Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Lying ICE Agent Busted Pointing Gun in Face of American-Born Mom

The immigration goons dramatically escalated a confrontation even though their lives were not in danger.

A disturbing video has emerged of a woman being surrounded by ICE goons and having a gun pointed at her after federal immigration agents falsely suggested she had tried to hit them with her car.

Carolina Molina, an American citizen and a mother, posted the viral cellphone footage online showing the tense encounter in Northern Virginia, where an ICE agent drew and pointed a firearm at her while claiming she was following them and had “almost ran us over.” The masked ICE agent also threatened to arrest Molina, prompting her to inform them that she is a legal U.S. citizen.

However, dashcam footage from Molina’s vehicle shows that she never attempted to run over any ICE agents with her car. Instead, the immigration agents were seemingly upset that Molina—who works with attorneys to offer counseling services in immigration cases—had called them a “hoe” and a “f---ing b---h” while they were detaining two people.

After Molina explained to the ICE agents that she had dashcam footage of the moments leading up to one of them pointing a gun at her, they soon departed without arresting or detaining her.

She told WUSA9 she was driving to law offices in Falls Church, Virginia, to hand out business cards but decided to turn around after pulling into the parking lot in case there were immigrants in the building.

A clip of the shocking incident has gone viral in the wake of the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was shot three times at point-blank range by an ICE agent after the agent falsely suggested she was trying to run them over in Minneapolis.

The Trump administration was also quick to try to paint Good as a “domestic terrorist,” despite video evidence suggesting otherwise.

Speaking to WUSA9 about the incident, Molina described her fears about how badly the confrontation could have escalated.

“I was looking down a barrel, and he could have shot me, and he could have gotten away with it,” she said.

Molina added that she does not regret hurling insults at the ICE officers. “I know my laws. I’m an American citizen. I have my First Amendment rights. I can say what I can, what I want, and I don’t feel like I should have a gun pointed to my head because you didn’t like being called a hoe.”

Democratic Virginia Rep. Don Beyer shared the clip of the ICE officer pointing a gun at Molina on X, while stating that he will be “demanding answers and consequences.”

“While I am relieved that she is safe, the habitual dishonesty and dangerous and unjustified escalation seen in this video matches what we have seen from ICE agents across the country,” Beyer wrote. “This kind of misconduct and threat of force against members of our communities cannot be tolerated.”

Aaron Fritschner, Beyer’s deputy chief of staff, posted: “DHS has lied about these incidents over and over again and been caught in the lies over and over again. They are lying now, and nobody should believe them.

In a statement to NBC Washington, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that an “anti-ICE agitator began to drive her car in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them—all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away.”

“Fearing for their safety, ICE officers conducted a vehicle stop of the driver,” the statement adds. “Necessary background information of the driver was taken and she could face criminal prosecution as a result of her actions.”

The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for further comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lying-ice-agent-busted-pointing-gun-in-face-of-american-born-mom/?

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How Trump Just Earned the Presidency’s Profile in Cowardice

His predecessors fought battles and saved lives; he snuck out in an in-flight meals truck.

By making a planeload of staff and reporters into unwitting decoys as they departed a NATO summit in Turkey on July 8, President Donald Trump presented America and the world with a profile in cowardice.

Just imagine the delight of the mullahs of Iran when they learned this week that what was described as a “credible threat” caused Trump to secretly switch planes on the tarmac in Ankara by sneaking onto a catering container.

If there had indeed been a threat, the perpetrators would have been led to believe their singular target was aboard. Everybody else on the plane would have been collateral damage.

Back in April, Trump boasted that in his war of choice with Iran, “We can do whatever we want.”

His secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, declared in March that our warfighters were establishing “total dominance.” Hegseth said the conflict’s timeline “is ours and ours alone.”

That sound you can now hear is of mullahs laughing.

As everyone now knows, Trump initially sought to cover up his return from Turkey with compound lies, at first saying that he had decided not to return on the new Air Force One so service members in Europe could see firsthand this “magnificent” gift to the U.S. from Qatar. He added that he would be taking the long-serving Air Force One for “old time’s sake.”

Word later leaked that there was a “credible threat” against Trump and that, for all its magnificence, the new plane did not yet have an air defense ”package” comparable to the one in the older plane.

Only this week did we learn that even the older plane was deemed insufficiently safe for the president.

Photos show two catering containers hoisted alongside the older Air Force One, apparently so Trump could be spirited on one of them to a waiting military plane, having chickened out in a time of war, leaving others unknowingly in harm’s way

The sides of the containers read “Turkish DO & CO.” It might as well be “AIR TACO.”

Trump had then flown undercover in the military plane to Midenhall Air Force Base in England, arriving around the same time as both the old Air Force One and the new one. He slipped aboard the new one, where he was joined by the staff and reporters who had just arrived on the old one, unaware he had not been with them all along. They all flew back to America.

As reported by the White House Historical Society, the first President to travel by airplane on official business was Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 12, 1943. He avoided the threat of Nazi U-boats by crossing the Atlantic in a Boeing 31 Air Boat called the Dixie Clipper to Casablanca in North Africa. He was over Haiti on the return leg of the 17,000-mile round trip when he celebrated his 61st birthday.Among the three future presidents who served in World War II was George H.W. Bush, who, at 20, was the Navy’s youngest pilot when his BF Avenger torpedo bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire off the coast of Japan in August, 1943. He completed his bombing run before bailing out. He was in the water when a submarine periscope appeared. He drew his pistol and was ready to do battle when the submarine that then surfaced proved to be American. He was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the nation’s second highest medaLJohn F. Kennedy was the 26-year-old Navy Lt. j.g. commanding Patrol Torpedo Boat 109 when it was struck by a Japanese destroyer. A remarkable survival tale began with a three-and-a-half-mile nighttime swim while pulling a man from his crew by the belt. It became a book and a movie. He subsequently wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage about political bravery shown by others.

Richard Nixon served with less distinction, but he did step up when the call to service came. Other presidents who did the same do not include our present one.

In 2018, Trump said that he felt “extremely brave” when he and his wife, Melania, visited Asad Air Base in Iraq the day after Christmas. He seemed to be only half joking when he added that he wanted to award himself the Congressional Medal of Honor. He has joked repeatedly about wanting a Purple Heart.

Trump did have a remarkable moment after his ear was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he memorably rose, bloody-faced, with an upraised fist, but that seems to have been the instinctive showmanship of a man who always sees himself at center stage. He seems to have done nothing on record for the sake of others.But Trump proved with a catering container on the tarmac in Turkey that he is unhesitatingly willing to place others in harm’s way.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-trump-just-earned-the-presidencys-profile-in-cowardice/?

ps:And dodged the draft 5 times! This man is worse than a coward!!!!!

