Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) ran defense on Sunday morning for the narcoterrorists targeted in a recent military strike, describing them to “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker as “shipwreck survivors.” Schiff joined a wide array of elected Democrats and media talking heads who have continued to push the narrative that President Donald Trump’s administration — War Secretary Pete Hegseth in particular — had taken illegal actions either in targeting narcoterrorists in the first place or in the recent “double tap” (second strike) on a boat that was disabled, but not destroyed by the first hit. Schiff shared video of the exchange, along with his own caption: “The killing of shipwrecked survivors at sea is a textbook violation of the laws of war. If Hegseth is so proud of the killing of these survivors, the Pentagon should release the full video, just like they have with other boat strikes. The American people deserve full transparency and accountability.” WATCH: The killing of shipwrecked survivors at sea is a textbook violation of the laws of war. If Hegseth is so proud of the killing of these survivors, the Pentagon should release the full video, just like they have with other boat strikes. The American people deserve full… pic.twitter.com/ABerq9vNPc — Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) December 7, 2025 Welker began with a simple question about whether or not the boat strikes were legal in the first place — and Schiff said he believed they were not. “They’re unlawful, they’re unconstitutional, and killing two people who are shipwrecked at sea is also morally repugnant,” Schiff said, adding that he believed the United States should explore legal avenues to stop the flow of drugs into the country — but he did not believe the current path was legal. 50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at DailyWire.com/cyberweek. He called on War Secretary Hegseth to release video of the strike in question, arguing that the people should be able to see what had transpired. “I can’t imagine people would be proud of that,” he added. Throughout the less-than-two-minute clip, Schiff referred to narcoterrorists as “shipwrecked survivors” at least three times, making no move to explain how they had come to be “shipwrecked” in the first place — or what they had been doing on a boat that was being used to traffic illegal narcotics.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is entering the heated race to represent the Lone Star State in the United States Senate after much deliberation. Crockett filed last-minute paperwork to run in the Texas Democratic Primary in March, and is expected to announce her bid later on Monday, CBS News reported. “It is hilarious to me that me saying that I will announce what I plan to do on 12/8, like I’ve been saying is scaring the heck out of so many people. The attacks are hilarious… note to those that don’t know how politics works… only the threat gets attacked,” the Democrat posted on X last week. “Again, my decision to go one way or another will be based upon facts & not feelings… historical data, trends, etc,” she added. The 44-year-old congresswoman, who represents parts of the Dallas area, is considered a firebrand for her party as a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and a key surrogate on the 2024 campaign trail. Her entrance could potentially rally the Democratic base in the state and push her through the primary. Earlier on Monday, former Rep. Colin Allred, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024, dropped out of the race amid the speculation that Crockett would likely jump in. “I am deeply moved by the personal stories and trust that so many Texans have placed in me. I’m forever grateful and believe it comes with heavy responsibility,” Allred wrote in an X post. However, state Rep. James Talarico is standing firm in his bid for the Democratic nomination. “We’re building a movement in Texas fueled by record-breaking grassroots fundraising and 10,000 volunteers who are putting in the work to defeat the billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over our state,” Talarico wrote in a Monday afternoon statement. “Our movement is rooted in unity over division – so we welcome Congresswoman Crockett into this race,” he added. The Republicans are duking it out for the nomination, as Sen. John Cornyn is facing off against Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt. None of the men has received Trump’s endorsement yet, as the race has largely centered on who would be best positioned to help the president execute his agenda during his last two years in office. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate, and the battle for Congress will be critical in determining the political direction for the Trump administration and a key indicator headed into the 2028 presidential race. In Texas, Trump won the state handily in 2024, and the Cook Political Report considered the 2026 Senate race as “Likely Republican.”

