A year removed from the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, questions remain unanswered as to the motives of the gunman, who was fatally shot by a Secret Service countersniper, and how such a horrific episode can be prevented in the future. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who represents the Butler area and served on the House task force that investigated the shooting, spoke Monday at a Republican Study Committee press conference, at which he presented a resolution to condemn the two attempts on Trump’s life. The resolution also condemned the June 14 slayings of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and the attempted killing of another Minnesota lawmaker and his wife. He spoke emotionally of the shooting death of Corey Comperatore, 50, a fireman who was attending Trump’s Butler rally with his wife and children. “Let’s be clear: We must stand up together to oppose violence against our nation’s leaders all across each party,” he said. To this day, slain gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks’ motivation remains unknown, after the House task force formed to investigate the assassination attempt released its final report in December. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., however, subpoenaed the FBI on Friday for information on the attempt on Trump’s life. Asked by The Daily Signal if there is still a role for Congress to play in bringing to light the motivation of the Butler gunman, Kelly suggested that it would be difficult. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) “I don’t know that we ever got the answers that we needed to get out of the federal agencies,” he said. “Some of you may remember the second [assassination] attempt that took place in Florida. Other than showing this man arrested, we’ve heard nothing more about him.” Kelly suggested that the real solution is to address the moral decline in America, not necessarily any one government action.  “I don’t know that there’s enough money in the world to change some of the way people think. I wish it were that way,” he told The Daily Signal. “We can pass resolution after resolution after resolution. I will let you be the judge of that when you talk among yourselves: How is your speech? And I think each American should ask that.” He added that the task force had hit a brick wall when it came to accessing information on the Butler attack. “The federal agencies early on really had kind of blocked us out of things. Local law enforcement in Butler was very forthcoming of what happened. So, we’re still waiting for some answers on some things that didn’t happen, but today is about the resolution.” With the more recent shootings of the lawmakers in Minnesota, political violence is once again a major concern. Many in both parties have called for increased security, especially after federal prosecutors asserted that the suspect in the Minnesota shootings had the names of U.S. congressmen written in notebooks—a possible hit list. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told The Daily Signal that he was urging Congress to act to protect congressmen from attacks. “The House of Representatives needs to act urgently and decisively on the members’ safety issue before we break for the August district work period,” he said.  .@RepJeffries says House must act by August recess to ensure congressmen’s safety in light of the Minnesota attacks and the Butler attempt on Trump’s life pic.twitter.com/UGe8JCdFNu— George Caldwell (@GCaldwell_news) July 14, 2025 “There are ongoing discussions between House Democrats and House Republicans at the highest level to try to improve the members’ safety and security issue, which should not be a partisan issue,” the New York Democrat added. Leaving the Republican Study Committee press conference, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., echoed Kelly’s argument that money alone cannot solve the issue of political violence. “I think the point was well made in there by several congressmen that I’m not sure there’s enough money in the world to actually solve the problem, because the problem comes within individuals that are on the edge,” said the Baptist pastor, who was elected to Congress in 2024. Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) He argued that personal attacks had created an environment of political violence. “As political leaders, we have a responsibility to talk about the issues. We have the responsibility to talk about the problem. We also have a responsibility to behave in a way that does not personally go after our political foes, but instead to try to focus on the issues.” Harris does, however, speak of the Butler event as a positive moment in one sense, given Trump’s narrow escape. “The Trump [that people] saw come out of Butler, Pennsylvania, was a Donald Trump with resolve, a Donald Trump that recognized—I believe—that his life had been spared by the hand of God,” said Harris. “When you look at all the things that came out of Butler, I think he moved with momentum after that point, and I don’t think it has slowed down one bit.” The post 1 Year After Butler, Lawmakers Decry Political Violence, but Questions Remain Unanswered appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Democrats presented a bill in the Massachusetts House on Wednesday to ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from covering their faces during immigration raids and arrests. Democrats and Republicans are sparring over the issue with increased heat as leaders on the Left look to pass similar legislation on the federal level.   ICE agents have taken center stage as President Donald Trump’s administration increases its deportations of criminal illegal aliens in an effort to contain the damage from the Biden administration’s “open door” immigration policies. