Politics

Democrats are boasting of eye-popping fundraising hauls in some of this year’s top Senate contests, a potential sign of voter enthusiasm in what remains an uphill quest to win the Senate majority.

In the first three months of the year, Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign said he brought in $27 million, while vulnerable incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said he raised $14 million. Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s campaign said he’ll report $13.8 million and former Sen. Sherrod Brown will report $12.5 million in his comeback bid in Ohio.

The money will help Democrats make their case to voters and counter Republican attacks, but it doesn’t change the fundamental fact that control of the Senate will be decided in territory that favors Republicans. Except for Maine, where Democrats Graham Platner and Janet Mills are still battling for the party’s nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, all of the top battleground races are in states President Donald Trump won in 2024.

While Democrats touted their totals, they offer only a snapshot of overall fundraising, as campaigns had until the end of the day Wednesday to file with the Federal Election Commission.

In races where Republicans had reported their fundraising by Tuesday evening, Democrats were far outpacing them.

In Texas, incumbent Sen. Jon Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton — who are locked in a bitter runoff for the GOP nomination — raised $2.5 million combined, less than 10% of Talarico’s revenue for the quarter. Two of the three main Republicans in Georgia — Derek Dooley and Buddy Carter — combined for about $1.1 million. The third, Mike Collins, had not yet reported his fundraising as of Wednesday evening.

Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley raised $2.1 million in North Carolina and Sen. Jon Husted raised $2.9 million in Ohio.

Collins, a top target for Democrats, raised $3.1 million in Maine. Mills, the governor who is preferred by much of the Democratic establishment, said she’ll report raising $2.6 million, while Platner, an oyster farmer backed by progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders, said he raised $4 million.

In Alaska, Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola said she’ll report raising $8.9 million, compared with $1.7 million for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Republicans said flush coffers don’t guarantee victory.

Retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina pointed out that his opponent in 2020 also celebrated successful fundraising quarters but didn’t win.

Democrats Beto O’Rourke in 2018 in Texas and Jaime Harrison in 2020 in South Carolina shattered fundraising records and still lost to their Republican rivals.

“We don’t have to outraise them,” Tillis said. “We just got to out run them.”

There’s an imbalance in Republicans’ favor at the national committee level. The Republican National Committee reported roughly $109 million cash on hand in its most recent FEC filing, compared with roughly $16 million for their Democratic counterpart, plus Democrats are carrying about $17 million in debt.

Waiting in the wings for Republicans is a super political action committee tied to Trump — MAGA Inc. — which has more than $300 million cash on hand, according to the FEC.

The rosy first-quarter contributions carry some advantages for Democrats, namely the ability to buy limited advertising slots ahead of the election to get on the air early and make an impression with voters. Candidates also get favorable rates for television ads so their money goes further than independent expenditures by outside groups, though that advantage is eroding as ad spending increasingly shifts toward digital streaming.

“Winning in Texas will require unprecedented resources,” Talarico campaign manager Seth Krasne said in a statement. “This grassroots fundraising haul puts our movement in a strong position to spread our message in some of the most expensive media markets in the country.”

Talarico will face the winner of the GOP runoff on May 26 between Cornyn and Paxton.

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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

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By David Thomas

April 15 (Reuters) – The California Supreme Court stripped conservative attorney John Eastman of his law license on Wednesday over his efforts to overturn U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The court did not immediately release an opinion explaining its decision, which followed a state bar court’s determination that Eastman violated attorney ethics rules.

Eastman’s disbarment “affirms the fundamental principle that attorneys must act with honesty and uphold the rule of law, regardless of the client they represent or the context in which that representation occurs,” George Cardona, the State Bar of California’s chief trial counsel, said in a statement.

Randall Miller, Eastman’s lawyer, said in a statement they will file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.  

A former law professor at Chapman University in California, Eastman represented Trump in a long-shot lawsuit at the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to invalidate votes in four states where the Republican former president had falsely claimed evidence of widespread 2020 voter fraud.

Eastman also drafted legal memos weeks after the election suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept electoral votes from several swing states when Congress convened to certify the vote count. Pence rebuffed his arguments, saying he did not have legal authority to do so under the U.S. Constitution.

Eastman repeated many of his election claims at a rally outside the White House on January 6, 2021, after which a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed congressional certification of the election.