The Supreme Court is looking at the possibility of ensuring that the federal executive branch is a unitary executive. The New York Times reports: As a young staff member in the Reagan administration, John G. Roberts Jr. was part of a group of lawyers who pushed for more White House control over independent government agencies. The “time may be ripe to reconsider the existence of such entities, and take action to bring them back within the executive branch,” the future chief justice of the United States advised the White House counsel in a 1983 memo. Independent agencies, he wrote, were a “constitutional anomaly.” Once he ascended to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roberts joined other conservatives on the bench in a series of rulings that have chipped away at Congress’s power to constrain the president’s authority to fire independent regulators. The real question here is this: Where in the Constitution do you find the idea of independent regulators? It does not exist. We have three branches of government, and, in order of power, it’s supposed to be: legislative, executive, and judicial. With that said, all of these are unitary powers. The president is not supposed to implement legislative power, which is why many of the regulatory agencies that currently exist should be ruled unconstitutional. If there are unelected agencies writing laws — which is what regulations are — there is no mode for that under the Constitution of the United States. Simultaneously, there is no independent fourth branch of government set up by Congress that is not answerable to the executive branch, but only answerable to Congress. There’s nothing like that contemplated by the Constitution. There will be a case argued in the Supreme Court over whether President Trump can fire people across the federal government in defiance of laws meant to protect their jobs and shield them from politics. The Court’s majority will likely side with Trump, which makes perfect sense because there is nowhere in the Constitution where it says Congress has the power to set up an agency inside the executive branch that the president of the United States cannot run. This case revolves around whether President Trump can fire Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, simply because he says she does not align with his agenda. That firing would be despite a law that says the president can only remove commissioners for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. The administration is asking the justices to toss out a 90-year-old precedent that said the Constitution allowed laws like that one and put limits on the president’s authority to dismiss some quasi-independent government officials. There are two dozen other agencies charged with protecting consumers, workers, the environment, or nuclear safety. They have been insulated from complete presidential control by similar laws. One of the points Trump makes is that he’s doing the obvious thing. Democrats have been firing these people by ginning up cases against them for a very, very long time. This is also how they manage to maintain control of the regulatory state even after they lost an election. This is what Trump would label the so-called “deep state.” Trump has repeatedly ousted Democratic leaders — including at the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission —  to make way for replacements who share his policy priorities. That makes perfect sense. When you elect a president, you’re supposed to be able to shift regulatory policy along those lines. It is why the Constitution was written the way that it was. Once you have a gigantic regulatory authority wedded to the executive branch, either the executive branch itself, run by the president, gains significant power, or you have to set up a fourth unregulated branch of government that is the regulatory state that actually runs the place. Neither of those two solutions is good. Thus, the Constitution states that no lawmaking power lies with Congress. Executive power lies with the president. We should hope that we return to the idea of a functional unitary executive, meaning everything that happens under the executive branch is run by the president. If we go back to that, maybe Congress would actually legislate instead of kicking the can over to the regulatory branches of government to avoid responsibility. The theory of the unitary executive is an idea that dates back to the Reagan administration. In a 2010 decision, Chief Justice Roberts said that the president’s power generally includes the authority to remove those assisting him in carrying out his duties. Without such power, the president could not be fully held accountable for discharging his own responsibilities. That is exactly right, and I hope that the Supreme Court carries through on all of that. That would be a genuinely positive development.

'An executive order doesn't/can't preempt state legislative action'

'Massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power'

'Farmers suffered under Joe Biden'

'There is more work to be done'

'It just got worse and worse'