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on X that ICE arrests of illegal immigrants had risen by 627% alone in the first month of Trump’s second term as president.  The Massachusetts bill, introduced by Democrat state Rep. James Hawkins and cosponsored by 10 other state representatives, would require law enforcement officers to fully show their faces and wear their names or badge numbers on their uniforms.   The bill makes exceptions for medical masks or face protection in emergency situations, such as protection from smoke or tear gas. Violation of the bill would result in a misdemeanor.   The Massachusetts bill follows on the heels of similar efforts in New York, where legislators are planning to introduce the Mandating End to Lawless Tactics, or MELT, Act. According to CBS News, New York City elected officials unveiled the bill on Wednesday morning.  Legal experts have pointed out that state governments don’t have the power to pass laws like the MELT Act. Zach Smith, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told The Daily Signal, “States do not have the authority to regulate how federal law enforcement agents conduct their operations.”  Smith added, “Unfortunately, the reason many federal agents feel the need to wear masks in the first place is because the overheated rhetoric coming from many on the Left has led to these agents being threatened and harassed.”  Democrats have increasingly expressed alarm about the sight of masked ICE agents. A video posted on X by Fox News host Laura Ingraham showed New York Rep. Jerry Nadler saying, “These people are wearing masks, and they are totally unidentified. … It’s completely improper and one has to assume they’re hiding something or they’re hiding misbehavior because otherwise, why would they be wearing masks and denying their identities?”   Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., during a May news conference outside a New York City courthouse, described ICE agents in masks as “Gestapo-like behavior,” and an immigration lawyer sported the idea in a viral X video that ICE agents cover their faces because “they’re ashamed of what they’re doing.”  But as ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons explained in a June Fox News interview, ICE agents have reverted to masks to protect themselves and their families. Individuals opposed to deportation efforts have begun “doxxing” ICE agents online—posting names, addresses, and social media accounts of agents and their family members.  “There was the one agent out of the Boston field office … his photo was plastered all over the place. Compared him to some neo-Nazi group,” said Lyons. “They get specific threats online, and what the media and a lot of elected officials don’t realize is their rhetoric, what they are saying, is so dangerous and so hurtful to ICE agents.”  A June report from the Department of Homeland Security showed that ICE agents face a 500% increase in assaults while trying to arrest illegal immigrants. Noem told Fox News on Thursday that the violence is “getting worse.”   “They’re not just threatening them and doxxing them,” Noem said, “they’re ambushing them. They’re threatening their families. … It’s extremely dangerous, and the rhetoric has to stop.”  Democrat Sens. Alex Padilla of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey unveiled the federal Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement, or VISIBLE, Act in Congress on Tuesday. The bill would require immigration officials to display “clearly visible identification,” according to a news release from Booker’s office.  Trump blasted Democrats’ targeting of ICE agents on Wednesday, saying, “They wouldn’t be saying that if they didn’t hate our country. … You put [ICE agents] in great danger, in tremendous danger.”  The post ‘They’re Hiding Something’: Democrats Panic Over Masked ICE Agents appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Senate Republican leadership is facing pressure to increase the pace of confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees now that the One Big, Beautiful Bill is in the rearview mirror. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, “has repeatedly urged Senate leadership to work through recesses and stay in D.C. as long as it takes to confirm President Trump’s nominees, both for the administration and the judicial branch. It remains vitally important to get strong judges who respect the Constitution in these lifetime appointments,” said Billy Gribbin, communications director for Utah senator, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, last week said that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could require a full Senate workweek—cutting time off on Fridays and Monday mornings—to bring Senate Democrats to the negotiating table. Fitton contended that the Senate could be clearing dozens of nominees per week, rather than the handful of nominees that it was down to during the debates over the budget reconciliation bill.  Senate Republicans could even potentially increase the Senate workweek to seven days. Other politicos have floated delaying or forgoing the traditional recess of the Senate that occurs through almost the entire month of August to get more nominees through the confirmation process, or to bring Senate Democrats to an agreement where nominees can be confirmed en bloc. While the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was held up by the Republicans’ narrow margin in the House—because the since-withdrawn initial nominee is a member of the House, which would have left the margin even narrower—the Senate otherwise swiftly confirmed Trump’s Cabinet picks. There have been 92 civilian positions confirmed by the Senate as of Sunday. That’s a much higher number than during the first Trump term, which had just 53 positions confirmed at the same point, including both administration and federal court positions. Yet, there are still about 100 executive branch nominees awaiting a confirmation vote by the full Senate after passing out of committees.  