Matt Laslo

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006. In addition to his reporting for Raw Story, Matt has been a contributor at WIRED, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. He also contributes reports to NPR and more than 40 of its affiliates and numerous other publications, including The Atlantic and Billboard. He also has the The LCB — or Laslo Congressional Bureau — a Washington-based wire service. Since 2009, he’s sat on the board at the Regional Reporters Association, and in 2011, he graduated cum laude from The Johns Hopkins University MA in Government and Public Policy program. He now teaches there as an adjunct political communications professor, as well as teaching communications and/or journalism at George Washington University, Boston University and the University of Maryland.

'Whining' Republicans secretly trash Trump's Iran war behind his back: lawmaker

WASHINGTON — Republicans are happy to criticize President Donald Trump’s war on Iran behind closed doors but “willing to give up congressional power” when given chances to actually rein him in, a prominent Democrat charged, shortly before the House of Representatives rejected a bipartisan attempt to assert its constitutional powers.

“There is an incredible sense in the Congress in the last year that so many Republicans have been willing to give up congressional power,” Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) told Raw Story at the Capitol.

Republicans, Balint said, “all tell you behind closed doors a whole variety of things they don't like about what's happening.

“If you pick your head up and all of a sudden your power is gone, don't whine about it because you gave it away.”

‘I’m not stupid’

Under Article One of the U.S. Constitution — and the 1973 War Powers Resolution — only Congress can declare war.

In reality, presidents have long ignored such strictures.

Balint was speaking shortly before the House considered a war powers resolution that would have forced the Trump administration to pause strikes on Iran.

“I'm not stupid,” Balint, a member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, said.

“I can count. I don't think we're going to have the votes, but I think in every opportunity we have to assert our Article I powers, we have to keep doing these actions that show that we understand that every time we don't stand up to [Trump], legislative powers are slipping away.”

Another Democrat, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), said such votes were important, to “get people on the record.”

The record for the ensuing vote showed the resolution was rejected 219-212, with Republican Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) voting yes, while four Democrats voted no.

Massie co-sponsored the resolution with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), his partner in pressuring the Trump administration over the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his links to powerful figures, prominently including the president himself.

Davidson, a former military officer, is usually a loyal supporter of the Republican line.

On the floor of the House, he said, “Make no mistake, Iran is an enemy of the United States. As our military engages them, they do so justly. Unfortunately, they are not yet doing so constitutionally.

“For some, this debate will be about whether we should even be fighting in Iran. For me, the debate is more fundamental: is the president of the United States, regardless of the person holding the office, empowered to do whatever he wants?

“That’s not what our constitution says.”

‘Whatever it takes to win’

Amid continued confusion over Trump’s aims in attacking Iran — currently by air and at sea and at the cost of six American lives and more than 1,000 Iranians killed — it was reported on Thursday that strikes could extend until September.

Raw Story asked one senior Republican if that bothered him.

“Not worried at all,”Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) replied “Trump knows what he’s doing.”

Raw Story pressed: Was Norman really saying he would be okay with such a lengthy campaign, with all its attendant dangers for wider conflict through the Middle East and the world?

“Whatever it takes to win,” Norman said.

'Spiraling out of control'

Balint considered another pressing issue: Republicans’ reluctance to even say Trump has taken America to war, despite the president’s own use of the word.

“You can't call it a ‘military action,’ that it has a very short timeline, when this is the chatter,” Balint said, of the reports of a possible September end date.

“We knew that it's spiraling out of control … and again, like, where's the opposition within his own party?”

'Mad as a murder hornet': Republican spills on fuming Trump before Noem firing

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Kennedy had one thing to say about Kristi Noem getting the axe: he wasn't getting "between a dog and a fire hydrant."

But the Louisiana Republican couldn't help himself.

Kennedy spilled Thursday, revealing that President Donald Trump had called him Tuesday night — after Noem's disastrous Senate hearing — already "mad as a murder hornet" and ready to send her packing.

Noem, he said, asked Trump to sign off on a massive TV spending blitz, starring herself.

"A quarter of a billion dollars — not a million, a quarter of a billion dollars — on television to promote yourself," Kennedy fumed to Raw Story on Thursday. "Gag me with a spoon, man."

The senator was careful to note that "her version of the truth and the president's version of the truth are different." He said he was unsurprised she was fired.

Reports swirled earlier in the day that Trump was particularly upset at Noem's response when Kennedy pressed her about the government-funded ad campaign.

"The $220 million contract for the ad campaign was awarded to a firm run by the husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. The ads were filmed in October at Mount Rushmore," Punchbowl news reported.

Under questioning from Kennedy, Noem had claimed that Trump was aware of plans for the PR campaign. Privately, Republicans were split about whether now was the right moment to fire Noem, the report noted.

"First, they're worried about whether Senate GOP leaders could find 51 votes for a replacement in the face of universal Democratic opposition, combined with vulnerable Republicans who may want to flash some independence. Trump's harsh immigration crackdown and ICE's operations would be at the center of those confirmation hearings."

Meanwhile, Noem's replacement, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), was caught by reporters looking like a man who had just been handed a hot potato. He found out he'd be running the entire Department of Homeland Security "a little bit before you guys did," he admitted, acknowledging he and Trump still need to "get on the same page."

