Behind the scenes, several people who worked closely with former Vice President Kamala Harris remain skeptical that she will launch another bid for the White House in 2028. Although early polls show Harris leading the Democratic field for the nomination, a number of her former aides, advisers, surrogates, and donors do not expect her to run again, according to Axios. The outlet spoke with eight former Harris aides and advisers, including several who held senior positions, about her prospects for another presidential campaign. Only one said she would probably run. Two viewed the decision as a toss-up, and five said she was unlikely to enter the race. The former aides cited several factors, including Harris keeping a low profile and doing “the bare minimum” to stay relevant in the presidential sweepstakes. Potential presidential contenders have traditionally spent the pre-primary period building support in early-voting states such as New Hampshire and South Carolina and campaigning for their party’s candidates in midterm elections. Since her stinging election loss, Harris has gone on a book tour and is expected to campaign with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan’s contentious U.S. Senate race. One former aide told Axios that Harris knows the political challenges she would face in another campaign. The 2028 Democratic primary is expected to be crowded, and Harris would have to convince Democratic voters she could win a general election after losing all seven key battleground states plus the national popular vote to President Donald Trump. The Harris allies also pointed to fundraising concerns. Some major Democratic donors remain reluctant to support another Harris campaign, while others may be lining up behind other contenders such as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. At a Politico panel earlier this month, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman threw cold water on another Harris campaign.  “I think it would be a very challenging path for her, and it’s going to be a very noisy field,” Hoffman said. His negative assessment came days after Newsom said he’d defer to Harris, insisting he would not run if she threw her hat into the ring. “I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a viral interview recorded while the two were fly-fishing in Montana. Tapper later wrote that he was “stunned” by Newsom’s answer. “Why would I?” Newsom continued. “I won’t waste everyone’s time.” Newsom argued that a primary contest between the two California Democrats would benefit Republicans and force their overlapping political allies to choose sides. “First of all, electorally, it’s a gift from God for everybody else,” Newsom said. “They’d enjoy the hell out of it. Mutually assured destruction. It serves no greater good.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Sunday evening released a video ripping journalists for running wild with reports on what she described as bogus claims about her sleeping with staffers. At the end of the fiery video, Boebert quipped that, for those interested, she’s “not hiring” at the moment. In her video post, which has already been viewed more than 4.6 million times on X, Boebert said the allegations that she slept with three staffers were totally false, while chastising the media for treating the claims as if they had merit. She also argued that the filing in question does not qualify as a House Ethics complaint under the committee’s rules, and the committee has not announced an investigation. “Hey, journalists … I have a few words for you. You all ran a smear and called it news,” she started the video. “Some sloppy, desperate, obsessive hack stamps ‘under oath’ on a fake filing, so you’ll write ‘penalty of perjury’ in the headline.” “Yeah, that’s the whole freaking trick,” she continued. “It’s a scam, and you fell for it. No member of Congress certified in writing that his salacious BS attack was made in good faith and warrants review as required by Ethics, and it’s evident that you didn’t even bother to look up House Ethics Committee rules that clearly state the committee can’t even accept a complaint filed inside 60 days of an election.” A sworn ethics complaint accuses Boebert of having sexual relationships with three congressional aides, conduct that would breach House rules if substantiated. The filing was submitted under penalty of perjury, but the House Ethics Committee has not publicly announced that it has accepted or opened an investigation into it. David Wheeler, head of American Muckrakers, a political action committee that has pursued Boebert for years, filed the complaint with the House Ethics Committee on Thursday. Its central claim involves Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff, a former Colorado state lawmaker who ran Boebert’s district office from 2021 until January 2025. The filing alleges two further relationships — one with Raven Finegan, Boebert’s current district chief of staff, and Jeffrey Small, her former chief of staff from 2021 to 2025. On Saturday, Boebert addressed the claims, telling a reporter, “Well, I’m not a lesbian or bisexual, and I have never, ever been in any inappropriate relationship, nor have I ever been sexually involved with any staff.” Continuing in her video message, Boebert called the reports “filthy garbage” that reaches beyond her and into the homes of her staff. “This reaches into the homes of people who have dedicated years of service to Coloradans alongside of me,” she said. “I know that you’re more than willing to attack me and shame my household, but this is different, and you crossed a line.” “I hope you think about the impact that this could have on them and their families the next time you rush to print without doing a little bit of research,” Boebert continued. “So while you sit back and think of how you can do your jobs better, I’m going to continue serving Colorado’s 4th District.” “I hate to spoil the fan fiction, but y’all need to do better,” she said. “And I gotta say just one more thing before I sign off here: To the rest of y’all, no, I’m not hiring.” Related: ‘I’m Not A Lesbian’: Lauren Boebert Denies Sleeping With Three Staffers

The White House is defending President Donald Trump’s decision to remove CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House grounds, arguing that the First Amendment protects the press’s right to publish but does not guarantee individual news organizations access to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  In a statement Monday titled “White House Access Is a Privilege — Not a Right,” the White House said Trump removed the three outlets after what it called “years of false reporting.” The administration argued that access to the White House, including hard passes, briefing-room seats, and positions in the press pool, is subject to administration rules. “Access changes are nothing new. What is new, however, is the sudden claim that it becomes sacred only when the outlets are friendly to the Radical Left. The rule was never ‘every outlet gets in.’ It was always ‘our side stays in,’” the statement said.  The statement then stretched back into history, citing conflicts between Democratic administrations and conservative news organizations. It cited the Obama White House’s attempts to sideline Fox, the Justice Department’s investigation of Fox News correspondent James Rosen, the seizure of Associated Press telephone records, and the Biden administration’s moves to isolate conservative outlets.  A Media Research Center analysis found that 92.2% of coverage about Trump’s administration on ABC, NBC, and CBS evening newscasts during the first 80 days of his second term were negative, compared with 59% positive coverage during the same period of President Joe Biden’s term. “No President is required to host a hostile operation on the grounds. Access has always been a privilege, and President Trump is applying that rule,” the White House said hours after Fox News pulled the plug on presidential pool coverage, joining CNN and other networks in a show of solidarity.  On Monday morning, Fox News D.C. Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton, who currently serves as the rotating chair of the presidential television pool, informed pool members that coverage would be suspended, writing in an email: “This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.” “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place,” Boughton said.  The move marks a rare rebuke from Fox News and comes directly in response to Trump’s announcement Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. Trump accused the three Left-wing news organizations of repeatedly publishing what he called “FAKE NEWS.” “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote. In a joint statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, Fox News Media criticized the Trump White House. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”  

