Platner, who is running for the Democratic nomination for US Senate in Maine, told NBC there are reasonable grounds for the removal of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Alito and Thomas have faced significant ethical scrutiny during Trump's second term. Alito authored the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that sparked widespread controversy and calls for his recusal from abortion-related cases.
Thomas has been embroiled in controversy also, with recent calls for his removal from the Supreme Court following a speech where he denounced progressive politics.
During an appearance at University of Texas Austin Law School, Thomas said, "Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government."
Platner has since called for the impeachment of both sitting judges. He said there is a "compelling case" against both Alito and Thomas. "The relationship between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is not hard to see as clearly corrupt, and Justice Thomas doesn’t even recuse himself from cases that impact Crow’s businesses," he said.
Platner added that he is "definitely open to doing more, including adding seats on the court." He also outlined a plan, should the Democratic Party win a majority in the Senate, to investigate Donald Trump's administration.
“I want to shut the White House down,” Platner said. “I want us to, for the next two years, be dragging every single person in the White House, every single person in all these agencies that have been conducting themselves in illegal and unconstitutional ways. They need to be dragged by subpoena in front of Senate committees over and over and over again."
A Supreme Court justice can be impeached through a constitutional process outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The House of Representatives must vote to impeach the justice, requiring a simple majority, by charging them with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
Following House impeachment, the Senate conducts a trial where the justice can present a defense. A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to convict and remove the justice from office.
No Supreme Court justice has ever been successfully impeached and removed through this process, though several have faced impeachment attempts throughout American history for various alleged misconduct and ethical violations.
Kevin Warsh, tapped by President Donald Trump to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, was hammered Wednesday by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough for his “pathetic” Senate hearing performance Tuesday in which he frequently dodged questions on his ability to act independently of the president.
Warsh was vetted by members of the Senate Banking Committee, led in part by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the top Democrat on the committee, who frequently grilled Warsh for lacking the “courage” and "independence" required for the job. One exchange in particular between the two caught Scarborough’s attention.
“Name one aspect of President Trump's economic agenda with which you disagree,” Warren asked Warsh, who proceeded to dodge the question.
After continued pressing, Warsh finally provided an answer, albeit one that didn’t correspond to Warren’s question.
Trump had called Warsh a “central casting” choice for Federal Reserve chair, a comment that Warsh said he disagreed with, saying that if he actually was a “central casting” choice, he would “look older, greyer, and maybe show up here with a cigar of sorts."
“Quite adorable,” Warren fired back. “But you know, we need a Fed chair who is independent, that's the only way we preserve the independence of the Federal Reserve. If you can't answer these questions, you don't have the courage and you don't have the independence.”
Warsh also refused to acknowledge Trump’s election loss in 2020, leading Scarborough to blast the nominee for his “sad” performance, as well as his “cutesy little answer on the one thing he disagreed with Trump on.”
“That's sad! That is really sad, it's really pathetic!” Scarborough said. “Catherine Rampell, who writes a great newsletter, "Receipts," said that this nominee actually has a very good background, but for the fact that he was kowtowing to Donald Trump and seemed to be scared of his own shadow yesterday, would quite possibly make a very effective Fed chair. But she said [Warsh] failed on three major parts.”
A former Republican congressman dismissed a mea culpa from one of the most prominent MAGA voices as essentially worthless.
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News broadcaster who was ultimately terminated for spreading 2020 election lies, expressed regret this week for "misleading" his podcast listeners about President Donald Trump, and CNN's Audie Cornish asked her panelists to comment.
"So the president has called Tucker a 'low-IQ person' becausehe is extremely upset with howhe's reacting," Cornish said. "My group chat ispeople either being, like, thegrift is strong or this reflectsan actual sentiment. Where are we on the spectrum?"
Charlie Dent, a former GOP congressman from Pennsylvania, wrote off Carlson's remarks entirely.
"Oh my goodness, I mean, laughout loud," Dent said. "Look, he's been upsetbefore, after Jan. 6, you know, he was, you know, [he called Trump ademonic force. He said all sorts – but he came crawlingback."
"He'll come back home because look, these guys have monetized, they're making a lot of money off of this stuff," Dent added, "and I can't imagine he's going to have a real permanent rupture with Trump because he probably will lose market share and audience. He'll be back."
The other panelists agreed, and Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said Carlson had much more to apologize for than boosting Trump's campaigns.