A judge on California’s State Bar Court recommended Eastman’s disbarment in a March 2024 decision, determining that his efforts to derail Biden’s victory were “unlawful and lacked any factual or legal support.” Eastman’s law license was suspended as he appealed the finding.

The State Bar Court’s appellate division last year found that Eastman violated California attorney ethics rules against misleading courts and making false public statements.    

Eastman pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Arizona and Georgia for his efforts to overturn Biden’s election victory in both states. In November, a prosecutor in Georgia dropped all charges against Trump, Eastman and other defendants in the state’s case.

(Reporting by David Thomas; Editing by Nia Williams)

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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked two resolutions that would have stopped the sale of some $450 million in bombs and bulldozers to Israel, as President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans rallied behind his support for the Jewish state.

But support for the resolutions from a large majority of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus underscored growing frustration within that party about the effect on civilians from Israeli strikes on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

A decades-long tradition of strong bipartisan support for Israel in the U.S. Congress means resolutions to stop weapons sales are unlikely to pass, but backers hope raising the issue will encourage Israel’s government and U.S. administrations to do more to protect civilians.

Supporters of the sales say Israel is an important ally to whom the United States should sell military equipment.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, forced votes on the resolutions, saying the sales violate criteria for foreign assistance in the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.

The first resolution would have prohibited the $295 million sale of D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, parts and other support. The vote was 59 to 40 against advancing the measure.

Seven Democrats voted with every Republican against advancing the resolution of disapproval of the bulldozer sale. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming did not vote.    

The second would have prohibited the $151.8 million sale of 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound “dumb” bombs and related logistics and technical support services.

Eleven Democrats joined every Republican to block the measure by 63 to 36. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina did not vote.

Israel uses the bombs in attacks on Gaza and Lebanon and uses the bulldozers to demolish homes in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, Sanders said.

“The United States must use the leverage we have – tens of billions in arms and military aid – to demand that Israel ends these atrocities,” he said, urging support for the resolutions.

Israel says it does not intentionally target civilians, and that its strikes are intended to neutralize militants and military infrastructure.

Wednesday’s vote showed an uptick in support for efforts to limit military sales to Israel. In July, two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales in response to civilian casualties in Gaza were blocked in the Senate.

Also introduced by Sanders, they failed by 73 to 24 and 70 to 27 in the 100-member chamber.

The Trump administration bypassed the normal congressional review of military sales early in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, saying there was an emergency that made it necessary to immediately transfer the weapons.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Nia Williams)

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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – A majority of the U.S. Senate backed President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran on Wednesday, voting to block a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the war until hostilities are authorized by Congress.

The Senate voted 52-47 not to advance the war powers resolution, underscoring his party’s continuing support for the Republican president’s war policy more than six weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran.

Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network conducted on Tuesday and aired on Wednesday that the war was close to over. Also on Wednesday, the army chief of mediator Pakistan arrived in Tehran to try to prevent a renewal of the conflict, after weekend peace negotiations ended without an agreement.

It was the fourth time Democrats have forced Senate votes on war powers measures since the war began. All of them have failed in the face of opposition from every Senate Republican except Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The libertarian-leaning Paul, who often advocates against excessive military spending and for a strict interpretation of the Constitution, was the only Republican vote in favor of the resolution in the latest vote. The only Democratic “no” came from Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Republican Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia did not vote.

Although the U.S. Constitution says that Congress, not the president, can declare war, presidents from both parties have long held the restriction does not apply for short-term operations or if the country is under immediate threat.

‘NOBODY IS COMING TO HELP YOU, IRAN’

The White House, and almost all of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress, say Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the U.S. by ordering limited ⁠military operations.

Opinion polls show the war is broadly unpopular, although views differ along partisan lines. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on March 31 found that 60% of Americans opposed U.S. military strikes on Iran, with 74% of Republicans supporting the action, compared with 7% of Democrats.

Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, accused backers of the war powers resolution of supporting Iran in a speech before the vote.

“Nobody is coming to help you, Iran, except for the 47 people over here,” he said, referring to senators who back the resolution.

Democrats said they wanted Congress to retake its constitutionally mandated power to declare war, and pull the country back from what they warned could become a long conflict.