The unfilled vacancies in the Trump administration are lingering even as the president’s inner circle has worked to fire nonessential and ideologically nonaligned personnel in the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency and other efforts. The State Department most recently moved to fire more than 1,300 personnel, but without Trump nominees such as ambassadors in place it is unclear how effective the administration will be in carrying out the president’s mandate.  Another option is recess appointments. Provided for under Article II of the Constitution, recess appointments for executive branch positions can be made by the president when the Senate is in a recess, usually greater than 10 days. Such appointments can last for as long as one or two years, depending on which specific recess they are made in. The appointments could temporarily give the Trump administration the personnel it needs while simultaneously encouraging the Senate to fulfill its role of advise and consent for presidential nominees.  In total, five of Trump’s second-term federal court nominees have been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee so far.  The Senate is set to vote on the confirmation of Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump’s first judicial nominee of his second term, this week. A former Supreme Court law clerk for both Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Samuel Alito, Hermandorfer has been nominated for a seat on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit has jurisdiction for the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.  The post Senate Republicans Pressed to Prioritize Trump Nominations appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Last week, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, joined the leadership team of Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., where he will serve as a deputy. This move is rather significant, especially for a senator who just took office in January and could signal more opportunities to come. When reached for comment, Barrasso and Moreno’s offices directed The Daily Signal to a press release in which the majority whip highlighted Moreno’s accomplishments. “Bernie has already proven to be a strong, effective deputy whip. During our marathon of votes, he worked nonstop for 27 hours to keep our Conference united and ultimately secured passage of our Republican agenda. In his short time in the Senate, he’s become an integral member of the team,” said Barrasso. “His focus on helping working families, deep knowledge of business, and commitment to commonsense have led to big wins for America—such as ending the Biden electric vehicle mandate. I’m glad to fight for a safer, more prosperous America alongside my friend Bernie.” “Senator Barrasso is a consistent, conservative leader driving our conference as we work to deliver on President [Donald] Trump’s agenda of economic growth, closing the border, and putting American workers first,” Moreno said. “I’m thrilled to join the team as a Deputy Whip and to help our conference continue to deliver on our promises.” When it comes to that “Republican agenda,” the megabill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier this month in the Senate and the House, with Trump signing it into law at his self-imposed July 4 deadline. The vote-a-rama lasted 27 hours before it passed the Senate. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced he would not seek reelection and whom Moreno replaced as deputy, voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Semafor, in reporting on Moreno joining the GOP leadership team, discussed the role Moreno played: Moreno’s elevation comes shortly after the freshman Republican helped shape last week’s party-line tax and health care law, specifically pushing Republicans to more quickly phase out electric vehicle subsidies and narrow auto loan interest deductions to new cars assembled in the US. He also sought to temper the GOP from pushing for even heavier Medicaid cuts than they pursued in the bill. Moreno has continued to promote the One Big Beautiful Bill, as have other Republicans and members of the Trump administration. Both his and the Team Moreno X accounts continue to highlight how the senator has been promoting the reconciliation bill and how it will benefit Ohioans. Great morning with FOP of Ohio’s annual conference & then stopping by Bishop’s Quarter to discuss No Tax on Tips.President Trump delivered crucial funding for law enforcement & the largest tax cut for working families in history! Proud to fight for him in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/2r6WTyRbMd— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) July 14, 2025 As 10TV News highlighted, Moreno made an appearance at the Nutcracker Family Restaurant in Pataskala. The senator wasn’t the only one featured in the piece, as everyday Ohioans who will benefit from the bill were also profiled. “Millions of U.S. workers are now reaping the benefits of part of President Donald Trump’s budget bill. The no tax on tips and overtime provisions are now in effect,” the piece began. Kelley Metzger, who has worked at the restaurant for 10 years, is referenced, as are the owners. “Working class Americans have been taking it in the gut for decades, certainly the last four years with inflation, the price of everything,” Moreno is quoted as saying. The Ohio Republican Party on X also put out a thread featuring many of Moreno’s accomplishments. It described Moreno’s status as an immigrant who came here legally from Colombia, as well as how “Bernie [is] bringing Ohio’s fighting spirit to D.C. and going to work to deliver real change.” As senator-elect and now senator, Moreno has spoken about partnering with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, immigration enforcement, the importance of America First, protecting the jobs of paper mill factory workers, and, of course, the One Big Beautiful Bill. Ohio is proud of its Senior Senator, @berniemoreno.As Deputy Whip, he’ll take the fight to D.C. every day—representing Ohio’s values and putting America First. ??Congratulations, sir!