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The Kevin McCarthy revenge tour gets ready for opening night: From the Politics Desk

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The Kevin McCarthy revenge tour gets ready for opening night: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, we report on Act I of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s revenge tour. Plus, senior political editor Mark Murray breaks down the polling gap between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on compassion and toughness.

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Kevin McCarthy’s first target in his revenge tour: Nancy Mace

By Ali Vitali, Bridget Bowman and Kyle Stewart

DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. — Rep. Nancy Mace is no stranger to an intraparty battle. Now, her role in a big Republican fight last year — the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker — is complicating her primary on Tuesday.

Mace, who is both a candidate seeking her third term and her own campaign manager, has earned the ire of the highest ranks of Republicans in the few short years she’s been in Washington. In 2022, it was former President Donald Trump — though they’ve since patched things up. Then, a year later, she voted in historic fashion to boot a House speaker from her own party. 

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In fact, McCarthy is the first thing Mace points to when asked about the stakes of her latest political fight against a primary challenger running with McCarthy’s support.

“It’s about revenge,” Mace told NBC News in an interview at her campaign headquarters. “It’s also about honesty and integrity. And my vote to oust Kevin McCarthy was about trust.”

Mace says she doesn’t regret the vote. McCarthy, for his part, has said his support of GOP candidates challenging several of “the crazy eight,” as he calls the Republicans who voted against him, has nothing to do with political vendetta. Sources close to McCarthy point out he’s limited in what he can do directly, outside of giving money and advice. His spokesperson did not respond to a request for an interview. 

But operatives aligned with McCarthy are directing big money into these races through outside groups. Tuesday’s challenge to Mace is the first test, followed by House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good’s primary in Virginia next week. Two other anti-McCarthy voters — Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona and Matt Gaetz of Florida — are also facing primary challengers this summer. 

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In South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Catherine Templeton said Mace’s vote against McCarthy was “absolutely” what sparked her to run against Mace. Templeton is also a Trump backer and served as labor secretary in then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s Cabinet.

Before launching her bid, Templeton met with Brian O. Walsh, a GOP political strategist and McCarthy ally. But she told The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston that she has not talked to McCarthy “about taking out Congresswoman Mace, but I have asked him to help raise money.” McCarthy contributed to Templeton’s campaign through his leadership PAC.

Yet Templeton also downplayed the former speaker’s role in the race. 

“Her antics have consequences,” Templeton said of Mace, defining the race as larger than one action, though clearly tied to that historic vote. “All due respect to Kevin McCarthy, who is, I’m sure, a wonderful man: Nobody’s paying attention to Kevin McCarthy in the Low Country of South Carolina.”

Read more ahead of tomorrow’s primary →

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An emerging 2024 dynamic: Trump’s toughness vs. Biden’s compassion

By Mark Murray

The latest national CBS News/YouGov poll has an illuminating set of numbers on the 2024 election that go beyond the horse race (it’s still super close) and attitudes about Trump’s recent felony conviction (majorities say it was fair, but also that it won’t factor into their vote). 

The eyebrow-raising finding in the poll: 66% of registered voters said they view Trump as “tough,” while only 28% of voters said the same of President Joe Biden. 

Meanwhile, a majority of voters — 52% — described Biden as being “compassionate,” compared with just 37% who said that about Trump.

Call it Trump’s toughness vs. Biden’s compassion. 

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That frame plays out in NBC News’ own national polling from earlier this year. Trump held a 35-point lead over Biden on the question of which candidate better secures the border and controls immigration. Yet Biden was ahead by 17 points on the question of which candidate better treats immigrants humanely and protects immigrant rights. 

It’s also reflected in focus groups, such as one NBC News recently observed of Latino voters in Arizona who had unfavorable views of both Biden and Trump. Their descriptions of Biden: “Too old,” “useless” and “incompetent.” As for Trump? “Rude,” “arrogant” and “ridiculous.”

And it’s a helpful way to distill the chief perceived vulnerabilities of both Biden and Trump. For Biden, it’s questions about his age. In addition to the 28% of voters who said they view the president as “tough,” just 26% saw him as being “energetic” in the CBS News/YouGov poll.

