Good evening, Today’s rundown leads with Mitch McConnell, because 80 days later, nobody else seems to be asking the obvious question: where is he? His office has gone weeks without a real update, he’s missed 60 votes, and the only proof of life the public has gotten is two photos. This week I went back to his D.C. residence myself and found it guarded by unmarked SUVs and marked Capitol Police cars, curtains drawn. Even Kentucky’s own governor says he hasn’t heard from McConnell in 80 days. Most outlets moved on from this story weeks ago. I haven’t, and I’m not going to until someone in his office gives a straight answer.
We’ve also got Liz Oyer’s new lawsuit against the DOJ, major updates in the Lindsay Clancy case, new reporting on ICE building a nationwide voter database, and a full list of other news below. Regarding the Lindsay Clancy trial, I answer all your questions below from a legal perspective as a lawyer who has witnessed numerous criminal trials.
I’m not going to stop asking about McConnell, and I’m not going to stop covering the stories other outlets let go cold. If you think this kind of reporting matters, if you want someone tracking every filing, every email, every contradiction until there’s an actual answer, this is the moment to back that work.
Here’s the news:
The White House has launched arcade games for kids using your taxpayer dollars that allows the children to cosplay as border patrol agents to target undocumented immigrants in America.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to grant the U.S. Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, an emergency appeal that bypassed lower courts still weighing the case less than two months before the November midterms. The request is the latest chapter in a legal battle over a March executive order that gave federal agencies an unprecedented role in elections, which voter advocacy groups and 23 Democratic-led states have challenged in court. The administration described the new rules as merely “modest envelope-design and addressee-information requirements” that don’t amount to federal control over state election administration, and asked for a short-term order allowing USPS to implement them immediately. This follows an August ruling in which the same 6-3 conservative Supreme Court already sided with the administration on the issue. Since then, USPS has detailed its implementation plans, election officials have warned it’s too late to overhaul mail ballot systems this cycle, and a whistleblower report alleged the agency is rushing a complicated plan that could disenfranchise millions of voters, all as the first ballots begin entering the mail this week.
Flock’s director Caity Peak demonstrated FlockOS, a platform combining license plate readers, live video, drones, and gunshot detectors, using a Denver “No Kings” protest as an example of how it helps commanders track unfolding incidents. While Flock markets the system for crime-solving and locating missing persons, with data retention limits controlled by local police, critics point to its use monitoring protected activities like protests, citing Electronic Frontier Foundation findings of hundreds of protest-related searches in 2025.
Mitch McConnell update:
Kentucky Rep. James Comer said Thursday he expects Sen. Mitch McConnell to return to Washington when the Senate reconvenes on September 14, though he clarified he hasn’t spoken with McConnell himself, only with staff members, many originally from his own district, who told him it’s “their goal” for McConnell to be present next week. McConnell’s office would not confirm a timeline, saying only that there are no scheduling announcements at this time. McConnell, 84, has not voted in the Senate since June 11, aside from a proxy vote on the farm bill last month, and has been hospitalized since June 14 after a fall, later moving to a rehab center before being discharged to recover at home. The Senate remains in recess until it officially returns September 14.
McConnell has now gone 80 days without a single public appearance, and it’s been nearly a month since his office last provided any real update, despite his having missed 60 votes on matters including an Iran war powers resolution and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation, a significant gap given Republicans’ narrow Senate majority. A visit to his D.C. residence this week found it heavily guarded by unmarked SUVs and Capitol Police, with most curtains drawn though a first-floor window was open and no mail had piled up, unlike during his hospitalization. His office has released only two “proof-of-life” photos since his disappearance, both showing him smiling beside wife Elaine Chao without offering insight into his actual health, and it ignored questions ahead of the 80-day mark. Confusion has reportedly become “the talk of Congress,” with even Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office declining to say when he last actually spoke with McConnell directly.
Despite his prolonged absence, aides have continued speaking on McConnell’s behalf back in Kentucky, with his state director apologizing for his absence at a Louisville housing event last month and a written statement issued under his name praising a local business owner’s legacy. Kentucky Republican lawmakers say they expect him back later this month, but by their own admission that expectation rests on conversations with GOP leadership and staff rather than with McConnell directly. McConnell isn’t the only lawmaker to have vanished mysteriously this year: Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey disappeared for months before revealing upon his return that he had been treated for depression. The parallel raises further questions about what, if anything, McConnell’s team is not disclosing about his condition as his return date approaches.
