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Donald J. Trump White House 2nd Term Page 22
Story by Stephen Kalin, Robbie Gramer, Alexander Ward

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—An Iranian drone attack last month on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia did more extensive damage than previously disclosed, current and former American officials said, showing Iran’s ability to hit Washington’s assets in the kingdom.

The attack happened March 3, when an Iranian drone evaded the air defenses guarding Riyadh’s gated Diplomatic Quarter and slammed into the American compound. A minute later, a second drone flew into the hole made by the first one and also exploded, the officials said.

The nighttime strikes penetrated a secure part of the embassy where several hundred people would have been working in the day and heavily damaged three floors, current and former officials said. The Central Intelligence Agency station was among the areas hit, people familiar with the matter have said.

While the Saudi Defense Ministry then said the attack had resulted in a limited fire and minor damage, current and former officials said it was worse, sparking a blaze that raged for half a day. Parts of the embassy were damaged and not recoverable, one person briefed on the matter said.

More drones were intercepted that night a few hours later, and debris fell near a preschool. One was thought to be targeting the residence of the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Saudi Arabia, located a few hundred feet from the embassy.

The embassy attack struck at 1:30 a.m. If it had occurred during working hours, it could have been a mass-casualty event, the officials said. Instead, the attack sent a message that Iran could hit Americans in places they thought were protected.
Iran begins striking US big tech companies, with Oracle as the first victim
Story by Jai Hamid

Iran on Saturday opened a new front in this war by putting U.S. tech operations in the region under direct threat. Missile and drone attacks kept moving across the Middle East, and the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted dozens of incoming threats in the past 24 hours.

In Dubai, debris from one interception hit the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City. The Dubai Media Office said authorities dealt with a minor incident after debris fell on the facade of the building. It also said no one was injured.

The damage was limited, but Iran was still firing projectiles across the region as retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes, and American corporate sites were no longer sitting outside the blast zone.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had threatened a wider group of U.S. tech companies operating across the Middle East, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Iran expands the battlefield as U.S. aircraft losses and search missions grow
Meanwhile, the U.S. military kept searching for a missing American airman after an F-15E was shot down over southwestern Iran on Friday. One crew member was rescued. The second was still missing. Both U.S. and Iranian forces were searching the area.

Iran and the United States both confirmed that Tehran downed the two-seat jet. In a separate incident, two U.S. officials said the pilot of an A-10 Warthog ejected after the aircraft crashed in Kuwait when it was hit by Iranian fire.
Donald Trump humiliated by resurfaced golf footage that catches president red-handed
Story by Joseph McBride

Disastrous footage of President Donald Trump on the golf course resurfaced after he was called out for cheating during a round on a visit to Scotland in 2025.

Trump is an avid golfer and has reportedly spent over $100 million in American taxpayer money on his hobby since being reelected to a second term. While Trump claims to be an excellent golfer, he has also been called out for some suspicious play in the past.

Last year, a video appeared to show one of Trump's caddies dropping a ball in the light rough to prepare him for his next shot. After the video went viral, more footage emerged of some questionable play. In the video, the U.S. President appears to be driving his cart toward a bunker, then stops in front of his caddie, who drops a ball before the sand trap. The video was widely shared on social media, and fans responded by sharing other clips. In July 2023, a video showed Trump taking some practice swings before eventually hitting the ball. The U.S. President shanked his shot off to the right and into the rough, and quickly returned to his golf cart. It comes as Trump's spokesman was forced to issue a rare Easter statement amid rumors the president has been taken to the hospital.
The FBI closed in on Silk Road - then the agents started stealing for themselves
The Silk Road case looked like a straight story of law enforcement versus a dark web kingpin. But underneath it was something much uglier: federal agents stealing Bitcoin, manipulating evidence, and using the chaos of the investigation to enrich themselves. What makes the story so disturbing is that the line between hunter and criminal did not just blur — in some moments, it disappeared completely.
Trump warns Iran’s ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ unless deal struck
Kevin Breuninger, Megan Cassella