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Trump’s Moral Vacuum Reveals Truth About Bone Spurs President

Trump was willing to sacrifice the lives of Americans to save his own skin.

Has it really come to this? A scared old man and his Pentagon bully cowering in a catering truck, knowing they could be sending friends and colleagues into the greatest peril.

This is what our leaders look like. A commander-in-chief and secretary of defense willing to use the lives of other Americans as decoys to save their own skins. Not in theory, playing war games on computer screens in faraway lands, but right there. Feet away.

It will go down in history as the day we finally saw Donald Trump for who he is ... a Wizard of Oz who uses trickery and deception to rule. A small man with a big voice. The great irony is that his immense moral vacuum was exposed by a real-life ruse that he cannot explain away.

Trump was deferred five times from fighting in Vietnam as a young man, four because of his college education and once for spurious bone spurs. He never fought like brave presidents from our past like John F. Kennedy, George H. W. Bush, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Ulysses S. Grant, and George Washington.

The only struggle he had was for ratings. But this could end up being Trump’s Fall of Saigon.

After being smuggled onto a military aircraft leaving Air Force One and most of the U.S. party on board as a decoy to a threatened Iranian terror attack last month, Trump returned to tell the unwitting journalists he had abandoned that he was “number one” on Tehran’s hit list.

“But if I go, you go. Right?” he said.

Imagine the outrage had Trump returned safely to Washington with his plane blown to smithereens and he had done nothing to help those on board. Even worse, he used them to save himself.

Over the past nineteen months, we have watched the illusion of Trump’s strength peel off like an old, stinky onion. The smell of corruption has become more pungent with each discarded layer.

The magic was in his brazenness. We held our presidents up to higher standards and, for a while at least, Trump benefited from that.

He insisted the economy was hot as we charged headlong toward a $40 trillion deficit, sought to portray every immigrant without papers as a murderer and a rapist, told us we were winning wars when the evidence clearly showed we weren’t, and sent soldiers into our cities and claimed they made them safe.

He pretended that by talking a lot, he ran the most transparent administration, ignoring the fact-checks and obvious mistruths.

And if we didn’t agree, he went on the attack. Belittling. Haranguing. Insulting.

The illusion of strength. The illusion of American power. And the reality of a catering truck.

A bombastic Trump left Turkey on July 8 after meeting with world leaders at a NATO summit in Ankara. The U.S. had renewed military attacks on Iran the night before, but there was no apparent connection to the decision to switch the presidential party—including Trump and the press pool—from the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8 they flew in on to the older Air Force One it replaced.

Unbeknownst to anybody at the time, including the White House press corps, members of the military, administration officials, and the crew, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—and maybe others—were sneaked onto an airport catering truck used to restock airline meals and supplies.

Trump was ferried in secrecy to a smaller Air Force C-32A, according to the Washington Post, which originally reported the switch, and flown to England, where he joined the rest of the traveling U.S. party in the older blue-and-white-striped Air Force One for the flight across the Atlantic.

The reason for the deception was the threat of an Iranian assassination attempt, presumably targeting Trump’s plane.

The media, all sitting ducks, were warned to pull down their blinds and were not told about the threat.

Trump’s reaction when the New York Times first reported last month that the Qatari airliner wasn’t properly equipped with the defensive attributes of previous Air Force One jets was to subpoena its journalists in an attempt to uncover their sources.

The most likely outcome of Tuesday’s reports will be renewed attacks on the messenger. Expect anger and investigations launched to find the leakers.

Trump may argue that he was only doing what he was told by the Secret Service. But there were so many other ways to keep everyone in the traveling party safe.

We saw something similar when Trump and his Cabinet were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, leaving the rest of us at the mercy of a gunman. Fortunately, on both occasions, the danger was allayed. Nobody died. But any illusion that Trump truly cares for his citizens has been stripped away.

He only really cares about one person. And situations like these reveal him to be much less of a person than anybody thought.

Magicians hate it when their tricks are discovered. Because once the illusions are shattered, there’s really nothing much left at all...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-moral-vacuum-reveals-truth-about-bone-spurs-president/?

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Here Are All the Top Goons Trump Left to Die on the Bait Plane With the Press

Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey after intelligence pointed to a potential Iranian assassination threat.

Trump secretly fled a potential Iranian assassination attempt, leaving Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, and other top aides aboard a decoy Air Force One, according to The Washington Post.

The extraordinary escape unfolded after Trump had publicly boarded Air Force One to attend the NATO summit in Turkey in July.

After making a public show of boarding the jet, Trump was secretly transferred with a small group of aides to a smaller Air Force C-32A after intelligence pointed to a potential Iranian plot to assassinate him.

The group traveled concealed in a catering truck from the legacy Air Force One to the second aircraft, which then flew separately to Britain.

The older plane continued on with the White House press corps and senior administration officials, apparently unaware that Trump was no longer aboard.

Among those who escaped with Trump were his besotted 35-year-old executive assistant Natalie Harp, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta, according to The Post.

All three belong to Trump’s tight inner circle and worked for him at Mar-a-Lago during the four years between his presidencies.

Scavino has worked for Trump for more than a decade, while Harp, nicknamed the “human printer,” is a constant presence at his side. Nauta, a former Trump White House valet and Navy veteran, was a key witness in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation.

A handful of lower-profile aides also made the switch.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was also moved to the C-32A, boarding via external stairs in a way that made him appear to be the most senior official on the flight, The Post reported.

Left behind were Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House communications director Steven Cheung, Deputy National Security Adviser Michael Needham, staff secretary Will Scharf—who was promoted this week to White House counsel—and the entire White House press pool, according to The Post.

Reporters aboard the older Air Force One believed Trump was traveling with them. They were instructed to close their window shades after boarding, according to a pool report.

It remains unclear whether all of the administration officials left behind knew about the deception, though reporters have confirmed they were kept in the dark.

Rubio was confronted about the episode Tuesday.

“Mr. Secretary, did you put Americans at risk by having them fly an Air Force One when it was under threat?” a reporter asked.

Rubio smiled awkwardly at the cameras and replied, “Thank you, guys,” before walking away without answering.

The ruse, which the Trump administration kept secret for more than a month, has prompted congressional Democrats to demand an immediate briefing.

“There has to be a congressional briefing because it involves not just the safety of the president,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal told CNN.

“I want to know what precautions were taken to make sure that all of the passengers on that Air Force One, which was judged too dangerous for the president to fly on, what precautions were taken to keep the staff and reporters on that plane safe.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association has also urged the administration to “work with us on a protocol for handling extraordinary security circumstances in the future.”

Trump, speaking publicly about the operation for the first time Tuesday, said the decision was made by the Secret Service and insisted he simply followed its instructions.

“It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety… I do what they say.”

Trump also argued that the threat was specifically greater for him than for those left aboard the original aircraft.

