Politics

The Guardian reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr has officially announced that he will be running for US president as an independent. “I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States,” Kennedy said to applause and chants. Kennedy added that he will be creating a new “Declaration of Independence” for the US. Kennedy claimed that a …

The Hill reports: Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did not rule out returning to the post if the House Republican Conference cannot decide on a replacement. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked McCarthy — who lost the gavel last week after eight House Republicans joined with Democrats to oust him — on Monday whether he would serve again as Speaker …

NBC News reports: Nine Americans have been killed in the violence in Israel and more may be missing after Hamas attacked from Gaza over the weekend, the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on “Morning Joe” Monday morning. “There are reports of Americans who are unaccounted for,” he said. “We continue to work to confirm that number and try to …

The Washington Post reports: Vietnamese government agents tried to plant spyware on the phones of members of Congress, American policy experts and U.S. journalists this year in a brazen campaign that underscores the rapid proliferation of state-of-the-art hacking tools, according to forensic examination of links posted to Twitter and documents uncovered by a consortium of news outlets that includes The …

Reuters reports: Major international air carriers have suspended or reined in flight services to or from Tel Aviv after a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israel over the weekend, saying they were waiting for safety conditions to improve. Israel’s national carrier El Al was the exception, adding more flights to bring reservists back from around the world to assist …

Bloomberg reports: The speaker election took on new urgency this weekend after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing at least 600 people and prompting calls for more US assistance. Without a speaker, the House cannot conduct legislative business even with bipartisan support for Israel in the chamber. The contenders for House speaker were reduced to two over the weekend after Oklahoma …

NBC News reports: Israel has begun what Defense Minister Yoav Gallant [photo] called a “full siege” of the Gaza Strip in the wake of the unprecedented attacks by Hamas. “I ordered a full siege on the Gaza Strip. No power, no food, no gas, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly,” said Gallant, a former …

Axios reports: At least two members of Congress were able to depart Israel unharmed after being present for Hamas’ incursions into the country this weekend. The presence of multiple high-level American political figures in the country underscores how the surprise attacks caught both Israel and the U.S. off guard. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), his wife and his three youngest children …

Roll Call reports: The House GOP conference will hold its internal election for speaker Wednesday morning after a Tuesday evening “candidate forum,” according to a schedule distributed by Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik [photo] of New York. On Monday night, the conference will also meet behind closed doors for a “member-only discussion.” Phones are to be checked at the door …

From the editors of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: The disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing …

CBS News reports: Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) announced on Sunday that she intends to support Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) bid for Speaker, following her vote last Tuesday to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his post. “I will tell you today, I am going to be supporting Jim Jordan for speaker for a number of reasons,” Mace said in …

The New York Times reports: Israel’s military said its forces were still battling gunmen from Gaza on Israeli territory on Sunday afternoon, more than 30 hours after the initial surge of armed militants across the border as part of the broadest invasion in 50 years. The ongoing fighting came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult …

The Hill reports: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said Sunday that some Republicans’ floating to elect former President Trump as Speaker of the House won’t come to fruition. Buck told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that some GOP members’ push to nominate the former president as Speaker is “not going to happen” in the wake of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ousting from …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s First Lady is happy to be compared to the most recent former American First Lady. That’s the takeaway from Casey DeSantis’ comments Saturday in Iowa. “They call you, like, Walmart Melania, which by the way, if I’m in the same sentence with Melania, that’s a win for me,” she said, referring to Melania Trump. The First …

The Washington Post reports: Israel on Sunday issued a formal declaration of war against Hamas and pounded Gaza with strikes, promising retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the militant group that surprised Israeli security forces. The death toll has risen to 600 in Israel, according to local media, while Palestinian authorities said at least 313 were killed in Gaza. Thousands …

The Associated Press reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at decriminalizing the possession and personal use of several hallucinogens, including psychedelic mushrooms. The legislation vetoed Saturday would have allowed those 21 and older to possess psilocybin, the hallucinogenic component in what’s known as psychedelic mushrooms. “California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines …

Politico reports: The attacks in Israel and demand for U.S. aid are injecting new urgency into recent talks among centrist House Republicans to attempt to reinstate Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, with scores of Republican lawmakers now discussing the effort. Calls and texts among GOP members picked up dramatically after news of the attacks reached the U.S. overnight Friday. The …

Politico reports: Former Vice President Mike Pence tore into Donald Trump and pointed to isolationism in the Republican Party as complicit in the sweeping Hamas attack on Israel, decrying American “retreat on the world stage.” In a scathing rebuke of isolationism in the Republican Party, Pence faulted “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I …

The Washington Post reports: Amid concerns the rise of artificial intelligence will supercharge the spread of misinformation comes a wild fabrication from a more prosaic source: Amazon’s Alexa, which declared that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the …

Semafor reports: Members of Donald Trump’s team are quietly preparing to go on offense against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as internal campaign polling suggests his expected third party bid could draw more votes from Trump than President Joe Biden in a general election. Semafor has not independently reviewed the polling. One person close to Trump’s campaign said it showed that …