"DAY AHEAD" - My Daily Editorial Note

May 4, 2026

Inside the U.S. Department of Justice, this will be a day of the good, bad and ugly.

Looks like there will be a 12pm hearing today in the case of Cole Tomas Allen, the California man arrested at the White House Correspondents Dinner last month. Allen was seeking an emergency hearing today to ask for a judge to intervene to remove him from the “suicide precautions” cell at the Washington, D.C. jail, where he’d being held pending rial. (the “suicide precautions” cell is uniquely rough: Padded walls, 24-hour lighting, a “strait-jacket” vest and severely limited access to anything outside the cell)

A judge wants to learn more about why Allen is being treated as such by the jail in Washington, D.C. Either way… the case is expected to expand this week.

The “Good”

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro argued Sunday how “good” a case this is for the Justice Department. Pirro said the evidence is abundant against Allen. Pirro told CNN, “”A pellet that came from the buckshot - from the defendant’s Mossberg pump action shotgun - was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the secret service officer. So it’s definitively his bullet.”

A grand jury will convene Friday at the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse, according to Pirro. Pirro said her prosecutors will seek an indictment against Allen from the grand jury, potentially adding new charges and more detail.

Note this exchange between Jake Tapper and Pirro about Allen’s alleged manifesto – and its reference to “pedophile” and “rapist.”

The “Bad”

More and more people are dunking on the Justice Department’s case against James Comey in North Carolina. Yup – the Seashell “8647” case.

Back to CNN: Here’s Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) calling the case a loser and “vindictive.”

There will be a preliminary hearing at the federal courthouse in Greenville, NC on May 11, per the latest update from the court. Yes, Comey will have to be there. Yes, there will likely be fingerprinting and a booking photo.

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the case under questioning over the weekend, emphasizing that this was some type of lengthy investigation. (10-11 months long)

Blanche also supported the case, by arguing it was a grand jury who saw fit to indict Comey. But – let me be very clear – Blanche and Trump have alleged that the Jan 6 cases and the Trump criminal cases were “weaponized” and political….. even though grand juries saw fit to indict in those cases.

How about all the people who sold “86-46” merchandise? How about everybody else who’s uttered “86-47”? Where are those charges?

There is a grave risk that the Trump Administration looks petty and looks to be unfocused at a time of war and real crisis. How many people in America view this as a “bad” priority?

The “ugly”

My latest enterprise report overnight so shows an ugly crisis that’s building inside the Trump Administration’s Justice Department.

MY ENTERPRISE REPORT: https://bsky.app/profile/macfarlanenews.bsky.social/post/3mkydcp6ils2s

The number of attorneys who have left the agency since January has topped 3,400.

That’s …. bonkers. And it’s “ugly.” And former prosecutors said it’s largely the consequence of a politicized and unstable agency.

A February 19^th court filing in New Orleans, in an obscure civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, a Justice Department attorney revealed a big problem. The attorney asked for a one-month delay in the case. She wrote, “The Appellate Section has lost over 40% of its attorneys since February 2025, due to retirement, resignation, or temporary transfer. Therefore, at this time, it is not possible for me to assign this case to yet another attorney, who would need to devote time to learning the issues.”

Former federal prosecutor Mike Romano told me this exodus risks giving lots more leverage to criminal defendants, including mobsters, drug traffickers and child pornographers.

Romano said, “One way (Justice Department) attorneys might try to get out of the work overload is to make deals or plea offers that they wouldn’t otherwise make. They will try to wrap cases up.”

Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official who resigned in January 2025 after an 18-year career at the agency, said some of the departures were the result of Trump

As for Trump himself today, he has only one public event: a 3pm small business event in the East Room. Small businesses have no shortage of concerns right now, especially amid the economic crises triggered by the war.

According to a report this morning from the Associated Press, “The United States will launch an effort today to ‘guide’ stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said, as two ships around the strait reported attacks. Trump gave few details about what could be a sweeping attempt to help hundreds of vessels and some 20,000 seafarers. Iran quickly denounced the move as a ceasefire violation.”

Other news threads today:

1) After last week’s historic Supreme Court ruling on minority-majority Congressional districts, there are many southern states to monitor for immediate attempts to leverage the ruling and eliminate districts for Black members of Congress. Mississippi included.

As the headline in the Hattiesburg newspaper says, Democrats pledge they’ll not allow the state to return to its 1964 status. But as the last paragraph of that front page clip says… they have little power to stop a redraw.