On whether he'd make any changes at DHS, Mullin walked away to cast a vote.

Dem warns Texas GOP's 'terrible tactics' will cost them votes after watching poll chaos

WASHINGTON — Following her high-stakes Senate primary loss, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) delivered a defiant statement, doubling down on allegations of voter suppression while pointedly refusing to fade into the political background.

Speaking to Raw Story on Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of her loss to state Rep. James Talarico, Crockett pivoted away from her primary setback to focus fire on Republicans, claiming their tactics were actively undermining Democratic chances in the general election.

"Listen, I think that it was an exciting election. I think it's clear that the trends are that we can win in November, and so we just got to keep the energy up and make sure the terrible tactics of the Republicans don't cost us votes and disenfranchise voters as we saw in Dallas County," she said.

Crockett added: "Obviously, I know you're very well aware of everything that took place. I don't know where the party is going with the litigation, because they were the ones who had been pending litigation, but this is something that needs to be fixed.”

When asked what comes next for her political future, Crockett replied, "I am going to continue to serve."

Dallas and Williamson County Republican Parties opted not to hold joint primaries, which, under Texas law, forced both parties to abandon countywide vote centers on Election Day and return to assigned precinct polling places.

Many Dallas voters, accustomed to countywide centers since 2019, showed up at their usual or convenient locations and were turned away or redirected, leading to mass confusion, long lines, and reports that large shares of voters initially went to the wrong place. Dallas County Democrats have said this amounted to voter suppression and sought emergency relief to keep polls open longer for their primary.

A Dallas judge ordered Democratic polling places in the county to stay open two extra hours, until 9 p.m., with ballots cast after 7 p.m. to be counted as provisional. The state Supreme Court quickly issued a stay, instructing that ballots cast by voters not in line by 7 p.m. be separated while it decides whether those late votes are valid. The saga threw the final tally into chaos.

There's one word MAGA senators won't use about Trump's Iran attack: 'We're in a bombing'

WASHINGTON — A debate’s raging within the Republican Party over whether or not America’s at war with Iran.

"We're in a bombing," Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story. "We're bombing the hell out of them."

Despite the 2,000 targets reportedly hit, 17 naval ships allegedly destroyed and ongoing “24/7 strikes into Iran” — according to Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command — some of the more MAGA members of the Senate GOP refuse to use the “w” word.

“No. This regime was the one that was at war with us,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Raw Story.

The Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973 say Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats were due to force a vote on a war powers resolution. Many Republicans say that’s unnecessary.

“This is not a war, this is a conflict now,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story.

“War is when you put people on the ground going in there and fight for months and months. This is not going to last that long.”

“You think it'll be easy?” Raw Story asked.

“It's not gonna be easy,” Tuberville said. “It's just gonna be.”

“Some people in MAGA are saying, ‘This ain't what we signed up for,’” Raw Story pushed.

“That's a different type of MAGA than I deal with,” Tuberville said.

“That's exactly what I signed up for, making our country first again, protecting our citizens, doing everything they possibly can to make us the number one country in the world again, militarily and financially.”

‘Undeclared state of war’

Debate over the “w” word would be news to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have both referred to the ongoing campaign as a “war.” The same could be said of the neocon wing of the GOP, which has been calling for war with Iran for decades.

“We’re in an undeclared state of war,” one such Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), told Raw Story. “Six dead soldiers, you're at war. So we're in an undeclared state of war that's been going on since 1979.”

Others in the GOP shrug off the semantic debate.

“Who cares what you call it?” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “Bombs are dropping, bad people are dying. Unfortunately, some good people are dying too.”

To Democrats, there’s no debate, which is why in the Senate the party is forcing its eighth vote on war powers resolutions on Wednesday afternoon.

“I take the president at his own words. He calls it a war," Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-chair Mark Warner (D-VA) told Raw Story.

“They're all over the map. Don't take my word for it, look at the four different answers that have come from the President and the senior leadership.”

‘No exit plan’

While the administration says it’s at war, Democrats aren’t convinced it’s prepared.

“There was no planning. The best you can say is haphazard,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) told Raw Story. “There's no exit plan. There's no strategy. The risks are so enormous.”

“A lot of your [Republican] colleagues are telling me, ‘No, there's no fear of mission creep,’” Raw Story said. “I'm like, ‘Have you guys read any history?’”

“I mean, it's, I don't know. I regret, I mean …” Hickenlooper said, then stopped himself.

“I'm not often very speechless,” he said.

After a moment to gather his thoughts, the former Colorado governor found words.

“I guess I'd say that it's something you're going to have to be very, very careful as we disengage,” Hickenlooper told Raw Story.

“I don't think anybody wants a real war at scale, but they didn't want that in World War I either.”

Retiring GOP lawmaker spills about what he dislikes most about Trump: 'I'm not into that'

WASHINGTON — After President Donald Trump’s historically combative State of the Union address, many retiring congressional Republicans are breathing sighs of relief.

“I like teams that are cohesive,” retiring five-term Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story of Trump’s bombastic Tuesday night address.

Bacon’s one of 29 House Republicans heading for the exits, part of a wave of 68 members who’ve announced their retirements after this Congress.

