John Cornyn

'Ten GOP members have endorsed a candidate so far'

All three candidates for Senate GOP leader are making MAGA appeals, committing to more floor debate and amendments and better communication as they make their final pitch ahead of Wednesday's leader elections. Why it matters: A growing number of senators want a new style of leadership after nearly two decades under Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — and years of battles between him and President-elect Trump. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is promising more amendments, more power and input from average senators, a focus on getting young, conservative judges confirmed and to spend time over the lame duck discussing how to make the chamber work better, he told colleagues in a letter on Tuesday, obtained by Axios.Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to tell senators in a Tuesday night meeting that he won't assume bills get 60 votes, and he will encourage floor debate and amendments. He also is promising weekly meetings with the House Speaker and Vice President Vance as well as a December conference on GOP priorities, a source familiar tells us.Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) launched his bid as the leader most committed to significant change. He has taken a notably more public approach to his bid for leader, blanketing the airwaves and riding a wave of support from influential voices in Trump world.The intrigue: One source close to Scott points out that many of the plans for a more open process that are being laid out by Thune and Cornyn mirror the kind of changes Scott has been pushing for the past two years.How it works: The candidates will make their final argument to be leader tomorrow morning before the vote — including nominating speeches from two colleagues, each.If none of the three candidates win 27 votes in the first round, the candidate with the lowest vote total is removed and they all vote again.Scott won 10 votes when he ran against McConnell in 2022. He'd need to nearly triple his level of support to win a majority of Senate Republicans in 2024.If Scott is eliminated in the first round, it is a big question whether Thune or Cornyn will be more likely to gain his supporters' votes.

The Florida lawmaker wants to be Senate majority leader, but guns rights advocates are lobbying against him, as they dislike his support for the state's gun control legislation enacted after the Parkland school shooting. Senators are to vote Wednesday on a new leader in a secret ballot.

Former President Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5.

Sen. John Fetterman called Sen. Marco Rubio "a strong choice" for secretary of state amid reports that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Rubio for the role.

WASHINGTON — Contests for Senate majority leader and the suddenly open House Republican conference chair position headline GOP leadership elections on Capitol Hill this week, with open jockeying for both posts.

Congress returns to a changed Washington as President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-right agenda is quickly taking shape, buoyed by eager Republican allies eyeing a full sweep of power on Capitol Hill while Democrats are sorting out what went wrong.

Congress reconvenes this week with a top priority: electing the leaders of each chamber. Here's a look at the contenders. And, top priorities for Trump's Justice Department.

There is plenty of change coming to Congress as Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Cornyn made a final pitch based on his fundraising prowess ahead of the Republican leader race to succeed McConnell next week.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) is urging President-elect Trump not to put his thumb on the scale in the race to elect a successor to outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), putting a new wrinkle in the high-stakes contest. Thune in recent days has declared his preference that Trump give Republican senators space [...]

Republicans are gearing up to lock in their remake of the judiciary under President-elect Donald Trump and a new Senate majority, including potentially installing several more conservative Supreme Court justices.

Republicans picked up two more hard-fought seats Thursday in Pennsylvania, which became a stark battlefield of Democratic losses up and down the ticket.