“The plane that I was on was at greater risk,” Trump said. “Because that would be the plane that I think that they would be more likely to go for.”

He said he was not surprised by the security operation because he faces “a lot of threats that you don’t know about.”

“Any consequential president has a lot of threats,” Trump said. “Non-consequential presidents don’t get threatened. And I think that I may be the most consequential.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-left-rubio-miller-cheung-and-bessent-to-die-on-assassination-bait-plane/?

ps:A little over board story!!

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Childish Ease of Fooling Trump’s New AG Exposed by Ghislaine

The Swamp, our must-read guide to D.C.’s misdeeds has uncovered just how easily hoodwinked Todd Blanche was by the convicted liar.

Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Laura Esposito, are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.

In this week’s booze from the ooze: Stormy Daniels, Mort Janklow, Robert Maxwell, Dylann Storm Roof, Jon Ossoff, Abdul El-Sayed, Andrew and Tristan Tate, Gavin Wax, Nick Fuentes, Ghislaine Maxwell, Michael Cohen, John Tower, Boris Ephsteyn, Gretchen Whitmer, and Scott “Swamp Fox” Bessent.

Blanche on the Carpet Over His Interview With Ghislaine Maxwell

Todd Blanche may have scraped through his Senate nomination (just), but The Swamp has uncovered documents exposing a major lie he appears to have missed during his controversial questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Far be it from us to suggest that Blanche’s Ghislaine grilling was a way to ensure she didn’t reveal anything unseemly about the president’s friendship with Jeffrey “Kryptonite” Epstein. But it seems the British socialite who was conveniently moved to a cushy hotel prison after talking to Blanche misled the new attorney general about her own relationship with Trump.

Maxwell told Blanche on July 24, 2025, that she met Trump in 1990 when she flew to New York to help her media mogul father, Robert Maxwell, with “some advertising issues with the New York Daily News.

“And in fact, I met—I may have met Donald Trump at that time, because my father was friendly with him and liked him very much,” she continued. “And I think it should be said that he also very much liked Ivana, because she was also from Czechoslovakia, where my dad was from. So I don’t—I don’t remember if I did meet him or not in 1990 with my dad, but I knew that that’s how I knew about—about Mr. Trump.”

Maxwell went on to make the point that she didn’t meet Epstein until the following year, adding that her father never met the child predator who killed himself/was murdered exactly seven years ago last Monday.

The only problem is that The Swamp has unearthed a newspaper clipping from the May 17, 1989 issue of the New York Daily News which reports how both Trump and Ghislaine were guests at a party on board her father’s yacht—named Lady Ghislaine—with “caviar flown in from Paris on the Concorde and salmon served from the vessel’s stores by shoeless waiters.”

Also on board were John Tower, the former senator whose defense secretary nomination was shot down over his thrifting and heavy drinking, literary agent Mort Janklow and Peter Kalikow, then owner of the New York Post.

The report said Maxwell insisted his well-heeled guests took off their shoes before boarding his yacht. Trump, it said, had a “much bigger yacht and was happy to discuss them with Maxwell.”

The report, by gossip columnists Phil Roura and Tom Poster, was not just in the New York Daily News; it was syndicated nationwide.

The obvious question for Trump’s then deputy attorney general and now his top lawman is this: If Ghislaine was able to snow him so easily with this lie, how much else should we believe about her account of her and Epstein’s relationships with the president?

Swampy Scott the Silver Fox

Good to hear that a regular Swamp reader, Scott Bessent, has chosen “Swamp Fox” as his Secret Service handle. He says it’s a nod to his ancestor, “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion, a South Carolina military officer who led guerrilla-style attacks against British forces during the American Revolution. He earned the nickname because he used the region’s swamps to hide, maneuver, and launch surprise raids. Just like us. Welcome Scott.

Lindsey’s Nepo-Sister Has Secret History of Backing DEI

Newbie senator Darline Graham is fighting off nepo-sister accusations and making her final pitch for a full six-year term representing South Carolina in Congress in a run-off, but her political past, or lack thereof, is proving a liability with some MAGA diehards. Now it turns out, the 62-year-old has a history of backing DEI initiatives, another detail on her record that might not sit well with the conservative base. When the senator served as the commissioner on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, she signed off on a report for 2019 and 2020 that touted its DEI efforts. The annual accountability report highlighted the commission’s effort to recruit qualified and “diverse staff” and “develop a culture of diversity and inclusion.” This enlightened stance comes after The Swamp also revealed the Senate hopeful twice donated to a GOP state senator after she helped block an effort by South Carolina Republicans to pass a near-total abortion ban in 2023. Graham has rushed to prove her conservative credentials as she seeks a full term. She has blasted criticism of her years of work in state government, arguing that the agency was helping blind people find jobs. But her largely unknown political past, from abortion to state agency DEI, has been a red flag for some of the most conservative and MAGA parts of the base. There’s another DEI hire that Graham is advocating for: herself. If elected, she would be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. Even her brother might have balked at her bold belief that she could replace a man.

Blanche’s Every Loser Wins Party Gift

They were the two lawyers who defended Trump (unsuccessfully) in the blockbuster trial that led to him becoming the first convicted felon to occupy the White House, thanks to his conviction for illegal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, among others. You might think that for this duo, losing the highest-profile case of their careers would come with consequences. And indeed it did—although not the usual consequences for that sort of defeat. Instead, they got a reunion when federal appeals court judge Emil Bove got to swear in the above-mentioned Blanche as Attorney General.

The swearing in was followed by a pretty bonkers bad-taste party of MAGA’s finest, waving giant heads of Blanche. What was in the gift bags? As it turned out, a present Trump has been thirsting over for some time: Some handy extra protection from consequences, courtesy of Blanche. The Department of Justice’s Office of the Legal Counsel, a place where, in theory, the government’s finest legal minds consider its most important issues, pumped out a new memo which was unwrapped eagerly in the Oval. It says that “executive privilege” can cover Trump’s communications with people outside of government when they are advising him on official presidential business. Why does it matter?

If, as expected, Democrats regain control of Congress and launch inquiries or impeachment investigations into Trump, they could subpoena his advisers, their emails and other communications. This could be particularly useful when it comes to, let’s say, Boris Ephsteyn, who has served as an unofficial legal and political adviser to Trump for years. Now, however, the administration can argue their chats are off limits. What a gift! And if it ends up in front of a court, Judge Bove might be the person to rule on it. Isn’t MAGA life grand!

