Michael Waltz

Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 235 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.There are times in this country when we need to celebrate triumphs over adversity. This is one of those times. Black music and musicians have gotten us through many times of trouble in the past, and both will continue to do so. Let us gather together today to honor a man who weathered this nation’s racial and economic barriers to rise in triumph against them.The life and work of Quincy Delight Jones Jr., affectionately known as “Q,” is one such story. A trumpeter, producer, conductor, composer, and arranger, Jones was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, and left this earthly realm on Nov. 3, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.For over almost five decades, Jones persevered, rising from a life of abject hardship to become a major influence in not only the music industry, but also in the worlds of film and television. From the moment the news of his death was announced by his family, people from across the nation and around the globe have paid homage to Jones—and not only his friends, but from all whose lives he touched through his craft.Join us in celebration of his life and legacy.

Trump’s special guests list consists of 60 people

A Republican voter Friday in Orange, Va., wears a lanyard with an image of former President Donald Trump reacting immediately after an assassination attempt in July.

The Trump campaign says discussions of who might serve in key Cabinet roles are “premature,” but that hasn’t stopped D.C.’s rumor mill from taking stock of who might serve in top roles in a second Trump administration. Trump is in the unusual position of not being backed by a number of members of his previous [...]

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) threatened that there would be another Jan. 6 riot if Democrats did not pass a Republican-backed bill that would make it harder to vote.At a Wednesday news conference, Tuberville urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to schedule a vote on the "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act" or "SAVE Act." The bill would require a birth certificate or passport in order to vote, even though it is already unlawful for noncitizens to participate in federal elections."The Democrats know better than this, but they want power so bad that they're going to try to tear down our election system," Tuberville said. "And I'm going to tell you this. My first day was January the 6th in 2021."ALSO READ: Something broke Trump’s brain"And what's going to happen if we do not show the American people that the elections are going to be fair and they're going to be satisfied with the outcome, no matter whether Republicans win or Democrats win, you are going to have hell to pay in this country," he continued. "It's coming.""And I'm not so sure that's not what the Democrats want."Former President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to shut down the government if the SAVE Act was not passed before the November presidential election.Watch the video below from C-SPAN or at this link.

By The Associated Press Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are gearing up to take the stage for Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, where they’ll fight to sway 2024 election voters on the biggest stage in U.S. politics. The event, at 9 p.m. Eastern, will offer Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s dramatically [...]

Former President Donald Trump is seen in the Fiserv Forum on the last night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18.

'One of the deepest failures'

Donald Trump's campaign was sent scrambling Wednesday after a group of Republican lawmakers accused Gov. Tim Walz of stolen valor then faced the same accusation from some of their fellow veterans.Team Trump was forced to retract a letter, purporting to come from dozens of Republicans who described themselves as retired from military service, after the progressive advocacy group Vote Vets looked at their service records and debunked the claim."We deleted the first letter we posted to correct a copy edit mistake made by a staffer," Trump's campaign wrote on Truth Social. "This was corrected within hours, unlike Tim Walz, who still hasn’t corrected the record and admitted that he lied about his military service for decades to advance his political career."While Trump's campaign suggested one mistake was to blame for the erroneous letter, a comparison of the two letters show multiple changes were made. The list in the second names does not include 40 "retired" designations and each member's service rank has been deleted. ALSO READ: 'Fawning' Trump wrote thank-you note to Putin after secret poisoning plot: ex-adviserThese changes were made after Vote Vets determined that 28 of the signatures came from Republicans who had not served the 20-year minimum the Department of Defense requires retirees to first complete. The group called out Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a former Navy officer identified in the Team Trump letter as a Rear Admiral who was demoted to Captain after he retired, and Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who came under fire for donning a pin issued to him in error. "To see you signing a letter to ANYONE about stolen valor is the height of hypocrisy," the group wrote in a direct message to Nehls. "Ask anyone who’s seen you wearing that Combat Infantryman’s Badge that you never earned!"The basis for conservatives' criticism of Walz, who retired from the National Guard after 24 years of service, include a comment Walz made about gun control and his reference to himself as a retired command sergeant major.The latter claim was shrugged off by several veterans and stolen valor experts interviewed by the New York Times on Wednesday. "While he served at that rank in the last weeks of his National Guard service, Mr. Walz was reverted to one rank lower, master sergeant, as he did not complete coursework required," the report notes.Doug Sterner, a military historian who helped draft the Stolen Valor Act, told the Times he likened Walz to “a fisherman that caught a 21-pound fish that everybody said, ‘No, it was 20 pounds.’ Maybe it lost a pound between the time he caught it and when he got to the weigh station.”