While 31 are running for governor or Senate, Bacon's one of a handful of more moderate Republicans slated to leave office altogether.

That’s in no small part because of the MAGA-turn of the GOP, which has many in the middle looking for a Trump-sized escape hatch from Trump.

“You got to pick somebody that's more of a unifier than a divider,” Bacon said at the Capitol. “He's a populist. Populists like anger, but I'm not into that.”

If you too don’t like anger mixed in with your politics, you may want to turn off your TV for the next nine months, because political watchers say on Tuesday Trump set the stage for one of America’s most bitter elections ever.

‘Pretty good for the base’

Americans struggling to pay their bills were given little hope as Trump all but declared mission accomplished while decrying the “nation in crisis” he took over from former President Joe Biden and bragging about a tariff-induced economy remade in his own image.

Trump’s rosy economic pronunciations garnered standing ovations from most Republicans in the chamber, even if many weren’t buying what the President was selling.

“Are you worried at all about the affordability pitch?” Raw Story asked Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL). “That Republicans risk coming across as out of touch in November?”

“I’m retiring,” the 10-term Republican told Raw Story through a laugh.

“Not your worry?” Raw Story pressed.

“I'm not worried,” Buchanan said. “It was pretty good for the base.”

What’s good for GOP gooses in Trump’s America isn’t necessarily good for GOP ganders.

“There's a lot of strength in economic numbers,” Bacon told Raw Story. “But what hurts — and he's part of the blame, both sides are — the angst and the anger, the hyper-polarization and the mocking, it's sort of ugly. It does hurt to see it.”

With Trump’s populism cloaked in hyper-polarization — tribalism, even — the anger-tinged State of the Union address wasn’t an outlier.

“What you saw … reflects the anger I see at home towards him and also anger his supporters have towards the public,” Bacon said. “It's a two-way thing. There is hate out there.

“I always think leadership should elevate things, but that's not his mantra.”

And Trump’s mantra may be coming to a governor’s mansion near you soon.

Revolution will be localised

The mass exodus of moderates is coupled with a wave of ideologues running to take what they’ve learned in Trump’s Washington to their state capitals.

During this midterm cycle, two sitting Republican U.S. senators and 10 House Republicans are waging gubernatorial contests where riding Trump’s coattails is seen as a boon to their brands.

That’s why many Republicans running in deep red states, despite the President’s plummeting national poll numbers, are clinging to Trump and his divisive State of the Union address.

“It was great! Call ’em out,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story. “He called it like it was. He's one of the few presidents who'll do that. He tells it like it is and calls people out.”

“Are you worried at all about the gridlock?” Raw Story asked, “The tribalism?”

“No,” said Tuberville, who’s running for Alabama governor. “We're not defeated, we're winning. America’s winning. That’s all we care about. We don’t care about politics.

“We lost for four years. We were going down the drain so fast. America is back!”

Some six hours east, in South Carolina, Trump’s not just a populist — he’s popular, at least according to a fall 2025 Winthrop University poll showing 80 percent approval with conservatives in the state.

That’s why gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) has gushed since Trump’s address.

“Do you worry that your party risks looking out of touch with the American people when it comes to affordability?” Raw Story asked.

“The American people saw how the Democrats are not only out of touch, they still don't get it,” Norman said after Democrats refused to stand when the President railed against “illegal immigrants” Tuesday.

“They did it sitting on their hands. They're the new party of the socialists.”

To Norman, like many elected Republicans, the State of the Union address was as prophetic as it was a pronouncement of a new America.

“You look at the next four months and see what happens,”: Norman said. “If it's all good, it's going to have an impact.”

“If” is a mighty big word.

‘He misses Joe’

Democrats say their GOP counterparts are high on their own supply, especially after Trump spent the bulk of the State of the Union in reality TV mode, as when he awarded two war heroes with Medal of Honor’s in real time or garnered a rare bipartisan standing ovation for the gold medal-winning U.S. men's hockey team.

The celebration of exceptional Americans wasn’t lost on Democrats.

“There are wonderful people to honor in this country, and I'm glad that he honored them,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Raw Story. “But I don't know, it kind of felt like he would rather talk about other people than talk about his record.”

Biden still holds a special place in Trump’s heart, according to Moskowitz.

“He misses him. He misses Joe,” Moskowitz said. “I mean, he misses Joe more than we miss Joe.”

Democrats miss “Uncle Joe” a lot, especially his appeals for bipartisan compromise.

While Biden was known as a fighter he also prized unity, which Democrats say is a concept lost on Trump, at least in the Tuesday address they saw as a historically prickly flop.

“Worst. Divisive. Partisan. Beneath the office of President,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) told Raw Story. “Didn't unite anyone; divided everyone. He should be pulling us together and uniting us.”

With the 2026 elections under way, liberal leaders like the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), left Trump’s address all but salivating.

“He's clearly disconnected from the struggles of the American people. That was very clear,” DelBene told Raw Story. “Affordability is the number one issue across the country and continues to be and no awareness on their side.”

“But Trump’s got the bully pulpit,” Raw Story pressed. “Does that worry you at all?”