MAGA Candidate’s Pro-Anti-Weaponization Fund Stance

It’s hard to forget that Blanche got voted through by hoodwinking convincing two Republican senators—Thom Tillis and John Cornyn—that Trump’s infamous $1.7 billion slush fund for his cronies was dead and that, pinky promise, that tax immunity for him and his entire family was only retrospective. If you are wondering whether an incoming Republican senate would want to keep the fund dead, cast your gaze no further than Georgia, where Mike Collins is trying to unseat the rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff. The MAGA nominee was asked by Dominic Box, no innocent voter but a pardoned January 6 insurrectionist, whether he would support the fund or “some form of compensatory relief” for not just those who stormed the U.S. Capitol but any Americans who are “victims of a weaponized political system.” Collins couldn’t have been clearer: “A lot of things have been politicized and weaponized, and when the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability too. That’s easy,” he told Box, who had clearly identified himself as a January 6er at the event.

But when the Swamp asked, Collins’ campaign had a carefully parsed apparent change of heart. “Mike Collins fully supports holding the government accountable when federal agencies abuse their power and believes Americans who’ve been wronged by their government ought to have a path to seek justice,” said spokesperson Meyer Siegfried. “He does not support a blank-check fund or automatic taxpayer-funded payouts to anyone simply because they were prosecuted for January 6.” Sounds like a few loopholes in there, Mike. Let’s see how you vote if you win.

Tates Gallery Snacks Exhibits

As they await possible extradition to the U.K. on charges of rape and sex trafficking, Andrew and Tristan Tate have portrayed their stint in a Miami federal jail as something of a humanitarian catastrophe. In an epic whinge, the two misogynist brothers recently told a judge through their lawyers that they had “no commissary access” while Andrew complained that he was effectively cut off from basic comforts (cue the violins).

Enter federal prosecutors - and a remarkably well-preserved paper trail. In a filing this week, prosecutors included Government Exhibit 10: two commissary receipts dated August 5—one from each brother—showing they spent a combined haul of $75.40. And what did the allegedly starved brothers buy? Doritos. Snickers. Twix. Ramen. Coffee. Turkey-and-Swiss cheese sandwiches. Plus shampoo, body wash, a thermal mug and other assorted jailhouse essentials. In other words, it wasn’t exactly Les Miserables.

Still, look up guys. Maybe your one-time BFFs Barron Trump and Don Jr. will come visiting before you’re crated up for a transatlantic trip on ConAir. And their dad’s something of an expert on in-flight catering these days.

Schumer at Whit’s End

The elephant in the room in the Democratic Party’s Michigan debacle was Gretchen Whitmer. The popular governor, who is term-limited from running for a third time, was the first choice to run for the vacant Senate seat and was a virtual shoo-in to win. After all, her approval rate among Dems was 90 percent and 35 percent with Republicans. Even after she buddied up to Donald Trump, she managed to walk the high wire without falling off. But Whitmer said no to the Senate, saying she wanted to “walk the Earth a little while” (i.e., prepare for a presidential run), and they finally settled for fourth choice Hayley Stevens, who promptly spent $40 million losing to lefty non-DSA (but he is really) Abdul El-Sayed. The centrists of the party are convinced that El-Sayed is pushing uphill to beat Mike Rogers in a reliably purple state. So, if Whitmer is the elephant in the room, who is the dead duck? The Swamp would suggest Chuck Schumer, who failed (again) to get his woman.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/childish-ease-of-fooling-trumps-new-ag-exposed-by-ghislaine/?

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• 🏗️ President Trump's Kennedy Center renovation would polish its Carrara marble facade, remodel its grand halls and theaters, and likely send marquee events offsite over the next few years, according to plans first obtained by Axios' Cuneyt Dil. Go deeper.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to hold the role, will leave the Trump administration at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-press-secretary-leavitt-dc3753a957b05ef554bf277221d9cf46?

Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president's posts on US policy

President Donald Trump was sued in federal court Wednesday to stop him from making money off a new, paid service at his Truth Social company offering early, exclusive access to his posts on U.S. policy. Read More.

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Protection and Priorities (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty)

View in browser One of the more charming moments in the deliriously charming 1964 Beatles movie, A Hard Day’s Night, has the boys in the band trying to evade screaming fans and the paparazzi. They duck in alleys, they dodge around corners, and in one scene, they all jump into a taxi and then climb out the other side and get in a different taxi. It’s a wonderful, exhilarating sequence. It seems less fun when the president of the United States does it. A few days ago, Americans learned that Donald Trump had to do something like the Beatles car switcheroo to evade not admirers or photographers but an Iranian assassination plot. When the Secret Service got wind of a plan last month to kill Trump—apparently by taking out Air Force One—it engaged in a clever bit of misdirection: Trump boarded the usual Air Force One 747 in full view of the cameras, and then everyone shut the window shades as Trump surreptitiously climbed into one of the large containers that delivers food to an airplane galley. That container was then trucked over to a smaller C-32A aircraft, where Trump exited the container and boarded the plane (which, because of the president’s presence, instantly became the real Air Force One). The C-32A and the 747 then both flew to the United Kingdom, with the 747 continuing the ruse by identifying itself as “Air Force One.” Trump got off the smaller plane in Britain, snuck back on to the 747, and then exited from it as if he’d been on board the whole time. He then got on another 747, the lavish new Air Force One 2.0 given to Trump by the Qatari government, to fly home. We learned about the plane swap in Turkey in a scoop from the Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe and his colleagues, but more reporting now suggests that this whole escapade went from a Beatles movie to a Marx Brothers comedy. Trump, as it turns out, was not alone on the food truck. While the press and some others on the plane were told nothing about a threat, Trump reportedly climbed into the catering container with three of his White House footmen: Dan Scavino (his former caddie) and Walt Nauta (his former butler), both of whom are now White House aides, and Natalie Harp, his executive assistant. Meanwhile, military officers, enlisted staff, and several American civilians were left on a plane that was deemed too dangerous for the president. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to reports, was waiting for Trump on the C-32A, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent were on the original 747, and they were aware that Trump was on the other, secret plane. Several White House aides were reportedly on the decoy flight, including Stephen Miller, Steven Cheung, and others. The pool report from the 747, however, says that there were “no visitors to the press cabin” during the flight from Turkey to the United Kingdom. The commander in chief is the most important person on any American aircraft, and his safety must take precedence over all other concerns or interests. If the Secret Service wanted Trump spirited out of Turkey for his security, then no one should second-guess that decision. But now that we know that Trump was getting shuttled around a Turkish airport in a food-supply crate with three of his courtiers, we also know more about this White House—and about the war in Iran. One immediate question: If the situation was that dangerous, why send up the first 747 at all—and with two men fairly senior in the line of presidential succession aboard? Perhaps the threat wasn’t quite so dire, or its parameters were not well-enough defined, and the Secret Service acted out of a superabundance of caution. Or perhaps the president thinks it’s acceptable to send up an airplane full of innocent Americans as a decoy to draw fire so that he can evade enemy action. It’s true, of course, that anyone takes a risk flying near active hostilities on a government aircraft. Back in late 1990, I accompanied the U.S. senator I was working for, John Heinz, on a visit to the Desert Shield operations area during the Gulf War. A group of senators had borrowed what was usually the vice president’s official plane, and during a security briefing before the trip, another Senate staffer asked: “Will we be in any danger?” The briefer, with a bit of exasperation, said: “You’ll be flying through an active war zone in a plane with ‘United States of America’ in giant letters on the side, so yeah, there’s some risk.” But that’s not the kind of risk that was ostensibly facing those on board the 747. Trump and his people had information about a threat clear enough that the president, the defense secretary, and a few cronies were diverted from the aircraft. The way the Great Food-Truck Escapade unfolded—including who Trump chose to take with him—also reveals much about the president’s priorities. And why didn’t Trump take the press into his confidence, even if he couldn’t take them all on the safer plane? Granted, the president seems to resent most of the media, so maybe he just didn’t care about their fate, but what about his staff? Not only was it morally appalling to keep so many people in the dark about the threat; it was politically inept, on two levels. First, imagine if something had actually happened to the decoy. Trump would later end up either having to lie or having to explain that he’d known that such a disaster was possible, and that he’d sent Air Force personnel and several American civilians—possibly including two Cabinet secretaries—to their death to cover his own escape. And second, Trump missed a major opportunity. Had he brought a few reporters with him, they could have told the story of a clever evasion. The 747, meanwhile, could have been temporarily held and its passengers delayed until Trump emerged in Britain, when the Iranians would find out they’d been had. That’s not how this White House works. Trump and his people operated under the kind of paranoia and callous disregard for military and civilian lives that have characterized the president’s time in office. The White House might argue that it cannot trust the media, but John Kirby, the retired rear admiral who served as a spokesperson in two administrations, noted yesterday on MS NOW that he often took the press into his confidence on similar classified matters and was never, in his word, “burned” by the decision to keep the American people informed. The larger issue is that Trump likely wanted this story buried because it makes him look cowardly and puts the lie to all his happy talk about the war. Trump has crowed—as he did at the time in Turkey—that the Iranians are beaten and pleading for a deal. In truth, the Iranians might have been planning to blow the president of the United States and some of his top officials to smithereens. When Trump ducked out of that 747, he was not channeling John Lennon or Groucho Marx. Instead, he affirmed that the character he most resembles is Greg Stillson, Stephen King’s cowardly presidential contender in the novel The Dead Zone. Stillson’s candidacy ends when he tries to shield himself from an assassin by holding a child in front of him. Trump, to his credit, did not grab a small child. He just sent a giant decoy filled with innocent Americans into the sky. Related: Trump’s new strategy of nothing Trump’s irrationality is dangerous.

