WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump was indicted on Thursday on federal criminal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and attempts to obstruct the investigation into the matter, the first such charges against a former president in American history.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Monday joined a growing list of candidates seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, announcing the launch of a presidential campaign in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina.

Despite living in the nation’s least-populated state, Wyomingites following policy debates in Washington have seen many home-state issues prioritized by Republican party leaders of late.

Since retaking the U.S. House majority earlier this year, Republicans have pushed through bills to increase oil and gas leasing on federal lands, block President Joe Biden from selling oil reserves to China, restrict doctors’ ability to perform abortions and eliminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers — all issues central to political debates in Wyoming.

When Speaker of the House Rep. Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) refused to allow debate on a school choice bill, a prohibition on “chang[ing] the sex of a child” and a ban on teaching sexual orientation and gender identity to young students, it was not the first time one of Wyoming’s legislative leaders came under fire for holding back controversial legislation. But the national attention the Wyoming Freedom Caucus managed to draw to the issue might have been unprecedented.

“Conservatives Put The Screws To Republican House Speaker Who Killed School Choice Bill,” wrote the Daily Caller. “Wyoming’s GOP House speaker buries parental rights and school choice bills,” reported the Washington Examiner. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board also made note, writing Sommers had been persuaded by “local district-school officials who fear competition.” Meanwhile, residents in Sommers’ Sublette County district were “bombarded,” as he put it, with robotexts from the State Freedom Caucus Network.

This week, the Wyoming Truth is running a four-part series reflecting on the political debates central to this year’s general session, and exploring what’s to come for Wyomingites at home and in Washington. Check out part one.

While the legislative session didn’t kick off until January, the battle between establishment Republicans and those aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus began last November, when the GOP met to elect its leaders.

In the pivotal race for House Speaker, Rep. Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale), widely seen as a “traditional” Wyoming Republican, narrowly beat Rep. Mark Jennings (R-Sheridan) of the more conservative Freedom Caucus.

Jackie Van Mark knows Wyoming GOP politics.

For over 100 years, since her great-grandfather first homesteaded the dryland wheat and sunflower farm she now manages in Torrington, Van Mark and her family have been enmeshed in local and national government.

As another GOP candidate jumped into the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman announced Wednesday her formal endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON — Nearly two weeks since the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, and after three more so-called “unidentified aerial objects” were spotted and downed over North America in recent days, President Joe Biden directly addressed the issue for the first time Thursday, seeking to project strength in the face of fierce criticism of his administration’s response.

Leaders of the Wyoming Republican Party voted this weekend to formally condemn U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) for her support late last year of a bill codifying protections for same-sex and interracial couples.

As a trio of young lawmakers join the Wyoming House of Representatives next week, expect them to add some new views to the chamber.

“We can bring a fresh perspective,” said Rep.-elect Dalton Banks (R-Cowley). The 27-year-old noted many members of today’s older generations are done raising kids, “so they’ve forgotten about, what are we going to do now for those [young] people coming up?”

It took only about two minutes for Dalton Banks’ age to be used against him at a forum for legislative candidates.

“I would ask a very simple question,” said fellow state House of Representatives contender Tim Beck, as he opened with something of a broadside on Banks. “At the age of 24, 25, how much experience does a person really have at that age — just getting married, having not made really tough life decisions yet?”

WASHINGTON—The holiday season has brought few gifts to former President Donald Trump.

In the week leading up to Christmas, Trump endured blow after damning blow: an historic recommendation for prosecution on federal crimes by a Congressional panel, a vote to authorize the release of his long-obscured tax returns, the publication of investigators’ final report into his wrongdoing on Jan. 6 and the overhaul of a centuries-old law Trump sought to abuse in 2020.

WASHINGTON — One day after lawmakers for the first time in history proposed prosecution of a former president, and as Congress scrambles to finalize a last-ditch push to fund the federal government ahead of a looming shutdown, Congresswoman-elect Harriet Hageman has found herself treading a thin line.

With just three days until the Nov. 8 general election, Wyoming’s incumbent Congresswoman and the woman poised to replace her are back on the campaign trail for candidates outside the state, each emerging as a key voice in the intra-party battle over the future of the GOP.

BUFFALO, Wyo. – Local artist Judy Shubert holds a seemingly unpopular opinion in the Cowboy State: she is in Rep. Liz Cheney’s corner.

KAYCEE, Wyo. –Nicki Taylor is surrounded by local historical artifacts from the 1800s, but she is looking to the future and crossing her fingers for change.

It was a Wednesday in late June, and Liz Cheney was in California.

The morning before, the Wyoming Republican member of Congress was in Washington, D.C. There, in her role as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, she presided over a surprise blockbuster hearing.

Thursday night may have marked the first time that the five candidates vying for the Republican nomination to represent Wyoming’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives were all in the same room together, but it was a different politician who dominated the conversation: former President Donald Trump.