Adam Schiff

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., became the latest lawmaker to report a suspicious white powder mailed to his Leesburg office, which was evacuated Monday as local hazmat teams and Capitol Police responded. He joins a growing list of officials targeted in recent weeks, including Reps. Seth Moulton and Eugene Vindman, and Sens. Adam Schiff, Pete Ricketts, Ted Cruz, and Mike Rounds. Moulton noted his letter carried a return address linked to the Democratic Socialists of America, which denies any involvement. The incidents began last week with letters sent to Louisiana's and Oklahoma's election offices. The FBI, Capitol Police, Senate Sergeant at Arms, and Postal Inspection Service are investigating the apparent coordinated intimidation campaign.

Sen. Adam Schiff joined Reps. Sara Jacobs, Scott Peters, Juan Vargas and Mike Levin, along with San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabiola Bagula and board members, at Point Loma High School to condemn ICE arrests near schools. The news conference followed the arrest last month of two parents, whose Temporary Protected Status had reportedly been revoked, shortly after drop-off near John Marshall Elementary School. Officials said the children, ages 2 and 5, were left without their parents. Lawmakers criticized the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics as cruel and said federal officials have rebuffed requests for restraint near sensitive locations like schools, citing meetings described as unproductive.

The Department of Homeland Security dismissed the visit as a "political stunt," saying ICE targets criminals, not children, and denied arrests have occurred inside schools. The dispute comes amid ICE's reported statewide "Operation Safe California" enforcement push, now in its second week, with Democrats pointing to the midterm elections as a potential avenue for oversight and subpoena power.

A government-funded ad campaign praising President Trump began airing on Fox News this week, labeled on-screen as "Paid for by the U.S. government." The ads feature Trump's image, a soundtrack of the song "Love Me," UFC's Dana White calling him "the toughest, most resilient person," and promises to defeat "communism, socialism and Marxism." The White House describes the spots as a nonpolitical "public service announcement." Singer JMSN says he never authorized use of his song for political purposes.

The campaign has drawn bipartisan criticism. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said the use of taxpayer money "feels like Viktor Orbán," and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) said he doesn't like seeing public money fund what looks like campaign advertising. Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin called the ads "blatantly unethical," citing potential violations of the Hatch Act, which bars using government resources for political purposes.

The ads follow other instances of Trump's name and image appearing on government property, currency, and buildings, prompting comparisons to state-run propaganda in authoritarian countries. No congressional investigation or Justice Department action has been announced.

Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both California Democrats, have asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate a whistleblower's allegations that a DHS unit improperly accessed the state's voter registration data. The disclosure claims USCIS's Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate was assigned an "unlawful voter initiative" using questionable data and methods to flag purported unlawful voters, potentially including U.S. citizens who could face law enforcement records based on rushed reviews. Personnel were reportedly held to quotas of 40 subjects a day and told to misrepresent themselves to access the data, with the effort aimed at completion by September 12.

Padilla and Schiff argue the initiative appears designed to find or manufacture evidence for voter fraud claims ahead of the 2026 midterms, warning of serious consequences for naturalized citizens wrongly flagged. They previously urged DHS and USCIS leadership to halt the effort. A DHS spokesperson defended the practice, saying the department cross-referenced publicly available voter rolls with known aliens in its systems. The Trump administration has separately pursued voter data from other states, with a federal judge earlier dismissing a related DOJ suit against California as "unprecedented and illegal."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, has not yet said whether she will seek a sixth term when her current one expires in January 2025. She has said she will announce her decision this spring. Persistent questions about her mental acuity have fueled calls, including from the Los Angeles Times editorial board, for her to retire rather than run again.

Even without a formal announcement, the race to succeed her is already underway. Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff have launched campaigns, and Rep. Barbara Lee has told colleagues she intends to run as well, with more candidates possibly to follow. Given California's Democratic lean, the eventual winner is expected to come from within the party, and observers anticipate a contest defined more by personal contrasts and intra-party rifts than sharp policy differences, echoing the centrist-versus-progressive tensions that shaped Feinstein's own career. The outcome will hinge heavily on whether Feinstein ultimately steps aside.