Republicans are gearing up to lock in their remake of the judiciary under President-elect Donald Trump and a new Senate majority, including potentially installing several more conservative Supreme Court justices.Having already picked three Supreme Court justices in his first term — who were critical in overturning abortion rights — Trump will have appointed a majority of the court if he lands two more.Trump made the Supreme Court and lower courts priorities in his first term. He worked with Senate Republicans to help reshape the entire judiciary by naming 234 federal judges.Republicans will hold at least 52 Senate seats, having flipped Democratic-held seats in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. The number may grow, with several other races still too close to call. Either way, they’ll have power to confirm judges and justices with simple majorities.Conservatives are prepared for Supreme Court retirements, with the most attention on Justice Samuel Alito, 74.“I imagine that Justice Alito will want to get the hell out of D.C. as quickly as possible,” said Mike Davis, the Senate GOP’s former chief counsel for nominations, who runs the conservative Article 3 Project advocacy group. “That’s who I would predict.”The top candidates to become the next Senate majority leader — John Thune, R-S.D., and John Cornyn, R-Texas — both plan to prioritize confirming judges under Trump.“Come January, we must be ready to confirm his nominees,” Cornyn said while mentioning other priorities like passing a budget, extending the Trump tax cuts and pursuing tougher border policies.A source close to Thune said that “confirming conservative judges will certainly be a priority,” calling Trump’s first term a “great” model to look to.When it comes to the Supreme Court, observers have their eyes on the two oldest conservatives. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has served on the court since 1991, will turn 80 by the next presidential election in 2028. He is close to being the longest-serving justice of all time, a mark he would reach that year. Alito, who wrote the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, has served since 2006 and turns 78 ahead of the next presidential election.Both are conservative stalwarts who are in some ways more aligned with the Trump wing of the GOP than the three justices Trump appointed in his first term. They have also both been subject to hostile scrutiny in recent years over allegations of ethical lapses.“I certainly expect there will be a vacancy, quite possibly two,” said John Malcolm, a lawyer at the conservative, Trump-allied Heritage Foundation who was among those who helped compile a list of potential high court nominees for Trump when he first ran in 2016.A Trump-appointed Supreme Court majorityIf Trump gets two appointments, he would be the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to have appointed a majority of justices to the court, a milestone he could reach as soon as the summer of 2026 depending on the timing of retirements.Trump’s previous appointees — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — have been instrumental in shifting the court further to the right with a 6-3 conservative majority. All three voted to overturn abortion rights and regularly joined rulings invalidating Biden administration actions.Davis, a pugnacious Trump supporter known for throwing rhetorical flames at Trump’s critics, called his three justices the “most consequential accomplishment of his first term.”And there may be fresh criteria this time.“President Trump will build on that with even more bold and fearless judicial picks,” he said. “It means judges who will follow the law and don’t care what the liberal media says about them.”If Thomas or Alito steps down, Trump is likely to look to the dozens of appeals court judges he appointed in his first term to find candidates to replace them, some experts believe.Trump’s former White House counsel Don McGahn, who played a key role in judicial selections in the first term, spoke at a recent event about the importance of justices’ having “courage to do the job you’ve been given.” He added that some of Trump’s potential Supreme Court nominees are “certainly more strident” than earlier generations of conservative judges were.And among Democrats, anxieties are running high about whether Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 70, a lifelong diabetic, will hang on for four more years. Some Democrats had openly wondered this year whether she should step down and assure a liberal replacement, to avoid a repeat of what happened to former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died during Trump’s first term, which enabled him to swing the court to the right by picking Barrett.