Politics

“You know, I said that President Xi of China — 1.4 billion people, he controls it with an iron fist — I said he’s a very smart man. They killed me the next day [for saying it]. I said he was smart! What am I gonna say? But Hezbollah, they’re very smart and they [Israel] have a national defense minister …

The Messenger reports: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise should not expect any help from Donald Trump in his bid to become speaker of the House, sources tell The Messenger. Scalise hasn’t been loyal enough to the former president and 2024 presidential frontrunner, so he shouldn’t count on Trump to help woo enough GOP holdouts — who include Trump allies — …

Semafor reports: Progressive pundit Cenk Uygur will challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination, offering himself as an alternative to an incumbent who “is definitely going to lose” if he makes it to the general election. “I’m going to do whatever I can to help him decide that this is not the right path,” Uygur, 53, told Semafor, as he …

“I plan on voting for Jim Jordan on the floor. I’ve been very vocal about this for the last couple of days. I personally cannot, in good conscience vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke. I would be doing an enormous disservice to the voters that I represent in South Carolina if …

CNN reports: The House of Representatives will not vote on a new speaker today, just hours after Republicans voted behind closed doors to select Rep. Steve Scalise as their nominee for speaker. The final vote tally was 113 for Scalise and 99 for Rep. Jim Jordan. The vote came after the conference rejected a proposal to raise the threshold required …

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina Republicans enacted vote-count restrictions and weakened the governor’s ability to oversee elections and other state regulatory bodies on Tuesday by overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. Lawsuits attempting to block the new laws are likely as the 2024 elections approach. In a series of votes, the narrow GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate …

The Jerusalem Post reports: An emergency government was formed on Wednesday afternoon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity leader Benny Gantz met in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv earlier in the morning. The meeting lasted half an hour after which lawyers representing the Likud and National Unity stayed behind to finalize the details. As part of the …

Politico reports: Anti-abortion groups are banking on Ohio to end the movement’s run of state-level losses and create a blueprint for battles in 2024 and beyond. In four weeks, voters in the Buckeye State will decide whether to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution or be the first to reject an abortion-rights measure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe …

The Messenger reports: The Gaza strip, cut off from Israel’s power grid, lost electrical service on Wednesday when the territory’s sole power plant ran out of fuel, reports said. The Al Jazeera Mubasher, news channel, citing the head of the Gaza Energy Authority, said the lights went out at 2 p.m. local time. Israel cut off its supply of electricity …

“I want to be very clear. If you kill the hostages — the Hamas has hostages, Americans and Israeli hostages — they start killing those hostages, if there’s an attack by Hezbollah in the north, creating two fronts for Israel, what I would do is, I would bomb Iran’s oil infrastructure. “The money financing terrorism comes from Iran. It’s time …

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace wanted to make a point. So she decided to do it with a bold reference to one of the best-known female protagonists in American literature. On Oct. 10, the South Carolina Republican walked into a closed-door candidate forum for the next Speaker of the House wearing a white shirt with …

Axios reports: Multiple members emerged from the House GOP’s speaker forum on Tuesday saying they don’t see either candidate being any closer to having the votes needed to secure the gavel on the floor. “No one is close to 217,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said after Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La) and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pitched members on …

The Washington Post reports: Democratic Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether the Youngkin administration violated the Voting Rights Act when it wiped at least 270 fully qualified Virginia voters off the state’s rolls. In a letter dated Friday and released to the media Tuesday, Warner, Kaine and the …

The Messenger reports: President Joe Biden has “blood on his hands” after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel over the weekend, Sen. Tim Scott said during a foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. “While Hamas carried out these attacks, Joe Biden has blood on his hands,” Scott said. “His weakness invited the attack. His cash giveaways to …

The Hill reports: Former Trump adviser Steve Cortes has stepped down from his position at the super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R ) presidential bid Never Back Down, according to a statement from the group. “Steve launched his own show and left his role as a spokesman for Never Back Down,” said Erin Perrine, communications director for Never …

Bloomberg News reports: Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said he hasn’t ruled out running for president in 2024, noting that the vast majority of Americans want an alternative to President Joe Biden or GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “However I can serve, I’m still trying to figure that out, but I’m not walking away,” Hogan said at an event at Bloomberg’s …

Axios reports: Former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday announced his run for the House seat held by embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). The seat, which voted for President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, is a top target for House Democrats and Suozzi would likely be a formidable primary and general election candidate. Santos’ troubles have attracted a large …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider overturning a landmark case that gives protections to news organizations facing defamation claims by rejecting an appeal brought by West Virginia coal baron Don Blankenship. Blankenship, also an erstwhile Republican Senate candidate, sued various news organizations for referring to him as a convicted felon when in fact he was …

The Orange County Register reports: Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey made his foray into the crowded U.S. Senate race official Tuesday morning, launching a bid as a Republican. For Garvey, who played 14 seasons with the Dodgers before he finished with the San Diego Padres for five seasons, a move into the political arena isn’t much of a curveball. During …

The Daily Beast reports: Republican state legislators In North Carolina are establishing a new investigative body that Democratic critics have aptly compared to a “secret police force.” This new entity, formally known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, or “Gov Ops” for short, will be chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). …