President Donald Trump on Tuesday sharply ramped up his threats against Iran, warning “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless the country’s leadership strikes a deal that involves reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat came after U.S. forces overnight struck military targets on Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, a White House official confirmed to CNBC.
$6.6 billion Navy disaster under Trump
As Trump shifts America away from global conflict, a massive Navy failure is quietly getting worse behind the scenes. Billions have already been spent on a warship that still isn’t finished, with constant design changes dragging the project deeper into chaos. The same leadership tied to past military mistakes remains in control, raising serious concerns about where the money is really going. At the same time, global tensions are shifting, and rivals are rapidly building their own fleets while the U.S. struggles to keep up. It leaves a bigger question hanging in the air - is this just mismanagement, or something much deeper?
Trump reveals "secret" Iran details live despite chairman urging him not to
Story by Alice Gibbs

During a high-profile White House press conference following the dramatic rescue of two U.S. airmen inside Iran, President Donald Trump appeared to disclose sensitive details about the scale of the operation—despite apparent hesitation from top military leadership.

The rescue mission was launched after an F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran, leaving two U.S. airmen stranded in hostile territory. According to official statements, the operation involved a large and complex deployment of U.S. forces.

An exchange between Trump and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the live event drew attention after the chairman appeared reluctant to share specific operational figures, citing security concerns. Trump then intervened, telling reporters that the number of personnel involved was “hundreds,” according to footage and attendees at the briefing.
Mystery surrounds death of ninth scientist tied to US secrets as disturbing pattern grows
Story by Chris Melore, Assistant Science Editor For Dailymail.Com

Another scientist with ties to America's space program has now joined the growing list of deaths and disappearances around the US.

Michael David Hicks, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), passed away on July 30, 2023 at the age of 59, but the cause of death was never made public, and no record of an autopsy being performed could be found.

Hicks, who worked at JPL from 1998 to 2022, was credited with publishing over 80 scientific papers and was part of multiple teams helping NASA understand the physical properties of comets and asteroids.

Specifically, Hicks was involved with the DART Project, NASA’s test to see if humans could deflect dangerous asteroids away from Earth. He also worked on the Deep Space 1 Mission, which tested new spacecraft technology that flew by a comet in 2001.

While there have been no public allegations of foul play, Hicks' case marks the ninth person with ties to America's space or nuclear secrets who has died or mysteriously vanished in recent years, which has set off alarm bells among US national security experts.

Moreover, three of these scientists had close ties to Hicks, as all of them worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab or participated in NASA missions there. Monica Reza, JPL's new Director of the Materials Processing Group, vanished without a trace in June 2025, just months after beginning her tenure at the NASA lab.
Story by Adam Lynch

MS NOW assembled a devastating montage showing Republicans raging at high gas prices under former president Biden, but then contorting themselves to justify gas hikes after President Donald Trump’s arbitrary invasion and subsequent ceasefire deal with Iran.

“Think of that. Would you like to have $1.84 a gallon instead of $4,” Trump told a crowd at an October 2024 rally in the middle of his campaign.

“… But we have a country that's not going to be throwing a nuclear weapon at us in six months. … [Americans] are also feeling a lot safer,” Trump later said last March, after a reporter pointed out that gas prices hit $4 after his invasion.

“Gas prices are through the roof and people are now waiting in line,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Fox News in May 2021,” but followed that up last March with the argument that “prices have dropped dramatically,” and called the recent spiked “a blip.”
Story by Chris Melore, Assistant Science Editor For Dailymail.Com

Another person with links to America's nuclear secrets has gone missing as the disturbing list of deaths and disappearances in recent years continues to grow.

Steven Garcia, 48, vanished without a trace on August 28, 2025. He was last seen leaving his Albuquerque, New Mexico home on foot, carrying only a handgun.

