White House Privately Braces for 2027 Blitz from House Democrats
The White House is quietly preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House by hiring lawyers to fend off a wave of legal challenges that could cripple the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The preparations illustrate how the White House is privately preparing for the possibility that Democrats will regain at least one chamber of Congress in November, even as Republicans express confidence in public, according to people close to the administration.
A Democratic House next year could be reminiscent of 2018 fights that included impeachment inquiries of the president and multiple investigations into his inner circle.
Michael Williams, who served in White House roles in President Donald Trump’s first term and was deputy general counsel for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, said staff is already preparing for another impeachment push even as Trump sets a broader strategy for dealing with Democrats.
“They’re ready for that eventuality,” Williams told Bloomberg Government. “I don’t think they’re ready to concede that that’s the likely outcome, but they’re certainly prepared in that event.”
Emma Doyle, former chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term who later worked in the West Wing, said the administration is already hiring experienced lawyers to help prepare officials for impeachment, as she did in the first term.
The return of advisers Jason Miller and Johnny DeStefano strengthens the White House for those fights, Doyle said, along with staff such as Mark Paoletta, the OMB general counsel who worked on impeachment defense in the first term.
Miller and DeStefano rejoined the White House last month to work on midterm strategy.
However, Democrats are facing their own problems.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may find himself caught in the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November.
More and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, this group of new candidates could potentially be the first challenge to the previously unyielding support.
A group of viable candidates has made it clear that voting for Jeffries as speaker is not a given if the Democrats win the House.
Axios reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
The tension was on display in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Democrat nominee Rebecca Bennett, who likely needs to beat Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) if Democrats have any shot at the majority, refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before her primary win.
Likewise, Iowa’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan is also noncommittal, merely responding “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” when asked by Punchbowl News if she would support Jeffries.
“I want to get elected first,” she continued.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.
Republicans currently hold both seats.
Montana’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Sam Forstag echoed similar sentiments as Bohannan.
Forstag sits in a seat labeled “likely Republican,” but has no incumbent running.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
Former President Barack Obama Trashed by Democrats for Massive BETRAYAL — as The Former President's Celebrated...
The financial problems surrounding the Obama Presidential Center continue to grow as another contractor says the high-profile project has forced his company to shut down operations and lay off dozens of employees.
The latest dispute adds to a series of payment and construction-related complaints from subcontractors who worked on the development, several of whom say they suffered significant financial losses.
Mike Owen, owner of Chicago-based Adamson Plumbing Contractors, said his company has suspended operations after losing millions of dollars while working on the Obama Presidential Center.
According to Owen, the financial strain forced him to lay off 25 union workers, abandon multiple construction projects and begin operating the business from his home while pursuing legal action.
“Laying off close to 30 people is something that no owner in our industry wants to do,” Owen told Fox News.
“It’s a hard thing to do, especially when you know you can finish them and the company can still make money. But we were put in a pretty bad corner.”
Adamson performed plumbing work on the project under the name Marsh-Adamson.
The company has now filed a $1.72 million mechanic’s lien against the Obama Presidential Center, alleging it has not been fully paid for completed work.
A mechanic’s lien is a legal claim contractors can file against a property when they believe they have not received payment for work they performed.
Owen said the lien represents only the portion of his losses that he believes is supported by the strongest documentation, including unpaid invoices, approved change orders and labor costs.
He estimates his company’s total losses from the project are approximately $3.9 million.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to pursue the $3.9 million in change that we lost overall,” Owen said.
“I’m still working with my legal team on that $3.9 million figure because I feel that it’s only right that we still hold ownership at the presidential center accountable.”
According to Owen, months of negotiations with Lakeside Alliance, the construction manager for the project, failed to resolve the dispute.
He said the situation reached a breaking point shortly before the Obama Presidential Center officially opened on June 19.
Owen said his company agreed to provide two journeyman plumbers for last-minute overnight work after Lakeside Alliance agreed to release part of the money it allegedly owed Adamson.
An email reviewed by Fox News Digital reportedly indicated that a $100,000 payment would be released through the company’s May payment application.
