Capitol agenda: Insider trading is Mike Johnson’s next Epstein

Speaker Mike Johnson’s September to-do list is getting tougher by the day. As POLITICO scooped Tuesday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is planning to file a discharge petition to force a floor vote on banning stock trading by members of Congress. Like the parallel push for a vote on releasing the Epstein files, it’s poised […]

Booker confronts fellow Democrats over bipartisan police bills

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker scolded fellow Democrats Tuesday for not having enough “backbone” to resist President Donald Trump in a fiery floor exchange that took place as colleagues sought to pass bipartisan police-related bills. “What I am tired of is when the president of the United States violates the Constitution … and what does […]

MTG not running for Georgia governor

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will not run for Georgia governor next year, she said Tuesday, after already ruling out a campaign for the Senate earlier this year. But that’s not to say she doesn’t think she’d win. “If I was running for governor the entire world would know it because I would be all over […]

Jeffries will meet with Texas Democrats amid congressional map battle

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will meet with Democrats in Texas on Wednesday, his office told POLITICO on Tuesday. The move comes as President Donald Trump urges lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map in Republicans’ favor. Texas typically redraws its congressional maps every 10 years in accordance with the census. But the president announced […]

Ghislaine Maxwell seeks to postpone Epstein testimony before Oversight committee

Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted co-conspirator of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is asking to postpone her scheduled congressional deposition — and making a series of other demands as conditions of her cooperation with Hill investigators. It comes following a recent vote by a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee to subpoena Maxwell amid mounting […]

Nominations pileup has Senate Republicans threatening rules changes

Top Senate Republicans are warning Democrats that unless they start helping to speed up confirmations of President Donald Trump’s nominees, there will be consequences — including a potential effort to change the chamber’s rules. The warning shot comes as Republicans seek to confirm dozens of Trump nominees before leaving for their traditional summer break. Doing […]

Senators agree to strip hemp language from ag funding bill

Senators have agreed to strip out language that would close a hemp regulatory loophole from their agriculture funding bill, following a clash between Kentucky GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Senate Appropriations Agriculture-FDA subcommittee Chair John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told reporters Tuesday that the hemp provision, which was championed by McConnell, was removed after Paul […]

Judiciary Democrats demand probe after third Bove whistleblower

Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee want the Justice Department’s top watchdog to probe allegations against a contentious judicial nominee. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) sent a letter Tuesday to William Blier, DOJ’s acting inspector general, asking if his office is, or already has, conducted an investigation related to Emil Bove, […]