“Sonia Sotomayor needs to retire right now,” a Democratic official working in the Biden administration said within hours of NBC News’ projecting that Trump had won the presidency.If she does, there’s no rule prohibiting Democrats from confirming a potential Sotomayor successor in the lame-duck session. They wouldn’t need any Republican votes to do it. But some on the left who are familiar with the Senate confirmation process point out there is no guarantee that a replacement for Sotomayor would be confirmed in time.“I don’t think they could realistically confirm a replacement, and it would be risky,” said Alex Aronson, a former Democratic Senate staffer who now runs Court Accountability, a liberal legal group.Sotomayor didn’t respond to a request seeking comment on her plans, relayed via a Supreme Court spokeswoman.Chuck Grassley likely to be Judiciary chairmanSen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told NBC News in September he would seek to return as Judiciary Committee chairman if Republicans retake the majority. Grassley has seniority on the committee, which determines what judicial nominations the full Senate votes on.Ahead of the election, numerous Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee told NBC News they expected at least one, if not more, Supreme Court retirements should Trump prevail and their party win the Senate. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he believes the GOP would look to find more justices like Thomas or Alito, especially if they’re the ones being replaced.Unlike in 2016, Trump hasn’t issued a public list of potential Supreme Court nominees. But the task of identifying potential nominees is made easier for him because he now has a deep bench of lower court judges he appointed to pick from.“He has the luxury that he appointed several outstanding judges who have now been judges for a number of years, so they have a judicial track record,” said Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation.Among them are Judge Andrew Oldham of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who was a law clerk for Alito. Another is Judge Amul Thapar of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was Trump’s first appeals court nominee in 2017. Vice President-elect JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, clerked for Thapar when he was a district court judge.Other names conservative legal insiders frequently mention as potential Supreme Court nominees include Judge James Ho of the 5th Circuit appeals court, Neomi Rao of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Patrick Bumatay of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump appointed all of them to their current positions.There are 47 vacancies on the lower courts — trial courts and the 13 influential courts of appeal — that President Joe Biden hasn’t filled.But waiting in the wings are dozens of Republican-nominated judges who in January would be eligible to retire on full pay but were most likely delaying doing so until there was a Republican president who could appoint their successors.There are 83 such judges, according to Russell Wheeler, a scholar at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution who tracks judicial nominations.Once Trump takes office, he will probably be able to fill most of those slots.GOP won’t pursue Supreme Court ethics rulesTrump already transformed the federal courts in his first term, appointing 54 appeals court judges and 174 district court judges, many of whom are closely linked with the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. Even putting aside the Supreme Court, those judges have had a major role to play in pushing the law to the right. Biden has made his own mark on the judiciary, appointing 210 district and appeals court judges in total, including 44 appeals court judges, falling just short of Trump’s total. His appointees have been substantially more diverse than Trump’s, and he has also picked some with experience as public defenders or civil rights lawyers.To what extent Trump will follow the road map from his first term, in which he deferred to conservative lawyers like McGahn and legal activist Leonard Leo on judicial appointments, remains to be seen. Neither McGahn nor Leo responded to requests for comment on whether they will offer their advice this time around.In recent years, the Democratic-led Senate has sought to impose new ethics rules and organize inquiries into reports about potential corruption at the Supreme Court, only to get stymied by Republicans who used the filibuster to block the bills and prevent subpoenas from being enforced.Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who shepherded Trump’s three justices through the chamber, said those efforts are likely to end under a GOP-led Senate.“We’ll quit beating up the Supreme Court every time we don’t like the decision they make,” he saidThis story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:Trump’s victory likely upends all the criminal cases against himTrump won the presidency. Here’s what he’s said he’ll doEvery uncalled race left in the fight for control in Washington

