Sanders withholds support for Schumer as Senate Democratic leader

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has added his name to the growing list of liberal-minded lawmakers asking Chuck Schumer to hand over the reins of the Senate.

"I like Chuck. Nobody works harder than Chuck Schumer," Sanders said at a joint press conference with Senator Elissa Slotkin on Tuesday. "But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be re-elected as the Democratic leader."

The democratic socialist encouraged "vigorous debate" as the party searched for an alternative, and highlighted that such a process should take place "out in the open."

"We need … to show the American people that a new day has come, and that their votes meant a new direction in Washington," Sanders said.

Sanders told reporters earlier in the day that he would not support Schumer's bid for Senate majority leader in the new year. When asked by The Washington Times's Lindsey McPherson if he would support Schumer even if the current leader runs unopposed, Sanders responded: "He's not going to run unopposed, I don't think."

Growing Opposition to Schumer

A wave of Democratic voices opposing Schumer's possible return atop the Senate emerged after the party won an overwhelming majority in Congress last week, rebuking the septuagenarian's establishment politics. In the days since, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has emerged as a potential alternative, indicating a rising interest in progressive leadership.

Van Hollen rose as a leading progressive last year, when he travelled out of the country to visit his constituent Kilmar Ábrego García after he was illegally deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's notoriously lethal maximum security prison, CECOT.

Whether or not Van Hollen will officially commit himself against Schumer remains to be seen, though the Marylander has already started to draft an opposition platform that could put pressure on Schumer's politics. On Tuesday, Van Hollen declared that the U.S. cannot spend "a penny more" on the Iran War, daring Donald Trump to either stop funding the war or face the possibility of a government shutdown.

Lawmakers Opposing or Questioning Schumer's Leadership

So far, at least 10 major politicos have either peeled away from Schumer outright or indicated an interest in a different Senate majority leader. They include:

• Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
• Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin
• Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed
• Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal
• Illinois Senator-elect Juliana Stratton
• Minnesota Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan
• Kansas Senator-elect Adam Hamilton
• Maine Senator-elect Troy Jackson
• New Hampshire Senator-elect Chris Pappas
• Texas Senator-elect James Talarico

Another 14 senators or senators-elect have not yet committed as to whether or not they will support Schumer, according to an analysis published Monday by Primary Democrats. Altogether, that's 24 Democrats—or nearly half of the at least 54 Democratic seats that will dominate the upper chamber come January.

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also refused to support her home state senator, though the decision is ultimately up to the Senate.

This story has been updated.

Read more about the leadership position: Chuck Schumer's Time May Be Up as Van Hollen Suddenly Pivots

Jim Jordan Elected House Republican Minority Leader

House Republicans elected Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio as their new minority leader on Tuesday.

Jordan, who has served as a representative for Ohio's 4th district since 2007, won the secret ballot vote 106–73, two people present for the tally told Politico. He was up against Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who currently serves as the No. 2 Republican in the House.

Jordan was selected following sweeping Democratic victories in the midterm elections that flipped the House and Senate, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to announce he would step down from Republican leadership.

Controversial Background

There are plenty of reasons that Jordan has previously been kept out of such a powerful position. That is, until now.

Years before Jordan was elected to the House, he served as an assistant coach to Ohio State University's wrestling team between 1986 and 1994. The Ohio Republican has faced severe blowback for allegedly participating in a coverup of the rampant sex abuse by team doctor Richard Strauss, who committed 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes against at least 177 male student-athletes during his tenure, according to a 2019 university report.

Jordan also has earned a reputation as a vocal election denier, who assisted President Donald Trump in his proven efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election in 2020. Along with several of his Republican colleagues, Jordan refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee unearthed evidence that Jordan had materially relevant communications with Trump and others related to January 6. In July this year, Jordan referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution, alleging that he'd made false statements to Congress.

As House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jordan enjoyed playing Trump's personal attorney. Now he'll get to lead the much diminished party as it fends off investigations from Democratic lawmakers.

This story has been updated.

Read more about Jordan: Jim Jordan Can't Keep His Lies About Inflation Straight

Trump Media Revenue Surges From Truth Social Pay-to-Play Scheme

President Donald Trump is raking in cash from his pay-to-play scheme giving companies early access to his social media posts.

In a recent SEC filing, Trump Media & Technology Group reported that revenue for Truth Social's parent company had surged 205 percent in the third quarter to a whopping $3 million.

At least $1.8 million, or 60 percent, of that spike was "primarily driven" by subscriptions to Truth API, which offers Truth Social users early access to posts from government officials for as much as $100,000 a month, the company said.

This would be the kind of thing that would raise a red flag for the SEC—if it were still functioning as an independent agency.

Regulatory Concerns

At the moment, the SEC has two commissioners, both Republican: Trump sycophant Paul Atkins, who serves as the SEC chairman, and the reliably pro-business Mark Uyeda, whom Trump appointed as acting chairman before Atkins took office. Republican administrations are historically less interested in enforcing the nation's securities laws, but Trump 2.0 takes that laissez-faire approach to legality to stratospheric new levels.

Media and watchdog groups have alleged that Trump is exploiting his office to benefit a private company that he owns. In August, The Intercept and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation sued Trump, alleging that Truth API violates the First and Fifth Amendments.

In September, Trump and his aide Natalie Harp, who helped to develop the service, were named in a lawsuit from the groups American Oversight and Campaign for Accountability. A separate lawsuit out of San Francisco alleges that Truth API is a "corrupt business scheme" that violates federal laws against insider trading as well as California's Unfair Competition Law.

Trump Media's latest filing caused the value of the company's stock to jump Tuesday, adding a whopping $34 million to the president's net worth.

Read more about TMTG: Trump Media Filings Reveal Payout From America's 250th Celebration

House Oversight Report Details DOJ Mishandling of Epstein and Maxwell Investigations

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee released a report Tuesday detailing how the Department of Justice mishandled investigations into sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, failing to interview witnesses.

"The crimes committed by Epstein after 2005 could have been prevented and justice served had it not been for the repeated failures of law enforcement and federal prosecutors," the 136-page report states.

Key Findings

The report detailed how the DOJ failed to interview key witnesses while investigating Epstein and Maxwell's abuse, pointing out that "too many survivors and other witnesses informed this committee that they were never approached or properly questioned by federal authorities." The report called on the DOJ to reinterview witnesses, especially Epstein's assistant Lesley Groff, who survivors say lied to Congress about her role in Epstein's abuse.

The committee pointed out other failures as well, including how the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida entered into a nonprosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007 that allowed him to serve a lesser sentence. Notably, the report also criticizes Trump's DOJ for failures after the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed in 2025, saying that the department "failed to adequately communicate about document release."

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