“When people hear him talk and they have a different life experience, what they're going through right now, it doesn't connect, and we've seen that across the country,” DelBene said.

“We see in special elections, people are souring on the Republican agenda and the broken promises. He promised to lower costs on day one.”

‘Weakest Speaker’: Mike Johnson derided on Capitol Hill after latest Trump surrender

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down, but you wouldn’t know it from walking around the U.S. Capitol, where the Epstein files and President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address are the talk of elected officials.

The silence as the DHS shutdown drags into its third week is, in part, because House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have, once again, outsourced their constitutionally-mandated spending powers to President Trump.

“I'm getting quite used to this. Republican leadership isn't really leading,” Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) told Raw Story.

While negotiations are nonexistent, simmering anger on the left is palpable.

“They don't really have any agency,” Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX) told Raw Story ahead of a House vote this week. “They’ve voluntarily given up power.

“Johnson really is probably the weakest Speaker, at least in recent memory. Everything is just about Trump and what Trump wants, on their side.”

‘Basic safeguards’

The DHS shutdown began earlier this month after Senate Democrats defeated the no-strings-attached funding extension Republicans squeaked out of the House.

The shutdown means members of key DHS agencies, including the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are working without pay.

Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the White House still hasn’t answered a recent offer shipped down Pennsylvania Avenue, with “crickets” in response.

The stand-off is fueled by Democratic fury over recent immigration operations in Minneapolis, prominently featuring violent action by agents of DHS bodies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.

Two U.S. citizen protesters — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 — were shot and killed in the city last month, fueling anger already stoked by arrest and deportation efforts including shootings of undocumented migrants.

Democrats are demanding reforms including an end to masking by federal agents and the use of judicial search warrants, measures congressional Republicans, the White House and DHS leaders reject.

“We ought to be able to … agree to basic constitutional safeguards like warrants and no masks, identifying themselves,” Castro said. “Those are not unreasonable requests.”

Reasonable or not, the White House remains mum — which has some powerful Republicans pointing fingers.

In a statement, House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), accused Democrats of choosing “to make the security of the American people — and the livelihoods of DHS families — contingent on partisan demands.”

Cole added: “It’s time for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to return to the basic obligation of governing: keep the nation secure and fund the department charged with doing so.”

Castro, a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, told Raw Story: “We don't want to see any part of the federal government shut down.

“At the same time, they got $150 billion extra dollars within the last few years, and Donald Trump has been willing to move money around departments since he got to a second term. And so they have the money they need for all the functions they need.”

Last May, a $150 billion infusion of money for anti-immigration measures cleared the House by a one-vote margin. It has been widely pointed out that the DHS shutdown is not affecting operations by ICE, as it benefits from that budget measure.

‘Tone deaf’

Larsen lamented DHS letting “ICE agents run amok” as “tone deaf” Republicans refuse to bend on any of the safeguards Democrats are demanding.

Larsen also pointed to lingering scandals over the behavior of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, which have led to calls for her to be fired.

“I think that part of the problem is Kristi Noem,” Larsen said. “It’s like she doesn't want to run the agency, except for herself. It's how it looks like and the administration refuses to even consider that.”

Noem’s use of DHS resources for her own comfort and close relationship with adviser Corey Lewandowski have been the subject of bombshell reporting. But President Trump seems inclined to stick by her.

Mocking Trump administration responses to the shutdown, Larsen, a member of the House Transportation Committee, said: “You have Kristi Noem saying things like, ‘Well, we're not going to put out business relief dollars. We're going to suspend TSA PreCheck [for air travelers], without checking with the White House, and the White House saying, ‘Yeah, TSA PreCheck’ [will continue].”

It added up to a clear Democratic expectation of slow to no progress in reopening DHS, and paying its key employees, any time soon — particularly as Speaker Johnson and Senate Leader Thune leave talks to Trump.

“I don't think the White House believes, or DHS believes, they have leverage on Congress,” Larsen said. “They sure don't seem to have leverage. The White House knows our position, and we know their position. And so it's in their court.”

'They kept the worst stuff': House lawmaker makes explosive accusation on DOJ Epstein drop

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) uncorked explosive claims Wednesday about stonewalling from the Justice Department, claiming the Trump administration kept the "worst" documents from the public eye.

In an interview with Raw Story, Khanna said the House Oversight Committee is proceeding with Clinton depositions and is coordinating a legal strategy with federal prosecutors in New York to compel the release of restricted documents.

"It's a drip by drip thing on accountability," he said, suggesting a prolonged battle ahead.

When pressed about whether the White House and President Donald Trump's DOJ are defying Congress and the law, Khanna noted the release was incomplete, but damaging.

"They released half the files, but they've kept the worst stuff," Khanna stated bluntly, warning that "this is not going away."

On the critical question of whether courts will serve as a safeguard against government overreach, Khanna expressed cautious optimism mixed with realism.

"I think the courts will push, but it may take ultimately the next president to really get prosecutions, investigations, and the files released," he declared.

The DOJ has come under immense scrutiny over its bungled release of the Jeffrey Epstein files following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.

The law required the DOJ to release all Epstein-related materials by Dec. 19, with minimal redactions. The DOJ under Attorney General Pam Bondi missed the deadline, released files in batches, and made unauthorized redactions.

