Comment on Centcom helps fortify Iraqi forces against Islamic State

House members are lobbying Speaker Mike Johnson to raise the threshold to trigger the procedure to oust the speaker. However, Johnson announced he would not change the procedure for removing him from the speakership after Republican hardliners reacted with fury to the proposed change of rules. A single member can force a floor vote on the motion to vacate - part of the deal Kevin McCarthy made to become speaker last year.

Jury selection for the remaining alternates continues Friday in former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial. Follow here for the latest live news updates, analysis and more.

Democrats helped Republican leaders advance legislation to provide billions in stalled security funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, steering the measures closer toward passage this weekend. Via CBS News: After about nine hours of recess, the House Rules Committee reconvened late Thursday night and moved GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson's foreign aid bills on a 9-3 vote, thanks to the votes of all four Democrats who sit on the committee: Ranking Member Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania Rep.

Despite warnings from Judge Juan Merchan that the media should not be revealing too many details which could identify the jurors in the Trump trial in Manhattan, Fox's Jesse Watters spent another evening railing about them in the obvious hope that they'll either be identified or intimidated. I watched at least one pundit on MSNBC say the judge could have shut this sort of thing down ahead of time by not making their information available to the media at all.

Juanita Jean - hubris, thy name is Donald; Lawyers, Guns & Money - NPR agonistes and the Bari Weiss grift model; Left Jabs - GOP Putin caucus now in the spotlight; Obsidian Wings - the eyes have it; Roy Edroso Breaks it Down - Romney: the Wrath of Rockefeller. Send tips to MBRU (AT) crooksandliars (DOT) com read more

Day 3 of the Trump Criminal Trial was quite a chaotic one!!! Started with fireworks about more of Trump's gag order violations, the worst one being a post with a direct quote attacking the jurors. After his post accusing jurors of being "undercover liberal activists", Juror #2 (an oncology nurse that was outed by the incredible amount of detail reported by journalists), decided to leave the jury! Fox News host Jesse Watters on Tuesday broadcast extensive biographical details about Juror No.