by Jeff McCausland | Nov 9, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, White House
I had lunch with Donald Rumsfeld 20 years ago today, the day after he announced his resignation as President George W. Bush’s defense secretary. Amid widespread fatigue and deep opposition to the Iraq War, the Republican Party had just lost 31 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate. Some Republicans privately complained that Bush should have fired Rumsfeld the day before the midterm election instead of characterizing his resignation as a “mutual decision” after the fact.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth finds himself in a remarkably similar position after fatigue and opposition to the war with Iran and the higher prices it caused led to a Republican Party defeat that was even more devastating than 2006. The question isn’t just whether President Donald Trump will ask him to resign, it’s also whether the House of Representatives will vote for his impeachment. Whether Hegseth steps aside or fights will tell us much about how Trump plans to deal with a Democratic congressional majority in January.
Whether Hegseth steps aside or fights will tell us much about how Trump plans to deal with a Democratic congressional majority in January.
Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday. These center on the unauthorized war with Iran, violations of the War Powers Resolution and allegations of military and conduct abuse, including boat strikes in the Caribbean (an alleged war crime) and blocking the promotion of 50 officers selected for general or admiral rank. Massie attempted to force an impeachment vote against Hegseth before the election, but it was blocked by Speaker Mike Johnson.
There are probably enough votes in the House to impeach
by Steve Benen | Nov 9, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, White House
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who is expected to soon lead the House Oversight Committee, has made no effort to hide his ambitious investigative agenda in the upcoming Congress. On the contrary, the Californian spent much of last week encouraging leading Trump administration officials, including new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, to “lawyer up.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche apparently heard about Garcia’s comments, and he was not pleased.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, Stephen Miller has a lawyer,” he said on Fox News during a Friday night appearance. “It’s me.” Blanche, who ostensibly leads the Justice Department, echoed the point two days later in another Fox News appearance, questioning whether the United States “can survive” the congressional oversight efforts that haven’t happened yet.
The attorney general added, “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer. It’s me, and we will defend you. We will work hard.”
The same morning, CNN’s Dana Bash also interviewed Blanche and asked whether he believes it’s his job to represent officials facing congressional investigations. “Wait, do I see it as my job?” he replied. “The Constitution sees it as my job.”
The attorney general quickly added that he would also intend to defend Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the event of his impeachment.
None of this made any sense. The Constitution, which Blanche has sworn to protect and defend, does not reference the office of the attorney general, so the idea that it requires him to defend administration officials facing congressional investigations is foolish. What’s more, every executive branch official who has ever been impeached has relied on defense attorneys, not federal prosecutors.
Blanche, in other words, sounded very
by Priya Sridhar | Nov 9, 2026 | News, White House
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth short-circuited a merit-based process for promoting senior officers and instead relied on newly invented criteria that disproportionately removed from advancement women and people of color who had already been approved for promotion, according to three military officials.
MS NOW spoke exclusively to a senior official with in-depth knowledge of flag and general officer selection and assignment who described in detail for the first time how, he says, the results of internet searches were used by Hegseth’s office to withhold promotions from women and people of color. He was granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The senior official also described how Hegseth intentionally scuttled the promotions of senior officers who perceived to support DEI initiatives, played a role in implementing the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, were involved in the evacuation from Afghanistan, or had a connection to former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as President Trump’s senior military officer but after retirement publicly criticized Trump’s leadership.
“I was like ‘you gotta be kidding me’, but of course we need people to get confirmed. We need nominations to go through. We need decisions made,” the senior official said.
The senior official’s account of the application of new criteria was confirmed by two of the officers who were selected for promotion by a rigorous merit-based process to a flag or general officer rank, but then withheld by Hegseth’s office. Those officers were told by Pentagon officials over the phone their promotions were being withheld, but were not given a chance to respond, they said. For most, not getting promoted will end their military careers. If these
by Erum Salam | Nov 8, 2026 | Congress, elections, News, White House
Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested Sunday that Democratic lawmakers who are planning to launch oversight investigations into the Trump administration could be criminally prosecuted.
“What we‘ve seen over the past several days and even over the past several weeks are outright threats,” Blanche said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Asked if he considered those threats to be a crime, Blanche said, “It depends on what’s said. So yes, there could be.”
Blanche himself is a potential target of impeachment, Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is poised to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told MS NOW a day after Election Day.
The attorney general’s stark warning came a day after President Donald Trump railed against the incoming congressional majority on social media, saying, “These SLEAZEBAGS should go to jail for what they are doing.”
“You have free speech in this country. You are allowed to be critical of President Trump, of me, of this administration,” Blanche said. “But when the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point, you have to draw the line.”
The attorney general was referring to Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s “deterrence message” last month to students at the University of Chicago. Slotkin was among a group of Democratic lawmakers investigated by the Department of Justice last year after urging U.S. military service members to “refused illegal orders” by Trump administration officials.
Even before winning both chambers of Congress five days ago by strikingly large numbers, Democrats said they planned to hold
by David Rohde | Nov 8, 2026 | Iran, News, White House, World
A legal group accused the Trump administration on Sunday of planning to violate a judge’s order that bars the deportation of Iranian nationals back to their home country without sufficient notification to a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
In court filings, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said it had been told that 11 Iranian nationals — 10 men and one woman — were scheduled to be flown by Immigration Customs and Enforcement from Mesa, Arizona, to Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sunday. From there, Iranian officials would take them back to Iran, where they could face persecution from Iranian officials as well as dangers posed by potential U.S. airstrikes.
“We have received credible information from multiple independent sources indicating that the U.S. government is proceeding with plans to deport Iranian nationals, including asylum seekers, to Iran, via Pakistan, despite a federal court order requiring five business days’ advance notice,” Yasmine Chubin, the group’s executive director, told MS NOW.
The administration previously deported Iranians in the months leading up to the war President Donald Trump launched jointly with Israel against Iran. Some of the 11 people expected to be on the planned Sunday flight had been held in detention for months, according to lawyers and a relative of the detainees.
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Beyond the sheer recklessness of forcibly returning people to a country with which the United States is at war and against which it is actively conducting military strikes, the government appears poised to disregard a federal court order designed to ensure basic oversight and accountability,” Chubin added. ”These are
by Anthony Coley | Nov 8, 2026 | Opinion, White House
Chuck Schumer should prepare to step down as Senate Democratic leader. Obviously not because he failed during last week’s midterm elections, but because his party won.
On Tuesday, Schumer helped lead Democrats back to a Senate majority despite an electoral map that favored Republicans. He’ll never have a better moment to plan his exit, and he should announce now that January 2028 is the time to make it.
Schumer’s victory gives him a rare opportunity: the chance to pass the baton to a new generation from a position of strength.
Schumer’s victory gives him a rare opportunity: the chance to pass the baton to a new generation from a position of strength.
There’s something to be said for going out on top. John Elway won back-to-back Super Bowls and retired. Oprah Winfrey ended her talk show after 25 seasons, still the queen of daytime. George Mitchell gave up his job as Senate majority leader and went on to help bring peace to Northern Ireland.
Schumer has spent a lifetime mastering the Senate. Now he has a chance to master something far more rare in Washington: the art of knowing when to step aside.
But first, we should give Schumer his due. He has shepherded landmark legislation through a narrowly divided Senate, he recruited candidates who won in states Republicans expected to hold and just pulled off a rout few saw coming.
Play
Schumer speaks out after Dems win Senate: ‘Relief is on the way’
November 4, 2026 / 06:40
Schumer has his critics within the Democratic caucus, and not without reason. But this isn’t an argument about his past shortcomings. It’s about an opportunity before him: to leave his party
