AJ McDougall

Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesIn what may be the first time the word “shitter” has entered the Congressional Record, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) put her Republican colleagues on blast during a Thursday hearing of the House Oversight Committee, accusing them of willfully ignoring Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents. At the first hearing on the Biden impeachment inquiry, Crockett accused Republicans of dancing around the subject of the president, pointing out that if she played a drinking game based on the number of times the words “if” or “Hunter” had been said that day, “I would be drunk by now.” She noted that she’d seen no evidence of President Joe Biden’s alleged misconduct, but “when we start talking about things that look like evidence, [Republicans] want to act like they blind.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

ReutersSwifties and Sunday Night Football are about to go from strange bedfellows to a match made in heaven.For Taylor Swift, one Kansas City Chiefs game just wasn’t enough. After all but breaking the internet by appearing in a luxury suite at Arrowhead Stadium to cheer on Travis Kelce last Sunday, the singer-songwriter is set to do it all again—this time in New Jersey, according to multiple reports.Both Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy and NFL Insider Jordan Schultz reported on Wednesday night that the “Cruel Summer” singer plans to attend the Chiefs’ matchup against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The news will no doubt fuel both the rampant rumors of the pair’s burgeoning “Love Story,” as well as ticket prices to the game, with the so-called Swift effect having already caused sales of Kelce-themed merch to spike nearly 400 percent.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThe Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee got testy with a NBC reporter during a Wednesday press conference after the journalist challenged him on the timeline of supposed evidence of President Joe Biden’s misconduct. The journalist pointed out that a WhatsApp message that Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) had presented as potential evidence of Biden’s use of his political influence to help Hunter Biden was dated to June 6, 2017—before Biden was a presidential candidate, let alone president. “I’m not an expert on the timeline,” Smith replied. “I would love to have President Biden or his family tell us all about the timeline.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty ImagesAfter an historic five-month strike, Hollywood scribes will officially put down the picket signs and pick up their pens at midnight, with the Writers Guild of America board telling the union on Tuesday evening that it had voted unanimously to uphold the “exceptional” deal it carved out with the studios and streamers.“Today, our Negotiating Committee, WGAW Board, and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the agreement” to the union’s 11,500 members, the WGA West tweeted. “The strike ends at 12:01 am.”While this allows writers to go back to work in just a few hours, it doesn’t mean that the “tentative agreement” is a done deal. The membership will still need to vote to ratify the new three-year contract in a referendum that union leadership said in an email would be held between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersWith little headway being made in negotiations to keep the government’s lights on beyond the end of the week, a shutdown seems all but assured, with Congress shifting into crisis mode as President Joe Biden calls directly on Republicans to help avoid disaster. Rather than respond to that call, however, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) busied himself on Tuesday preparing a request to have his salary withheld until funding is secured.“It is my understanding that pursuant to the Constitution, members of Congress will continue to receive their pay during a lapse in appropriations,” Gaetz wrote in the letter to the House’s chief administrative officer. “Therefore, I am requesting that in the case of a lapse of appropriations beginning at 12:00 a.m. on October 1, 2023, my pay be withheld until legislation has taken effect to end such lapse in appropriations in its entirety.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fred Prouser/ReutersDavid McCallum, the Scottish character actor who found television fame in the 1960s on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and again decades later on NCIS, died Monday in New York City. He was 90.McCallum’s death from natural causes was confirmed by his family and CBS, the longtime home of NCIS In a family statement provided through the network, his son Peter said, “He was the kindest, coolest, most patient and loving father. He always put family before self.” Peter said that McCallum especially loved his grandchildren, and could often be found at family gatherings engrossed in a philosophical chat with his 9-year-old grandson, Whit.“He was a true renaissance man—he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge,” Peter said, adding that McCallum could (“if needed”) perform an autopsy, because his NCIS character, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, knew how to do so.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Charley Gallay/Getty ImagesThe Writers Guild of America told its 11,500 members on Sunday night that it had reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, signaling that the union’s historic 146-day strike may soon be at an end.An email sent out to the union noted “with great pride” that the new three-year contract “is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.”The deal, which comes after five days of hardcore negotiations, was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Its terms were not immediately made public.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox NewsIn a late entrance to the “insult Sen. John Fetterman for his style” race, Pete Hegseth came out swinging on Sunday, calling the Pennsylvania Democrat a “slob” who bears the sole responsibility for making the nation “look like a joke.”Like so many right-wingers, the Fox & Friends co-host appeared perturbed—triggered, even—by the spotlight thrust upon Fetterman in the wake of the news that the U.S. Senate is dropping its unwritten dress code. (The Pennsylvania senator and the hoodies and shorts that populate his wardrobe are widely believed to be the reason for the relaxing of the code, which has long consisted of the unspoken stipulation that athletic wear and the Senate floor don’t mix.)Hegseth launched into his tirade against Fetterman after co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy suggested on the Sunday morning show that the clothes one wears “shows respect for where you’re going.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Jason Hanna/Getty ImagesIf Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce really are “New Romantics,” then Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium might just be about to become “Holy Ground” for Swifties everywhere.At the Kansas City Chiefs’ matchup against the Chicago Bears, Swift was spotted in Kelce’s suite—and sitting next to the tight end’s mother, no less. She was filmed cheering when quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw Kelce a touchdown in the second half of the game, chest-bumping a friend and mouthing, “Let’s fucking go!”“I heard she was in the house,” Mahomes told Fox Sports after the game, which the Chiefs won 41-10. “I felt a little bit of pressure and so I knew I had to get it to Trav.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniThe Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reportedly sent a “best and final” offer to WGA members on Saturday evening, leading to reports on Sunday that a deal to end a 145-day strike was imminent.With the most recent round of negotiations reportedly yielding major progress, the two sides were set to meet again on Sunday to continue bargaining. Studio sources told the Los Angeles Times that they hoped to ink a deal by the end of that day’s meeting.“The intention was always to wrap this up by the weekend,” an insider told Deadline. “That was the desire on both sides of the table.”Read more at The Daily Beast.