NEWS:
Key Trump ally in Congress calls for total immigration ban: “Put a bed sheet over the Statue of Liberty for 10 years"
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol Politics on Substack.
My latest is live:
Scorching heat and empty baptism pools: Inside Trump's deserted American State Fair
Click through and make my editors happy! And can guarantee you’ll smile, squirm & laugh throughout…
A five word pledge is splitting Democrats
My latest 🔥 is live.
SCENE: After a vote on the House floor, Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo catches House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer as he’s heading back to his office across the street from the Capitol.
Matt Laslo: “Have you caught any of these Pentagon releases on UFO files / UAP?”
James Comer: “I do, I read whatever’s written, but like I said before, [Chair Anna Paulina] Luna and [Tim] Burchett and [Eric] Burlison are the ones that represent the [Oversight] Committee on all that.”
Laslo: “Do you think — so there’s no plan for another hearing?”
Comer: “You know, I would like to have another hearing. I need to talk to them about it. It’s hard to plan hearings when you don’t know when we’re going to be here and when we’re not, you know?”
Laslo: “Yeah.”
Comer: “But I would like to have another — what I call UFO, you all call something else — hearing.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Comer: “Yeah, I think that would be popular.”
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
Laslo: “Last question, cause they were initially only a select committee* for like six months, then they got the extension. How did you guys extend them again? Are they, like, extended indefinitely?”
*task force
Comer: “What, the [Secrets] Task Force?”
Laslo: “The UFO Caucus — yeah, Task Force.”
Comer: “Yeah, I just extended it. I don’t know — I don’t know that one’s ever been extended, but we were allowed to do it, we feel like, and we did it.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Comer: “It’s good. I mean, we’re getting stuff, you know?”
Laslo: “Yeah.”
Comer: “It’s actually doing its job. That never happens.”
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
“I loved it,” former MMA fighter, DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin’s raving after attending his first soccer match ever
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol Politics on Substack.
“Well, we’re going to introduce it. Put it as an amendment on the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act]. Hopefully, the Senate will agree with us to do so. And if that’s the case, then the next step is going with the House and seeing if they would agree to some format of it,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “I presume they’ll have concerns like they did last time.”
“Yeah?”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to allay some of those concerns or work through those concerns,” Rounds says.
“So you’re convinced the concerns are with the House?” Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo pushes. “I still haven’t been able to find the voice of opposition.”
“Well, this is one way to find out — offer it again and then find out who will object to it,” Rounds says. “And it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the House has any provisions along the same line as our proposal, and if there is, then we’ll have a stronger case for putting it in the final version.”
Full (unpaywalled) 4-minute video with Senator Rounds at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
We’ve been seeing the Pentagon release formerly classified UFO files but nothing from the Department of Energy or contractors, does the White House even know where to look?
“I can’t tell you why. Just that is the executive branch. And we’re getting more than we ever did before,” Rounds says. “So, step in the right direction. And maybe as they gain more confidence that the American public really want to see it, maybe we’ll see more of it in the future.”
“It kind of represents the curiosity that’s natural for Americans. When we see something and we’ve got a curiosity, we want to get it satisfied. And that’s neat,” Rounds tells us of the growing interest in UFOs both inside and outside of Congress.
Full (unpaywalled) 4-minute video with Senator Rounds at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
With the White House moving on UFO disclosure on its own, is your UAP Disclosure Act with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer still needed?
“I think we can still work in tandem,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively told Ask a Pol UAP. “I think there’s a realization that if we’ve got information out there that can be released, it’s probably just a good thing to be released.”
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
Matt Laslo: “Have you looked at any of these videos the Pentagon’s released?”
Sen. Mike Rounds: “Not in an organized fashion, no.”
Rounds NOT A ONE-OFF:
This is the common refrain from this Congress — even folks like AOC who’ve shown up to some classified SCIF briefings post-David Grusch testifying in 2023.
Any thoughts on why? Seems lack of curiosity is killing the contemporary Congress…
Full (unpaywalled) post at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
Ask a Pol asks:
Is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s bipartisan UAP Disclosure Act — or UAPDA — still needed even with the Pentagon and White House now declassifying UFO content?
“Oh, yes, absolutely. We’re going to keep trying to get that,” Rep. Eric Burlison exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “We’re in fact working on it right now, trying to get that on the [National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA].”
Full (unpaywalled) post – including an impromptu Rules Committee primer – at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
PSA: Still depressed, fam…
Sorry I’ve been MIA. This past week, I wrote 30+ letters to the Speaker, House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority & Minority Leaders, each member of the Senate Rules Committee and Oversight Chair Comer and Ranking Member Garcia, asking them to intervene and re-credential my team.
The nation’s TV networks are still warring with me over the 7 people my wire service, The LCB, credentials — including a 4 time Emmy winning former colleague of mine at VICE News Tonight w HBO, 2 Ukraine war corespondents, a recently laid off Wash Post multi media reporter, a former intern and MA student of mine, etc.
Ask a Pol’s gets its access to the Capitol through The LCB, and the Senate Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association — where I’ve now been credentialed for exactly 20 years and a week. They’ve shut down our operations since May 1st, which has cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
Just posted my letter to Sen. Rick Scott on X here.
SCENE: After casting his last vote ahead of Congress’s Memorial Day recess, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo walks with UAP Caucus Co-Chair Tim Burchett as he heads back to his office across the street from the Capitol.
Matt Laslo: “Have other members been talking to you about it? Like, has this made it a little more mainstream?”
