Washington

Analysis | Impeachment frenzy hits Capitol Hill

Published

2 years ago

January 10, 2024

Analysis | Impeachment frenzy hits Capitol Hill

Good morning, Early Birds. Yes, it’s only Jan. 10, but it’s already summer camp sign-up season — at least in D.C. Parents, we are here for you. You can do it. Tips: earlytips@washpost.com. Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here. Thanks for waking up with us.

In today’s edition … The obstacles Nikki Haley faces in New Hampshire … Trump co-defendant in Georgia accuses prosecutors of misconduct … but first …

A look at House GOP’s three impeachment projects

Congress faces a crushing to-do list that includes preventing a partial government shutdown in less than 10 days. Yet House Republicans are carving out time this week for a trio of impeachment projects centering on President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Accountability Committee are set to vote today on a resolution holding Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify behind closed doors as part of Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden.
The House Homeland Security Committee will hold its first hearing on impeaching Mayorkas this morning.
And Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) introduced a resolution on Tuesday evening calling for Austin’s impeachment for, in part, not moving sooner to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon as it flew over the United States last year. The resolution comes as Austin is facing criticism over failing to disclose to the White House or the public that he was hospitalized last week following complications from prostate cancer surgery.

In an interview on Newsmax on Monday, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) even raised the possibility of impeaching Attorney General Merrick Garland if Garland declines to prosecute Hunter Biden if the House votes to hold him in contempt.

House Republicans are relatively unified on the effort to impeach Mayorkas, even though Jonathan Turley, a law professor who has served as a GOP witness in congressional hearings, wrote yesterday in an op-ed for the Daily Beast that while Mayorkas may have failed at his job, there’s no evidence he committed an impeachable offense.

“He can be legitimately accused of effectuating an open border policy, but that is a disagreement on policy that is traced to the President,” Turley argued.

House Republicans are less united on impeaching Biden, though all of them voted last month to open an impeachment inquiry into the president despite a lack of evidence that Biden committed high crimes or misdemeanors. (Former speaker Kevin McCarthy initially set the inquiry in motion in September without a vote.)

Asked Tuesday whether the House could handle two impeachments at the same time, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told reporters, “We’ll find out.”

Democrats and the White House, meanwhile, have assailed the impeachment efforts as baseless.

“House Republicans are less than ten days from sparking a partial government shutdown that many of their extreme members are rooting for, but instead of working full-time to avoid it, they are wasting time on political stunts,” Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, told The Early on Tuesday in a statement.

And even some Republicans have expressed concern that two — or potentially three — impeachment efforts are overkill.

“I think that stuff is not going anywhere,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “I think there are enough distractions in general.”

Here’s what’s happening with each impeachment effort:

Republicans are moving to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress because he refused to sit for a deposition last month as part of the inquiry into his father. Hunter Biden volunteered to testify instead in a public hearing — an offer Republicans refused.

Hunter Biden’s defiance of the committee’s subpoenas “constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution as prescribed by law,” Comer plans to say in the meeting today, according to excerpts of his remarks shared with The Early.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the committee, has bashed Comer for refusing to allow Hunter Biden to testify in public, which he described as Comer obstructing “his own hapless investigation.”

Unlike the Biden impeachment inquiry, “even vulnerable Republican lawmakers view the push to impeach Mayorkas as more politically palatable and have quickly coalesced around the effort, according to lawmakers and staffers involved with the latest impeachment target,” our colleagues Jackie Alemany and Marianna Sotomayor report.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), a Homeland Security Committee member who represents a district Biden won by nearly 15 points in 2020, said Tuesday that he supports impeaching Mayorkas.

“It was a quality investigation,” D’Esposito said. “And I look forward to laying out all the facts for the rest of the members of the Republican conference and moving forward with the impeachment proceedings.”

But while D’Esposito voted for the Biden impeachment inquiry, he declined to endorse impeaching Biden or Austin for the moment.

“It seems like we’re getting a little impeachment friendly,” he said.

The push to impeach Austin is the most nascent.

In a brief interview Tuesday shortly after he filed the resolution, Rosendale said he thought House Republicans could handle three impeachment efforts at once.

“I truly believe that they are all warranted,” Rosendale said.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said he supported Rosendale’s effort. But Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who leads the Republican Study Committee, another one of the “five families” of House Republicans, declined to endorse it Tuesday.

“I need to know more about it before I go out and say I support it,” Hern said.

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley will face off one on one in Iowa tonight during CNN’s Republican primary debate, which comes only five days before the caucuses. Trump is scheduled to participate in a Fox News town hall at the same time.