— Ohio Republican Party (@ohiogop) July 10, 2025 Although Moreno is the senior senator for Ohio, it’s only by a few days. He took office on Jan. 3, while Republican Sen. Jon Husted, formerly the lieutenant governor, replaced Vance later that same month. Moreno’s status, as well as his having a seat in the Senate at all, is even more impressive considering the path it took for him to get here. He briefly ran in 2022, in a crowded primary won by Vance. The 2024 primary was almost as crowded. Polls started off showing Moreno with poor name recognition, who didn’t exactly have a winning chance against now former Sen. Sherrod Brown. As the March primary got closer, Moreno’s chances improved, though polls still showed a close race with State Sen. Matt Dolan. According to the RealClearPolling average, Moreno had a +2.0 point lead. He won by +17.6 points. Moreno then faced Brown in the general election, no easy feat considering he was going up an incumbent. Ohio has become increasingly red, though, and the election was a test to see just how solidified that status is. Trump won the state in 2016, 2020, and would also win in 2024, but Brown comfortably won reelection in 2018 by 6.8 points and voters approved a pro-choice ballot initiative in 2023. Initially, polls showed Brown winning. Then in the weeks and days before the election, polls showed Moreno moving into in a slight lead. He again overperformed expectations. While the RCP average had him up +1.7 points, Moreno ultimately defeated Brown by +3.6 points. The win helped Republicans back control of the Senate chamber. Of all the Senate races to watch last November, this was the battleground race. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., beat now former Democrat Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., but that race took longer to call and involved a margin of 0.2 points. Montana and West Virginia also flipped from Democrat to Republican, by significant margins, but were considered more favorable to Republicans. The accomplishments Moreno has achieved so far, including but not only this leadership position, could very well further indicate this senator will be one to watch. Husted will be up for election in 2028, before Moreno is, despite being the junior senator. Moreno doesn’t face reelection until 2030 and has plenty of time to make an even bigger name for himself. The post Ohio’s Bernie Moreno Joins Senate Leadership Team appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The mass deportation of illegal aliens is not new. The U.S. has been removing thousands of illegal immigrants every year since the 1800s, according to official Department of Homeland Security data. Prior to the second Trump administration, the highest annual illegal immigrant-removal numbers reported were under the Obama administration, according to DHS figures.   During President Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, about 3 million illegal aliens were deported from the U.S., with the highest number of removals in fiscal year 2013 at 432,334, averaging more than 36,000 a month. Between being sworn in on Jan. 20 and June 30, more than 239,000 illegal aliens have been deported under President Donald Trump, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, told The Daily Signal in an email Monday. On average, about 47,000 illegal aliens have been deported each month since Trump took office, breaking Obama’s record. “Removals” constitute the “compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States based on an order of removal,” according to the DHS.   Under the leadership of border czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump administration has arrested more than 273,000 illegal aliens, according to DHS. Numerous lawsuits and court ruling have, however, slowed removals. “In the face of historic opposition from activist, liberal judges, President Trump is committed to carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history to remove the millions of unvetted, illegal, criminal aliens that Joe Biden welcomed into our country,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Signal.   The recently passed “One Big, Beautiful Bill will turbocharge the president’s deportation efforts by funding more ICE agents, expanded detention facilities, and more,” Jackson said, adding that illegal immigrants “should self-deport while they still have the opportunity.”  DHS is encouraging illegal aliens to self-deport, offering $1,000 to those who do and the hope of a potential legal path back to the U.S.  While Trump continues to fight legal battles over its authority to deport illegal aliens, the administration is also setting up new detention facilities to house those apprehended.   On July 1, Trump toured a new detention center in the Florida Everglades commonly referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.” The facility was built in just eight days and could immediately accommodate up to 3,000 illegal aliens.   According to the latest polling form the Napolitan News Service, 57% of voters support Trump’s deportation efforts, while 39% disapprove. The post Obama vs. Trump: Who Deported More Illegal Aliens? appeared first on The Daily Signal.