Minnesota Gov. and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz does a podium check Wednesday before the Democratic National Convention resumes in Chicago. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Wednesday’s theme, “A Fight for Our Freedoms,” will feature a speech from one of the sparringest members of the Democratic Party: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Rep. Mike Waltz spoke with Fox News Digital about his role on the bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

Congressional leaders on Monday named Colorado's U.S. Rep. Jason Crow to a bipartisan House task force charged with investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) on Monday pledged to fund a "parallel independent investigation" into the attempted assassination of former President Trump, expressing disappointment at not being selected to sit on the task force to investigate the rally shooting. Speaker Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) earlier on Monday announced the 13 members [...]

There was bipartisan agreement in getting to the bottom of the failures and negligence that led to the attempted assassination of former President Trump upon the naming of a new task force.

The task force will be probing the attempt to kill former President Donald Trump.

The 13 lawmakers appointed to the task force by House leaders have backgrounds in law enforcement, legal affairs and the military.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is in a stronger-than-expected spot to keep his job in 2025, Axios has learned.Why it matters: Johnson is less than three months removed from relying on Democratic votes to save his gavel.GOP lawmakers pointed to his strong relationship with former President Trump as an asset that has only become more valuable this summer."Trump is really really behind him," one House Republican told Axios.Not everyone is sold: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) still openly advocate for his ouster. But they're distinctly in the minority.Between the lines: This is not the story we expected back in May.Johnson was presiding over a threadbare caucus in which a motion against his job was a daily threat."What organization in history has 200 and something direct reports, any one of which could fire you if they don't agree with the decision you made?" said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.).Johnson had to watch on the House floor in May as 11 of his GOP members voted to advance an ouster attempt, up from the nine that successfully removed his predecessor Kevin McCarthy.But 163 Democrats voted to block the Johnson ouster attempt, saving his job after he pushed through aid for Ukraine.Zoom in: Now the House GOP is feeling bullish about November, with good vibes about their neophyte speaker."[H]e's giving fewer and fewer reasons to those who want to get rid of him, right? What are you going to do?" one GOP lawmaker told Axios."It's a forgotten memory," another House Republican said of the Ukraine aid vote that triggered a motion to vacate by Greene.Reality check: This all goes out the window if Trump loses in November. So too if the GOP fails to take the House, or ends up with another razor-thin edge.Republicans were similarly bullish about a "red wave" in 2022.That didn't pan out, and their resulting tiny majority in January 2023 set the stage for a historic speaker ouster and nearly two years of paralysis.The bottom line: Johnson's biggest remaining test — aside from November's results — is steering the caucus through September's government funding deadlines."I think the potential for other candidates to emerge is one major mistake away," another House Republican told Axios.

Welcome to At the Races! Each week we bring you news and analysis from the CQ Roll Call campaign team. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. Vice President Kamala Harris could become the nation’s first woman, Black woman and Asian American president. Two other Black women — Prince George’s County, [...]The post At the Races: High-profile races aside, women candidates decline appeared first on Roll Call.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, after refusing to answer a majority Monday in the first congressional hearing on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, is facing overwhelming bipartisan calls for her resignation.

It’s a dramatic finish to a week of high stakes politics that saw the nomination of Vance, a conservative for the rising generation.

The Republican National Convention's third night featured claims about the economy, immigration and foreign policy.