One question on our mind is how successful Fox, which reached a $787.5 million settlement in a defamation suit over its 2020 election fraud claims, will be at limiting the spread of 2020-related conspiracy theories in a way that doesn’t upset Trump fans.

Both debates start at 9 p.m. Check out this visual on the importance of the Iowa caucuses while you wait.

Senate Republicans will meet today to discuss border policy negotiations.

The meeting was requested by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) before the holiday break that began in December. Bipartisan negotiations have stalled, in part, on the issue of humanitarian parole, an authority given to the president to determine that groups of people are able to be given temporary admission into the U.S.

We are watching to see whether the stalemate in the negotiations softens.

We’re watching to see how Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis responds to claims that she had an “improper” relationship with the Georgia election-interference case’s lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, who has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his work. We’re also waiting to see whether Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee will grant a motion disqualifying the entire prosecution team from the case.

Background: Mike Roman, a co-defendant in the Georgia case, claims the indictment is tainted by the alleged ongoing relationship between Willis and Wade, which the filing described as a breach of professional ethics, our colleagues Holly Bailey and Amy Gardner report.
But as our colleagues note, “the filing did not offer evidence to back up those sensational claims.”
“Separately, court records in Wade’s divorce case indicate that Willis was issued a subpoena Monday by Wade’s estranged wife to testify in the proceedings, which appear to have turned contentious…It is unknown what Willis will be asked or why she was deemed a potential witness.”

New Hampshire looms as Haley’s last chance to stop Trump

New Hampshire, a state where Nikki Haley has narrowed the gap with Trump, is shaping up to be “the most consequential early state — and perhaps the only shot to stop or slow Trump’s march to the GOP presidential nomination,” our colleagues Maeve Reston, Dylan Wells and Meryl Kornfield report.

But the former U.N. ambassador must overcome some major obstacles first:

Wild card: “Undeclared” voters.

“One element of this cycle’s unpredictability is the outsize role that voters who are unaffiliated with either party could play in the GOP primary. … Those ‘undeclared’ voters — who span the ideological spectrum from libertarians to ardent Trump supporters alienated by the mainstream GOP to moderate voters who despise Trump — compose 39% of the electorate and can cast a ballot in either primary on Election Day.”

Chris Christie has split the vote.

“With anti-Trump support splintering between her and Christie, there’s no guarantee that consolidation of the anti-Trump movement behind Haley will be enough to win.”

This isn’t the 2020/2016 Trump campaign.

Haley is up against the fervent energy of Trump’s supporters and the finely tuned ground game of his campaign, our colleagues report. Trump received a late Tuesday night endorsement from Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican.

Trump is spending big on attack ads.

“For the first time, Trump’s campaign is also now targeting Haley’s record on immigration and taxes on the airwaves, criticizing her rhetoric on immigration and attempting to portray her as ‘too liberal’ in a way that could hamper her momentum. While Haley’s campaign and SFA Inc., the super PAC allied with her campaign, had dominated New Hampshire media markets in November and December, ad spending by the Trump campaign and MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting him, shot up at the end of December to match her efforts, according to data from AdImpact.”

Trump rhetoric, Republican candidates’ ads frighten immigrants in Iowa

Our colleagues Danielle Paquette and Sabrina Rodriguez take a look at how anti-migrant rhetoric — like Trump’s “poisoning the blood” comments — has unsettled immigrants living in Iowa. Danielle and Sabrina spoke to immigrants from Liberia, El Salvador and the Democratic Republic of Congo for this story. Here’s an excerpt:

“As the race for the White House officially kicks off and GOP contenders jostle for votes before next week’s Iowa caucuses, people who’ve settled here from all over the world say the intensifying spotlight on border security and caustic language lobbed by Republican candidates has filled them with dread,” Danielle and Sabrina write.

“The fire hose of campaign vitriol targeting ‘undocumented’ or ‘illegal’ migrants crushes room for nuanced debate, some say, threatening to demonize anyone who looks foreign. Naturalized citizens fear their neighbors might lump them in the same category as ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists,’ and even those who agree with cracking down on unauthorized entry are disturbed by the relentless condemnation of people they see as fleeing danger or seeking a better life.”
“I will use Trump’s own words: He will poison Americans’ mindsets,” Gloria Henriquez, 47, told our colleagues. “They will see an immigrant and say, ‘Oh, they ruin us.’”

Thanks for reading. You can also follow us on X: @theodoricmeyer and @LACaldwellDC.

