Kevin McCarthy says Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘a canary in the coal mine’ for Republicans
former house speaker kevin mccarthy said majorie taylor greenGiven that many House Republicans are leaving, his sudden resignation signals broader trouble for the GOP next year.
“She’s almost like the canary in the coal mine,” McCarthy told Fox News on Tuesday.
“And this is the thing inside Congress, they better wake up, because they have a lot of people about to retire, and they have to stay focused.”
The GOP still has a slim majority in the House, and two votes to spare after Greene’s departure, but already, 22 House Republicans have said they will retire or not seek re-election next year. Analysts say this is an above average number.
Greene – a three-term representative from Georgia – resigned last Friday after weeks of an escalating public dispute with the president. donald trumpOn a number of issues including the release of the Epstein files.
Mother of Caroline Levitt’s nephew arrested by ICE – report
CNN is reporting that the mother of Caroline Levitt’s 11-year-old nephew is in ICE custody after being arrested earlier this month.
Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a native of Brazil, was arrested near Boston on Nov. 12 while she was on her way to pick up her son, her attorney Todd Pomerleau told CNN.
The Department of Homeland Security told CNN that Ferreira had been living in the US illegally since 1999 after overstaying a tourist visa.
She has not had any significant contact with the White House press secretary for several years, but she shares joint custody of their son with her former fiancé Michael Levitt, Caroline’s brother.
Ferreira was on her way to New Hampshire to pick up her son when she was taken into custody. Michael told a local station that his son has not been able to speak to his mother since he was taken into custody.
Trump criticizes New York Times’ ‘deliberately negative’ report on his health
Trump’s first social media message of the day has just been released — and he’s criticizing The New York Times for its lead story on his age-related struggles in office.
The report details the 79-year-old president’s growing fatigue in office and signs that his days are shortening.
Trump called it a “hit piece” rather than a “cheap piece”, which he says is “deliberately negative” about him. The Truth Social post contained excessive violence, including a personal attack on the author of the report. But I will highlight his response to the health claims:
“(He) struck me as if I was probably losing my energy, despite facts that show exactly the opposite.
“There will come a day when I will lack energy, it happens to everyone, but with a thorough physical examination and a comprehensive cognitive test (“he was successful”) taken recently, this is definitely not the case now!”
Trump defends report of Witkoff coaching Putin aide
The Kremlin confirmed this morning that Vitkoff is due in Moscow again next week – which is expected given the reported progress on a peace deal between Ukrainian and US negotiators earlier this week.
But a report emerged last month of a leaked recording of Witkoff advising Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov on how he should present himself to Trump on the peace plan.
At that time Trump seemed to be losing his patience towards Putin.
“Just to reiterate, you congratulate the President (Trump) on this accomplishment… that you respect him, that he’s a peace-loving man, and that you’re just, you’re really happy to see this happen,” Witkoff was quoted as saying in the Bloomberg report. “I think that would be a really good call.”
Subsequently, the Trump-Putin call took place just before Ukrainian leader Zelensky arrived at the White House for the meeting. And since then, the US has unveiled its own peace plan, which appears to offer far more concessions to the Russian side, triggering a round of fierce negotiations.
When asked by reporters last night about the leaked recording, Trump said he had not heard it, but defended Witkoff, saying his alleged approach to the Russians was appropriate. “Standard Negotiation Procedure”.
“He has to sell it to Ukraine. He has to sell Ukraine to Russia,” He said. “That’s what a dealer does.”
As it stands, the deal appears to have been modified more in line with Ukrainian and European demands following US-Ukraine talks in Geneva last weekend.
Zelensky has said that a revised version could be “feasible” but that several key issues still remain. Zelensky is expected to meet Trump in the coming days.
Kevin McCarthy says Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘a canary in the coal mine’ for Republicans
former house speaker kevin mccarthy said majorie taylor greenGiven that many House Republicans are leaving, his sudden resignation signals broader trouble for the GOP next year.
“She’s almost like the canary in the coal mine,” McCarthy told Fox News on Tuesday.
“And this is the thing inside Congress, they better wake up, because they have a lot of people about to retire, and they have to stay focused.”
The GOP still has a slim majority in the House, and two votes to spare after Greene’s departure, but already, 22 House Republicans have said they will retire or not seek re-election next year. Analysts say this is an above average number.
Greene – a three-term representative from Georgia – resigned last Friday after weeks of an escalating public dispute with the president. donald trumpOn a number of issues including the release of the Epstein files.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our US Politics blog today. I’m Francis Mao and I’ll take you through the next few hours as lawmakers begin leaving for Thanksgiving weekend.
The fallout from President Trump’s attack on six Democrats who released a video urging US troops to disobey “illegal orders” continues after first the Pentagon and then the FBI reportedly launched an investigation into the matter.
Both investigations indicate an extraordinary increase in Trump’s use of federal institutions to go after political opponents and sitting members of Congress. One of the Democrats, who says she received questioning from the FBI, called it an “intimidation tactic.”
Meanwhile, GOP stalwarts continue to push for the departure of MAGA loyalist-turned-rebel Marjorie Taylor Greene — warning that the party faces multiple retirements next year that could leave it vulnerable before the midterms.
And Russian officials have just confirmed that Steve Witkoff will return to Moscow next week to push for a peace deal on the Ukraine war, as talks with Ukrainian sides have seen some progress this week.
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