An anonymous source told the Daily Mail that Garcia was a government contractor working for the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), a major facility in Albuquerque that plays a key behind-the-scenes role in America's national defense.

Specifically, KCNSC manufactures more than 80 percent of all the non-nuclear components that go into building the military's nuclear weapons.

Garcia allegedly served as a property custodian at KCNSC's New Mexico facility, giving him a top security clearance and broad access to the entire site's nuclear secrets.

The source described Garcia's work as 'a very high-level, overseeing position for all the assets. Tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment and assets, some of which are not classified, others would be classified.'
Matthew Chapman

President Donald Trump followed up his endorsement of Hungary's authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orban with a post to Truth Social on Friday.

"My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it," Trump wrote. "We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership!"
During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on January 22, 2026, in an exchange with Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA), former Special Counsel Jack Smith laid out the facts about his investigation of Donald Trump attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on January 22, 2026, in an exchange with Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN), former Special Counsel Jack Smith shined a spotlight on the vile nature of Donald Trump, who suggested a witness in the investigation of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results be "put to death."
Story by Charles P. Pierce

Over the weekend, The New York Times published a trove of personal memos from the members of the Supreme Court outlining the court’s promiscuous use of the so-called shadow docket. It has become the carefully constructed conservative majority’s favorite work-around to kill policies it doesn’t like and support causes that it and its corporate patrons do.

The report is an astonishing leak of private communications between the justices. It bespeaks a court at war with itself, completely out of the control of Chief Justice John Roberts. The best evidence of the latter contention is the fact that Roberts emerges from these memos as a complete hack. The Times traces the invigorated shadow docket back to when Roberts used it to block an environmental program from President Barack Obama.

For two centuries, the court had generally handled major cases at a stately pace that encouraged care and deliberation, relying on written briefs, oral arguments and in-person discussions. The justices composed detailed opinions that explained their thinking to the public and rendered judgment only after other courts had weighed in.

But this time, the justices were sprinting to block a major presidential initiative. By a 5-to-4 vote along partisan lines, the order halted President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, his signature environmental policy. They acted before any other court had addressed the plan’s lawfulness. The decision consisted of only legal boilerplate, without a word of reasoning. At the time, the ruling seemed like a curious one-off. But that single paragraph turned out to be a sharp and lasting break.
Story by Henry Giardina

When Brazilian model and Melania pal Amanda Ungaro started spilling the tea this month, her Epstein admissions sent shockwaves through the internet.

Ungaro’s ex-husband Paolo Zampoli used his influence in Tr*mp’s DOJ to get her deported last year, and now, she’s telling “everything [she] know[s]” about Epstein, Melania, and the trafficking scandal that continues to threaten Tr*mp’s increasingly fragile hold on power.

But as we know, Ungaro is just one of many survivors forced through a harrowing cycle of abuse and trafficking by Epstein and his associates. This week, another survivor—not of Epstein but of fellow traffickers who crossed paths with the financier—spoke out, with potentially major implications for the 79-year-old president.

“She, in many ways, has the Epstein list,” reporter Bekah Day says of Neyla Miller, who opened up in a recent Substack interview, “or at least a portion of it.”

After being scouted by a modeling agent at a young age, Neyla Miller moved to Los Angeles, where she fell in with a crowd of like-minded girls eager to break into Hollywood.

One of those girls was someone Miller had known since middle school. After reconnecting in L.A., the two shared an apartment, and Miller saw her friend fall into a dark circle of exploitation after the friend started hanging out Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis. Soon, Miller too found herself pulled into the adult entertainment industry.
Despite a recent recruitment campaign, the State Department has not allowed laid-off employees to compete for vacant positions.
Jory Heckman @jheckmanWFED

The State Department is finalizing layoffs for hundreds of employees who have been on paid administrative leave for nearly a year and have been kept from returning to their jobs.