Critics have alleged the DOJ is protecting powerful figures, including Trump, whose name appears thousands of times in the documents.

'I stood alone': Dem escorted from SOTU speaks out after dramatic challenge to Trump

WASHINGTON — Rep. Al Green (D-TX) broke his silence after he was forced out of the State of the Union address Tuesday night over confronting President Donald Trump.

Just as the president entered the House Chamber, Majority Leader of the House Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ripped a sign of Green's that said "Black people aren't apes" moments before Trump delivered his speech.

"As you know, the president has depicted the former president, the Obamas, as apes. And if we tolerate this level of racism and perpetuate it, I refuse to tolerate it," Green told Raw Story.

"I don’t want to see it normalized," he explained. "And that’s why I flashed this [sign] to the president so there would be no questions where I stand. He needs to know that there’s some people who have the courage to tell him things that he doesn’t want to hear and that nobody else will tell him. And on some issues, it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all. So I stood alone…”

Rep. Al Green speaks with @MattLaslo for Raw Story after his removal at SOTU
"As you know, the president has depicted the former president, the Obamas, as apes. And if we tolerate this level of racism and perpetuate it, I refuse to tolerate it. I don’t want to see it normalized.
— Nicole Charky-Chami (@NicoleCharky) February 25, 2026

And one some issues it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all. So I stood alone…” pic.twitter.com/CgSdntb3hJ
— Nicole Charky-Chami (@NicoleCharky) February 25, 2026

'Wasn't even thinking about her': MAGA lawmakers shade former colleague at SOTU

WASHINGTON — A pair of MAGA lawmakers shaded one of their former colleagues at President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Raw Story asked MAGA Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) whether they were missing former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ahead of the speech. Greene made a name for herself at former President Joe Biden's State of the Union addresses by heckling the former president.

"Wasn't even thinking about her," Boebert told Raw Story.

"Oh, c'mon!" Donalds responded.

Greene retired from Congress earlier this year after she and Trump had a falling out over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Greene claimed Trump told her he was protecting some of the people mentioned in the files because he didn't want to see his friends get hurt.

Greene was also one of the lawmakers who pushed for a bill to force the Trump administration to release all of the Epstein files in its possession. She held a press conference with multiple Epstein survivors, which caused Trump to lash out at her.

'Unmitigated disaster' warning for GOP as House pushes Trump law: 'It's going to hurt'

WASHINGTON — When Congress returns to Washington next week, Democrats will be on the defensive, rallying to kill the SAVE Act, a voting reform measure that party leaders say is a key part of President Donald Trump’s plan to seize control of elections.

“Oh, I think it's step one,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) told Raw Story. “Or step one, two, three, four — this is part of the plan.”

The SAVE Act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship, end mail-only voter registration, implement photo ID requirements in all 50 states and force new federally-mandated rules to purge noncitizens from state voter rolls.

“This has nothing to do with voter ID laws. This has nothing to do with the nonexistent problem of non-American citizens voting,” Clark said.

“It's all to do with voter suppression and rigging the election.”

‘They don’t want women to vote’

While the Senate is slated to take up the House-passed SAVE Act next week, the 2026 election is already under way.

In states like Texas, voters started casting ballots for Senate this Tuesday, including the highly anticipated Democratic primary between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Texas state senator James Talarico, both rising stars of the party.

In Washington, the number three House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), told Raw Story what’s “crazy about this now” is the GOP isn’t even trying to hide that the SAVE Act is an effort to impact 2026 primaries in spots like Texas, because if passed, the measure will take effect “immediately.”

“This is about them wanting to suppress votes in Texas, you know, in real-time right now,” Aguilar told Raw Story.

Aguilar and others say the measure’s requirement that voters produce a birth certificate, adoption papers, naturalization certificate, U.S. Passport, REAL ID or Tribal I.D. are onerous, especially for married people who have changed their last name.

A Pew Research study from 2023 showed more than 80 percent of married women take their spouse's last name. Critics point out the version of the SAVE Act that passed the U.S. House doesn’t allow voters to offer proof of name-change documentation.

Republicans “don't want women to vote,” Aguilar said. “They don't want people of color to vote. They don't want people to vote by mail. That's just kind of where they are, and it's unfortunate.”

‘It’s going to hurt Republican voters’

While almost all Democrats oppose the measure — only one House Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), supported it — many say it will actually hit Republicans harder.

“That is an unmitigated disaster for voters across America, Republicans as much as if not more than Democrats,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) told Raw Story.

“Wouldn't the SAVE Act codify Trump’s desire to nationalize elections?” Raw Story asked Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).

“I don't think it'll do that,” Bera said. “But what it will do is, it'll make it really hard for folks to register to vote.

“I also think it's going to hurt Republican voters, right? Because the proof of citizenship usually is your birth certificate or passport. Probably more Democrats have passports than Republicans, right?”

Bera pointed to GOP efforts to end vote by mail since Donald Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden in 2020.

“That backfired on Trump as well, because Republican voters used to be better vote-by-mail voters, then all of a sudden he said don't do it, and then that helped us in the election.