Liz Oyer sues Department of Justice:
Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer filed suit against the Justice Department and Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging she was illegally fired after refusing to recommend restoring actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights despite his domestic violence conviction and personal ties to President Trump. Oyer says she was pressured to make it appear an independent review had cleared Gibson, even though he hadn’t undergone the extensive background investigation given to other applicants, and that a senior official on Blanche’s staff pushed her to approve it anyway because of Gibson’s relationship with Trump. Hours after she submitted a memo declining to recommend restoring his rights, DOJ security officers arrived at her office with termination papers and escorted her out. Oyer, who spent over 13 years in federal service with strong performance reviews, is represented by Democracy Forward and previously challenged her removal before the Merit Systems Protection Board more than 16 months ago without a substantive review.
The lawsuit argues DOJ violated Oyer’s constitutional and statutory due process rights as a career civil servant, and that the agency’s own legal reasoning undermines its case: DOJ has claimed only the Attorney General can exercise Article II removal authority, yet Oyer was fired by Blanche while he was still Deputy Attorney General, not by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. The suit seeks a declaration that her removal was unlawful, reinstatement to federal service, restored pay and benefits, and a bar on further retaliatory action against her. Oyer said in a statement that she was fired for refusing to put politics ahead of her duty to the public, warning that if career officials can be dismissed for not bending rules for a president’s friends, the message to public servants is that political loyalty outweighs loyalty to the Constitution. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said the case aims to stop any administration from weaponizing government power against career officials who refuse political demands.
The case, Oyer v. Blanche et al., is being handled by a Democracy Forward legal team that includes Joshua Salzman, Webb Lyons, and Elena Goldstein. Oyer served as U.S. Pardon Attorney from April 2022 until March 2025, a tenure that included the episode at the center of the lawsuit. The press release notes the full complaint has been made publicly available. Democracy Forward, a 501(c)(3) organization, is also promoting a new book by Perryman, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times,” which the release notes became a USA Today bestseller within two days of its release. No response from DOJ or Blanche was included in the release.
Lindsay Clancy:
The Lindsay Clancy murder trial neared a mistrial Thursday after the Massachusetts jury sent its second deadlock notice following nearly six days of deliberation, prompting defense attorney Kevin Reddington to ask Judge William Sullivan to remove a juror he claimed “refuses to listen to the law” on reasonable doubt. Sullivan declined, saying he couldn’t determine what was happening inside deliberations and that each juror, when questioned individually, confirmed they could follow his instructions. Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued the judge’s handling of the jury’s question was appropriate, and the panel was sent back to deliberate before being dismissed for the day around 4 p.m. Sullivan can only send jurors back twice before declaring a mistrial unless they agree to continue, and he already issued Tuey-Rodriguez instructions urging one last attempt at a verdict; a third deadlock note would likely end in a mistrial, though Reddington says he’d be ready for a second trial as soon as next week. I answer your questions:
The jury must decide whether Clancy is criminally responsible for killing her three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023, after which she attempted suicide by jumping from her bedroom window and was left paralyzed from the waist down. The defense argues she was in postpartum psychosis and acted on auditory hallucinations, while prosecutors contend she was not psychotic and planned the killings, including sending her then-husband out on errands beforehand. Jurors can convict Clancy of first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence, or lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter, or find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. Tensions boiled over in court Thursday when an animated Reddington wheeled Clancy into a sidebar discussion with the judge and attorneys, after which she returned to the defense table appearing upset but composed.
ICE Builds Out Nationwide Voting Database:
ICE is preparing to award a contract worth up to $5 million to a company that will build a massive national database of voters, according to a solicitation document published last week. The database would combine publicly available voter registration and voting history files from all 50 states, including data from every federal election, general, primary, runoff, and special. Contractors won’t initially be asked to collect party affiliation data, but that restriction could be lifted if the contracting officer, HSI section chief Michael Royer, directs it in writing. Experts believe compiling this kind of data, especially party affiliation, could violate voters’ privacy rights. ICE, DHS, and Royer did not respond to requests for comment, and the final contract is expected to be awarded shortly after publication next Monday, with its term expiring September 30.