The department told nearly 250 Foreign Service employees and about 30 civil service employees on Tuesday that they have been officially separated from their jobs after receiving reduction-in-force notices last summer. Last month, the State Department rolled out a recruitment campaign to join the Foreign Service.

“In April 2025, the secretary determined the department would undertake a reorganization in line with broader efforts to streamline government functions, eliminate redundancy, and enhance accountability, including through a reduction in force. Your reduction in force separation will be effective today, Tuesday, May 5,” the department told employees in a notice obtained by Federal News Network. “Thank you again for your service to the department.”
Stephen Fowler

Two very different decisions Republicans made about gerrymandering will be on display in Tuesday's primary contests in Indiana and Ohio.

After an effort to redraw maps in Indiana failed last year, President Trump and his political operation now seek to oust incumbent Republican state senators who helped defeat the plan.

In Ohio, new maps were required by law since multiple previous versions were struck down by the courts or passed without bipartisan support since 2021. The current map has minor changes to the state's existing boundaries — and not all of them in favor of Republicans.

These primaries come the week after a U.S. Supreme Court decision that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and could pave the way for Republican-led states to eliminate majority-minority districts in the South as part of a larger redistricting arms race that has upended politics for 2026 and beyond.
Robert Davis

President Donald Trump's latest threat to Iran left a legal expert aghast on Monday.

Glenn Kirschner, a former U.S. Attorney, discussed recent reporting on Trump's threat that Iran should be "blown off the face of the Earth" during a new episode of his podcast, "Justice Matters." Trump made the threat in a Truth Social post announcing that the U.S. would guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

"He is a disgrace, a dangerous disgrace to the United States of America and all her people," Kirschner said, adding that such an action would amount to a war crime. "He is an unfit embarrassment to us all."
Story by Robert Davis

Political analysts and observers were aghast on Wednesday as a new report revealed the impetus for President Donald Trump's most recent abrupt reversal.

NBC News reported that Saudi Arabia had revoked the U.S.'s access to its military bases to conduct operations for "Project Freedom," Trump's plan to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz and ward off attacks from Iranian ships. That seemed to help explain why Trump abruptly reversed course about Project Freedom on Tuesday and said his administration would pause the operation to focus on negotiations with the Iranian regime.
Story by Sarah K. Burris

In a rare appearance, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared on a conservative show, exposing Chief Justice John Roberts' ongoing claims of non-partisanship.

On Wednesday, Roberts appeared at a conference for lawyers and judges in Hershey, PA, where he lamented that Americans simply don't understand that he and his colleagues aren't "political actors" making decisions on policy.

“We’re not simply part of the political process, and there’s a reason for that, and I’m not sure people grasp that as much as is appropriate,” Roberts complained.

On the same day, Gorsuch appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show to promote his new book. The interview came amid Kelly's claims that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter had a "meltdown" and that there was supposedly "tension" between Barack and Michelle Obama.

One of the questions that Kelly asked Gorsuch about was how difficult it is for "right-leaning young people to own their politics in school."

Gorsuch attempted to pivot back to the subject of his book on the Founding Fathers before saying that young people can emulate heroes by looking through the pages of history.

"You're just a little bit older than I am, but when I went to school in the 1980s, you could say whatever you wanted," Kelly complained. "No one cared. Like, the way I remember it anyway, you'd get more pats on the head if you espoused liberal points of view, but it wasn't really required in order to get ahead everywhere the way it seems to be today."
Donald Trump branded 'dumbest president in history' as he explains the difference between sea and see
Story by Lesley Abravanel

During a White House event for Military Mother’s Day on Wednesday, May 6, President Donald Trump went on a viral tangent explaining the difference between the homophones "sea" and "see,” sparking some to call him the dumbest president in history —by far.

While discussing a decrease in drug trafficking, the president said, “By sea — by sea, by ocean, by the water, you know.”

He then interrupted his speech to clarify for the audience: “A lot of people say, ‘What do you mean by sea?’ I said, see, like vision? No. It’s sea. S-E-A,” he proudly said.

