House returns as two lawmakers vow to resign amid scandals
Hello and welcome to our coverage of US politics. The House returns following recess amid continued anger over Donald Trump’s conflict with Iran, the standoff over the DHS funding package and debates over restrictive voter ID legislation.
But first let’s look at the news that two lawmakers have stepped down, with two more facing possible expulsion over a series of scandals that have rattled both parties and thrown the House of Representatives into turmoil.
Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, said on Monday he would resign from Congress following multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct that ended his bid for governor.
“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said in a statement shared on social media. “I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”
Hours later, representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, announced he was stepping down from Congress after acknowledging an extramarital affair with a staffer. House speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders had already urged him not to seek reelection.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales wrote on X.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering separate controversies involving two Florida lawmakers – Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Republican Cory Mills – in an unusual push for disciplinary action.
“Congress should not tolerate representatives who abuse staff, betray public trust for personal gain, and generally violate their oath of office,” New York Democrat Nydia Velazquez posted on X, calling for all four to resign and adding “if they refuse, they should be expelled.”
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold so high that Congress has wielded the sanction only in the gravest cases, removing just six members in its 237-year history.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV exchanged retorts after Trump posted and then deleted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure. As he began a 10-day tour of four African countries, Leo told reporters he didn’t “want to get into a debate” with Trump, but added that “the message of the gospel” is being “abused”.
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As the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz continues, Trump vowed that any Iranian ships that came “anywhere close” would be “immediately ELIMINATED”. In a post on Truth Social, the president added that US forces would use “the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal.”
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The US military struck another vehicle in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. Following an attack on Saturday that killed five people, this strike brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 170 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
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A federal judge dismissed Trump’s $10bn lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its publisher Dow Jones, after the president claimed the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet defamed him by reporting on the president’s alleged message to Jeffrey Epstein, as part of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday album. Judge Darrin Gayles said that Trump’s legal team failed to proved that the Journal acted with “actual malice”, a key requirement in defamation cases involving a public figure.
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The Senate returned to work, while the House held a brief procedural session before getting back to regular business on Tuesday. Lawmakers have a vast agenda to tackle on their return, including a funding bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subagencies affected by the record-breaking partial government shutdown, now in its ninth week.
Key events
Norman Solomon
When the Democratic party’s governing body adjourned its meeting on Saturday in New Orleans, supporters of Palestine and an end of the genocide in Gaza had few reasons to celebrate. The Democratic National Committee had refused to give any ground to the large majority of the party’s voters with distinctly negative views of Israel.
Last summer, a Quinnipiac Poll found that 77% of Democrats agreed that “Israel is committing genocide.” Last month, an NBC poll found that registered Democrats – by a margin of 67-17% – were more sympathetic toward Palestinians than Israelis.
But the DNC continues to operate as if fully sealed off from the party’s voters on such matters. When the national meeting got under way on Thursday, the party’s resolutions committee proceeded to quickly discard a pair of resolutions critical of Israel.
One urged “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory” as well as “pausing or conditioning US weapons transfers to any military units credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law”. Another included opposition to “military actions that endanger civilians or exacerbate repression” in Iran.
Those resolutions vanished in a matter of minutes as opponents shunted them aside to a snail’s-pace Middle East working group. That panel has scarcely met since it was announced last August by the DNC chair, Ken Martin. Only a minority of the panel’s eight members has a record of support for Palestinian rights, while several are fervent Zionists. The oil-and-water mix seems destined for stalemate or compromising platitudes.
Trump deletes post with AI image of himself as Jesus-like figure after outcry
Joseph Gedeon
Less than a year after signing legislation that will pull nearly 12 million Americans off health insurance by gutting Medicaid, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself to Truth Social on Sunday depicting him as a Jesus-like figure, with divine light emanating from his hands as he heals a stricken man in a hospital bed with a demon from hell floating in the background.
The president has since deleted the post, which also followed a lengthy tirade about Pope Leo XIV on the site the same day in which he called him “weak on crime” and blamed the head of the Catholic church for being influenced by Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod. Trump refused to apologize to the pope, saying: “He went public. I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”
Trump faced the wrath of some of his most high-profile and loyal Christian supporters, many of whom have stood by the president through multiple other indiscretions and were unable to contain their righteous fury.
Riley Gaines, a Fox News podcast host and conservative commentator, wrote on X she “cannot understand why he’d post this”.
She continued: “Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this? Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.”
When reporters asked Trump whether he posted a picture depicting himself as Jesus Christ, Trump said “it wasn’t a depiction, it was me”, though he insisted: “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better.”
He added: “And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
House returns as two lawmakers vow to resign amid scandals
Hello and welcome to our coverage of US politics. The House returns following recess amid continued anger over Donald Trump’s conflict with Iran, the standoff over the DHS funding package and debates over restrictive voter ID legislation.
But first let’s look at the news that two lawmakers have stepped down, with two more facing possible expulsion over a series of scandals that have rattled both parties and thrown the House of Representatives into turmoil.
Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, said on Monday he would resign from Congress following multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct that ended his bid for governor.
“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said in a statement shared on social media. “I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”
Hours later, representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, announced he was stepping down from Congress after acknowledging an extramarital affair with a staffer. House speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders had already urged him not to seek reelection.
“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas,” Gonzales wrote on X.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering separate controversies involving two Florida lawmakers – Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Republican Cory Mills – in an unusual push for disciplinary action.
“Congress should not tolerate representatives who abuse staff, betray public trust for personal gain, and generally violate their oath of office,” New York Democrat Nydia Velazquez posted on X, calling for all four to resign and adding “if they refuse, they should be expelled.”
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority, a threshold so high that Congress has wielded the sanction only in the gravest cases, removing just six members in its 237-year history.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV exchanged retorts after Trump posted and then deleted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure. As he began a 10-day tour of four African countries, Leo told reporters he didn’t “want to get into a debate” with Trump, but added that “the message of the gospel” is being “abused”.
-
As the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz continues, Trump vowed that any Iranian ships that came “anywhere close” would be “immediately ELIMINATED”. In a post on Truth Social, the president added that US forces would use “the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal.”
-
The US military struck another vehicle in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. Following an attack on Saturday that killed five people, this strike brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 170 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
-
A federal judge dismissed Trump’s $10bn lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its publisher Dow Jones, after the president claimed the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet defamed him by reporting on the president’s alleged message to Jeffrey Epstein, as part of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday album. Judge Darrin Gayles said that Trump’s legal team failed to proved that the Journal acted with “actual malice”, a key requirement in defamation cases involving a public figure.
-
The Senate returned to work, while the House held a brief procedural session before getting back to regular business on Tuesday. Lawmakers have a vast agenda to tackle on their return, including a funding bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subagencies affected by the record-breaking partial government shutdown, now in its ninth week.