Only a few Republican senators have publicly endorsed a candidate. Many say they are still undecided.

Cruz has been in the Senate since 2013. Allred is looking to unseat him.

Both on the airwaves and the campaign trail, it’s time for candidates and campaigns to make their final pitches and make sure their voters turn out. It’s already past the time when the U.S. Postal Service says it is safe to mail ballots — especially in states with requirements that ballots be received, rather than [...]The post At the Races: Closing time appeared first on Roll Call.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is telling colleagues that he will support Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) in the race to become next Senate Republican leader, according to sources familiar with the private conversations. Daines’s public support would be a promising development for Thune, who is locked in a tough [...]

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has tried to mend his relationship with former President Trump, but newly reported comments reveal how deeply his personal animosity toward Trump ran after the 2020 election and signal the challenges GOP senators could have in working with Trump if he is elected again. Many Republican senators who have [...]

During an Oct. 7 appearance on “Fox and Friends,” 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance claimed “that the Biden-Harris administration has turned [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)] effectively into an agency that helps to settle, helps to deal with illegal immigration.” Vance said FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene “[is] like [...]

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — an ally of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — hit back at conservatives' demands for a new brand of leadership once McConnell steps down in a letter to colleagues Tuesday morning.Why it matters: The leader race between Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is heating up, with the general election three weeks away. Some conservative senators are hoping to leverage a tight race for big changes in how the chamber operates. Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) proposals, which he outlined in a letter to colleagues last week, include assurances of more amendment votes and delaying the timeline for picking McConnell's replacement.And Lee has taken new public shots at McConnell's leadership approach.Tills responded Tuesday, saying he believes Lee's concerns are "sincere," but that delaying the leadership election is a bad idea. He said Lee's proposals would "substantially weaken the republican leader."Between the lines: The only leadership candidate to clearly embrace the changes conservatives are pushing is Scott — who Senators and Hill sources have said doesn't have much of a shot.What they're saying: Tillis then made a dig at Republican House chaos. "We are witnessing the downside of a weak-leader model in the House today," he wrote."Two Speakers during a single congress and self-imposed gridlock on legislation hardly seems like a model we want to adopt in the Senate.""I believe delaying the election and creating more hurdles for the republican leader to navigate are unwise, and they will impede our work on behalf of the American people," Tillis said.The other side: "Why would a Republican senator continue to support a system where legislation can be presented for passage without the approval of the majority of the conference? Or one that denies our ability to do our jobs as representatives of our states," Lee responded in a statement to Axios.Catch up quick: This isn't the first back-and-forth between Tillis and Lee over the leadership race. Back in June, Lee and other conservatives were pushing for a new leadership structure — including imposing term limits. Tillis blasted those ideas in a letter, which then prompted a response from Lee.McConnell has also been adamantly against term limits.E

As abortion and other reproductive rights loom over the election, Cruz has largely been unwilling to clarify his stances.

Democratic congressman polling closer to Sen. Ted Cruz and independent race rankers are noticing

Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump stays out of the internal election to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader.Why it matters: None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the former president will make an endorsement. But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud."I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump."I hope not," said Sen. Thom Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic.""He's offered some views on it to me," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.Between the lines: This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era, and his endorsement carries a lot of weight with a growing segment of the conference.McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the former president.The top two candidates — Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn — each have had rocky relationships with Trump. However, they have worked to make amends.After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president. Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump. "Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite, though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race. But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future," adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past. The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.Some sources suspect there could be a late entry: NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.The bottom line: There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early."If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that, but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.

Democrats slammed the timing of the event, which was held at a lakefront home on Lake Virginia.

Senate Republicans are pushing new measures to curb CCP influence across several fronts.

New information regarding the first assassination attempt on Trump was uncovered by a Senate investigation and revealed in a preliminary report.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pictured at a news conference on Tuesday, is preparing for his last post-election wrap-up as leader.

Joe Manchin said he won't endorse anyone in the presidential election after Vice President Harris voiced support for eliminating the filibuster to protect abortion.

Sen. Cornyn is highlighting his fundraising ability as he and others battle to fill Minority Leader McConnell's shoes in the next Congress.

The House unanimously passed a bill to boost Secret Service protection for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris after apparent assassination attempts.

House and Senate lawmakers are moving to safeguard the U.S. government from the effects of the growing technology "gray market."

As Kamala Harris pivots to the center in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, the agenda she’s using to convey a pragmatic streak includes various unanswered questions.

Former President George W. Bush will not offer an endorsement in the 2024 election, forgoing public support of his party's nominee for the third consecutive election.

Senate Democrats are feeling more confident about their chances of keeping the Senate majority with Vice President Harris leading the ticket, arguing her momentum could lift them despite a nightmare battleground map. The GOP has long been the favorite to take the Senate this fall because Democrats are defending more difficult-to-hold seats. Republicans need only [...]

Sea turtle strandings have ticked up at an alarming rate in New England, but now the reptiles are close to receiving a lifeline from Congress to help them stay in the water.