"Tucker Carlson used all ofhis platforms for many yearsamplifying right-wing extremehate, bigotry, racism andanything else, so certainly wedo not take his commentaryserious," Seawright said, "and I think what the 'America first' crowd is figuringout that there's no interestlike self interest when it comesto Donald Trump. He is not aprincipled man. He does not havea core, and now they'refiguring it out."
Patel filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick on April 20, 2026, following the outlet's bombshell report detailing his alleged drinking problem. Patel's legal team characterized the article as "replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel's reputation and drive him from office."
The Atlantic's report cited more than two dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, who alleged Patel has rescheduled meetings to recover from intoxication and has been unreachable when needed.
Fitzpatrick also claimed that, when temporarily locked out of the FBI computer system due to an IT error, "He panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House," according to nine people familiar with his outreach.
Further analysis from Lisa Needham in the Public Notice Substack notes that only one outcome of the lawsuit benefits Patel.
She wrote, "Much like some of Trump’s media complaints, Patel’s has the flavor of counsel making the grave mistake of letting the client write the thing.
"Even if Patel were the World’s Greatest FBI Director as far as law enforcement results, and even if The Atlantic shamefully ignored his great stats, none of that has anything to do with whether the allegations in the article about Patel’s drinking, absenteeism, and impulsivity are true. Nor does Patel’s whining that he only got an 'arbitrary two-hour window' to respond to the story’s allegations before they went to press have anything to do with actual malice."
"Patel would be luckiest if The Atlantic succeeds at getting this thing dismissed right away — no, really. Because if this case goes forward, he’s stuck with discovery."
Needham has since argued that Patel filed the lawsuit potentially to impress President Donald Trump and to fire a warning shot at other publications.
"Patel didn’t file this lawsuit to win," she wrote. "He filed it to show Trump that he’s not just a dilettante flying around on the FBI jet, but a loyal crony who’s fighting back against the fake news media.
"He filed it to send a message to other publications that he will make their lives hell if they report critically on him. But he did not file it because he genuinely believes he can show The Atlantic manufactured all of this out of whole cloth."
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — When the Department of Homeland Security surged federal agents into North Carolina last November, they pledged to “target criminal aliens” and go after “the worst of the worst — including murderers, rapists, and pedophiles.”
But in one case reviewed by Raw Story, federal immigration authorities received a tip about a 24-year-old Guatemalan national suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and rape of a 16-year-old girl — and they repeatedly missed the opportunity to detain him, despite him being in police custody.
Federal immigration authorities appear to have learned about Maynor Godinez-Mendez when a detective with the Fuquay-Varina Police Department contacted the FBI’s Human Trafficking Division. When Godinez-Mendez was interviewed following his arrest on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a federal Homeland Security Investigations agent was present and translated.
Even after Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, received a notification from a detention officer that he was in a local jail, they still failed to take Godinez-Mendez into custody, and he was released on his own recognizance four hours later.
The day after Godinez-Mendez’s release from jail, the Department of Homeland Security announced “Operation Charlotte’s Web.” Border Patrol “stormed” North Carolina’s largest city “in unmarked SUVs and masks, sweeping up hundreds of people,” as described in the Charlotte Observer. In the midst of the five-day blitz, the operation briefly expanded into the booming area about 150 miles to the northeast surrounding the state capitol of Raleigh, which includes Fuquay-Varina.
Chafed by the agency’s fumbled response involving Godinez-Mendez, an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations supervisor tasked a team with apprehending the suspect. But based on faulty intelligence, ICE staked out the wrong house.
During an arrest operation on Dec. 2, 2025, agents in unmarked SUVs converged on a different man and blocked him at the entrance of a shopping center in Morrisville. When the man tried to back up and drive away, an agent rammed his car through a hedgerow, spun the vehicle around, and pushed it into a parked car.
The driver was not Godinez-Mendez, but rather another Guatemalan. His name was Milton Roblero.
When the agents took Roblero into custody, they determined that he had an outstanding order for deportation. Federal prosecutors charged him with forcibly assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and willfully damaging government property.
Roblero’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss, while questioning whether the agent who rammed his vehicle “violated ICE’s own policy and regulations restricting offensive driving techniques.” The shopping center includes a daycare, and the motion contends that ICE policy prohibits using offensive driving techniques “in school zones where children are present or going to or from school or where the danger to the public outweighs the enforcement benefit.”