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ripped the legacy media Monday morning, but said he didn’t know enough about President Donald Trump’s move to ban Politico, CNN, and MS NOW from the White House to comment directly on it. “So, Joe, I’ve been traveling. I don’t know much about it. I wasn’t in the Oval when it happened.” Bessent told CNBC’s Joe Kernen when the host asked about the ban. When pressed further on the issue, Bessent said the legacy media needs to get back to “equilibrium” and argued that outlets unfairly cover the “most transparent president in history.”  “For the legacy media, the equilibrium is so far out of kilter because what group is one of the few that is less popular than the U.S. Congress?” Bessent asked. “Legacy media. And why is that? Because of the perceived bias. So the American people deserve good reporting. We’ll see where this goes.” Bessent then laid into legacy media reporters.  “Maybe it’s a change in coverage at the White House because some of these reporters, they just don’t do their job well. We’ll have something. And then they’ll ask some crazy question,” he said. Politico, CNN, and MS NOW sued the Trump administration on Monday, arguing, “This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles.” The lawsuit added that the ban has already “severely impeded” their ability to cover the president.  On Monday, President Trump appeared to respond to the lawsuit with a post on Truth Social, writing, “The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America. It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped NOW!”  In response to the president’s ban, the five networks that make up the White House television pool — Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News — suspended TV pool coverage of the president, meaning that Trump’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly will go without a television crew providing video coverage. The legacy media traditionally covers the president in a TV pool, alternating who covers events and sharing that coverage with the other outlets in the pool. The five networks issued a joint statement condemning the White House’s move, and no replacement pool has been put in place. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” the networks said in the joint statement. “No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” 

Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, who was labeled a “big fat slob” by President Donald Trump, revealed on Monday that he has lost 80 pounds thanks to a GLP-1 medication he started taking in the last two years. Pritzker said in an interview with CBS News’ David Begnaud that he began taking the GLP-1 after a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. The governor’s weight loss has been evident in recent months as he continues to put himself in front of the media, taking shots at the Trump administration as he’s floated as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. “I’ve been overweight most of my life, really. Since I was probably 7 or 8 years old,” Pritzker said. The governor added that the stress of his job led him to put on even more weight, CBS News reported. Begnaud said the weight gain “forced [Pritzker] to put up with unwanted attention.” The outlet then played a clip of Trump from a campaign rally in March 2024, when Trump stated, “Pritzker, I don’t know, he’s too busy eating. He wants to eat all the time.” In November 2025, Trump again took a shot at Pritzker’s weight, while dishing on Illinois Democrats. “The mayor is incompetent and the governor is a big fat slob,” Trump said. When asked by Begnaud if his weight loss is part of a strategy to help his image ahead of a potential 2028 run, Pritzker replied, “I’ve been driven my whole life to lose weight. The fact that I am now able to do it because this GLP-1 became available is truly … it’s something that has meant a lot to me. I have not made any decisions about what I might do in the future. I can tell you I want to be the governor of the state of Illinois for a while longer, and I’m running for re-election.” The CBS News reporter then gave him another opportunity to say if he would run for president in 2028. “I’m going to give you an easy out: tell me you’re not running for president in 2028,” Begnaud said. Pritzker laughed and replied, “I honestly am focused on what’s best for the people of Illinois.” Pritzker is running for a third term as governor in November. Whether he’s taking GLP-1s for his political image or just for his health, Pritzker doesn’t seem self-conscious about his image anymore. In recent weeks, the Democrat posted a self-aggrandizing video to relate to Gen Z. “When you’re in an aura farming contest and your opponent is J.B.” the short clip stated. “Aura farming” is Gen Z speak for a person intentionally seeking out ways to make himself look confident and charismatic without making it look like the person is trying too hard. Pritzker captioned his video “Governor-maxxing.” Governor-maxxing. pic.twitter.com/KUZRJc9ANF — JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) August 24, 2026 Pritzker has even joked about his weight loss in recent months, telling a crowd in Washington, D.C., “I’m JB Pritzker, governor of the great state of Illinois, and if you’re seeing me in person for the very first time, yes, I’m the guy who put ‘gov’ in ‘Wegovy.’” In his CBS News interview, Pritzker spoke to Begnaud alongside his wife, MK, as the three of them ate salads in the governor’s kitchen. When asked about Pritzker taking GLP-1s, MK said, “Well, I was very encouraging of it I have to say, and obviously I knew the history of his family. You know, it’s such a sad story, and of course, I want him to be around for a really long time.” Pritzker’s father, Donald, a co-founder and president of the Hyatt Corporation, died of a heart attack at the age of 39. “He was actually quite an active person even though he was overweight, so he was on a tennis court and had a heart attack and my mother was there. And he died in her arms,” Pritzker said.

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