This voter database effort is part of a much broader DHS and Trump administration push that critics say is designed to undermine trust in the midterm elections. The Department of Justice has spent over a year demanding states hand over unredacted voter rolls, an effort states and courts have resisted, while DHS has threatened to withhold emergency preparedness and counterterrorism funding from states that don’t comply with White House election policies. DHS has also directed ICE to deport people suspected of voting illegally even without criminal convictions, despite research showing noncitizen voting is extremely rare, a point underscored by a Georgia investigation this week that found very few such cases. DHS separately announced a new surge to investigate alleged voter fraud in select states ahead of the midterms. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers dismissed the effort as “a joke,” saying voting is a state issue, not a federal one.
This isn’t ICE’s first attempt to access voter data. In July, the agency was reported to be paying Thomson Reuters $125 million for access to its CLEAR database, which aggregates names, addresses, property records, driver’s licenses, social media, and voter registration data from public and private sources. In June, ICE agents reportedly obtained individual voter rolls directly from election officials in counties in Texas and North Carolina. Last year, WIRED reported that DOGE was building a separate master database pulling from DHS, the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and voter data from Pennsylvania and Florida. A senior DHS official told WIRED at the time that the effort had “nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending,” describing it instead as cross-referencing immigration data with SSA, IRS, and voter records.
Other news:
Fox News parted ways with longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo on Thursday after 12.5 years, with a spokesperson thanking her “for her work” but offering no further explanation. Bartiromo had served as Fox Business Network’s global markets editor since 2014, hosting “Mornings with Maria” and “Sunday Morning Futures,” and became known for a more openly conservative turn after leaving CNBC, where Cabinet secretaries regularly appeared on her shows during Trump’s terms. Her past commentary was cited as evidence in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox, which the network settled for $787 million in 2023. Her biography and show pages had already been removed from Fox’s website by Thursday, and she hadn’t appeared on air since August 9. She previously spent nearly 21 years at CNBC, where she was the first person to report live from the New York Stock Exchange floor.
JD Vance was asked whether Bartiromo will be the next White House Press Secretary:
Elon Musk’s America PAC has spent roughly $800,000 boosting Republican candidates in competitive midterm races, with Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton the biggest beneficiary at nearly a quarter-million dollars, followed by over $170,000 in Maine and over $25,000 in Michigan. The super PAC is active in House and Senate races across more than a dozen states, following digital ad spending reported last week in Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire aimed at supporting conservatives and voter registration. The spending comes as Republicans have flagged concerns about Paxton’s fundraising gap and called for outside help. Musk spent over $250 million backing Trump and Republicans in the 2024 election, and had a rocky patch with Trump last year, including briefly threatening to launch a third party, but the two appear to be on good terms again after Musk joined Trump’s state visit to China this year.
ICE agent Christian Castro has been federally charged with making false statements about the events leading up to his shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg earlier this year, marking the first Justice Department charge against an officer for on-duty conduct during nationwide immigration operations. Castro already faced state charges in Minnesota for second-degree assault and filing a false report, and federal prosecutors previously dropped charges against Sosa-Celis and another man for allegedly attacking Castro after surveillance footage contradicted his account. The shooting occurred after ICE tried to pull over a truck driven by Sosa-Celis’s cousin, who fled and was tackled near Sosa-Celis’s apartment door, with Sosa-Celis saying he was shot through the door moments after locking it. Castro was placed on administrative leave and briefly jailed in Texas before being released last week when the state’s governor declined to immediately approve his extradition to Minnesota. The Justice Department is still weighing whether to pursue additional civil rights charges against him.
The FDA announced a recall of one lot of Walmart’s Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend frozen fruit, sold in 16 states, over potential E. coli O145:H28 contamination, as an expansion of a July recall tied to Publix frozen berries from the same supplier, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur. The affected 10-ounce bags carry UPC 7874211226, lot code 6040 01-6, and a best-if-used-by date of Feb. 9, 2028, and while the broader outbreak has sickened 12 people including four hospitalizations, no illnesses have been linked to the Walmart product specifically, with the recall issued out of caution after traceback information. Consumers with the recalled berries should discard them or return them to Walmart for a refund, and anyone who ate them should watch for E. coli symptoms like severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can be more serious in children, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.
OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on Thursday, calling it the world’s most intelligent AI model and the first to trigger stricter internal safety protocols due to its advanced cybersecurity capabilities, including the ability to autonomously find and exploit security flaws in well-protected systems. Co-founder Greg Brockman said Astra can do “anything a human can do with a computer” and called its release the start of the “AGI era,” while chief scientist Jakub Pachocki acknowledged that understanding what increasingly capable models can do is getting harder. The release follows a report last week revealing an unreleased model from the same family had autonomously seized administrator control over part of OpenAI’s own infrastructure and potentially exposed internal data, without staff knowledge. Reporting this week also raised concerns that a training technique used in Astra could make it harder for humans to understand how the model “thinks,” which Pachocki pushed back on. Altman said Astra went through the White House’s voluntary AI vetting process, with Brockman noting the administration requested no safeguard changes.
Australian police issued an arrest warrant for “Below Deck Mediterranean” star Nathan Gallagher, 28, after he missed a court appearance tied to a December 2025 domestic violence arrest and was granted conditional bail. New South Wales police shared his photo and asked the public for help locating him, noting he’s believed to be offshore and warning people not to approach him. Gallagher, in a statement to Rolling Stone, acknowledged making “mistakes” but said the public hadn’t heard the “full story,” pointing to a complicated situation involving his former partner and co-star Gael Cameron, with whom he shares a son. Bravo confirmed the current season wrapped before the incident and said it does not plan to work with Gallagher in the future.
A GAO report released Thursday found the Secret Service failed to update more than a third of its protection policies within the agency’s own required four-year window, with some guidelines on vice presidential foreign trips and foreign leader visits left unchanged for over 20 years. The watchdog also found the agency didn’t document its reasoning when deciding security incidents didn’t warrant policy changes, which GAO said may have prevented officials from spotting an emerging pattern of drone-related threats before a drone was used in the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Three earlier drone incidents, near an Obama motorcade in 2015, over a Bernie Sanders rally in 2016, and above Biden’s 2021 inauguration, went unaddressed in policy terms before the Butler attack. The report lands amid continued scrutiny of the agency following multiple threats this year, including a shooter entering the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a shootout near the White House close to a Vance motorcade route. A Secret Service spokesperson said the agency overhauled its site-security policy after Butler and is implementing GAO’s other recommendations, noting it concurs with the findings and has made “significant institutional reforms” since 2024.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday there’s a chance of reaching a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, while Ukraine’s foreign minister said he expects a “new dynamic” in diplomatic efforts, though neither offered specifics. Putin said countries including the U.S. and China were ready to support a settlement but that Russia and Ukraine must ultimately resolve it themselves, while also calling recent Ukrainian attacks on civilian ships “acts of state terrorism” that complicate talks. The comments come after both sides escalated long-range strikes and naval attacks since U.S.-mediated talks stalled in February, pushing up global grain prices and causing wheat futures to drop over 2% on Putin’s remarks. Putin said contacts with Ukraine continue mainly through intelligence channels, and India’s foreign minister offered to help mediate. Zelenskyy this week warned airlines that Russian skies are dangerous due to Ukrainian drone activity, while insisting Ukraine only targets Russian military facilities.
Oil prices climbed for a fourth straight session Thursday, pushing diesel to $5.78 a gallon, its highest level since 2022 and up more than 53% since the Iran war began in February, while regular gasoline rose to a $4.14 national average. Brent crude topped $97 a barrel, nearly 10% higher than the week’s start, driven largely by the Iran war choking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s diesel export ban following Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries. Analysts said only increased Persian Gulf oil flow or a resumption of Russian exports could meaningfully ease prices, with Gulf exports estimated at 50-67% of pre-war levels. The energy price surge has also pushed 30-year mortgage rates to 6.91% amid inflation concerns, though Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he expects upcoming inflation readings to stay “reasonable” unless August data comes in hot enough to justify a rate hike.
An internal review by The Athletic found former NFL reporter Dianna Russini had an “awkward” and “uncomfortable” undisclosed relationship with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, though investigators found no clear evidence she used her platform to professionally benefit him. Russini resigned in April after photos of her and the married Vrabel at an Arizona hotel drew scrutiny, and the review, which examined over 900 bylined stories and 200 podcast episodes, found the relationship violated the outlet’s disclosure standards regardless of whether it was romantic. Investigators highlighted a 2023 column in which Russini wrote Vrabel wouldn’t be fired as Titans coach, based on conversations with “high-ranking” team officials, just two months before he was in fact fired. Vrabel returned to coaching in 2025 and led the Patriots to a dramatic turnaround, earning Coach of the Year honors. Russini could not be reached for comment.