Surveillance video shows ICE ramming Milton Roblero's vehicle during his arrest in Morrisville, N.C. on Dec. 2, 2025. (federal courts) roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms
The government did not directly address the question of whether ICE violated its policies, only saying in a court filing that the agents’ use of a vehicle for an administrative arrest was “appropriate.” But a filing in federal court on Monday indicates the government agreed to plead down the charges to a misdemeanor for impeding federal immigration officers’ traffic interdiction efforts. The agreement notes that Roblero will be removed to Guatemala following resolution of federal charges.
Andreina Malki, the defense manager for the immigrant advocacy group Siembra NC, told Raw Story Roblero’s arrest fits a pattern of unsafe activity by ICE.
“They used unmarked vehicles that don’t have any indication that they might be ICE,” she said. “If you’re a person driving, and unmarked cars try to block you in, you would probably try to leave. The fact that he got rammed and then got a charge for using his vehicle as a weapon — the story doesn’t add up. It’s not clear to the people being stopped who’s stopping them.”
Lindsay Williams, an ICE spokesperson, told Raw Story he couldn’t speak to the specifics of Roblero’s arrest.
A missing person case leads to a call to the FBI’s Human Trafficking Division
The circumstances that led to Roblero’s arrest began three weeks earlier with a missing person case that developed into a kidnapping and rape investigation.
Police in Fuquay-Varina, a town on the southwestern fringe of Raleigh, received a frantic phone call from a woman who reported that her 16-year-old daughter was missing (Raw Story is withholding the girl’s name because she is a juvenile). According to the police investigative report obtained through federal court filings, the daughter had texted: “Mommy and Daddy, I’m sorry for doing this to you, and well, I’m not coming home. I love you all very much.” The mother’s calls went straight to voicemail.
After interviewing the girl’s younger cousins, the police were able to get the name of a former boyfriend, then a residential address, and ultimately a description of a vehicle registered to the address. Using a law enforcement database, the police determined that the vehicle, a 2012 Hyundai Accent, had been repeatedly observed at an apartment complex in Cary, a nearby city.
Two Fuquay-Varina police officers went to the apartment complex the day after the 16-year-old girl had disappeared. As the officers were speaking with two females, the 16-year-old girl walked out of the apartment. She told the officers that the owner of the Hyundai was “Maynor,” and that he was in the car with another man named “William” when they picked her up.
Initially, the 16-year-old girl told the police that she had run away because of problems at home, and that nothing happened to her at the apartment. She said she had only watched TV and slept.
But on Nov. 13, two days after the 16-year-old girl was returned to her family, she told Cpl. Cassaundra Sullivan that William Godinez-Ramirez had called her and told her to go to an Indian grocery store. When she got into the car, according to Sullivan’s notes, Godinez-Ramirez told the 16-year-old girl to throw her phone out the window. She refused, and Godinez-Ramirez reportedly got out of the car, opened her door, grabbed the phone and threw it away. The girl told the officer that another man, Maynor Godinez-Mendez, and his wife were also in the car. They drove to a car wash, switched cars, and drove on to the apartment in Cary.
Summarizing what Sullivan learned from her interview, Detective Salvatore Fundaro wrote that the 16-year-old girl “reported that Godinez-Ramirez raped her” and “also reported that Godinez-Ramirez told her that he was going to kill her family if she didn’t leave with him.”
Fundaro consulted with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, and he said he was advised to keep investigating before charging with rape and kidnapping, but he swore out warrants for contributing to the delinquency of a minor for both Godinez-Ramirez and Godinez-Mendez.
The federal authorities appear to have learned about the investigation of the two men on Nov. 12. That day, Fundaro wrote, he contacted the FBI’s Human Trafficking Division for assistance with the case. What raised his suspicions was that the 16-year-old girl had told her parents that she was going to a job, but her employer told the detective she hadn’t shown up for work for the past three months.
On the same day, a federal immigration officer signed a Department of Homeland Security administrative arrest warrant for Godinez-Mendez.
Accompanied by the Homeland Security Investigations agent, Fundaro interviewed Godinez-Mendez at the Morrisville Police Department. Godinez-Mendez “could not offer a logical reason as to why they switched vehicles,” Fundaro wrote. The detective asked if the reason was “because they knew they had committed a crime and wanted to avoid apprehension,” but Godinez-Mendez denied that.
