Politics and views in the United States

A Virginia judge puts the state's redistricting on hold, House Republicans ramp up an investigation of a central Democratic fundraising platform and lawmakers debate a pardon for Jeffrey Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

When all the votes were counted, yes, one, and so we will continue to take that result as far as it'll go because that's my job as Attorney General and we are ready and willing and able to go.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones says he'll appeal a court injunction on the state's new redistricting effort, which was just narrowly approved by voters.

The referendum would let Democrats redraw congressional maps, potentially netting the party up to four more seats.

But a judge in the rural southwest part of the state agreed with Republicans that the push didn't follow proper procedure and had ballot language that he called flagrantly misleading.

Four Republican senators have voted against putting key elements of the SAVE Act into a separate budget reconciliation bill.

The amendment would have added a strict national voter ID provision to ensure only citizens can vote in federal elections and required faster ballot counting.

Those are top priorities for President Donald Trump ahead of the midterms, even though such non-citizen voting is already illegal and almost never happens.

Some Trump allies have pressed for changing filibuster rules to get the Save Act passed, but some Senate Republicans oppose that step.

House Republicans have asked the chief executive of the Democratic Party's central donation platform, ActBlue, to appear to testify about its fundraising practices.

Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio has long been a scathing critic.

They're the money machine.

They haven't given us everything we're entitled to.

And it looks like, according to their lawyer, that they misrepresented things to Congress, which is a nice way of saying you lied to Congress, which you're not allowed to do.

ActBlue says Republicans are running a politically motivated investigation and that it's already supplied the committee with thousands of requested documents.

The chair of House Oversight says some lawmakers support a presidential pardon for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for helping the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, her longtime associate.

Illinois Democrat Rajna Krishnamoorthy says Maxwell is untrustworthy and unrepentant.

This is crazy.

This is unacceptable.

And I'm gonna keep demanding justice for the survivors who have not yet received a single iota of justice for what they went through.

The DOJ's own watchdog has started investigating whether the agency has complied with the law Krishnamoorthy co-sponsored, requiring justice to turn over everything it has on the late sex offender.

The agency says there are more than three million pages that have not been made public.

And the Trump administration has loosened legal restrictions for medical marijuana, which officials say will allow for more research and treatment options.

Recreational marijuana is still classified as a criminal Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, but DOJ officials say that could change later this year.

I'm Katherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.