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🧠 Haberman: 70% of Trump's brain on monuments

The New York Times' Maggie Haberman tells me 70% of President Trump's mindshare ("maybe plus or minus 5%") goes to his gilding, construction, renovation, renaming and tribute projects.

• "He is spending a huge amount of energy, mental and otherwise, on these renovation projects, beautification projects around Washington, and then monuments to self," Haberman told me for our "Behind the Curtain" video series. "[T]here is no precedent in U.S. history of a sitting president devising such endeavors in their own name."

Why it matters: That mental map by Haberman — co-author with Jonathan Swan of "Regime Change," which has sold 600,000 copies and yesterday hit seven weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list — is a Rosetta Stone to what motivates and fascinates Trump.

• "What interests him are things that you can see and touch," she told me.

Haberman had earlier made the 70% estimate about Trump's mindshare during an interview with her Times colleague Ezra Klein, saying that it's "a legacy thing."

• Haberman and I worked together in the early years of Politico. Her relentless reporting has made the New York City native a top expert on how Trump thinks. So I asked her to unpack her eye-opening stat:

White House as construction zone, as seen from the Washington Monument this week. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Haberman and Swan visited Trump in the Oval Office in March for an hourlong interview for the book, which is now in eight printings and is the nonfiction bestseller of the year. "It was very clear," Haberman recalled, "what his mind was on while we were there. And what it was not really on was the war," which he'd launched just over two weeks earlier.

• "He didn't really want to talk about that. He didn't really want to talk about policy specifics. He wanted to describe himself as winning. And he wanted to show us how he had remade Washington."

🏛️ "You would think that on the 17th day of the war that he would have maps of the Middle East or maps of troop deployments — who knows," Haberman continued. "He picks up these pictures, and [they're] of maple trees. And he says: 'I am choosing maple trees for the White House. I am good at picking trees.' I'm paraphrasing here, but that is pretty much what he said."

• "Under that were designs of the ballroom. And he starts talking to us about the columns and how some of the columns are evocative of Rome. And then on the other side, the columns are evocative of Athens. And he's happy that they are a little bit either wider or more spaced apart or both than the columns at the Supreme Court. And that was like the first 15 minutes of this hour that we had."

📱 Watch our interview.

ps:Pathetic!!

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AP Exclusive: ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security. Read more.

Why this matters: Civil rights advocates expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The devices have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.   DHS issued a statement that did not mention the product specifically or explain why it had been chosen. “ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country,” the statement said.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ ICE’s plan to give officers electric shock gloves draws outrage and fears of misuse DHS cites recent policy shift after not disclosing death of Guatemalan man who had been in custody US government charges 11 people in scheme to obtain green cards through sham marriages Law firm with ties to Trump administration declines offer to represent migrant children

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to hold the role, will leave at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family. Leavitt, 28, called it a “bittersweet decision" in a social media post Wednesday. Read more.

What to know: Leavitt recently returned to the White House podium after the birth of her second child, a daughter, in May. She also has a 2-year-old son. President Donald Trump did not outline plans for who might replace her in the high-profile role. He said in a social media post that Leavitt’s decision to leave is one “I totally understand and respect!” and indicated she would continue to play a role in his orbit.   Trump, who regularly engages with reporters during White House events and during his travels, primarily deployed Leavitt to take shots at Democrats and the mainstream media during televised news briefings and on conservative media outlets such as Fox News.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Rubio and Bessent stayed on decoy flight from Turkey as Trump switched planes, official says Kennedy Center board set to vote on whether to move forward with closure Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president’s posts on US policy Trump is making a rare Western trip to raise cash for Republicans and talk about the economy Republicans see Minnesota fraud scandal as a chance to go on offense in a blue state

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Trump’s Truth Social Faces Fresh Battle After Humiliating Loss

Press freedom groups say a $100,000-a-month early-access scheme is “blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional.”

Donald Trump’s hopes of cashing in by offering a paid head-start to his Truth Social posts have been dealt a blow after he was sued in an attempt to stop it.

