DEMS/NANCY PELOSI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Squad isn’t the only tight-knit group of freshman House Democrats who aren’t waiting their turn to seize the debate on Capitol Hill. A self-described moderate ‘gang of nine’ is wielding its own ‘healthy impatience’ to counter President Donald Trump’s war-making power and treatment of migrants on the border, while working with little fanfare to close gaps in services for veterans. The gang, all former military or intelligence officers who flipped red districts blue in November, has had its own clashes with party leaders. Six of the nine did not vote for Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this year, and several have angered Democratic leaders by voting to support Republican procedural maneuvers to amend major legislation on the floor. But the group has received far less partisan fire and fury than the far more famous Squad, the liberal cohort of four Democrats who have jousted with Trump and Pelosi.”
–Bryan Bender and Conner O’Brien, “The ‘gang’ of national security Democrats seeking to check Trump’s power,” Politico, August 2, 2019 5:12 am