Top Senate Republicans are breaking with former President Trump over his plan to impose across-the-board tariffs on goods coming into the U.S.Why it matters: The comments from senators, including two vying to replace Mitch McConnell as GOP leader, signal the potential for a fresh round of Republican infighting over trade and the economy if Trump wins on Nov. 5.The big picture: When asked if they supported the blanket 10% tariff on imports that Trump has floated, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) both showed significant daylight with their party's standard-bearer. "There are ways that you can selectively use [tariffs] as a tool to achieve economic policy outcomes, but just uniform, across-the-board tariffs is not something I have been for in the past," said Thune, who is considered the frontrunner to replace McConnell. Cornyn, who is also running for GOP leader, described across-the-board tariffs as potentially "problematic."Between the lines: Some senators suggested the former president ultimately could be convinced to soften his actual plan, with many expressing concerns about the inflationary effects of universal 10% tariffs.Cornyn said he thinks Trump is "demonstrating he believes that tariffs should be used to rebalance unfair trading relationships" for countries like China, an approach he generally supports.Trump, who imposed sweeping tariffs on China, the European Union and other countries during his first term, is eyeing a new global trade war with proposed levies of 60% or more on Chinese goods.Senators' answers at times were reminiscent of conversations during Trump's first run for president — that he should be taken seriously, not literally.Zoom in: "I don't know if across-the-board, truly means across-the-board," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) told Axios, saying she needs to explore the idea more and talk with Trump's advisers."I know what he's stumping on, but I don't believe as a matter of policy that's exactly how we'd implement it," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a former Senate Commerce committee chair, told Axios he's listening, but "not convinced that's the best approach."Wicker added the former president is "gonna listen to people within his circle of advisers, and that includes people on both sides of that issue," noting Larry Kudlow, in particular, who has warned about inflationary impacts of Trump policies in the past.Zoom out: Republicans have made it a cornerstone of their campaigns this year to slam President Biden for policies they argue spurred red-hot inflation.Now, Republican lawmakers are in the tricky position of heading home to meet constituents over the August recess with a candidate at the top of the ticket eyeing trade policies economists believe could trigger a new rise in consumer prices."I think ultimately tariffs result in higher prices for consumers," Cornyn said. The other side: "By cutting regulations and taxes and using the leverage of the United States to negotiate better trade deals around the world, President Trump built the strongest economy in American history," Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios in a statement.Leavitt went on to criticize Vice President Harris' "out of control spending" as part of the Biden administration, which she said "created the worst inflation crisis in generations."What they're saying: NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told Axios during an event at the Republican National Convention that he'd be "more inclined to do targeted type tariffs ... versus something that's just universal."Tillis also warned that "if all we did was across-the-board tariffs, it would have an inflationary impact" — though he said it was fine for Trump to send the message that tariffs can be used as a weapon, including against U.S. adversaries.What to watch: Trump's choice of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate is another signal that he intends to move the Republican Party further away from its traditional free trade policies. Vance told CBS's Face the Nation in May that he supports "broad-based tariffs, especially on goods coming in from China," adding the U.S. needs "to protect American industries from all of the competition."

WASHINGTON — Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, may not be fond of “childless cat ladies,” but he’s almost certain to skip a vote this week on legislation to expand the child tax credit.

Vice President Harris’s quick pivot to her White House bid has prompted an about-face on multiple key issues that could affect outcomes in battleground states, handing former President Trump and Republicans a prime attack line. In the roughly one week since Harris replaced President Biden as the probable Democratic nominee, her campaign has moved to [...]

Kelly’s stature as a senator who held hawkish positions on migration before it was popular in the party has caused some Harris allies to see him as an ideal running mate.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) has introduced legislation to streamline the declassification of government documents, increasing transparency and information-sharing across government agencies. “Our current classification system is not just costly, outdated, and inefficient—it’s a growing crisis that undermines both our national security and government transparency,” Mr. Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs [...]

A few surprises -- but no clear motive -- were disclosed by the Secret Service and FBI directors at a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Vice President Harris will be notably absent from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, a move that some Republicans called "petty." But the move could have the potential to show some daylight between her and President Biden when it comes to the Israeli leader. Harris, now rapidly [...]