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Washington

National Guardsmen shot in Washington DC: What happened, who’s the suspect?

Published

5 hours ago

November 27, 2025

Press Room

National Guardsmen shot in Washington DC: What happened, who’s the suspect?

Two West Virginia National Guard members were critically wounded after being shot near the White House. Officials have described the attack as a “targeted shooting”.

United States President Donald Trump condemned the shooting as a “heinous assault” and “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.

What happened in Washington, DC?

Police say a lone suspect opened fire on a National Guard member at about 2:15pm local time (19:15 GMT).

The suspect, who was also shot during the confrontation, was taken to a hospital for treatment and remains under police custody.

“It appears to be a lone gunman who raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Jeffery Carroll, executive assistant chief, told reporters.

According to a CNN report, the suspect walked up to three National Guard members who appeared unaware of him until he opened fire. He shot one guard, then another, before standing over the first victim and appearing to attempt another shot. At that point, the third guardsman returned fire.

Trump was in Florida at the time of the incident.

Approximately 2,200 National Guard members have been deployed across the US capital, including 925 from the DC National Guard and more than 1,200 from other states.

Law enforcement officers secure the area after a shooting in downtown Washington, DC, November 26, 2025 [AFP]

What is the National Guard?

The National Guard is a reserve branch of the US military that can be called up during emergencies at home, such as natural disasters or civil unrest, and can also support missions overseas.

It consists of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard and has about 431,000 members, making it the second-largest military force in the country.

Each US state and territory, as well as Washington, DC, has its own National Guard units. These units answer both to state leaders and the federal government. This differs from the regular US military, whose active-duty members serve full-time under federal command.

Two soldiers wounded on Wednesday were members of West Virginia’s National Guard, Governor Patrick Morrisey said.

Last week, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, ruling that the move was likely unlawful. Following the shooting, the Trump administration sought to have that decision overturned.

A member of the U.S. Secret Service stands guard in a cordoned-off area after two National Guard members — A member of the US Secret Service stands guard in a cordoned-off area after two National Guard members were shot near the White House, November 26, 2025 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]

Where did the shooting take place?

The shooting took place in Farragut Square – a tourist-heavy area located near a busy transit centre and the White House.

The area, where lampposts are wrapped in wreaths and bows for the holiday season, is flanked by fast-casual restaurants and a coffee shop, as well as two stops on the Washington metro system.

Who is the suspect?

Investigators have identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Lakanwal arrived in the US from Afghanistan in September 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome – a programme launched under the Joe Biden administration to resettle Afghans after the Taliban regained control following the US withdrawal.

“I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan – a hellhole on Earth,” Trump said in a video message.

The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.
I will not utter this depraved individual’s name.…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) November 27, 2025

What is Operation Allies Welcome?

Operation Allies Welcome was a US programme started in 2021 to help Afghans who fled their country after the Taliban took control. Many of these Afghans had worked with US troops as interpreters, drivers, or support staff and feared they could be targeted. Others, such as journalists and women’s rights activists, were also at risk.

Under the programme, tens of thousands of Afghans were transported to US military bases, where they underwent medical checks, received vaccinations, and completed immigration processing. They also underwent security screening before being relocated to communities across the country.

According to the Congressional Research Service, about 76,000 Afghans entered the US through the initiative, which lasted roughly a year. The programme later faced criticism from some Republicans who argued the vetting process was insufficient.

What’s next?

In response to the attack, Trump announced plans to expand deportation efforts and said his administration would re-examine Afghans who arrived after the Taliban takeover. “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan,” he said.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it is pausing the processing of all Afghan immigration requests “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

Separately, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that an additional 500 National Guard members, from a state yet to be named, would be sent to Washington, DC, to bolster security and reassure the public.

Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.
The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and…
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— USCIS (@USCIS) November 27, 2025

What have been the reactions?

In his statement, Trump said he was “determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price”.

“We are not going to put up with these kinds of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country,” he said.

President Trump delivers remarks on the horrific attack on the Great National Guard Warriors https://t.co/xDxRzJENU0
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 27, 2025

Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition that assists Afghans seeking to immigrate, said the organisation believes that the attacker should face “full accountability and prosecution”. But he warned that the incident should not be used to “demonise the Afghan community”.

Our statement regarding today’s horrific shooting.
Our hearts go out to the brave guardsmen attacked today.
We will not let the action of one deranged asshole be the excuse used to cause harm to an entire community of people. pic.twitter.com/LcMODaYEXD
— Shawn VanDiver (@shawnjvandiver) November 27, 2025

Former President Joe Biden said he and his wife, Jill, are “heartbroken” by the shooting.

“Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and we must all stand united against it. We are praying for the service members and their families,” Biden wrote on X.

Jill and I are heartbroken that two members of the National Guard were shot outside the White House. Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and we must all stand united against it. We are praying for the service members and their families.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 26, 2025

Former US President Barack Obama shared a post on social media condemning the attack, and saying, “Violence has no place in America.”

Violence has no place in America. Michelle and I are praying for the servicemembers shot in Washington, DC today, and send our love to their families as they enter this holiday season under the most tragic of circumstances.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 27, 2025

General Steven Nordhaus, the head of the National Guard, said he was returning to Washington, DC, from Guantanamo Bay, which he was visiting to spend Thanksgiving with US troops at the military base.

SEA Raines and I join our entire National Guard family in praying for the recovery of the two West Virginia National Guard heroes who were shot while protecting our Nation’s capital today. pic.twitter.com/iOj465v1Aa
— Gen. Steven Nordhaus (@ChiefNGB) November 26, 2025
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How to buy Oregon Ducks vs Washington Huskies tickets

Published

24 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Press Room

How to buy Oregon Ducks vs Washington Huskies tickets

The No. 5 Oregon Ducks take on a fellow Big Ten foe when they visit the Washington Huskies at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.

If you are looking to find Ducks vs. Huskies tickets, information is available below.

Oregon vs. Washington game info

Shop Oregon vs. Washington tickets

How to buy Oregon vs. Washington tickets for college football Week 14

You can buy tickets to see the Ducks square off against the Huskies from multiple providers.

Oregon Ducks football schedule

Week 1: Aug. 30 vs. Montana State Bobcats, 59-13 win
Week 2: Sept. 6 vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys, 69-3 win
Week 3: Sept. 13 at Northwestern Wildcats, 34-14 win
Week 4: Sept. 20 vs. Oregon State Beavers, 41-7 win
Week 5: Sept. 27 at Penn State Nittany Lions, 30-24 win
Week 7: Oct. 11 vs. Indiana Hoosiers, 30-20 loss
Week 8: Oct. 18 at Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 56-10 win
Week 9: Oct. 25 vs. Wisconsin Badgers, 21-7 win
Week 11: Nov. 8 at Iowa Hawkeyes, 18-16 win
Week 12: Nov. 14 vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers, 42-13 win
Week 13: Nov. 22 vs. USC Trojans, 42-27 win
Week 14: Nov. 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET at Washington Huskies

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Oregon Ducks stats

Oregon has been finding success on both offense and defense, ranking 12th-best in total offense (471.8 yards per game) and third-best in total defense (248.7 yards allowed per game).
The Ducks have been shining on both offense and defense, ranking eighth-best in scoring offense (39.3 points per game) and eighth-best in scoring defense (14.9 points allowed per game).
Oregon ranks 53rd in passing yards this year (243.2 per game), but has been thriving on defense, ranking third-best in the FBS with 145.7 passing yards allowed per game.
The Ducks have been firing on all cylinders in the running game this season, as they rank eighth-best in rushing offense (228.6 rushing yards per game) and 15th-best in rushing defense (103.0 rushing yards allowed per game).

Washington Huskies football schedule

Week 1: Aug. 30 vs. Colorado State Rams, 38-21 win
Week 2: Sept. 6 vs. UC Davis Aggies, 70-10 win
Week 4: Sept. 20 at Washington State Cougars, 59-24 win
Week 5: Sept. 27 vs. Ohio State Buckeyes, 24-6 loss
Week 6: Oct. 4 at Maryland Terrapins, 24-20 win
Week 7: Oct. 10 vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 38-19 win
Week 8: Oct. 18 at Michigan Wolverines, 24-7 loss
Week 9: Oct. 25 vs. Illinois Fighting Illini, 42-25 win
Week 11: Nov. 8 at Wisconsin Badgers, 13-10 loss
Week 12: Nov. 15 vs. Purdue Boilermakers, 49-13 win
Week 13: Nov. 22 at UCLA Bruins, 48-14 win
Week 14: Nov. 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET vs. Oregon Ducks

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Washington Huskies stats

Washington has been dominant on the defensive side of the ball, allowing only 304.0 total yards per contest (18th-best). Offensively, it ranks 30th by accumulating 426.5 total yards per game.
Things have been going well for the Huskies on both sides of the ball, as they are compiling 35.5 points per game (19th-best) and allowing just 18.8 points per game (19th-best).
Washington is compiling 256.5 passing yards per game on offense this season (40th-ranked). Meanwhile, it is allowing 200.5 passing yards per game (42nd-ranked) on defense.
The Huskies’ run defense has been leading the way for the team, as they rank 17th-best in the FBS with 103.5 rushing yards allowed per game. In terms of offense, they are putting up 170.1 rushing yards per game, which ranks 57th.