“You win or lose elections based on your ideas and so forth, and, you know, Trump ran on a lot of the right things, I think, but he's clearly delivering the wrong messages. So it's an opportunity for us to correct that record.”

‘I trust Trump to be devious’

Democrats continue rallying the base around efforts to derail the SAVE Act, in part because of the unprecedented efforts Trump has already made to stay in power — as witnessed most viscerally on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters attacked Congress itself.

“Calling for nationalization is a terrible idea, a dangerous idea and a, very frankly, undemocratic idea,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Raw Story. “And for a president who refuses to accept the court's judgments as to the validity of the election, a very scary alternative.

“And he told people to come down here, take over the Capitol, commit insurrection and treason so he could win the election. Any suggestions he makes about elections are without foundation or grounds or good intent.”

That’s why Democrats aren’t merely shrugging the SAVE Act off as politics-as-unusual.

“I trust Trump to be devious, smart,” Garamendi said, “and screw up this entire country.”

While Democratic leaders see the Constitution as on their side, they remain skeptical of the conservative Supreme Court.

“Do you trust the judiciary as the last backstop?” Raw Story asked House Whip Clark. “Or how nervous are you?

“We're going to keep pressing our case in courts and here [at the Capitol], but the SAVE Act isn't passed,” Clark said, “And we're going to make sure it doesn't get there.”

Trump intel chief election meddling should 'freak everybody out,' top Dems shout

WASHINGTON — On Capitol Hill, questions keep mounting about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 election investigation and whether she’s using foreign surveillance officers and resources on U.S. soil.

Democrats demanding answers about why DNI Gabbard was present for the hugely controversial FBI raid on an election office in Fulton County, Georgia last month are eager to grill her when she publicly testifies before the Senate intelligence Committee in March.

“It raises serious questions, because it would be a violation, in some cases, of laws if our foreign intelligence service was operating in the United States,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) told Raw Story on Capitol Hill.

As the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reed’s an ex-officio member of the Intelligence Committee.

“The CIA clearly can't do anything [on U.S. soil], but no, it's just there's no explanation for” Gabbard’s actions, he said.

“The Department of Justice issues a warrant, etc, and you have an intelligence official down there? I don't know what's happened.”

Reed’s far from alone, as questions swirl and the administration remains mostly mum.

‘The plan all along’

As President Donald Trump fixates on his defeat by former President Joe Biden in 2020 and repeats disproved claims about election fraud in that contest, reports that Gabbard’s office last year took control of and tested voting machines in Puerto Rico only raised fears of interference in this year’s midterm elections.

“I've heard people indicate that she's trying to regain favor [with President Trump], so she might be given another mission like make sure 2026 goes our way,” Reed said.

“Are you nervous?” Raw Story asked.

“I am,” Reed said. “Everyone should be.

“Because if you look at the cumulative steps from the first day — taking apart the cybersecurity infrastructure approach, taking out the agency, the FBI, that handles election security — you know, it’s as if the plan all along is we won't have those protections we need for the election.”

President Trump’s recent call to “nationalize” those midterms isn’t helping.

“Nationalizing … is unconstitutional,” Reed said.

As Fulton County officials fight in court to reclaim control of election materials, critics say the conspiracy-fueled underpinningings of the Trump administration investigation are becoming clear.

On Tuesday, Fulton County officials wrote in a court filing that, “instead of alleging probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” the FBI search warrant application did “nothing more than describe the types of human errors that its own sources confirm occur in almost every election — without any intentional wrongdoing whatsoever.”

The filing also noted the warrant relied on debunked conspiracies propagated by Kurt Olsen, an election denier sanctioned by a number of courts for unfounded claims that 2020 results were invalid.

‘No legitimate legal role’

For congressional critics, watching Gabbard claim new domestic investigative powers based on debunked conspiracies is especially alarming.

“She has no legitimate legal role to be at the Fulton County voter election bureau,” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) told Raw Story, on the House side of the Capitol.

“It feels like a desperate ploy to get back in Donald Trump's good graces, but the fact that they're doing this by trying to elevate years-old, multiple-discredited, crazy conspiracy theories should be really concerning to everyone.”

The DNI’s role is “supposed to be about foreign threats,” Scanlon added.

Conspiracies beget conspiracies, it seems: Scanlon and others wonder if Trump’s fixation with Venezuela — and the dramatic January raid to capture its then-leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores — wasn’t tied to wild claims that the South American country controls voting machines across the globe and had a hand in Trump’s 2020 defeat.

“Certainly the fear that I've heard expressed is that now that they have the president, former president, purported president of Venezuela in custody and they have this crazy theory from 2020 that Venezuela somehow took over voting machines, can they get him to cop to doing this as a ‘get out of jail free’ card?” Scanlon said.

“I mean, it's a wild thing to even be thinking about, but we have seen that this is an administration that doesn't care what depths it descends to.”

Which is why Scanlon and others say the DNI investigating local American elections is so worrisome.

“We do need to look at what kind of domestic surveillance is going on or has been going on and the misuse of taxpayer funds to do political work,” Scanlon said.

Reports that Gabbard called President Trump after the Fulton County FBI raid are also concerning to Democrats.