“I urge my colleagues … to choose the path of peace before President Trump’s war becomes irreversible,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a speech urging support for the vote.

Democratic Party leaders have vowed to keep bringing war powers resolutions until the conflict ends or Congress authorizes continued fighting.

The House of Representatives is expected to consider a similar measure later this week.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Chris Reese, Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was ousted by an opposition campaign with an anti-corruption message, Democrats want to try the same playbook against President Donald Trump before the midterm elections.

House Democrats launched Wednesday what they call a task force to overhaul ethics rules and protect access to the ballot. They also want to highlight the Trump family’s business dealings and the president’s transformation of the federal government.

The task force, which will include a mix of progressive and moderate members, could become a central part of Democrats’ messaging as they try to claw back control of Congress from Republicans.

Rep. Joe Morelle, top Democrat on the House Administration Committee and a longtime ally of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, will spearhead the effort. He said Jeffries “fears that we’re losing Americans’ faith and trust in government and institutions” because so often “decisions are made based on the personal interests of the members or the president and with little regard for Americans.”

Morelle floated a ban on stock trading for all members of the executive branch, Congress and federal courts as a policy. He added that a code of ethics and term limits for Supreme Court justices were other possible proposals.

Democrats have frequently accused Trump’s second term of being “the most corrupt administration in American history,” a characterization the White House denies.

“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public,” said Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”

A little over a year into the president’s second term, his family’s Trump Organization has conducted deals in eight foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Vietnam. All the deals are ostensibly in compliance with the Trump company’s self-imposed rule not to do business directly with foreign governments.

But it’s not sure that matters, given that many such authoritarian and one-party states rarely take a hands-off approach in private business deals, especially when the business belongs to a sitting president.

Promises to clean up Washington are nothing new. Trump campaigned in 2016 and 2024 on a vow to “drain the swamp.” Democrats won back control of the House in 2018, at the midpoint of Trump’s first term, with an anti-corruption message.

“I don’t know that we start with people’s trust. I certainly think that’s probably not the case,” said Morelle. “The question is, will we earn it? Can we earn it? And we’re prepared to place significant emphasis on this.”

Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, respectively, are on the task force.

So are Reps. Greg Casar, D-Texas, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Brad Schneider, D-Ill., head of the moderate New Democrats. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., one of the caucus’ most prominent members, is a member as well.

The group’s regional and ideological diversity could ensure a broad base of support for the new initiative, or it could make it harder to find a unifying message and agenda.

“The challenge is almost there’s too much to do, and they are going to need to focus on a couple of things,” said Justin Florence, co-founder of Protect Democracy, a group that says it combats authoritarianism in the U.S. and is consulting with Democrats on their strategy.

The group believes the Hungarian elections offer a successful model.

“It just shows that this messaging has to be loud, it has to be colorful, it has to be engaging,” said Ben Raderstorf, a strategist with Protect Democracy, on how Orbán’s opponents spread their anti-corruption message. “It can’t just be staid hearings, it’s about breaking through attention cycles.”

While Democrats debated after the 2024 election whether their warnings that democracy was imperiled resonated with Americans, many in the party say Trump’s actions have shifted public opinion.

Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., one of the task force’s co-chairs, said the president is “actively meddling in our elections and attempting to impose a Jim Crow 2.0 era through intimidation and suppression.” She vowed the task force will “hold Trump accountable for his corrupt schemes, expose them to the American people, and present the alternative they deserve.”

Anti-corruption groups are hoping the messaging effort will transfer to a meaningful plan to curb corruption in Washington.

“The hope is that it’s broad, and that it’s serious policymaking and not just talking points,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has been in talks with the task force.

The goal, he said, is to address “not just the Trump administration’s extreme abuses, but the systemic rigging of the political process in Washington.”

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Associated Press writer Bernard Condon contributed from New York.

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WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged the risks artificial intelligence posed to the banking system and said there should be government safeguards, but also believed the technology could make the banking system better and safer, according to an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

Asked if AI could undermine confidence in the banking system, Trump told Fox Business Network: “Yeah, probably. But it could also be the kind of technology that allows greatness in the banking system, makes it better and safer and more secure.”

On whether government should have some safeguards on AI technology – a “kill switch,” – Trump said, “There should be.” 