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Oregon State football looking for season sweep of Washington State

Published

2 days ago

November 25, 2025

Press Room

Oregon State football looking for season sweep of Washington State

Oregon State will play its final game of the season against Washington State in the only official Pac-12 Conference game of the year.
The Beavers previously defeated the Cougars 10-7 in a non-conference matchup earlier this season.
Interim head coach Robb Akey views the game as a chance for OSU to become Pac-12 champions and end a tumultuous season on a high note.

Oregon State football has finally reached its final game of the season.

After a long, tumultuous few months, the Beavers (2-9) have the chance to finish on a high. OSU is travelling to Pullman, Wash., to take on Washington State (5-6) in the one, and only, official Pac-12 Conference game of the year.

“It’s the last time this group of people is ever going to be together again,” OSU interim head coach Robb Akey said. “That’s it.”

For numerous Beavers, Saturday’s contest against the Cougars will be the last college football game of their careers. For some, it’ll be their last in Oregon State uniforms and for others, they’ll be back next season.

But Akey said it’s valuable for these players to be able to close out their careers in the fashion they are. A rivalry game, a conference matchup against a team Oregon State’s already beaten this season.

“It gives us the opportunity to be Pac-12 champions,” Akey said. “That means a hell of a lot, in my opinion.”

A Pac-12 rematch

Oregon State hosted Washington State on Nov. 1 at Reser Stadium. The Beavers, at the time, had just rattled off their first win over FCS program Lafayette and were sitting at 1-7 through a bye week.

The Beavers came out on top in a low-scoring, dramatic affair, 10-7. It was Akey’s second win in as many games in charge and a high point of the Oregon State season.

It wasn’t technically classified as a Pac-12 contest, but rather just a typical regular-season matchup. Regardless, the win meant that OSU had pulled off two wins in a row for the first time in 2025. But those are the only two wins the team has garnered so far.

Having the opportunity to play, and beat, the Cougars again is exciting for Akey and the Beavers.

“It’s a cool situation that you get to go about. So we’ve tried to approach it as a cool situation,” Akey said. “You’ve got two teams that are going to know each other pretty well and two teams that fought their tails off against each other the last time they were together.”

WSU is 1-1 since the the earlier meeting. The Cougars beat Louisiana Tech, 28-3 at home, then travelled to Harrisonburg, Va., where they lost to a ranked James Madison squad, 24-20.

OSU is 0-2, with losses at home to Sam Houston (21-17) and at Tulsa (31-14).

On the season, Oregon State averages over 356 yards of offense to Washington State’s 308 yards. The Beavers outrank the Cougars in nearly all significant offensive statistic categories, especially in the run game.

Defensively, the script is almost completely flipped. Washington State gives up nearly 70 fewer yards per game, over eight points per game less, and are superior in nearly all significant categories.

It presents the opportunity for a fun, crazy contest, Akey said.

“They’ve got a good defense, they play well,” the coach said. “It’s got the makings to be a hell of a game.”

Two teams looking to end the season with a smile

Neither Oregon State nor Washington State has delivered the season it had expected back in August. Both teams have undergone one of the rockiest, unpredictable conference realignment transitions in the NCAA to remain with the Pac-12.

For Akey, some of the main takeaways from this season are off the field.

“Life deals you adversity, and you deal with it,” Akey said. “What I will take from this is these players. We’ve built some cool relationships with them and those are going to last forever.”

And for the players, it’s one last chance to enjoy this specific group’s company on the field together.

“It’s the last chance they’re going to get to play together,” Akey said. “They’ve spent a ton of time working … and it didn’t play out the way that everybody had hoped that it would.”

Since his inaugural press conference, Akey has has emphasized that he’s in Corvallis to help the Beavers have fun, smile and produce a season they can look back on and be proud of and enjoy. He said this week that he believes this is a great opportunity for that.

“They get one last chance to be able to compete together and to fight for one another,” Akey said. “That’s an unbelievable deal.”

Landon Bartlett covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at lbartlett@salem.gannett.com or on X or Instagram @bartlelo.

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