There’s been widespread reaction from political figures across the country and here in North Texas after President Biden’s announcement that he was ending his reelection bid for the White House.NBC spoke with Texas lawmakers from both parties about what the historic decision would mean for November’s election.Following the sudden announcement on Sunday afternoon, some Texas politicians said they were still adjusting to the fallout.“I was stunned,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Turner, D-Texas. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of chatter about this possibility over the last several weeks.”The responses on social media came quickly, including U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred, who said, “I thank President Joe Biden for his service and willingness to put country before self.”“There’s a sense of sadness about it because I think President Biden has been an outstanding president. He leaves a legacy that is going to be felt for decades by the American people,” said Turner.Following Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the party’s presidential candidate, multiple Texas Democrats threw their support behind Harris to win the bid – even while some showed concern.“I hope the geniuses that pushed the most consequential president of our lifetime out have a plan,” said U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Texas. “Joe wasn’t the problem, Dems were.”“I know one thing: I will only work for Kamala Harris,” Crockett’s statement continued. “If it’s anyone other than her, enjoy campaign season.”“But it’s really a pivotal moment,” said U.S. Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Texas. “It shows this transfer of trust and leadership to a new generation, and I’m very excited about a potential Vice President Kamala Harris as our next president.”As Democrats hoped the move would energize their base for November, Texas Republicans criticized the development.“Let’s put this in perspective: the Democrat party just forced their nominee for President of the United States off the ballot,” said U.S. Rep. David Spiller, R-Texas. “So they just basically nullified the 14 million voters or votes of 14 million people in their party for whom he was their selection for President of the United States.”Both of Texas’s senators weighed in on Biden’s announcement.U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) posted a picture of former President Richard Nixon – who famously departed the White House – with no caption minutes after the decision.And U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) wrote, “If Dems think trading Biden for his failed border czar is going to change anything, they’re dreaming...and if President Biden is not competent to run for reelection, he should step down from the presidency.”Some Republican state lawmakers agreed, believing they were set up for success in November.“I don’t know that it affects too much in Texas, President Trump is going to win Texas,” said Spiller. “Down the line, Senator Cruz is going to win reelection, and hopefully, many of my house members, the Republicans, will be back.”news47 mins agoKamala Harris sees surge in big money support after Biden drops out of racenews3 hours agoKamala Harris has Biden's endorsement as Democratic nominee. Here are her next stepsDonald Trump2 hours agoTrump reacts to Biden dropping out, calling him the ‘worst president'

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says the Secret Service provided little information to senators and did not take more than four questions, with no follow ups, at a briefing.

In six months time Donald Trump's shares in Truth Social could be worth billions or possibly "zero". New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Suzanne Craig appeared on MSNBC's "The Last Word" to discuss the potential windfall Trump received when his social media company went public this week."It's a very volatile and high-risk stock, so it could be anywhere from worth a lot more in six months to almost zero in six months, we don't know," she said.ALSO READ: ‘Don't have enough’: Wealthy Trump allies balk at helping Donald pay legal billsThe social media platform traded under the ticker "DJT" on Tuesday; and by the second day shares rose from $8.23, or 14.2% on Tuesday, to $66.22 on Wednesday.The gains boost Trump's Media & Technology Group, of which he owns 58%, up to a market value of $9.4 billion.On paper that comes out to $5.2 billion.The potential cash bonanza lands at a critical time for Trump while he's been scrambling to find liquid assets to pay off what was originally a $464 million bond in his civil fraud judgment against him and his eponymous company The Trump Organization. That amount was reduced to $175 million by a five-member judge panel, giving Trump a cushion to pay up in 10 days. As far as how he'll be able to meet the sum in time, Craig remains dubious. "We don't know where he's going to get the money from," she said. "He said that he's going to put up cash, but you can get cash from a lot of places."She discussed the possibility that he could try to leverage his newfound stock riches into some loan, but that it's more speculation at this point."Who knows what [the shares] are going to be worth in six months," she said. "There is speculation he'll get a loan off those shares, I don't know who would lend him money on those, because you don't know what it's going to be worth down the road."Watch the video below or at this link.