All eyes are on Indiana as the state Senate considers a redistricting effort that could determine whether or not Republicans keep the U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterms. The Indiana State Senate’s Elections Committee is in the process of listening to testimony from over 100 Hoosiers about the proposed redistricting map that has already passed the House, which would likely flip the two Democrat U.S. House seats from blue to red, resulting in 9 Republican and 0 Democrat representatives. Leftists protesting the proposed map overwhelmed the state capitol with chants such as “Vote no,” “This is what democracy looks like” and “No cheating” according to the Indiana Star. A vote on the map, which the House passed by a vote of 57-41, is expected in the senate on Thursday. Conservative operatives spoke to The Daily Signal about the map’s chances for success. Even though there are 40 Republicans in the 50 member upper chamber of the Indiana state legislature, final passage is not a sure thing, and failure to pass the current map would likely result in the redistricting effort failing entirely. Conservative groups are sending a strong message to Republican Indiana senators and senate leadership. David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth, took aim at Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “Sen. Rod Bray: This is our FINAL WARNING. Pass the new congressional map supported by President Trump and Hoosiers. Failure to get this done means you and any other opposition will be defeated and removed from office in your next election. Let’s get it done!” McIntosh said. Bray had previously been accused of slowplaying the redistricting effort in the Hoosier state. Nevertheless, conservatives who have been working on passing the Indiana map are optimistic that the bill will garner the 25 votes it needs to pass the Senate, which has become a major topic of conversation in Washington because control of the House, and likely a series of impeachment efforts against Trump, hangs in the balance. Trump Pushes Hard for Indiana Redistricting President Donald Trump has stressed the urgency of Indiana’s redistricting effort to give Republicans two more House seats in public and in private. On Friday, the president had urged Republican state senators to pass the new congressional map. “I am hearing that these nine Senators, some of whom are up for Re-Election in 2026, and some in 2028, need encouragement to make the right decision: Blake Doriot, Brett Clark, Brian Buchanan, Dan Dernulc, Ed Charbonneau, Greg Goode, Jim Buck, Rick Niemeyer, and Ryan Mishler. Let your voice be heard loud and clear in support of these Senators doing the right thing,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.  According to a report from Politico, Trump spoke with Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Braun at the White House Christmas party on Sunday. Braun reportedly told the president and other guests that he thought redistricting would pass. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., has also been doing his part to secure another term with the speaker’s gavel by reportedly manning the phones with reluctant Indiana state lawmakers. Grassroots Pushing Squishy Indiana Republicans to Act While Indiana’s redistricting effort is broadly popular among Republican voters in the state, some GOP lawmakers have been hesitant to sign onto the new congressional map apparently fearing Democrat challenges to their seats and appearing to shrink at the confrontational nature of the effort. Conservative activist groups like Heritage Action for America, Turning Point Action, and the Club for Growth have rallied grassroots activists to get state Republicans on board with the redistricting effort. Those efforts have included educating the grassroots, rallying Indiana residents to call their legislators, and spreading the message through the media.  “We’ve seen a number of those 20 [Republican state senators] drop off to the point now where we’re down to about, we need four more Republicans to say yes to redistricting. So we’re very close, and we anticipate getting there, but the floor vote is the fight,” Paul Lagemann, the state advocacy manager of Heritage Action for America, told The Daily Signal. Lagemann has taken the redistricting case to national media, appearing last week on Steve Bannon’s Warroom. The Club for Growth has promised to help primary Republican state senators who do not end up supporting redistricting. Some Indiana Republicans, however, don’t feel the urgency expressed by the president and grassroots activists. “There is no way that [President Donald Trump] should have time to have a conversation with me about Indiana mapmaking when that’s not his business, for starters. But secondly, doesn’t he have anything better to do? I can make a big list of things that are more important for him to focus on,” Republican state Sen. Greg Walker, told a local media outlet. The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher Hesitancy at redistricting comes at a precarious time for Republicans who are facing the normal headwinds of being the party in power for the upcoming midterm elections as well as several unique challenges. First, there have been a slew of retirement and resignation announcements from Republican members of Congress including: Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas, Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Jodey Arrington of Texas, Elise Stefanik of New York, and Randy Feenstra of Iowa.  Republicans currently have a thin majority in the House, and have launched redistricting efforts in red states across the country. Many of these states have stepped up to the challenge. In Texas, for example, redistricting is likely going to result in five additional GOP seats. Democrats are pushing their own redistricting efforts, however. California has already gerrymandered its congressional maps. In Virginia party leaders are seeking to put a constitutional amendment in front of voters that could net the Democratic Party at least two House seats. Maryland is contemplating its own gerrymandering efforts. What Comes Next? Bray told reporters on Monday that he’s unsure if the map has the votes: “I’ve said before that they weren’t, and what I’m saying now is we’ll find out Thursday.” Despite Trump and Braun pushing for the redistricting effort, Bray had refused to act sooner. But inaction became untenable because, in Bray’s words, the redistricting issue was “causing a lot of strife.” “It seemed like suddenly the issue was more about whether we’re coming in or not,” Bray claimed. “So we just decided to come in and vet the issue, and we’ll vote on it and answer the question.” Before it reaches the floor of the Indiana senate, however, the legislative measure must make it out of the election committee. There would also be a second reading of the bill where dozens of amendments, including some poison pills, are expected to be proposed. Despite Republican’s large advantage on paper, the redistricting fight in Indiana is far from over. The post ALL EYES ON INDIANA: Republicans From Trump to Grassroots Fighting for House Map That Could Determine Control in 2026 appeared first on The Daily Signal.