Frequent Trump foil and California Gov. Gavin Newsom mocked the explanation on X, calling the president "grandpa" and suggesting it was time for another "cognitive test.”

Republicans Against Trump shared the clip and called the POTUS “the dumbest president in history. By far.”
Story by Evan Hill, Jarrett Ley, Alex Horton, Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe

Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment, according to a Washington Post analysis of satellite imagery. The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported.

The threat of air attacks rendered some of the U.S. bases in the region too dangerous to staff at normal levels, and commanders moved most of the personnel from these sites out of the range of Iranian fire at the start of the war, officials have said.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, seven service members have died in strikes on U.S. facilities in the region — six in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia — and more than 400 troops have suffered injuries as of late April, the U.S. military said. While most of the wounded returned to duty within days, at least 12 suffered injuries that military officials classified as serious, according to U.S. officials who, among others, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Satellite imagery of the Middle East is unusually difficult to acquire at present. Two of the largest commercial providers, Vantor and Planet, have complied with requests from the U.S. government — their biggest customer — to limit, delay or indefinitely withhold the publication of imagery of the region while the war is ongoing, making it difficult or impossible to assess Iran’s counterstrikes. Those restrictions began less than two weeks into the war. Vantor said its access-control decisions were made independently and were not mandated by the government.

Iranian state-affiliated news agencies, however, have from the start regularly published high-resolution satellite imagery on their social media accounts that claimed to document damage to U.S. sites.
Story by Isabel Keane

A former MAGA loyalist called CSPAN to scorch President Donald Trump, calling him the “worst president we’ve ever had,” and that he “doesn’t even try to hide his corruption anymore.”

The caller, who identified himself as Thomas from Hawaii, told CSPAN host Taylor Popielarz that he voted for Trump three times — in 2016, 2020 and 2024 — but now regrets it.

“It’s hard for me to say this, but I think if I can open up about it, it might help others,” Thomas began, noting that he had long wanted to believe Trump was “the real deal” even though he had doubts about him based on what he knew about him as a businessman.

“Now I regret my support for him, and I should’ve known better,” he continued. “He’s making it plain as day. He’s a con man, a liar, doesn’t keep his promises. He’s in office all for himself and he doesn’t even try to hide his corruption anymore.”

The former supporter then torched Trump as “the worst president we’ve ever had and the most corrupt president we’ve ever had.”

“I know it’s hard, it took me a while to be able to say that. Very difficult when you commit yourself to believing in somebody,” he added.
Story by James C. Reynolds

The conflict in the Middle East is entering its fourth month with negotiators yet to make a breakthrough, which would pave the way for an enduring peace.

Both sides have been back and forth with revisions of draft agreements to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and lift the dual blockades, allowing for more comprehensive talks on the central nuclear issue.

But the effects of three months of conflict have been seismic, with an estimated 7,000 people killed in the region, major disruption to the global economy and more than a million people displaced from their homes – without delivering on any of Donald Trump’s stated objectives.

And while the Pentagon has priced the conflict at around $29bn, analysts say the true cost could swell to $1 trillion once hidden costs are tallied.

The financial cost of war
Jules Hurst III, the chief financial official for the Pentagon, said on 12 May that the US war on Iran has cost around $29bn so far, an increase of $4bn from the end of April due to repair and replacement costs, as well as the “general operational costs to keep people in theatre”.

The Pentagon has been reluctant to share a detailed breakdown of costs, but the latest figures yield a mean average spend of $386.67m per day – quite a departure from the $2bn a day the Pentagon was said to be spending in March, according to Republican lawmakers.

Professor Linda Bilmes, senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, told The Independent that the reported upfront costs are just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Story by Josh Pepito

A congressional report released this month put a number on what the U.S. military has lost since launching Operation Epic Fury against Iran on February 28, 2026: at least 42 aircraft, ranging from stealth fighters to surveillance drones. The Congressional Research Service compiled the tally from public statements and news reports, noting the count could still rise. The Pentagon has yet to publish its own comprehensive accounting of combat losses.