The problem for Republicans: The primaries have already been completed. As Mississippi Today reports this morning, “Erasing primary results would be unprecedented, and it’s unclear if that action would survive a legal challenge. It’s also unclear if Mississippi’s three incumbent Republican congressmen would be on board with having to run again in new primaries, a costly endeavor. Also, further gerrymandering in the state with the highest Black population might backfire on Republicans and make Democrats more competitive.”

https://mississippitoday.org/2026/05/02/congressional-districts-mississippi-trump/

Watch out for Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana this week too.

2) In the wake of the Spirit Airlines collapse, the airline industry is trying to boost morale. Airlines 4 America, the industry’s trade organization, has published a list of actions being undertaken by other airlines amid soaring fuel costs.

Here’s the list:

• Reducing flight frequencies on some routes

• Retiring older and less fuel-efficient aircraft

• Grounding certain aircraft

• Cutting less profitable routes

• Increasing fees for checked bags

• Raising fares when necessary

More here: https://www.airlines.org/news/a4a-statement-on-spirit-airlines-ceasing-operations/

Attention shifts today to JetBlue… and any economic “descent”. This was the Reuters headline on April 20: “JetBlue CEO rules out bankruptcy this year despite surging fuel costs amid Iran war.”

What are the odds? https://viewfromthewing.com/more-airline-bankruptcies-may-be-coming-jetblue-and-frontier-face-the-highest-risk/

3) An emergency court filing by DC-based watchdog group DEMOCRACY FORWARD seeks to block the Trump Administration from shuttering some popular federal golf courses in DC, arguing it’s an unlawful and capricious land/power grab by Trump.

https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Golf-045112070569.pdf

There will be a rare 8am Monday morning court hearing. I’ll keep you updated on it.

4) Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a Republican who lost his most recent campaign for Senate in 2024, is under fire this morning for sowing malicious seeds of doubt about the 2026 election. The state Democratic party – and a number of my other sources – are warning about new comments from Rogers, in which the former Congressman urges police to be deployed at the polls.

And Rogers echoes the horribly destructive claim Trump made in 2020 about how “votes” or “results” change late at night on election night. (This claim helped give rise to the Capitol Insurrection) Rogers said he doesn’t want to go to bed at 2 a.m. a winner and wake up at 4 a.m. a loser” again.

Here:

I’ve reached out to the Rogers campaign for comment. No response yet.

5) Speaking of elections: Today is the final day of campaigning ahead for candidates in Indiana’s highly-scrutinized state primary elections. Trump has a target list of Republicans who he wants to defeat, because those Republicans defied Trump’s demand that Indiana re-district mid-decade, to make Congressional lines more favorable for the GOP. Trump was snubbed.

Here’s a great local report on who to watch out for tomorrow: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/05/01/us-sen-banks-behind-many-of-the-attack-ads-against-anti-redistricting-lawmakers/

I’ll have a preview in tonight’s edition of “Scott MacFarlane Reports.”

6) Data points are just that… data points.

But I suspect these two numbers will fuel some reporting today.

Only 26% of Americans view Trump as a role model. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/05/01/trump-loses-ground-on-several-personal-traits-as-approval-rating-slips/

The US President is only a role model for 1 in 4 people in the U.S. Wow.

And Americans spent $125 million on Friday than they did a year ago.

The link is paywalled. But the headline is still a dagger:

https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/americans-spent-125-million-more-on-gas-friday-than-they-did-a-week-ago-0038690c

And this is what the headline looks like in Wichita, Kansas. (That’s a state that could have a US Senate race bubble up by November)

7) The Commerce Department is operating a major summit at the National Harbor event facility outside of DC in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Lots of heavy hitters will speak about the state of the economy and business investments. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks this morning – but I’m looking at the bipartisan group of governors who’ve made the trek. Each will likely tout what’s happening in their states to buttress the economy at a fragile moment nationally.

• Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) (not a long trip for him)

• Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS)

• Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE)

• Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC)

• Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK)

• Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT)

• Gov. Matt Meyer (D-DE)

8) The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has named 8 new members of its “RED TO BLUE” program. These are candidates who’ll receive fundraising and other logistical support from the party, as they seek to oust vulnerable GOP incumbents. Here’s the list and summary from the DCCC:

AZ-01 – Marlene Galán-Woods

CA-22 – Jasmeet Bains

CO-05 – Jessica Killin

ME-02 – Joe Baldacci

PA-01 – Bob Harvie

PA-07 – Bob Brooks

TX-15 – Bobby Pulido

TX-35 – Johnny Garcia

My SUBSTACK LIVE at 10am eastern features Chris Cillizza, who’ll help me figure out the most important “states of play” for a midterm election that is – as of today – fewer than 6 months away.