SmartNews

Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) has rapidly become one of the biggest mysteries on Capitol Hill, as he has been absent for weeks due to an unspecified medical issue his office will not elaborate on, with no timeline for when he might return.

The 57-year-old has not cast a vote since March 5, missing 50 roll call votes in the process.

Trump administration insiders are now leaning towards Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking the helm of the party in 2028, Politico reported on Friday.

"Some of President Donald Trump’s closest confidantes increasingly see Marco Rubio as a serious 2028 contender — an acknowledgement of the Floridian’s savvy handling of foreign conflicts and his ability to avoid political land mines," said the report. "It’s a striking turnaround for a politician once dismissed as too hawkish, too establishment and too scarred by a failed 2016 presidential campaign to matter in a post-Trump GOP. But his work on deposing Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his steadfast loyalty to Trump have boosted him in the West Wing – and among some MAGA voters."

CBS News journalists were reportedly stunned after their own network's parent company hosted a private dinner honoring President Donald Trump, as it seeks federal approval for a massive media deal.

According to The New York Times, Paramount hosted the event in Washington, D.C., where billionaire executive David Ellison praised Trump and senior administration officials while the company pursues a $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.

President Donald Trump went on a back-to-back Truth Social rampage Friday afternoon, branding both firebrand former ally Candace Owens and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as "low IQ" individuals within seven minutes of each other.

First in his sights was Owens, the conservative commentator who has become an increasingly sharp critic of Trump and his inner circle. Trump didn't hold back.

President Donald Trump's latest move to unilaterally change the monuments around Washington, D.C., is to completely redo the interior of the famous reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, replacing the current granite with dark blue swimming pool tiling.

However, Trump very nearly used something even more out of place in his renovation of the 300,000-square-foot national symbol, according to CBS News.

New York Republicans and the National Republican Congressional Committee got off to an embarrassing start with their nominee's candidacy for the 4th Congressional District.

This week, the website for Jeanine Driscoll, a local tax receiver on Long Island, went live at this link — but reporters and campaign strategists immediately noticed something off.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is moving quickly to prove his loyalty to Donald Trump and shed the “acting” label by launching a sweeping push targeting the president’s perceived enemies, according to a report in the New York Times.

The outlet reported Friday that Blanche has set off “a conspicuous salvo of actions” aimed at demonstrating progress on Trump’s priorities, “chief among them, payback” against his political adversaries.

President Donald Trump's plan to bail out and effectively nationalize Spirit Airlines could be facilitated by a 1950 law passed to secure national defense during the Korean War.

According to CBS News, "The Trump administration is exploring using the Defense Production Act as part of a strategy to save the beleaguered Spirit Airlines, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions ... Spirit has declared bankruptcy twice in the past two years, after the Department of Justice blocked a merger with JetBlue during the Biden administration. The Iran war has been driving up jet fuel costs for all airlines and earlier this month, creditors expressed serious doubts Spirit could remain viable."

President Donald Trump complained on his Truth Social platform Friday afternoon that the Supreme Court should have let his administration keep all the billions of dollars they illegally collected from his "reciprocal tariff" scheme.

"People and Companies that have taken advantage of our Country for decades, because of the horrible and ridiculous United States Supreme Court decision on Tariffs, are now supposed to be given back 159 Billion Dollars," wrote Trump. "All they had to do was one little half sentence, 'that the United States does not have to pay back monies that were already paid' — and our Country would be 159 Billion Dollars richer."