What Is Operation Epic Fury?
Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, targeting military infrastructure and missile facilities. The opening phase of the war killed several senior Iranian officials. Combat activity slowed during an April ceasefire, though some strikes resumed afterward. The Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of the Library of Congress, describes conditions as still fluid. Lawmakers have since pressed Pentagon leaders for clearer answers on costs, timelines, and outcomes.

The $29 Billion Price Tag
During a May 12 congressional hearing, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III testified that the cost of military operations in Iran had reached $29 billion. According to Hurst, much of the increase came from updated estimates on equipment repair and replacement. That figure does not include damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East hit by Iranian retaliatory attacks. The financial scale of the conflict has sharpened pressure from lawmakers who want greater transparency on what the war has cost, and what it has achieved.
David Edwards

Iran has reportedly suspended nuclear negotiations with the United States, citing Israel's ongoing military assault on Lebanon — a dramatic diplomatic rupture that arrived just hours after President Donald Trump told critics to "sit back and relax" and let him handle it.

Tehran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the suspension Monday, saying the Iranian negotiating team was halting "talks and exchanges of texts through mediators." The reason: Israel's continued strikes on Lebanon, which Iran had set as a precondition for any ceasefire deal.

"Until Iran's and the resistance's position on these matters is satisfied, there will be no negotiations," Tasnim reported, adding that Tehran and allied militant groups have placed the "complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz" back on the table.
Story by Will Neal

Iranian strikes have caused greater damage to U.S. military assets in the Middle East than the Trump administration is willing to admit.

Analysis by the BBC, published Monday, reveals that attacks by the Islamic Republic have cost millions of dollars in damage to at least 20, and possibly as many as 28, American military sites across eight countries in the region since Donald Trump launched his war on Iran at the end of February.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that U.S. forces have “destroyed,” “obliterated,” and “shattered” the regime’s military capabilities. The Pentagon has meanwhile tried to limit assessments of the impact on U.S. assets by pressuring Planet, a major satellite-imaging provider, to restrict public access to new images of the region.

The BBC says it was still able to carry out its analysis by using “satellite imagery from other international providers combined with older images from Planet to track the damage caused by Iranian attacks.” Pentagon officials declined to respond to the findings, for “operational security reasons.”

The broadcaster lists “three state-of-the-art anti-ballistic missile batteries systems” in Jordan and the UAE among the U.S. assets that Iran has targeted over the past several months.
Story by Robert Davis

The "correct" view of President Donald Trump as an incompetent leader is gaining acceptance as his "bread and circuses" routine backfires, according to one author.

Kurt Andersen, co-founder of Spy Magazine, discussed Trump's sliding poll numbers during a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" on Sunday with host Joanna Coles, the outlet's chief content officer. Andersen argued that Trump once provided voters with an "entertaining" alternative to America's otherwise drab political scene, but his entertainment value has tanked as the cost-of-living crisis continues to erode household budgets.
Story by Brigid Brown

A couple from Rhode Island splurged over $600 for a Trump-branded watch - but say they ended up with a defective piece. Tim Petit heard a radio ad seemingly using President Trump's voice to sell luxury watches, and immediately headed to the website to browse the catalog.

“With the president’s voice … I was curious, so I went on the website,” he said. He found a silver-and-pink watch to gift his wife, Melanie, and paid $640 for it. However, the timepiece he ended up with instead made his wife cry.

The pink-faced watch with Trump's signature and fireworks was missing a letter from the "Trump" spelling. The watch said "Rump" instead of "Trump." It comes after Trump's 'painful and disabling' chronic disease was explained by a doctor following his 3-hour hospital visit.