Trump’s interview with “Mornings with Maria” was taped on Tuesday.

The U.S. president’s comments came after cybersecurity experts warned this week that Anthropic’s new AI model, Mythos, could supercharge complex cyberattacks and ​poses significant challenges to the banking industry with its legacy technology systems.

Anthropic declined to comment on their warnings. It has said Claude Mythos Preview will not be made generally available.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams)

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By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – Prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office made a surprise visit on Tuesday to the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation project, as the Trump administration continues its pressure campaign against the central bank.

The unscheduled visit was confirmed by a spokesperson for Pirro’s office and was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

After speaking with construction workers, two of Pirro’s deputies were advised they could not access the site without prior clearance and they were given the contact information for the Fed’s legal staff, the Journal reported.

President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against top Fed officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell whose term ends in May, with the goal of lowering interest rates. The campaign has sparked political outcry and court challenges.

The Department of Justice has been investigating Powell for his oversight of the renovations to the central bank’s headquarters in the nation’s capital.

Though a federal judge has found the probe to be a thinly disguised effort to pressure Powell to lower interest rates or resign, the department has said it would appeal.

Former Fed chairs and ex-government economic policy leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties have raised alarm about the Trump administration’s probe.

The Fed could not be immediately reached for comment. The Journal reported that an outside lawyer for the Fed, Robert Hur, objected to Tuesday’s visit in a letter to Pirro’s office.

Hur was cited as saying that the prosecutors appeared “without prior notice” at the construction site, where they asked for a tour and said they wanted to check on the progress of the renovation project.

The independence of ​central banks in setting rates to control inflation is considered a central tenet of robust economic policy, insulating monetary policymakers from short-term political considerations to focus on longer-term efforts to keep prices stable.

Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh has been nominated by Trump to head the central bank.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington, Editing by Ross Colvin and Thomas Derpinghaus)

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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate will vote as soon as Wednesday on the latest Democratic-led effort to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers, and party leaders promised on Tuesday to keep bringing up such resolutions as long as the Iran war continues.

“Forty-five days into this war, Congress has been sidelined because our Republican colleagues refuse to take a strong stand against this war and duck it completely because they’re afraid of Trump,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a Senate speech on Tuesday.

Trump said on Tuesday talks to end the Iran war could resume in Pakistan over the next two days, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports. Failure to reach an agreement in those talks raised doubts over the survival of a two-week ceasefire that still has a week to run.

Congressional Democrats have tried and repeatedly failed ​in recent months to pass war powers resolutions to force Trump to stop military action and obtain lawmakers’ authorization before launching military operations, in both Venezuela and Iran.

Democrats are attempting to link their efforts to rein in Trump on Iran to affordability, as disruptions in shipments of oil and natural gas have caused a run-up in U.S. gasoline prices and agricultural products such as fertilizers – on top of the long list of other high consumer prices.

Few issues resonate with U.S. voters more deeply than price increases, and the latest inflationary upswing is unsettling Republican insiders worried about their party’s prospects less than seven months before November elections that will determine control of Congress.

10 MORE RESOLUTIONS IN THE WORKS

Schumer said 10 more war powers resolutions have been filed and Democrats intended to bring them up every week while the conflict in Iran, which began on February 28, continues.

Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, have blocked the resolutions that have come up to date and there has been no indication that any are shifting their position.

Republican lawmakers say they support Trump’s actions and do not expect the war to continue for much longer. “The military effort here has been extraordinarily successful,” Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota told a news conference.

“I think the administration has a clear objective, a clear plan, and if they can execute on it that question (of whether Congress should authorize a prolonged conflict) won’t be a necessary one that we will be forced to answer,” Thune said.

Although the U.S. Constitution says that Congress, not the president, can declare war, that restriction does not apply for short-term operations or if the country faces an immediate threat.

The White House says Trump’s actions are legal and within his rights as commander-in-chief to protect the U.S. by ordering limited military operations.

Timing of the vote had not been announced by Tuesday evening, but Senate aides said they expected the next resolution – sponsored by Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a combat veteran – to come to the floor as soon as Wednesday.

