Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said conversations are taking place over President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte as acting national intelligence director as the GOP leader seeks to rally senators to extend a key spy powers law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by the end of the week. “All I know…

Primaries for U.S. Senate and U.S. House on Tuesday will set the stage for a midterm general election in which Maine is expected to play a critical role in deciding control of both chambers.

President Trump on Monday formally nominated acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill the role permanently, tapping his former personal criminal defense attorney to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ). Blanche, previously the No. 2 at the DOJ, has led the department for the last two months after Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi.…

President Trump on Monday called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to “immediately fire” Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to clear the way for Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. “Senate Majority Leader John Thune should…

Republicans are warning the White House that a critical surveillance authority is likely to lapse this week amid bipartisan backlash over President Donald Trump's pick to lead the nation's intelligence community.

Iran now believes it is winning and will outla.st the United States

Pennsylvania’s Bob Brooks one of a slew of working-class Democrats on the ballot – can he beat a Koch-backed rival?

Bob Brooks has worked a lot of jobs, sometimes several at once to make ends meet.

He was a paper boy at age 10, and then a dishwasher, prep cook, pizza deliverer, bartender and truck driver. Even after he became a firefighter in 2005, Brooks managed to start a snow-removal and lawn-care business and coach baseball.

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© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

All eyes on US Senate race as Graham Platner, embroiled in controversy, is set to advance as Democratic nominee

Voters in Maine head to the polls on Tuesday for one of the most closely watched primary elections in the country. The US Senate race has become a national fixation as Democrats try to unseat a longtime Republican with a political newcomer who has spent months under fire.

Graham Platner, 41, is set to advance as the Democratic nominee for the Senate, after his primary rival – the state’s two-term governor, Janet Mills – suspended her campaign in April. The primary result will likely set up a months-long run-up between Platner, an oysterman and marine veteran with a groundswell of popularity and a mounting list of scandals, and Susan Collins, a 73-year-old Republican senator who has held the seat for nearly three decades.

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© Photograph: Amanda Sabga/Reuters

© Photograph: Amanda Sabga/Reuters

© Photograph: Amanda Sabga/Reuters

The Georgia senator is excoriating Trump and his systemic corruption in a way that transcends the Democratic Party’s progressive-moderate divide.

© José Ibarra Rizo for The New York Times

Many Democrats are sticking by their presumptive Senate nominee Graham Platner. But some have soured, and others are anxious about how recent revelations could affect a close race.

© Sophie Park for The New York Times

In our news wrap Friday, Senate Republicans passed a $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement, Trump said he wants his new acting director of national intelligence to slash the agency's staffing, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration's immigration processing freeze for 39 countries, and the International Space Station experienced an air leak.

For those aligned with Trump's campaign promise for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, it all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of money to carry out the administration's immigration enforcement operations — and comes on top of some $170 billion Congress already approved for the department last summer, as part of Trump's big tax breaks bill.

Like it or not, AI is producing volumes of increasingly complex legislation. Legislators are apparently happy that it saves their brains for more important things. Meanwhile, the lobbying industry is going hog wild with AI to crank out complex legalese to hand to legislators. Do we want our “rule of law” taken over by AI? – Commentary by Patrick Wood, Editor of Technocracy News by Nathan Sanders & Bruce Schneier | Lawfare Media Artificial intelligence (AI) is writing law today. This has required no changes in legislative procedure or the rules of legislative bodies—all it takes is one legislator, or […]