Discussing her watch disaster, Tim's wife said: "I noticed it right away. How could they process this and go through something without checking their work?"
Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off the possible collapse of peace negotiations with Iran, telling CNBC, “I don’t care if they’re over, honestly.”

“I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers in a phone interview midday Monday, saying he thought the protracted talks “started to get very boring.”

Trump had been asked about reporting that Iranian negotiators will stop communications with the U.S., and that Tehran will move to “completely block” the Strait of Hormuz, due to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.

“If they’re over, they’re over ... frankly, I thought they started to get very boring.”
President Donald Trump

Trump said that he was “going to ask” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “what’s going on with Lebanon.”

Trump said in a Truth Social post later Monday afternoon that he “had a very productive call” with Netanyahu. “There will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump wrote.

He said in the same post that he spoke with Hezbollah “through highly placed Representatives,” and “they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”

In another post, Trump wrote, “Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
PBS

WASHINGTON (AP) — A standoff between the White House and the Senate remains unresolved after Republican senators defiantly left town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies.

Senate Republicans who are returning to Washington on Monday say they won't have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on a new $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump's allies. But Trump has shown little interest in doing so, even after a judge temporarily halted any payouts.

It's unclear how they will settle the dispute.
Story by Jake Conley

Oil prices surged on Monday after news that Iran has reportedly stopped exchanging messages with US negotiators over the ongoing Israeli front in Lebanon, throwing into question dealmaking that President Trump had suggested was close at hand.

Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, jumped by as much as 7.1% to trade above $97.50 per barrel, while those on US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) gained as much as 8.3% to trade above $94.50 per barrel.

Headlines on Monday from the state-controlled Iranian news agency Tasnim that Iran had with the US sent oil surging while equities and bonds fell on what appears to be a major breakdown in negotiations.

Iranian leaders reportedly attributed their decision to the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist proxy force. While the US has maintained that the ceasefire in place applies only to Washington and Tehran, Iran has repeatedly said any ceasefire agreement — and any negotiations — were contingent on a stoppage of fighting in Lebanon.

Since the US and Israel began airstrikes against Iran in late February, Israel has waged a secondary campaign against Hezbollah, which has displaced thousands of people inside Lebanon.
Story by Jacob Sullum

President Donald Trump's clearly corrupt settlement of his lawsuit against the IRS suffered two setbacks in federal court on Friday. In the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Leonie Brinkema temporarily barred the Justice Department from allocating money to the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" described in Trump's May 18 agreement with the IRS. And in the Southern District of Florida, Judge Kathleen Williams, who closed Trump's case on May 18 after he dropped his lawsuit, ordered briefing on the question of whether the settlement is "a product of collusion" and "a fraud on the Court."

Trump's settlement includes several striking features that amply justify this judicial scrutiny. The pretext for it was a lawsuit provoked by an IRS contractor's illegal leaking of Trump's tax returns. That case pitted Trump against agencies he oversees, represented by the Justice Department, which he also oversees. The Anti-Weaponization Fund, which is designed to compensate Trump supporters who claim they were targeted by the Biden administration for "unlawful political, personal, and/or ideological reasons," has nothing to do with Trump's claims against the IRS. Nor does another element of the agreement, which promises Trump sweeping immunity from civil or criminal liability for federal offenses, including penalties for past tax violations.
Story by Diccon Hyatt

The Iran war’s disruptions to crude oil supplies are about to cause major problems—or maybe the U.S. economy can pretty much shrug it off. With the global energy market entering uncharted territory, the answer depends on whom you ask.

A pair of analyses released on Friday reached opposite conclusions about the risk the U.S. economy faces from the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The crucial waterway between Iran and Oman is the route through which 20% of the world’s oil supply usually flows to global markets from the Persian Gulf.

This question became even more salient on Monday after Iranian officials said they had withdrawn from peace negotiations and vowed to “completely block” the strait, according to Iranian state media and reported by CNBC. The news jolted oil prices up 7% on Monday morning.