Owen said his workers completed the requested work, but the payment did not arrive before the center’s opening ceremony.
“We negotiated it in good faith,” Owen said.
“Against my better judgment, I agreed to do the work.”
He said the delayed payment deprived the company of the cash it needed to continue operating.
“Not getting that large sum of money just kind of pulled the brakes on the train. It was just the final death blow to the company,” Owen said.
Rather than continue operating while facing mounting debts, Owen said he decided to suspend business operations on June 25.
The promised payment, along with approximately $35,000 for approved change orders, eventually arrived more than two weeks later.
Owen said the money allowed him to pay one supplier but did little to improve the company’s overall financial condition.
“It’s almost like too little, too late,” he said.
Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture led by Turner Construction along with UJAMAA Construction, Powers & Sons Construction, Brown & Momen and Safeway Construction, served as construction manager for the Obama Presidential Center.
In a statement, the alliance said contractual closeout work often continues well after large construction projects officially open.
“Lakeside Alliance remains committed to working through all outstanding matters to successfully close out the project,” a spokesperson said, Fox News reported.
The company did not directly respond to Owen’s specific allegations regarding the layoffs or the mechanic’s lien.
Supreme Court Sides with President Trump - He Can REMOVE Them All
Supreme Court Sides with President Trump - He Can REMOVE Them All
Posted July 27, 2026
The Supreme Court of the United States issued an order allowing President Donald Trump to temporarily remove three Biden-appointed commissioners from the Consumer Product Safety Commission without cause while lower court litigation surrounding the independent agency's executive structure proceeds.
The decision represents a major legal victory for executive branch authority and further erodes the 90-year-old constitutional precedent established under Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which long limited presidential removal powers over independent multi-member regulatory commissions.
In its unsigned emergency order, the high court noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s structural governance closely mirrors that of other federal administrative entities previously examined under recent executive removal rulings.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission exercises executive power in a similar manner as the National Labor Relations Board, and the case does not otherwise differ from Wilcox in any pertinent respect.
The Supreme Court stated in its official order.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a separate concurring statement indicating that while he joined the majority in granting emergency relief to the administration, he would have preferred to grant full certiorari for formal oral arguments and review during the upcoming autumn term.
The decision drew sharp opposition from the court's three liberal members. Writing in dissent on behalf of herself, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Elena Kagan criticized the majority for utilizing the emergency docket to alter established administrative law without full merits briefing.
The majority has acted on the emergency docket—with ‘little time, scant briefing, and no argument’ — to override Congress’s decisions about how to structure administrative agencies so that they can perform their prescribed duties.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissenting opinion.
Justice Kagan further warned that incrementally expanding presidential removal authority over independent agencies risks altering the constitutional separation of powers.
By means of such actions, this Court may facilitate the permanent transfer of authority, piece by piece by piece, from one branch of Government to another.
Justice Elena Kagan added in the dissenting statement.
The legal dispute originated when President Trump moved to dismiss three commissioners appointed in 2021 by former President Joe Biden to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal body tasked with setting safety standards, managing product recalls, and investigating hazardous consumer goods. Following the administration's dismissal order prior to the expiration of their statutory terms, the commissioners filed a federal lawsuit asserting that their removal violated the agency's foundational independence statute.
A federal district judge in Maryland initially issued a preliminary injunction blocking the removals, a decision that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit declined to stay. The Department of Justice subsequently submitted an emergency application to the Supreme Court seeking immediate intervention.
The high court's emergency order follows a related 6-3 decision handed down earlier this spring that permitted the administration to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board without cause.
President Trump praised the Supreme Court's ruling, characterizing the decision as a critical step toward restoring constitutional balance and executive accountability across federal administrative agencies.
The American people elected a President to lead the Executive Branch. This ruling confirms that the President has the authority to manage that branch effectively.
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President Donald Trump stated in response to the ruling.
Although the Supreme Court's order is temporary while the underlying lawsuit continues through the appellate process, legal scholars note that the decision significantly strengthens the executive branch's position and signals a transformative shift toward greater presidential control over independent administrative oversight.