Rep. Tim Burchett: “Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Thanks to y’all, people like yourself, it’s been great.”
Laslo: “Now, what’s next? Do you guys know what you want for a hearing next?”
Burchett: “We’ve had enough hearings. We just need disclosure.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “We need disclosure.”
Laslo: “How much are you talking to the White House?”
Burchett: “Do what?”
Laslo: “How much are you talking to the White House or agencies on this?”
Burchett: “Every day, pretty much here this week.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “You know.”
Laslo: “But they’re feeling stymied?”
Burchett: “Yeah.”
Laslo: “People that want to get it out?”
Burchett: “And it is the ‘deep state.’ I think they realize what we’ve encountered.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “And it is so deep. Like, I told the President, it’s like layers of the onion.”
Laslo: “Why not finally do a hearing on the underwater stuff?”
Burchett: “You got one guy that’ll come in and talk about it, we need more than that.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “We’re getting diminishing returns on those hearings. I think what we did with the hearing, the first one, was we lit the fuse.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “People said, ‘wow, there is something going on. These are legitimate people. These are heroes.’”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burchett: “These aren’t like some Tim Burchett’s of the world that just pull something out of the hat. They are the real deal.”
Read the full (unpaywalled) transcript at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
PSA: Depressed, fam…
Sorry I’ve been MIA. The nation’s TV networks are warring with me over the 7 people my wire service, The LCB, credentials — including a 4 time Emmy winning former colleague of mine at VICE News Tonight w HBO, 2 Ukraine war corespondents, a recently laid off Wash Post multi media reporter, a former intern and MA student of mine, etc.
Ask a Pol’s gets its access to the Capitol through The LCB, and the Senate Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association — where I’ve now been credentialed for exactly 20 years and a week. They’ve shut down our operations since May 1st, which has cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
Stay tuned for updates.
PSA: Depressed, fam…
Sorry I’ve been MIA. The nation’s TV networks are warring with me over the 7 people my wire service, The LCB, credentials — including a 4 time Emmy winning former colleague of mine at VICE News Tonight w HBO, 2 Ukraine war corespondents, a recently laid off Wash Post multi media reporter, a former intern and MA student of mine, etc.
Ask a Pol’s gets its access to the Capitol through The LCB, and the Senate Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association — where I’ve now been credentialed for exactly 20 years and a week. They’ve shut down our operations since May 1st, which has cost us tens of thousands of dollars.
Stay tuned for updates.
NEW EXCLUSIVE:
Is the FBI involved?
“Yeah,” Burlison exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “I mean, they’re on the investigation on the missing people, the FBI is fully involved. But you also have people that are working the issue to release all the documents and files.”
Full interview & transcript at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
FULL ASK A POL UAP TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Eric Burlison (4-27-2026)
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo cuts Rep. Eric Burlison off before the cable networks pounce and drag him in front of their cameras at the base of the Capitol’s East Front steps.
Matt Laslo: “Any update?”
Rep. Eric Burlison: “From the people I’m talking to on the inside in this administration, there is a very — the Trump administration is taking this investigation seriously...”
As they enter the House Carriage Entrance — where horses and buggies used to drop lawmakers off at the Capitol — Burlison gets distracted.
***Burlison: “***Hold on.”
Burlison peeks around the corner to where producers for cable “news” networks are calling for him to address their cameras.
Burlison: “Hold on a second.”
**Laslo: “**Yeah.”
Burlison: “They’re taking it very seriously. And so they’re really turning over every stone they can.”
Laslo: “Is that FBI?”
Burlison: “Yeah, I mean, they’re on the investigation on the missing people, the FBI is fully involved. But you also have people that are working the issue for — to release all the documents and files.”
Burlison starts heading to cable camera crews.
Laslo: “Are you convinced that…?”
Burlison: “Thank you, Matt.”
Laslo: “Are you convinced, though, that some of these people have been killed, targeted?”
Burlison: “What I don’t — what I want people to know is that there are a lot of these people — and sadly they’re all a loss to this country and to their families — but there isn’t, I mean, just a logical person would look at these and say some of these people that have been lumped in by the press, mostly, there’s not a connection.”
Laslo: “Yeah?”
Burlison: “They’re all sad circumstances, but there’s not a connection. But it is worth looking into General McCasland and his disappearance.”
Laslo: “Yeah? Should you have a hearing to get that out in public?”
Burlison: “We’ll try.”
A Fox “News” producer — one who trained Laslo in public radio two decades ago this month! — is quietly wooing Burlison to their camera crew.
Laslo: “I mean, now that Fox “News” is covering it?”
Burlison: “We’ll try to.”
Fox Producer: “Who?”
Burlison: “We’ll see.”
Burlison’s led out to the gaggle of network reporters.
Fox Producer: “Who?”
Laslo: “That’s right — Fox, Fox. We don’t say “news” anymore...”
Full interview & transcript at Ask a Pol UAP* *on Substack.
Rep. Eric Burlison says you had a classified UAP briefing recently — was it eye-opening?
“We had a classified briefing that some of us went to,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. **“**Obviously, you can’t talk about what was discussed at the briefing.”
Was it eye-opening?
“Well, you know, whenever you go to a briefing like that, there’s some things you see that are eye-opening,” Scalise says. “And that’s about as far as I’ll go.”
Full interview & transcript at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.
Any update on the missing scientists?
“I had word last night that maybe the FBI’s gonna start looking into it,” Rep. Tim Burchett exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “Hoping that’s the case.”
Full interview & transcript at Ask a Pol UAP on Substack.