And for Trump, his weaknesses are his rhetoric and his legal challenges, which include his conviction in the New York hush money case, as well as his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. 

What do swing voters want more from their president — toughness or compassion? The answer to that question could very well decide who wins in November.

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🗞️ Today’s top stories

  • Closing time: After Hunter Biden’s defense team rested Monday without calling him to the witness stand, jury deliberations began in the federal gun-related case against the president’s son. Read more →
  • 🎙️Trump talk: Trump was set to sit Monday for a virtual interview with a probation officer as part of the New York hush money case. Since his historic guilty verdict, Trump’s rhetoric has increasingly focused on revenge and retribution. Read more →
  • 🗣️ Hostage negotiations: White House officials have floated the possibility of negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to release American hostages being held in Gaza if the ongoing cease-fire talks involving Israel do not succeed. Read more →
  • 🌴 Palmetto State primary: While Mace’s primary has gotten a lot of attention, it’s also worth watching South Carolina’s 4th District, where GOP Rep. William Timmons is the latest lawmaker to be targeted by his hard-line House colleagues. Read more →
  • 👀 Watch this space: The Federal Election Commission’s deadlocked days appear to be behind it, with one Democratic commissioner siding with Republicans on a range of issues that further deregulate money in politics, The New York Times reports. Read more →
  • 🐘 Veepstakes: Many of Trump’s potential running mates have been sharply critical of the former president in the past, including calling him a “whack job,” “reckless” and “reprehensible,” and saying they would not get into business with him. Read more →
  • ⚖️ Full Court press: The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on two major abortion cases, including one relating to access to a commonly used abortion pill and another on Idaho’s near-total ban. Read more →
  • 💸 Costly claims: Right-wing media outlets that spread Trump’s false claims around the 2020 election have lost a string of recent legal challenges and continue to face new ones. Read more →

That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here.



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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

President Trump announced a three-week extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had been set to expire in a few days, after hosting a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House on Thursday.

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that has been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, did not have representatives at the meeting and did not immediately comment on the announcement. The prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon also did not comment.

A successful peace agreement would hinge upon Hezbollah halting attacks, which Lebanon’s government has little power to enforce because it does not control the militia. Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fighting and is not at war with Israel.

The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as Mr. Trump described it. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people were killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel. Since then, the number of Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have been dramatically reduced, though the two sides have continued exchanging fire.

The Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh, credited Mr. Trump for extending the cease-fire, saying that “with your help and support, we can make Lebanon great again.” Mr. Trump replied, “I like that phrase, it’s a good phrase.”

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Asked about the potential of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Trump said that “I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things.”

But Lebanon and Israel have periodically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel has invaded Lebanon for the fifth time since 1978, incursions that have destabilized the country and the delicate balance of power between Muslim, Christian and Druze communities.

In the hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah were trading attacks in southern Lebanon, testing the existing cease-fire.

Mr. Trump said the meeting at the White House had been attended by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed.

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Hezbollah set off the latest round of fighting last month by attacking Israel soon after the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attacks by launching airstrikes across Lebanon and widening a ground invasion of the country’s south.

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

Smoke rises from Port of La Guaira in Venezuela on Jan. 3, 2026 after U.S. forces seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Jesus Vargas/Getty Images


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Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed an indictment against a U.S. Army soldier, accusing him of using his insider knowledge of the clandestine military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January to reap more than $400,000 in profits on the popular prediction market site Polymarket.

The Justice Department says Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was stationed at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, was part of the team that planned and carried out the predawn raid in Caracas earlier this year that resulted in the apprehension of Maduro.

The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed the actions against Van Dyke, the first time U.S. officials have leveled criminal charges against someone over prediction market wagers.

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According to the indictment, Van Dyke now faces counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud, misusing non-public government information and other charges.

Trading under numerous usernames including “Burdensome-Mix,” Van Dyke allegedly traded about $32,000 on the arrest of Maduro, resulting in profits exceeding $400,000.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

Van Dyke’s defense lawyer is not yet publicly known. Polymarket did not return a request for comment.