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, appeared in a Tennessee court Thursday and agreed to extradition to South Carolina to face charges connected to the death of their 5-year-old nonverbal daughter, Saylor, whose body was found in waters near Pawleys Island. The couple, arrested more than 350 miles away in Tennessee, will be moved to South Carolina within 10 days and remain jailed without bond, having also waived their right to hire an attorney during the process. Arrest affidavits accuse the parents of misdirecting search efforts toward Saylor’s tracking device despite knowing she wasn’t wearing it. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said Saylor “deserved to be safe” and “deserved to be protected.” Records show John Hayes faced a prior 2023 child abuse case in Virginia that ended in dismissed charges after a deferred disposition and probation.
At least five people died and dozens more are feared dead after a migrant boat carrying West African men was found drifting in the Atlantic near Spain’s Canary Islands, with 44 survivors rescued and brought to Gran Canaria. Survivors, all men from Mali or Senegal, some underage, reported leaving Gambia and being stranded at sea for nearly a month, running out of provisions and falling ill from drinking seawater; Red Cross workers described them as disoriented and dehydrated upon arrival. Survivors said more than 100 people were originally aboard, including women and a baby, and that bodies of those who died during the journey were thrown overboard as the group weakened. Migrant rights group Walking Borders separately reported 83 deaths on the voyage, including three women and an infant, though this has not been independently confirmed. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands remains one of the deadliest migration crossings to Europe, with tens of thousands dead or missing in recent years despite falling overall arrival numbers.
Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber is running to become the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee next Congress, setting up a possible clash with current chair Bruce Westerman, who is term-limited but hasn’t ruled out seeking a waiver to serve a fourth term. Stauber, who has sat on the committee since 2020 and chairs its Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, is already speaking with GOP Conference and steering committee members about his bid, which his spokesperson says will proceed regardless of Westerman’s decision. Westerman, while calling himself “more focused on winning the majority,” declined to say whether he’d pursue a waiver, insisting any friction with Stauber wouldn’t strain their friendship. The GOP Steering Committee will decide committee leadership assignments after the midterms. Stauber and Westerman aren’t alone: House Agriculture Chair GT Thompson has already filed a waiver request even as Rep. Austin Scott eyes succeeding him, and Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers plans to seek his own waiver, though Reps. Ronny Jackson, Rob Wittman, and Trent Kelly have also expressed interest in that post.
Nvidia agreed to acquire AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of its largest acquisitions ever, betting that supporting open-weight AI models will sustain demand even as major customers like Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft develop their own chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. The deal gives Nvidia direct access to a platform developers use to build, test and share AI tools, potentially helping it narrow the gap with top U.S. and Chinese AI labs, including cost-competitive Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Z.ai. Nvidia will pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s investors plus up to $1 billion in retention equity for employees, and CEO Jensen Huang said the platform will remain open and won’t require Nvidia chips to use. Hugging Face, founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf and backed by Intel, AMD and Amazon, also hosts datasets and cloud tools for AI development. The company was recently in the news after a hack involving rogue AI agents that escaped an OpenAI testing environment.
President Trump said Thursday the U.S. will ask Europe to reimburse Washington for the “hundreds of billions” in munitions sent to Ukraine under former President Biden, framing it as a belated correction rather than acknowledging any current shortage. The claim comes as the U.S. military faces dwindling stockpiles from its ongoing war with Iran, now in its seventh month, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies reporting roughly 1,500 Patriot interceptors used since the war began, leaving under 1,000 in stock, and THAAD interceptors dropping from 452 to well under 300. Trump insisted the U.S. has “virtually unlimited” mid-to-high grade ammunition and called reports of shortages “treasonous,” accusing critics and media outlets of wanting America to lose a war he says is being “easily” won. He said the military is now stockpiling munitions for domestic use rather than selling them abroad. The reimbursement request follows a 2025 arrangement in which the U.S. and Europe agreed Washington would send weapons to Ukraine in transactions financed by European allies.
See you soon.
— Aaron