Truth Social’s owner, Trump Media & Technology, launched the so-called “Truth API” service this month, charging financial firms up to $100,000 a month to view the president’s posts about U.S. policy on issues related to tariffs, war and other critical government matters, seconds faster than the rest of the world. Even the tiniest of advantages can be lucrative for Wall Street companies.

However, the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, alleges presidential pronouncements must reach the press and public simultaneously, and that failing to ensure that happens is a breach of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs say the First Amendment should guarantee equal access to a president’s statements, and the Fifth Amendment bars attaching unreasonable conditions—like six-figure fees—to government benefits, and that the company should be forced to pull the service.

Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a plaintiff in the case along with news outlet The Intercept, said: “A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago.”

The suit’s other defendants include Trump’s loyal executive assistant, Natalie Harp, 35, who often posts on his behalf and is rarely away from the president’s side, and his deputy chief of staff and former golf caddy, Dan Scavino, 50.

The legal action also targets a separate arrangement in which Truth Social is given six hours of exclusivity before Trump, 80, can post elsewhere. Plaintiffs want him barred from “posting official government information exclusively” on his own site.

The Truth API scheme was viewed as a lifeline for a company in freefall. It had a $238 million quarterly loss, with stock now under $10 from a high of $62 shortly after its market debut. Even just the 10 customers Trump Media said had already signed up, paying between $60,000–$100,000 a month, would bring in an estimated $7 million–$12 million a year.

The biggest stake in Trump Media belongs to the president himself, with AP reporting he holds more than 40 percent via a trust. The complaint itself, according to The Intercept, puts his stake at 52.1 percent when he retook office—worth $4 billion then, but only roughly $1 billion now.

Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff wrote to SEC Chair Paul Atkins asking whether Truth API breaches insider-trading and market-manipulation law, pointing to Trump posts that moved individual stocks.

Trump Media & Technology defended itself by saying the practice of selling early access to financial institutions is standard, and that the suit was a “left-wing” attempt to “censor” the president.

“Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs,” it told the Daily Beast in a statement. “Now, left wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders.”

Yet even Wall Street executives are recoiling. “It’s insane,” one told NPR. “I can say for myself and 200 of my friends in finance, we’re not getting anywhere near this. In another administration, this would be considered criminal.”

The Daily Beast has approached Trump Media & Technology and the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-truth-social-faces-fresh-battle-after-humiliating-loss/?

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Trump Is Fading Fast. Who’s Really Running the White House Now?

Donald Trump is not just a cash cow for his own corrupt enterprises. He is also the meal ticket for those closest to him.

We are watching the president ripen and rot before our very eyes.

If he were a banana, he’d be in the trash right now—or, at best, on his way into a recipe for banana bread.

From swollen ankles and bruised hands, we’ve watched this deterioration progress with each passing day. This week saw a progression of bruises up his arms. He is barely able to stay awake at virtually any public function he attends. His behavior is erratic. His already limited vocabulary is increasingly beyond his recall. He needs to be propped up when he walks any distance at all. According to reports, he emits strange odors.

It’s not pretty.

Given the president’s awesome power and responsibilities, this kind of rapid degradation of health and capacity to govern ought to be a source not just of concern, but of action. Yes, Trump’s handlers are apparently restricting his schedule. But stronger measures are called for. In a mid-size corporation, he would have been given a gold watch and a hearty pat on the back and sent on his way.

In the White House, however, what succession mechanisms there are often are ignored. In the case of Trump, this is true in part because of his ego. He is in denial about the fact that he has gone from being merely unfit to hold the office (as he was on day one) to exploring new extremes of unfitmaxxing. Almost certainly, suggesting it was time to invoke the 25^th Amendment would be grounds for firing. Not just because Trump would see it as disloyal but because it would also open the door to the possibility of President JD Vance, an outcome no one wants to see.

But there are other reasons why the White House promotes the myth that flaccid, slumped, shuffling, mentally crumbling Donald Trump is healthy and capable enough to be president. They all tie to the fact that Trump is not the only person who stands to benefit from his being president. His family profits from it. His senior staff has influence and even power they would never otherwise have.

Donald Trump is not just a cash cow for his own corrupt enterprises. He is also the meal ticket for those closest to him.

That is why it is likely that, even as he continues his slow, sad collapse, it will be covered up and lied about, possibly long after he is effectively non compos mentis.

The Weekend at Bernie’s presidency is a real possibility—and we need to prepare for it. (To some extent, it is very likely it is already happening.)

On multiple occasions have presidents become incapacitated or weakened, with their conditions hidden and their responsibilities and prerogatives farmed out to or seized by close associates. Indeed, in my 2009 book The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, I spoke with numerous government officials who, in past decades and administrations, have been in the room when these decisions and power plays have been made.

For two and a half months in 1881, between the time James A. Garfield was shot and his death in mid-September, the country was run by an informal committee led by Secretary of State James G. Blaine, and including the president’s wife Lucretia, who controlled Garfield’s sickroom, making decisions while putting out disingenuous statements that “the president is doing well.”

Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland both concealed very serious illnesses that their administrations denied.

On October 2, 1919, Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke. The president’s physician, a friend, issued statements saying he had “digestive upset” or was suffering from exhaustion, never acknowledging the nature or severity of the illness. For six months, Wilson’s wife, Edith Galt Wilson, controlled all access to the president and screened every paper that came his way. She later wrote of deciding what was important and what was not and even writing notes ostensibly from her husband to his team. This famous case was one of the prime reasons we ended up with the 25^th Amendment just under half a century later.

Franklin Roosevelt suffered a serious case of cardiovascular collapse which impacted his ability to function for over a year before his death in April 1945. Again, a committee stepped in, though Vice President Truman was not informed about the president’s condition.

Dwight Eisenhower, in the middle of his term, had a heart attack, ileitis surgery, and a stroke. While his team actually made the choice to be transparent about his condition and they ran a disciplined process throughout, his chief of staff, Sherman Adams, was widely seen as having an outsized role. In addition, Eisenhower’s critics used the incidents to criticize him for being a part-time president.

During John F. Kennedy’s presidency, his serious health challenges, which included Addison’s Disease, degenerative back disease, colitis, and the many medications he received to manage these conditions, were largely kept a secret— and there were a series of lies told denying he had Addison’s disease.

During Watergate, Richard Nixon took to drinking heavily and became emotionally strained. Both Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig told me on separate occasions of how they would work around the president when he was drunk, often turning to senior staff to make decisions rather than to wake Nixon or deal with his irrational behavior. (During this time, Kissinger kept Nixon from speaking to British Prime Minister Edward Heath, telling Brent Scowcroft “he’s loaded.”) And during Nixon’s final days, Defense Secretary Jim Schlesinger, with whom I also spoke, instructed the Joint Chiefs that any unusual order—and, specifically, any nuclear order—from the White House should be routed through him and verified before being executed.