House of Representatives aides said they expected a vote on a similar Iran war powers resolution in that chamber as soon as Thursday.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Clay Fuller of Georgia was sworn into office Tuesday after winning a special election to take the congressional seat formerly held by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Fuller represents a deep red district in northwest Georgia and has sought to align himself with President Donald Trump as much as possible. Fuller will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term, maintaining Republicans’ slim majority in the House.

Greene resigned her seat after a contentious public fallout with Trump that has shown no signs of letting up despite her exodus from Congress.

“You have sent a warrior to Congress and I can’t wait to fight for you each and every day,” Fuller said to his constituents as he addressed the House. “To my Democratic colleagues, I look forward to working with each and every one of you.”

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By Steve Gorman and Helen Coster

LOS ANGELES, April 14 (Reuters) – A second woman came forward to accuse Eric Swalwell of rape on Tuesday as the California Democrat and would-be governor resigned his seat in Congress, leaving him the subject of sexual assault investigations by law enforcement on both U.S. coasts.

Former Beverly Hills model and software entrepreneur Lonna Drewes is also the fifth woman to accuse Swalwell of sexual misconduct in recent days, deepening a scandal that prompted him to announce his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

His resignation became effective on Tuesday afternoon, two days after he bowed out of the California governor’s race, in which he had been a leading candidate, as political support and endorsements rapidly eroded.

The 45-year-old politician, who is married with three children, “categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation of sexual misconduct and assault that has been leveled against him,” according to a statement issued by his attorney.

The statement described the allegations as politically motivated fabrications.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it was investigating a sexual assault allegation against Swalwell, stemming from a July 2018 incident at a West Hollywood place of business. It did not name the alleged victim or give further details.

But the statement came several hours after Drewes appeared at a news conference with her attorneys in Beverly Hills to accuse Swalwell of assaulting her in 2018.

‘ALREADY INCAPACITATED’

Drewes tearfully described an alleged encounter with Swalwell in which she said the lawmaker had spiked her glass of wine with an intoxicant that left her immobilized, then “he raped me.”

She said the assault occurred after she had accompanied Swalwell to his hotel room, ostensibly so he could retrieve some paperwork on their way to a political event together, and that she was “already incapacitated” by the time they reached his room.

“I couldn’t move my arms or my body,” she told reporters, adding that at one point during the assault, Swalwell choked her, and that she lost consciousness.

“I thought I had died,” Drewes said, adding, “I did not consent to any sexual activity.”

Drewes recounted that she and Swalwell had met socially some time before, that she had joined him at two previous public events at his invitation, and that he had “offered me connections to further my software company.”

“I knew he was married at the time, and that his wife was pregnant. He was my friend,” said Drewes, who recalled that she was then considering a run for City Council.

Drewes said her delay in going public “was driven by fear” of Swalwell’s “political power.”

FOUR PREVIOUS ACCUSERS

Swalwell ​ended his campaign on Sunday shortly after The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported that a woman who previously worked in his district office had accused him of two nonconsensual sexual encounters.

The woman told CNN that Swalwell raped her during a 2024 encounter, after she had left his staff, in ​a New York City hotel.

The former aide, whom the Chronicle and CNN did not name, was quoted as saying she had been too ​intoxicated on both occasions to consent. The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Saturday confirmed it was investigating the case.

CNN also ​reported that three other women leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell, including accusations that he had sent them explicit text messages and unsolicited photos of his genitals.

Swalwell, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 and was a frequent voice for his party on cable news programs, apologized on social media on Monday for “mistakes in judgments I’ve made in my past” and vowed to fight “the serious, false allegation” against him. 

The statement by Swalwell’s lawyer, Sara Azari, described the allegations against her client as a “calculated and transparent political hit job.”

Swalwell’s departure leaves a crowded and fragmented Democratic field of low-polling contenders led by billionaire Tom Steyer and former Representative Katie Porter, all vying to succeed Gavin Newsom, who is nearing the end of his second four-year term and barred by term limits from running again.

No Republican has won a statewide election in California since 2006. But Swalwell’s departure is seen as possibly providing an unexpected opening for two Republican candidates, including Steve Hilton, endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, to advance to the general election in California’s non-partisan top-two primary race in June.

Newsom on Tuesday set a special election for August 18 to temporarily fill Swalwell’s House seat in the San Francisco Bay area.

(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Donna Bryson, Alistair Bell, Shri Navaratnam and Edwina Gibbs)

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