Susan Weis, a spokesperson for the town of Fuquay-Varina said she was unable to comment because the case remains under investigation. The town also cannot “comment on another agency’s procedures,” she said.
Godinez-Mendez wound up spending six hours in the Wake County Detention Center, but ICE did not respond to a detainer inquiry from the jail or take the opportunity to place him in custody.
“Immigration warrants take a back seat to criminal charges,” Williams, the ICE spokesman, told Raw Story. “If he was arrested for something serious, we would let that process play out.”
Williams’ statement appears to be at odds with the bellicose language in the DHS press release, issued the day after Godinez-Mendez’s release, that takes aim at “criminal aliens” and “sanctuary politicians.”
“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” then-Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “We are surging law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed. There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President Trump and [former] Secretary [Kristi] Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.”
Only slightly more than half the people detained by federal immigration agents during “Operation Charlotte’s Web” had a criminal record, according to data recently released by the Deportation Data Project.
Asked to reconcile the seeming contradiction between the administration’s rhetoric about targeting the most serious criminals and the imperative to let charges play out in state courts, Williams said: “We’re going to deport him, whether it’s now or seven years from now. We ideally want folks to be held accountable for their crimes. The deportation order doesn’t expire. The system will take effect.”
‘I want to get hands on him’
The morning of Godinez-Mendez’s release from the Wake County Detention Center, an immigration agent identified in emails obtained by Raw Story by the initials “CD” forwarded the detainer inquiry to an ICE supervisor.
“Here is the lead you forwarded to us but not in custody,” the agent wrote.
The supervisor, identified only by the initials “SC,” forwarded the message to another agent.
“Biometrics did not hit as expected,” the supervisor wrote. “I wish we had a heads up. Magistrate bonded him out last night. He was there for 6 hours. They only charged him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
“I want to get hands on him,” the message continued. “What can you provide to assist? His booking record has an address in Morrisville. Work location? Vehicle info?”
An email shows an ICE supervisor expressing disappointment that they did not take Maynor Godinez-Mendez into custody before he was released from the Wake County Detention Center on Nov. 14, 2025.Federal courts
On Nov 29, an ICE agent conducted surveillance on the house in Morrisville, observing through binoculars from a distance of 200 yards away. The agent watched an individual identified as “Target 1” leave the house and drive away in a red Honda Civic, and also leave the house and get into a white truck. It’s unclear who the agent actually saw.
After the ICE agent witnessed a man leave the house and drive away in a red Honda Civic on Dec. 2, he radioed the arrest team — eight agents, including three on loan from Homeland Security Investigations. Given Godinez-Mendez’s “pattern of life,” the agents anticipated that he would drive to the nearby shopping center.
But the man they arrested was not Godinez-Mendez.
ICE ageents rammed Milton Roblero's red Honda through a hedgerow and spun it around before arresting him in Morrisville, N.C. on Dec. 2, 2025.Federal courts
None of the federal court documents or local police investigative reports reviewed by Raw Story implicate Milton Roblero, the man arrested by ICE on Dec. 2, in the kidnapping and rape investigation
About three weeks later, the real suspect was arrested on state criminal charges of felony conspiracy and felonious restraint. On the same day he was booked, for the second time, in the Wake County Detention Center, a magistrate issued a 48-hour hold to allow ICE to take him into custody.
ICE did not respond. On Dec. 28, he was released on a $25,000 bond.
Following his indictment in February, Godinez-Mendez was finally deported by Homeland Security Investigations, Melanie Shekita, a Wake County prosecutor, told Raw Story.
The White House is already plotting its response to a major Democratic Party victory where Virginia voters elected to adopt a new congressional district map that could flip as many as four seats, but “even some of [President Donald] Trump’s closest allies” are “worried” that the plan could “backfire” spectacularly, Politico reported Wednesday.
Tuesday night, Virginia voters approved a new congressional district map for the state that could flip as many as four Republican-controlled seats, a referendum that was launched in response to Trump’s redistricting push he pushedlast year to bolster Republicans’ election prospects for the upcoming midterm elections.
As Democrats’ victory became apparent Tuesday night, former White House spokesperson Harrison Fields, who served as Trump’s special assistant last year before resigning to join a conservative lobbying firm, pitched what he believed Republicans’ response should be: initiate redistricting in Florida to benefit Republicans.
