticism that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., didn’t push sending the articles of impeachment for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after the House voted to impeach him in February.
The argument was that the Senate wasn’t ready yet. Plus both chambers wanted to make sure they waded through two sets of spending bills to avoid partial government shutdowns.
Then, a coalition of Senate conservatives began haranguing Johnson to delay sending the articles over to the Senate. This came nearly two weeks after Johnson announced the House would send the articles to the Senate by April 10.
Here’s the statement from Johnson’s office sent on March 8: "On April 10th, the House will send the Senate our duly passed articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas. If he cares about the Constitution and ending the devastation caused by Biden’s border catastrophe, Senator Schumer will quickly schedule a full public trial and hear the arguments put forth by our impeachment managers."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., then announced that the chamber would swear-in senators as jurors on Thursday, April 11. It was intimated that Schumer would then move to dismiss the articles — if he had the votes. Thus, if Schumer teed up a vote to dismiss or table the articles, the Democrats could short-circuit the trial by late Thursday afternoon. There would be no formal presentation of the articles of impeachment by the House "managers" (prosecutors). And the Senate would never advance to an actual up/down vote, rendering judgment for Mayorkas
But as FOX News' Aishah Hasnie scooped on Tuesday, Senate Republicans were demanding that Johnson throw on the brakes — even though the plan was set in stone days ago.
Fox contacted multiple House impeachment managers as to if they knew what was happening. All three had not heard of a delay. In fact, on one text message, one manager mistakenly responded to yours truly, asking someone in leadership if what Fox was reporting was true.
Even though Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is one of the impeachment managers, she learned of the delay from FOX's reporting.
"The last thing I heard, and I’m an impeachment manager, and those articles of impeachment have my name on them. I have not been told that we may be holding them now. You’re the one that told me that. So apparently you’re getting the news quicker than I am," Greene said Tuesday afternoon.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO MAYORKAS' IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
Aides to Johnson appeared to be trying to get clarity as well. At first, one aide said they had not heard that. Later, the aide told FOX there were conversations. Then FOX was told the aides wouldn’t push back on reporting that they were holding the articles until next week. Then a statement came from Johnson’s office.
"To ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week. There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial," said Johnson a spokesman.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also didn’t appear to be dialed-in when asked about a potential delay in initiating the impeachment trial.
You’ll find more whiplash on Capitol Hill than at a chiropractic clinic. But what political purpose does the back and forth serve? Who benefits? The outcome will likely be the same in the end.
And Johnson bowing at a moment’s notice to Senate conservatives who asked for a delay — apparently going over the head of McConnell — demonstrates three things. First, Senate conservatives were late to the table to push this. They knew the start of the trial since late March. This was likely an idea they only engineered in the past few days. Secondly, this reflects McConnell losing ground to conservatives in his conference. That trend has been ongoing for some time now. It’s why McConnell even declared he could read the room politically when he announced over the winter he would step aside as Republican Leader at the end of the Congress. Finally, this episode also underscores concerns some Republicans have about Johnson. They doubt that he’s truly in charge — even if they agree with the ultimate decision.
"That is a failure of leadership. Real leaders do not lead their members where they’re blind," said Greene. "Any smart person watching this broadcast right now knows that successful have a plan and they’re able to execute it. Leaders have a plan and they lead their members. This is a complete failure of Mike Johnson."
Thus, Republicans score a few more days to talk about the impeachment of Mayorkas and how the Senate is likely to short circuit the trial. This earns a few more news cycles and some conversations on the Sunday shows — especially if the articles head over on Monday.
Republicans are also able to propound their talking points that Schumer would set "a terrible precedent" by ending the trial quickly and curating the narrative that Democrats "aren’t serious" about border security or are giving a tacit endorsement to Mayorkas. The GOP also thought there might be some attendance problems for the vote to dismiss. By rule, the trial cannot begin until 1 p.m. So if the Senate was going to formally start the trial part of the production on Thursday afternoon, the Senate may have quickly dismissed the articles and senators would have left the Capitol for the weekend. This retooled scenario maximizes focus on the impeachment articles by buying more time.
That said, there is another issue afoot: FISA Section 702 and aid to Ukraine. We’ll start by noting that many arch-conservatives oppose renewing FISA and there are disagreements about reforms. Moreover, some on the right are also opposed to assisting Ukraine.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE'S RED LINE ON SPEAKER JOHNSON
It’s possible that efforts to renew the foreign surveillance program (known as FISA Section 702) could blow up on the House floor. That would compel the Senate to pivot to a short-term reauthorization of the program. The Senate would then pass the plan along to the House.
But here’s the other issue: There is still no concrete scheme to tackle aid to Ukraine in the House. Floor time is at a premium. Dragging out impeachment takes focus off the House as it struggles to deal with Ukraine. The initial gameplan was for the House to do a Ukraine aid bill next week — one which differs from the Senate passed bill. It’s still unclear if the House can even pass a Ukraine bill. But the Senate will likely accept whatever the House can manage on Ukraine. Therefore, punting the impeachment trial into next week rather than clearing the decks this week puts a squeeze on the Senate. Especially if the House is able to approve a DIFFERENT Ukraine bill. That could make it challenging for the Senate to align with a potential House bill.
Thus, delaying the impeachment trial until next week serves several goals of conservatives. And stretching it out maintains the spotlight on Mayorkas and the border: a key tenet of the GOP’s political agenda for fall.