The charges against Van Dyke come at a sensitive time for the prediction market industry, which has been growing exponentially, despite calls in Washington and among state leaders for the sites to be reined in.

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Van Dyke is the first to be charged in the U.S. for suspected Polymarket insider trading, but Israeli authorities in February arrested several people and charged two on suspicion of using classified information to place bets about military operations in Iran on Polymarket.

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy. The debate put the two parties’ dueling messages on vivid display six months before the midterm elections.

Republicans, who are using the budget plan to lay the groundwork to eventually push through a filibuster-proof bill providing a multiyear funding stream for President Trump’s immigration crackdown, used the all-night session to highlight their hard-line stance on border security, seeking to portray Democrats as unwilling to safeguard the country.

Democrats tried and failed to add a series of changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues, seizing the opportunity to hammer Republicans as out of touch with and unwilling to act on the concerns of everyday Americans.

Here’s what to know about the budget plan and the nocturnal ritual senators engaged in before adopting it.

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The budget blueprint is a crucial piece of Republicans’ plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end a shutdown that has lasted for more than two months. After Democrats refused to fund immigration enforcement without new restrictions on agents’ tactics and conduct, the G.O.P. struck a deal with them to pass a spending bill that would fund everything but ICE and the Border Patrol. Republicans said they would fund those agencies through a special budget bill that Democrats could not block.

“We can fix this with Republican votes, and we will,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the Budget Committee chairman. “Every Democrat has opposed money for the Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great peril.”

In resorting to a new budget blueprint, Republicans laid the groundwork to deny Democrats a chance to stop the immigration enforcement funding. But they also submitted themselves to a vote-a-rama, in which any senator can propose unlimited changes to such a measure before it is adopted.

The budget measure now goes to the House, which must adopt it before lawmakers in both chambers can draft the legislation funding immigration enforcement. That bill will provide yet another opportunity for a vote-a-rama even closer to the November election.

Democrats took to the floor to criticize Republicans for supercharging funding for federal immigration enforcement rather than moving legislation that would address Americans’ concerns over affordability.

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“This is what Republicans are fighting for,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the Democratic leader. “To maintain two unchecked rogue agencies that are dreaded in all corners of this country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs.”

Democrats offered a host of amendments along those lines, all of which were defeated by Republicans — and that was the point. The proposals were meant to put the G.O.P. in a tough political spot, showcasing their opposition to helping Americans afford high living costs. Fewer than a handful of G.O.P. senators crossed party lines to support them.

The G.O.P. thwarted an effort by Mr. Schumer to require that the budget measure lower out-of-pocket health care costs for Americans. Two Republicans who are up for re-election this year, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, voted with Democrats, but the proposal was still defeated.

Republicans also squelched a move by Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, to create a fund that would lower grocery costs and reverse cuts to food aid programs that Republicans enacted last year. Ms. Collins and Mr. Sullivan again joined Democrats.

Also defeated by the G.O.P.: a proposal by Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado, to address rising consumer prices brought on by Mr. Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran; one by Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, to require the budget measure to address rising electricity prices, and another by Mr. Markey to create a fund to bring down housing costs.

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Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is up for re-election in Georgia, also sought to add language requiring the budget plan to address health insurance companies denying or delaying access to care, but that, too was blocked by Republicans.

While Republicans had fewer proposals for changes to their own budget plan, they also sought to offer measures that would underscore their aggressive stance on immigration enforcement and dare Democrats to vote against them.

Mr. Graham offered an amendment to allocate funds toward a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the apprehension and deportation of adult immigrants convicted of rape, murder, or sexual abuse of a minor after illegally entering the United States. It passed unanimously.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, sought to bar Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and other services, and criticized the organization for providing transgender care to minors. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, also attempted to tack on the G.O.P. voter identification bill, known as the SAVE America Act. Both proposals were blocked when Democrats, joined by a few Republicans, voted to strike them as unrelated to the budget plan.

The Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose their own party’s proposals for new voting requirements were Ms. Collins along with Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

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Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski also opposed the effort to block payments to Planned Parenthood.

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