“To my friends in Tallahassee: in a state that is ruby red, it’s time to respond to what we saw tonight in Virginia with a redistricting plan that reflects Florida’s true partisan lean – and adds 3-4 GOP seats to our supermajority,” Fields wrote in a social media post, tagging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican figures.
“Virginia is a purple state being drawn as deep blue. Florida should draw a map that’s even redder – and get it passed ASAP.”
The proposal, however, has already sparked “concern” among Republicans, Politico reported, particularly given the recent off-year Democratic election victories in the state.
“Recent special elections in South Florida (including one in Palm Beach itself) offered up eye-catching Democratic wins and overperformances, raising fears among some Republicans that redistricting could backfire,” Politico reported.
“Even some of Trump’s closest allies in Florida are worried. MAGA influencer Laura Loomer – who famously has the president on speed dial – told [Politico] this month that with DeSantis moving forward with redistricting, ‘he’s going to take away from the strongholds.’”
A criminal investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been filed as an act of revenge from Donald Trump's administration, a legal analyst has claimed.
The legal center has been indicted on federal charges relating to past payments to confidential informants used to infiltrate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Bryan Fair, the SPLC’s chief executive, called the allegations “false” and said the Justice Department’s actions “will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the civil rights movement becomes a reality for all."
Prosecutors allege the center had funneled $3 million into confidential sources within extremist groups between 2014 and 2023.
Joyce Vance, who served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017, wrote in her Substack, "At first blush, these allegations feel like an extension of the revenge docket and the attacks on universities and law firms, an effort to delegitimize and marginalize an organization that is pushing back against the administration.
"We’ll have a chance to study the charges as we learn more about the government’s evidence. The government’s core theory is that the SPLC paid high-ranking white supremacists, but they seem to ignore the reason—that the use of paid informants was essential to the intelligence the Center was gathering on the groups they were members of, including intelligence that was shared with the FBI."
Vance went on to note that the DoJ's filing named no individuals, and that this could be a telling sign of where the case leads.
"It’s worth noting that only SPLC, as an entity, is indicted here," she wrote. "No individuals are charged. That suggests an inability to identify a specific individual who committed a specific criminal act, or perhaps a lack of confidence in the ability to convict an individual, given the overall context of the work the Southern Poverty Law Center does.
"[Todd] Blanche reiterated that the investigation was ongoing at the press conference. So why rush to indict the case today? Why not wait and see what the investigation reveals before charging? Perhaps it’s that Blanche is auditioning for the AG position and [Kash] Patel is trying to hold onto his. But it may also suggest some weakness in the evidence.
"This administration has targeted people and institutions whose philosophies run contrary to its own, even as it has protected and rewarded its allies, disappearing convictions of people like Steve Bannon and January 6 defendants convicted on serious insurrection charges."
House Democrats are demanding an honest accounting of FBI Director Kash Patel's alleged drinking problem.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have called on the 46-year-old Patel to take an alcohol-abuse test or testify under oath after The Atlantic published a deeply sourced report on his alleged excessive drinking, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) sent him a letter seeking a sworn statement statement authenticating the accuracy of his answers by 5 p.m. Tuesday, reported The Hill.
“These glimpses of your relationship to alcohol would be alarming to see in an FBI agent; for us to see them in the FBI Director himself is shocking and indicative of a public emergency,” the committee's Democrats wrote in a letter sent to Patel.
The lawmakers also asked President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the bureau to share his security clearance questionnaire responses, the results of his World Health Organization’s alcohol disorders test and a sworn written statement attesting to the accuracy of all materials he submits to the committee by next week's deadline.
“A damning and explosive report recently revealed that the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are privately — and at times publicly — alarmed by your ‘episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences,’” the lawmakers wrote, quoting the Atlantic report.
“There are numerous accounts that you consume alcohol to the point of illness, direct profanity-laced outbursts at support staff, and pass out drunk behind locked doors in episodes making you so unreachable that agents have had to fetch SWAT-level breaching equipment to waken you,” the lawmakers added.
Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic on Monday, and a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee's Republican majority defended Patel's tenure as FBI director.
“Crime is down to record-low levels. Criminals are behind bars, and America is safer thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Director Patel," the spokesperson told The Hill. "This is just another unserious effort from anonymous sources and partisan actors to attack the President and his Administration."
