Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley announced on Twitter Friday morning he will run for an eighth term, a move that makes it more likely the GOP can keep control of his seat in next year's midterm elections.

Grassley romped to a seventh term in 2016 by 25 percentage points and will face former Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer in next year's general election.

Grassley turned 88 this month but Republican Party leaders have nonetheless pressed him to seek reelection amid their broader efforts to claim the Senate majority next year.

White House officials prioritized President Donald Trump’s attempt to challenge the election over the pandemic response last winter, according to emails obtained by the House select subcommittee probing the government’s coronavirus response and shared with The Washington Post.

Steven Hatfill, a virologist who advised White House trade director Peter Navarro and said he was intimately involved in the pandemic response, repeatedly described in the emails how “election stuff” took precedence over coronavirus, even as the outbreak surged to more than 250,000 new coronavirus cases per day in January.

“Now with the elections so close, COVID is taking a back-seat, yet the disease is rearing it[s] ugly head again,” Hatfill wrote to an outside colleague in October 2020. Following the election, which was disputed by former president Donald Trump, Hatfill wrote in another email that he personally “shifted over to the election fraud investigation in November.”

In other emails obtained by the subcommittee, Hatfill further detailed his role in the White House’s election challenges, including traveling to Arizona in the wake of that state’s close election, passing along a “Plan B for Trump Legal Fight” and sharing debunked rumors of Joe Biden’s supposed family ties with a voting machine company.

After coming up short in his presidential and New York City mayoral bids, Andrew Yang has settled on a name for his new third party.

"The Forward Party" is named in the final chapter of Yang's forthcoming book, "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy," a copy of which was obtained by Insider.

A source close to Yang and familiar with the plans confirmed the party's existence to Insider on Sept. 10, but the Yang confidante was unable to disclose the name.

Yang outlines six "key principles" behind his party, which will need to be registered state-by-state.
"Ranked-choice voting and open primaries."
"Fact-based governance."
"Human-centered capitalism."
"Effective and modern-day government."
"Universal Basic Income."
"Grace and Tolerance."

U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Daniel Foote resigned Thursday, saying that he did not want to be associated with what he called the United States’ “inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees” back to the island nation.

Foote’s resignation letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which was first obtained by the PBS NewsHour, comes as the Biden administration is facing widespread backlash over its treatment of Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, where images of horseback border patrol agents using reins against migrants have sparked outrage. Activists and some lawmakers have also been calling for the Biden administration to suspend deportations to Haiti. In his letter, Foote criticizes the deportations.

“I will not be associated with the United States inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the danger posed by armed gangs in control of daily life,” Foote wrote in his resignation letter. “Our policy approach to Haïti remains deeply flawed, and my recommendations have been ignored and dismissed, when not edited to project a narrative different from my own.”

Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on Wednesday sent memos to Democratic lawmakers telling them they risk losing their Senate and House majorities if they fail to reach an agreement on their reconciliation package, The New York Times reported.

“The historical trend makes it clear that Democrats will face severe headwinds next November,” Podesta said in his memo, which was sent to all Democratic lawmakers, according to The Times, “but nothing will guarantee a political reckoning faster than if the Democrats fail to pass anything.”

He warned progressives in the party that the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package price tag needs to be dialed back, saying that the bill will not be able to pass as currently constructed.


“The political reality is clear, given Democrats have no margin for error in the Senate and a limited margin in the House,” Podesta said in his memo, according to The Times. “We will not secure the full $3.5 trillion investment. It’s time for

President Joe Biden is poised to nominate Cornell Law School Professor Saule Omarova to a top job overseeing the nation’s banks, according to a person familiar with the matter, handing a win to advocates for stricter financial rules.

As comptroller of the currency, Omarova would be responsible for policing the activities of the U.S.'s largest banks as the head of a key financial regulator. She would also set rules affecting the operations of upstart financial technology companies and cryptocurrency firms.

In her academic work, Omarova has long called for the government to play a more expansive role in providing financial services, questioning whether traditional lenders and their newer competitors are adequately serving the needs of Americans.

Omarova has written in favor of restructuring the Federal Reserve and recommended that it provide bank accounts for consumers, which she has argued would make the financial system “less complex, more stable and more efficient in serving the long-term needs of the American people.” That view is likely to make her nomination controversial, particularly for Senate Republicans.