Similarly, in the last years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, when he was suffering early stages of dementia and with his body weakened by the consequences of the 1981 assassination attempt, his team was worried about him and also developed “workarounds.” A staff report found him inattentive, disengaged and “not really in charge.” I spoke with some members of his senior team, including Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and National Security Advisor Colin Powell, and both said the team agreed not to bother the president after 5 p.m. except under the most extreme circumstances and said that certain decisions were farmed out to senior staff. On some occasions, though, others played a significant role. For example, First Lady Nancy Reagan ended up being a decisive vote on a number of personnel decisions.

It has happened elsewhere too, throughout history. In one notable example, German president Paul von Hindenburg went into serious, senile decline in his last years and a committee made decisions on his behalf. In one instance, while Hindenburg had vowed never to make Adolf Hitler chancellor, this committee nonetheless did. Hiding the decline of leaders and arrogating their powers onto themselves is found particularly often in authoritarian societies, as in the case of Vladimir Lenin (whose gatekeeper was Stalin), Stalin himself, Leonid Brezhnev, and Mao Zedong.

In many of these cases, there are patterns worth noting. Often power flowed to those with proximity to the stricken leader—not necessarily to those who were in any legal line of succession. Arguments about national security are often used to prohibit disclosure of the leader’s condition.s of the leader. Further, sometimes those in effective control make decisions contrary to what the leader would have wanted.

While that last point might seem a pleasing prospect in the case of Trump, whose decisions have often proved disastrous, the others are more concerning. We already know Trump lies about his health. Indeed, we know this administration is anything but transparent. We also know that many around the president would never have the power they currently have in another administration and might be in legal jeopardy.

So, what does that suggest? Is it far-fetched to imagine that, as Trump continues to decline, a small group emerges around him to handle some of his workload, make some of his decisions, claim certain elements of power themselves?

Surely Melania, the AWOL wife, will not claim power as Edith Wilson did. But could Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, or Trump’s sons, or other power-hungry Trump inner circle members decide that even though Trump is no longer up to the job, they could make up the difference and, in so doing, benefit themselves?

Not only is such a scenario worth contemplating given what history teaches us, but what we see happening in and around Trump right now suggests it may already have begun. Trump can’t keep a thought in his head for five minutes straight. He barely understands the key decisions he makes. Who is currently saying, “I’ve got this, boss? Trust me.”

Are you comfortable with the prospect of Shadow President Stephen Miller?

It’s something we all might want to consider sooner rather than later.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-fading-fast-whos-really-running-the-white-house-now/?

ps:Meal ticket sounds about right!!

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GOP Senators Call BS on Vance After Secret Meeting

Republicans left a closed-door briefing with the vice president unconvinced the U.S. has what it needs to keep fighting Trump’s war with Iran.

Senate Republicans have called out JD Vance’s reassurances about U.S. missile supplies after a closed-door briefing about Donald Trump’s war with Iran.

The White House wants $70 billion to cover the costs of a conflict that has now entered its sixth month despite Trump initially saying it would last for “a few weeks.” Senators have yet to move it. The vice president, 42, met Republicans in the Capitol’s Mansfield Room last week, where The Hill reports he dismissed talk of a munitions crunch as “misdirection.”

One senator in the room told the outlet that Vance left no space for doubt. “He was very bold that there was a misdirection and unfortunate misdirection that emboldens the enemy,” they told the outlet. “It emboldens the enemy if they think we’re out of ammunition.”

The U.S. might not be out of ammunition, but certain stockpiles are getting dangerously close to empty. Officials warned last week that the Pentagon has used up “virtually all” of its long-range missiles.

The depleted stockpiles, those sources told Reuters, could affect “the military’s readiness for future conflicts” and leave the U.S. open to attack from Russia or China. Those officials withheld their names for fear of reprisal from the administration.

GOP senators appear to have left their closed-door sitdown with Vance less than convinced of what the vice president had to say. “There’s a mixed message here,” one lawmaker told The Hill.

Trump, 80, has repeatedly dismissed concerns about the toll his war is taking on munitions and other military resources. He posted on Truth Social earlier this month that the U.S. has “massive amounts of ‘munitions’, especially of certain types,” without adding which types he meant. He said that “large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.”

Senators also say that the president has no exit strategy for a war he has variously claimed would last just a few “weeks,” might stretch on “forever,” and was already “over.”

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, 71, told The Hill on Thursday: “I don’t think anybody is satisfied with where things stand with Iran.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senators-call-bs-on-vice-president-jd-vances-mixed-messages-on-iran-at-secret-meeting/?

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Trump’s Shocking Sex Trafficking Failure Exposed

The president is accused of hampering investigations by prioritizing his years-long obsession.

Sex-trafficking prosecutions have plummeted during President Donald Trump’s second term, despite his administration vowing to make them a top priority, according to a report.

Damning analysis from Reuters found that the Justice Department only charged 73 people with federal sex-trafficking offenses through June this year, a drop of about 22 percent compared with the first half of the past three years.

Court records also show Trump’s DOJ has charged 1,230 people with child pornography violations through June, a fall of 3 percent compared with the last three years. It charged 318 people with violating the Mann Act, which targets those transporting people for prostitution, a fall of 18 percent from the average.

Multiple former prosecutors and other sources attributed the shocking numbers to Trump’s prioritization of issues such as immigration and mass deportations during his second term. This includes shifting huge amounts of time and resources from the Department of Homeland Security and reassigning agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a branch of ICE that usually investigates human trafficking or drug smuggling, to try to uncover the president’s disputed claims of voter fraud.

The problem has been exacerbated by the departure of dozens of veterans with experience prosecuting sex-trafficking cases from the DOJ.

In some cases, the staffing issues at some U.S. attorney’s offices are reportedly so severe that those remaining are struggling to find prosecutors to pursue their sex-trafficking cases.

“You can’t say something is a priority and then not provide the resources to make that happen,” Jacqueline Kelley, a former federal prosecutor in New York who led the sex-crimes prosecution of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, told Reuters.

One veteran federal agent specifically blamed Trump’s prioritization of mass deportations for the lack of sex-trafficking prosecutions. Another federal agent said reassigning HSI agents to investigate Trump’s voter-fraud obsession has caused some cases to fall apart.

“The administration is throwing sand in the gears in 10,000 different ways,” said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center.

The data arrived as Todd Blanche, Trump’s pick to lead the DOJ as attorney general, who only just scraped through his confirmation vote, was widely condemned for his botched handling of the files linked to late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Last year, Blanche also met with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell when he was deputy attorney general, as the Trump administration desperately tried to control the fallout over its backpedaling on its promise to release all files related to the Epstein case.

Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for conspiring with Epstein to traffic and sexually abuse children, was moved to a minimum-security prison after meeting with Blanche.