The Democratic Party could be handed a 10-to-1 advantage thanks to a recent redistricting vote, a political analyst has claimed.
Virginia Democrats have pushed an aggressive redistricting measure aimed at gaining four additional House seats through redrawing the state's congressional map to favor Democrats in 10 of 11 districts.
The ballot measure, which passed last night (April 21), will redistrict the state's congressional map and could result in Democrats winning as many as four House seats.
Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said, "Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms. At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country."
The Bulwark analysts Tim Miller and Bill Kristol analyzed the chances of Democratic Party victory at the Virginia midterm elections.
Miller added, "The side that favored the referendum that redistricted the state of Virginia and redrew the state in such a way that it might end up being a 10-to-1 Democratic majority.
"My main takeaway though, like my biggest picture of all this, like taking off the campaigns and elections nerd hat, you know, and just like looking at the biggest picture takeaway, it's really a huge win and an exclamation point for the response that the Democratic Party and the pro-democracy movement had to Donald Trump and his cronies attempts to rig the midterm elections. And they're going to keep trying other things."
Kristol added, "I mean, this is Virginia. Two-thirds of Virginians voted in 2020 for the previous redistricting, and that was the actual sentiments of Virginia are probably two to one for let's have nonpartisan redistricting and so they overcame that because of the threat of Trump, and I I was one of those who thought they should, and I voted that way and obviously a lot of other people thought so too.
"The Democrats have won [Virginia] with the exception of that first Biden midterm. It's why the state of Virginia has gone blue. It was a swing of two-thirds in favor of nonpartisan redistricting. That would be one way to look at it.
"It [Jay Jones Nov. '25 results] is very consistent with the generic ballot polling right now nationally, which is +7, +8. I feel like that's a kind of, pretty good for Democrats but not quite at blowout levels."
With more than 95% of the vote in, Virginia voters elected to adopt a new congressional district map on Tuesday that could flip as many as four Republican-held seats, sparking panic within the GOP as the party’s slim majority in the House comes under threat.
“Republicans are already pointing fingers at each other over whether they missed an opportunity to halt Democrats’ growing momentum and pull off an upset,” reads Punchbowl News’ Wednesday report on the results of the statewide referendum. “The implications of a Democratic House majority are enormous. It could mean a third impeachment for Trump, although Democrats claim that’s not on their agenda.”
With more than 3 million votes cast, the unofficial election results showed a narrow victory for those supporting the adoption of the new gerrymandered congressional district map, with 51% voting in favor of the plan, and 49% voting against it. Democrats launched the effort to redraw Virginia’s maps in response to the redistricting effort led by President Donald Trump, who last year initiated Texas’ redistricting plan to bolster Republicans’ chances in the 2026 midterm elections.
With Virginia voters approving the new map, however, which may flip as many as four Republican-controlled seats, coupled with other Democratic-led states such as California adopting their own gerrymandered maps in response to Trump’s redistricting push, the net result of what’s been referred to as the “redistricting wars” may very well end up benefitting Democrats over Republicans come November.
“It’s fair to say that, at this point, Republicans have lost the redistricting wars that they started last year in Texas at Trump’s urging,” Punchbowl News’ report reads.
In an interview Tuesday night, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) appeared to taunt House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for having supported Trump’s redistricting push after securing the victory in Virginia.
“I told Mike Johnson in July of last year that, ‘If you go down this road, it’s not going to work out for you,” Jeffries said, according to Punchbowl News. “And at the end of the day, his best-case scenario was that he would net zero seats, but force at least 10 Republicans, who are incumbent members of his conference, into premature retirement. And that is exactly what has happened.”
Republicans are pointing fingers after a narrow redistricting loss in Virginia undermined President Donald Trump's national gerrymandering crusade, effectively erasing months of GOP gains and creating a stalemate in the high-stakes redistricting battle.
Republican insiders acknowledged their party should have invested more heavily and earlier in Virginia, where Democrats narrowly won a referendum on a new congressional map that could provide the party as many as four additional House seats that, combined with Democratic gains in California and a court-drawn seat in Utah, has eliminated the advantage the GOP built from new maps in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri, reported Politico.
"You'd be hard pressed to find a single Republican tonight who doesn't think the GOP should've done more in Virginia," one GOP operative said. "It actually hurts more that it was so close."