Forecasters at Goldman Sachs said the U.S. economy would be relatively unscathed even if the strait never reopens. Meanwhile, HFI Research, a self-described “contrarian” investment research firm, said energy markets were about to hit a wall and risked gasoline shortages in the coming months.
Story by Imogen Garfinkel

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted a US base after the US struck Iranian military sites at the weekend, the latest exchange of attacks amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war.

It came as Donald Trump declared that the Islamic Republic 'really wants to make a deal' and told his critics to 'sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end - It always does!'

The US and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April as diplomacy aimed at a more durable agreement drags on.

A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in near-identical terms by both sides.

The weekend US strikes on Iran's Gulf coast were in response to 'aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,' the US Central Command said in a post on X.
Story by Cian Etherington

CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS ISSUED
Donald Trump and Iran have issued contradictory statements on the ongoing war amid the issuing of a chilling warning by the regime. It comes just days after the sharing of a potential peace deal was shared by the US leader with allies after it was 'largely negotiated' by the feuding nations. It has been 95 days since the fighting in the Middle East began, resulting in the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, as well as several major political names within the regime.

REGIME ACKNOWLEDGES POINTS
Reports late last week suggested that Iran had acknowledged several points of the new agreement with the US but stated that signing a deal was not imminent. Officials also pointed out that there were no concessions on the 'nuclear issue', a stance the President has remained steadfast in. The regime tempered expectations, arguing that 'frequent changes' and contradictions by the US side present 'problems and obstacles' as final details are haggled over.

TALKS CONTINUE AT 'RAPID PACE'
Now, the President has confirmed that indirect talks with Iran are continuing at a 'rapid pace', hours after the Iranian news outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the regime was suspending talks and opening 'other fronts' in the war. The move comes in response to what it said were ceasefire violations by both Israel and the US, according to CBS News.
This video begins in June 2020, when statues of Confederates, slavers, and imperialists came under attack around the world. Trump and his supporters framed monument removal as vandalism against “beautiful monuments,” but the transcript argues those statues were never neutral history. They were public memory, often built to glorify the Confederacy, slavery, empire, and men who should not be celebrated. Instead of simply removing every statue, the video argues that beheading some monuments, as Ancient Rome once did, could expose the evil being remembered rather than quietly erase it.
Story by David Edwards

The Trump administration is pressing ahead with a legal agreement that permanently shields President Donald Trump, his family members, and his businesses from any IRS probes predating the deal — even as the controversial $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that emerged from the same settlement has been effectively killed off, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Under the deal, the IRS is "forever barred" from pursuing any claims related to Trump's tax filings that predated the settlement, according to Bloomberg. A person familiar with the matter told the outlet that the decision to shelve the fund does not affect the audit immunity provision.
Story by Sarah K. Burris

President Donald Trump is panicking, The Atlantic's Vivian Salama, Jonathan Lemire and Nancy Youssef wrote on Wednesday.

According to the report, talks between the U.S. and Iran are on hold while Trump tries to build up to a kind of war "grand finale."

Trump decided that he wanted to combine the Iran deal with the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries to normalize relations.

Trump wanted "those countries that hadn’t yet joined the Abraham Accords [to] get on board." The various leaders gave him a "less than lukewarm response."

One U.S. official told the reporters that a leader spoke up, calling the idea interesting, but then there was silence. During the 90-minute call, there were several times that Trump asked, “Hello? Hello? Anyone there?”

The story explains why there have been so many reports of an agreement with Iran, only for nothing to come to light. Trump reportedly became "irritated" about those comparing his deal to the one established under former President Barack Obama. Trump's was being mocked as "weaker." He wanted to find a way to make his agreement better than Obama's.

There was also the matter of Iran's demand for sanctions relief. Trump has spent years claiming that Obama sent "pallets of cash" to Iran. Fact-checkers have made clear that none of the money was from the U.S. It was Iran's own money that was inaccessible due to sanctions.
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