“Let’s be clear: It is inappropriate for a sitting president to personally involve himself in a criminal investigation tied to an election he lost,” Senate Intelligence Vice-chair Mark Warner (D-VA) told congressional reporters.

‘Destroying democratic norms’

Nonetheless, the Trump administration seems set on testing the bounds of what’s politically appropriate — and the Constitution itself.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard, at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

“Obviously, they are destroying our national security infrastructure, destroying democratic norms every single day,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story.

“Yes, it should freak everybody out that the director of national intelligence is sitting outside of an election office in Georgia, but there's lots of things every day that should freak people out.

“None of this is normal, and nobody should act like it's normal.”

Back when he sat in the House, Murphy served alongside Gabbard, then a first-term Democrat from Hawaii. While the two teamed up on some foreign policy measures, Murphy says he barely recognizes her now.

“She's just desperately searching for relevance in the MAGA world and to get back on Trump's calendar,” Murphy told Raw Story.

“I've sort of stopped long ago trying to decipher the internal dynamics of the MAGA ecosystem.”

Gabbard’s scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 18.

‘Outrageous’: Top Dem marks wins in court but Trump still wants to hang him

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) would rather not be in the national spotlight because the President of the United States called for him to be hanged, but that doesn't mean he's not prepared to fight to the bitter end.

And this week, the only bitterness was emanating from the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Trump White House suffered major setbacks in its attempt to make an example out of Kelly and other veterans in Congress who cut a video calling on active-duty service members to refuse any unconstitutional orders from Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

That video prompted Trump to say the Democrats were guilty of “seditious behavior,” an offense he claimed was “punishable by DEATH!” He also shared calls from supporters for the Democrats to be hanged.

Hegseth threatened to court martial Kelly, then attempted to reduce his rank and pension.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story, Arizona's senior senator opened up about the barrage of attacks he and other veterans of the military or intelligence services have endured as a result of such Trump administration assaults.

"This government doesn't want us speaking out against them," Kelly said, while riding the tram underneath the U.S. Senate.

"Such a fundamental American right that we all have is to criticize the government. They don't like criticism."

‘Rights are on the line’

There was a lot of criticism this week over Trump’s attempt to censure the Democratic veterans who spoke out.

On Tuesday, a D.C. grand jury threw out charges the administration sought to bring against Kelly and the five other Democrats who spoke out.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided with Kelly, blocking a planned Department of Defense punishment and scolding both the White House and Pentagon — “Horsefeathers!” he exclaimed — for "trying to shrink the First Amendment liberties of retired servicemembers."

Kelly is a decorated U.S. Navy pilot and astronaut — which is partly why the personal attacks from the Commander-in-Chief have been so unsettling.

"What have you thought of..." Raw Story asked, before the senator finished the question.

"The president wanting to hang me?" Kelly said. "I take a little bit of offense to it, you know, and saying I should be executed. It's outrageous. I mean, he's the president."

On Thursday, Judge Leon ordered Kelly and the Pentagon to come back in 30 days with an update on the issue between them, even as his ruling barred Hegseth from punishing Kelly by reducing rank or retirement pay or by taking any other step.

"There's a process," Kelly said. "I filed a lawsuit against Pete Hegseth to, you know, stop that process.

"The real thing that matters is there are over two million retired veterans — veterans whose First Amendment rights are on the line with this case.

"Because if they can say that me — as somebody who left the military 15 years ago and is a retired service member — that I do not have freedom of speech rights, and I'm a U.S. senator, if they can take away my rank after 25 years and take away some of my retirement pension, they can do that to anybody.

“Much easier to do that to somebody else."

‘I didn’t ask for this’

The high-stakes fight with Trump and Hegseth has raised Kelly's profile, with appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in recent months.

Even with 2026 being a midterm elections year, there's lots of chatter about a Kelly presidential run in 2028. For now at least, he brushes that aside.

"I didn't ask for this," Kelly said. "I was just trying to send a really very simple, basic message that I felt needed to be said, and, you know, this is all Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth's doing."

While calling for an execution is about as personal as politics can get, at the end of the day, Kelly laughs Trump off.

"Every day he just says outrageous stuff," Kelly said.

Kelly is confident the courts will continue to rule his way, because of the strength of First Amendment protections.

"The law and the Constitution are on our side here," Kelly told Raw Story. "So, yeah, I mean, anything can happen, but I feel pretty good about it."

Hispanic Caucus warns Minneapolis: Trump aide Homan lied about ICE drawdowns before

WASHINGTON — Border czar Tom Homan’s goodwill tour continues, but members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus aren’t buying it.

In Minneapolis on Thursday, Homan — who as an aide to President Donald Trump has vowed to “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen” — announced the end of the immigration crackdown that has upended the city and roiled the nation.

On Capitol Hill, Homan’s claim that ICE is pulling out, after federal agents killed two protesters in three weeks, was met with suspicion from leading members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“They're going to draw down in Minnesota and go somewhere else where they're not going to get as much [pushback],” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) told Raw Story.

“They got particularly beat up [in Minneapolis] because the people that they shot and killed were very sympathetic. And I think they're going to go to some other place where people might not look so sympathetic.”

U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, were shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis. Their deaths triggered outrage, repulsion and protest in ways that agents’ alleged abuse of migrants has not.