The spending disparity proved significant. Democrats' campaign, led by Virginians for Fair Elections, raised $64 million — nearly three times what Republicans spent. House Majority Forward, a Democratic nonprofit aligned with House leadership, contributed nearly $38 million. Despite Republicans having $297 million available through the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. since last year, they never deployed comparable resources to Virginia.
“If they had spent some money, they could have won tonight and someone’s got to own that and explain why that decision was made,” said a second Virginia-based GOP strategist.
The defeat has prompted recriminations extending beyond Virginia. Republicans targeted Indiana's GOP legislature for rejecting the White House's push to redraw maps for partisan advantage. Trump allies have spent significant resources trying to defeat the Indiana Republicans who resisted the effort.
Some Republicans questioned the entire redistricting arms race. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican-turned-independent targeted by California Democrats' gerrymander, argued the conflict had spiraled uncontrollably. "Now that this whole thing has just gotten completely out of hand, there have been no winners, and it's created such instability, maybe this is the time that we can come together and say, 'Alright, enough is enough,'" he said.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson expressed hope Virginia's Supreme Court, which reserved authority to review the new map, might void Democrats' effort. "This close margin reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn't be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander," he said.
Republicans now look to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to help fix the problem they created.
He has delayed a special redistricting session until after Virginia voted and has yet to release a map proposal, but now the pressure's on the rumored 2028 GOP presidential candidate.
“To my friends in Tallahassee: in a state that is ruby red, it’s time to respond to what we saw tonight in Virginia with a redistricting plan that reflects Florida’s true partisan lean — and adds 3–4 GOP seats to our supermajority,” said former Trump White House spokesperson Harrison Fields in a social media post. “Virginia is a purple state being drawn as deep blue. Florida should draw a map that’s even redder — and get it passed ASAP.”
An author who has written four books about President Donald Trump revealed how the president plans to retain power over the White House once he leaves office.
Journalist Michael Wolff, author of the book "Fire and Fury" about the first Trump administration, argued during a new episode of "Inside Trump's Head," a podcast he co-hosts with Joanna Coles of The Daily Beast, that Trump could use his children to stay in power after his second administration. He singled out Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who seems to have been groomed for this very moment.
"He has spent his life as his father's lackey," Wolff noted. "He's spent his life in a business that is of very little consequence except to support his father, who gives me the shivers."
Wolff also noted that Don Jr. seems to be the likely heir as Trump's other children, like Ivanka and Tiffany, have effectively "taken themselves out of the running."
Lara Trump said on a new episode of Katie Miller's eponymous podcast that she would consider running for office again if the circumstances are right.
Wolff added that Trump will need to retain some influence over the White House when he retires. Otherwise, he may turn on the Republican Party.
"He really enjoyed that in his Mar-A-Lago interregnum," Wolff said. "So, he goes back to that still with the Republicans coming to kiss his rings, with his pronouncements being the leading Republican pronouncements, still being able to rag on whatever Democrat is in the White House and then, at some point, he dies a happy man," Wolff said. "However, he would be much less happy if someone in the Republican Party replaced him."
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera skewered a GOP pundit's defense of President Donald Trump's latest bailout idea during a segment on CNN's "NewsNight" with host Abby Phillip.
On Tuesday, Trump was asked about a recent statement made by officials in the United Arab Emirates who said they may seek a bailout from the U.S. because of the war in Iran's impact on their economy. Trump told reporters he was open to the idea during an interview on CNBC.
"They've been a good ally of ours, and these are unusual times," Trump said about the bailout idea. "They were more than anybody else."
GOP pundit Jason Rantz, who hosts the "Seattle Red" radio show, defended Trump's idea, saying that it might be a good move in the right context.
"Oh, come on!" Rivera said. "They walk in golden slippers."
The UAE's public comments about seeking a bailout from the Trump administration are the latest sign of how unpopular the war has become for U.S. global allies. NATO allies have largely stayed away from Trump's war in Iran, and told the president they will not offer help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
An email shows an ICE supervisor expressing disappointment that they did not take Maynor Godinez-Mendez into custody before he was released from the Wake County Detention Center on Nov. 14, 2025.Federal courts
ICE ageents rammed Milton Roblero's red Honda through a hedgerow and spun it around before arresting him in Morrisville, N.C. on Dec. 2, 2025.Federal courts