Politics

Judge bars Trump administration from cutting funding to University of California 

Roll Call -  Halfway through the 2026 midterm cycle, the fight for the House is remarkably stable, and that’s good news for Democrats’ chances of winning the majority.

Republican efforts to pad their majority through mid-decade redistricting haven’t been as successful as projected thus far, and President Donald Trump’s first year of his second term hasn’t been as popular as Republicans had expected.

Nearly 90 years of history is on Democrats’ side. The president’s party has lost House seats in 20 of the past 22 midterm elections, and the fewest number of seats lost in those cycles was four (1962) and five (1986). 

MS Now -  Since the House Oversight Committee released documents on Wednesday related to the late convicted sex offender, including emails by Epstein that mention Trump by name, Trump has been dodging the press. 

On Friday, Trump had no public events or meetings on his schedule. And instead of engaging with reporters — whom this president typically veers toward — Trump has retreated to social media to launch his counteroffensive on the Epstein crisis. 

Axios -  President Trump pulled his support for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) yesterday, ending a years-long alliance after weeks of Greene publicly breaking with her party, Axios' Kate Santaliz and Alex Isenstadt write.

Greene was once considered one of Trump's fiercest allies and a MAGA brand ambassador. But Trump accused her of veering "too far to the left" and said he'd back a primary challenger "if the right person runs."

Greene has taken positions in recent weeks that have puzzled Republicans, and irritated Trump.

•     She's said her party has "no plan" when it comes to health care.
•     She was one of four Republicans to sign a discharge petition to release the Epstein files, against Trump's wishes.
•     In an interview with Axios last month, she slammed Trump's second-term agenda as "America Last." MORE

NY Times -  On Sunday, Trump granted sweeping pardons to 77 people who helped him attempt to subvert the 2020 election. Last week, Trump pardoned Glen Casada, the Republican former speaker of the Tennessee House, and Casada’s former chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Both men had been convicted of charges including wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In the same set of pardons, Trump also pardoned Robert Harshbarger Jr., the husband of Diana Harshbarger, a Republican representative from Tennessee. As our newsroom reported, Robert had pleaded guilty to “health care fraud and distributing a misbranded drug, in this case kidney medications, some of which came from China, that were not approved for the purpose by the Food and Drug Administration.”

This is just a partial list of the most notorious and unjustifiable pardons of Trump’s second term so far. MORE

Axios - The Trump administration killed a Biden-era proposal to require airlines to compensate passengers for flight delays or cancellations. The Transportation Department said airlines already have incentives to reimburse passengers voluntarily. Go deeper.

Attorney General Pam Bondi assigned the U.S. attorney in Manhattan to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, including former President Clinton. President Trump ordered the investigation on Truth Social. Go deeper.