While the shooting deaths of two white protesters inspired a protest song written and released by Bruce Springsteen, Hispanic Caucus members point to comparatively muted protests over 32 deaths of migrants held in ICE custody last year as evidence of a double standard even for sympathetic voices on the left.

Homan took over supervision of the Minnesota immigration surge after the Trump administration removed Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.

"I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan told reporters on Thursday. “A significant drawdown has already been under way this week and will continue to the next week."

Homan also claimed to have "improve[d] coordination and achieve[d] mutual goals” with local authorities, and to be “leaving Minnesota safer."

But media coverage painting Homan as a sort of savior-like figure since swooping into Minneapolis made Latino politicians in Washington laugh until they cry.

Vargas for one wasn’t buying anything about the notion of Homan as a friendlier face of Trumpist immigration policy.

“You know, it's interesting because the other guy's face completely looked … like a fascist, there's no doubt about that,” he said.

Bovino courted controversy with gestures and costumes critics said evoked far-right precedents.

“And then it just was downgraded to a bully,” Vargas said of Homan. “But we're still at bully level. I mean, him being the nice face is incredible. You know, really, the bully is the nice guy?”

'Horrible stuff'

Other CHC members concurred.

“You know, [Homan] has a pretty brutal history, so for him to become like a lighter version, it'll be tough for him to do that,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) told Raw Story.

“His demeanor has been very in-your-face. And, you know, that's what they're trying to do. Today we heard from a Marine whose father was a gardener who was beaten down by ICE, the father of three U.S. Marines, [Narciso] Barranco.

“So this is horrible stuff that is happening in the nation. The fact that they are reacting shows that they admit what they got wrong.”

Others on the Hispanic Caucus said they’d heard Homan’s tune before.

“[The Minnesota surge ]has created so much backlash even within their own base, that they have to try to quell that, because it's just undermining their position,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) told Raw Story. “Even when they said that they were doing a surge in LA, they pulled back, they didn't.

“So I think it's probably hiding the ball a little bit, Homan being the ‘softer face’. I think it's a laughable approach.

“Remember a lot of the stuff he was saying early on? Maybe he didn't agree with it. Who knows, but he still believes in a kind of a hardcore anti-immigrant enforcement.”

'Sweep up everyone': Lawmakers say DOJ spying part of much larger — and darker — scheme

WASHINGTON — More lawmakers are coming out against Attorney General Pam Bondi's secret surveillance of members of Congress to counter their investigation into how the Justice Department is handling the release of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case files.

In an exclusive conversation with Raw Story, several expressed discomfort with having their work spied on — and warned it's part of something much larger and darker.

"It's clear they're doing it," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. "You can tell when you go over there, I mean you're on a floor with 15 empty offices, and then you go in and you're surrounded by people ... it's so obvious."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) concurred and said it was a failed attempt to scare lawmakers into backing off oversight.

"I think it's weird," she said. "Their M.O. is intimidation, and when you're not intimidated, they've got nothing else."

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), however, told Raw Story she thinks this goes deeper.

"It's not the only place" such surveillance is happening, said Scanlon, referencing a recent DOJ memo that orders anti-Trump protesters to be investigated as domestic terrorists. They are trying to create a "list of entities" to accuse of "left-wing terrorism," Scanlon said, including for such innocuous reasons as opposing "traditional family values."

The goal here is clear, she said: "Sweep up everyone who's the president's enemy."

"We're seeing this whole-of-government approach to attacking people this White House views as enemies, whether it's arresting members of Congress, trying to have them indicted, going after attorneys general, going after FTC chairs," said Scanlon. "Anything they can do to turn the government on people that the White House wants to silence. It's hugely dangerous."

Pam Bondi accused of using DOJ to spy on Congress: 'It's astounding'

During contentious testimony on Wednesday, some congressional members suspected Attorney General Pam Bondi of abusing the Justice Department to spy on how they planned to question her.

In an exclusive conversation with Raw Story, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) outlined precisely why he believes this is the case — and what it says about the Trump administration.

"Pam Bondi came prepared to mislead, to defend, to insult, to refuse to answer," said Johnson. "It is an exercise that she prepared for."

Beyond that, he added, "I understand that she may also have had a list of items that each member of Congress who presented themselves to the Department of Justice to review the Epstein files unredacted, the exact and precise documents that those Congresspeople looked at. That's what I heard. And you have to request specific ones."

"So what we have is the possibility of the DOJ under Pam Bondi, and Pam Bondi herself, having the activity in DOJ computers — in other words, you track what members of Congress are looking at on your systems. That should not be. And then you come to Congress today armed with that information ready to, ready to defend yourself. Or use in whatever way you decide might be most appropriate."

"That smacks of, you know, there being a surveillance state," he added.

Johnson further agreed that Bondi was perpetrating a double standard, given the Trump administration, and its allies in Congress, expressing fury over former special counsel Jack Smith investigating the phone records of lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who had spoken with Trump in the leadup to the Jan. 6 attack and the plot to overturn the 2020 election. Senate Republicans even slipped a provision into a recent funding bill that would let them sue the Justice Department for this.

"The duplicity is astounding," said Johnson.