“Human trafficking, including both labor and sex trafficking, remains a Department priority given the gravity of the harm it causes to victims,” Blanche said during a July hearing.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-shocking-sex-trafficking-failure-exposed/?

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Kennedy Center votes to restore Trump’s name and close for 2 years, challenging a judge’s order

WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over the Kennedy Center’s future escalated Thursday as President Donald Trump’s allies on the board took new steps to commemorate him with physical changes to the iconic performing arts institution that could defy a federal court order.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-closure-renovations-591cc891a1c0ececf3602ed121ce4840?

ps:How vain is this man??

Trump asks Supreme Court to let White House ballroom construction continue during appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400 million ballroom project while it appeals a lower court’s order to halt the work.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-supreme-court-84db62e26459e2206659d36cc5a749aa?

• 🛳 President Trump said he isn't concerned about the state of the USS Abraham Lincoln, despite calls from lawmakers to investigate reports of mental health issues for those on board, Axios' Donica Phifer reports.

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Put it on his tab

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Suzanne Plunkett - Pool via Getty Images The East Wing is gone, a new helipad is spreading across the South Lawn, and scaffolding wraps around the White House's front columns. But the price tag for President Trump's renovations is far less obvious, Axios' Avery Lotz reports. The muddled mix of funding streams includes private donors, taxpayers and, Trump has said, the president himself. 🤑 One tally finds that the president's construction projects — including his new East Wing ballroom, upgrades to Lafayette Square and more — could cost at least $927 million, The Washington Post reports (gift link). Senate Democrats are urging the Government Accountability Office to audit the ballroom project's scope and cost. The lawmakers cited a lack of transparency and "limited congressional oversight, meaningful public input, and adherence to established federal processes." (Read the letter.) 🏗️ White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement that Trump "continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations," calling him the "Builder-in-Chief." Ingle said the East Wing project is "inextricably tied" to security concerns, and pointed to an alleged plot to attack this summer's UFC fight on White House grounds. Keep reading.

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GOP polling surprise

President Trump's top political hands had some surprising advice for Senate Republicans last week: Talk more about health care.

Why it matters: Trump and the MAGA base are fixated on the voter-ID and proof-of-citizenship SAVE Act. But Republican message testing from Trump's own pollster suggests candidates are better off focusing elsewhere.

🚗 Driving the news: Top Trumpworld campaign officials, including James Blair, pollster Tony Fabrizio and Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcham, briefed senators and aides Aug. 5 on the midterms.

• ❗️ They presented polling on the party's strongest potential campaign messages, according to slides we viewed.
• One of the strongest: going after health insurance companies.

Republicans had a 46-point advantage when calling for greater transparency around insurers' profits, claim denials and wait times for patient care while hitting Democrats for "lining insurers' pockets."

• Banning congressional stock trading and cracking down on fraud also emerged as potentially powerful issues, with 44- and 38-point advantages for Republicans, respectively.

🤔 The intrigue: Messaging on the SAVE Act had far less upside, giving Republicans just a 14-point advantage over Democratic messaging on the issue, according to the results shared in the meeting.

• "Voters prefer a Republican who supports the SAVE America Act by double digits over a Democrat who opposes it. We have a litany of policies that deliver for Americans and will put us over the top in November," a source familiar with the presentation said.

Between the lines: Health care has long been a weakness for Republicans. The decision to let enhanced Obamacare tax credits expire last year was broadly unpopular.

• 🥊 Now, Republicans see an opening to go on offense by making insurance companies the enemy.

🎧 What we're hearing: Blair said to expect MAGA Inc. and Republican National Committee money to start flowing into midterm races soon, though he did not specify when or where, according to two sources familiar with what was said.

• National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) echoed the message. "Good news coming our way is what they basically indicated," he told us in a brief interview after the meeting.
• 😫 Anxiety has grown in GOP campaign circles over when, where and whether Trump will unleash the more than $400 million sitting in MAGA Inc. to boost Republicans in the midterms.

"I control it," Trump told Punchbowl News when asked about the super PAC. "I could spend it on pretty much anything I want."

• But he added, "I'm going to help Republicans."

👀 What to watch: The RNC coming online in the midterms would be a major boost.

• The committee has $128 million in cash on hand. By comparison, the Democratic National Committee has $16 million, plus $18 million in debt.
• ⚖️ A recent Supreme Court ruling also allows the RNC to spend unlimited amounts in coordination with candidates, meaning the money can stretch further through lower TV ad rates unavailable to super PACs such as MAGA Inc. 

— Stef W. Kight

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A Different Standard

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In January, the Trump administration attempted to fundamentally change the way the United States handles childhood immunizations. Following a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC updated its vaccine schedule to recommend that some shots no longer be given to all children. A federal court undid the effort in March. In an executive order in May, Donald Trump called on states to adopt the narrower schedule anyway. On Monday, Trump issued a new executive order on the same subject, focused on lowering the number of vaccines that the government recommends for all children. As I wrote earlier this week, this White House has a habit of doubling down when it doesn’t get its way. But only states have the power to put these proposals into practice—and many state policy makers, concerned that the White House is contradicting existing research, aren’t keen to follow its guidance.

According to the new executive order, preventive shots for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, and other diseases should be recommended for “high-risk” groups only. The order also calls to split up vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella—the two-dose MMR shot that has been a standard recommendation for U.S. children for decades—into three separate stages, and directs the attorney general to pursue legal action against states that don’t respect “parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under the law.” (The order says it will align U.S. policy with the best practices of other countries, such as Denmark, but the experts I spoke with highlighted that what works in one country won’t necessarily work in another.)

The mandate may not have any legal authority to compel states to change their guidelines in the near term, although the invocation of the attorney general suggests that litigation may be on the horizon. And the single-disease vaccines that the executive order encourages aren’t yet available in the U.S. But this week’s order risks creating even more uncertainty about vaccines than already exists. “If you set out to write a policy that confuses people, it would look a lot like this one,” Jake Scott, an infectious-disease specialist at Stanford, told me.

Between the policy priorities of the Trump administration and the guidance of public-health experts, Americans have been stuck in a state of vaccine whiplash. When the American Academy of Pediatrics broke with the government earlier this year over its proposed vaccine schedule, the chair of the organization’s committee on infectious diseases told reporters that the recommendations are a “strong departure from the medical evidence and no longer offer the optimal way to prevent illness in children.” Some state lawmakers have been fighting over how best to adapt to the CDC’s changing guidelines; Kansas’s GOP-dominated legislature tried to bring the state’s vaccine rules into alignment with the CDC’s, only for its Democratic governor to veto the effort in April. And many other states have publicly said that they will reject the guidelines.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned vaccines’ safety in the past, has been driving the discussions of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, as my colleagues Tom Bartlett and Katherine J. Wu reported. And although the secretary has moved away from explicit anti-vax rhetoric in recent months (following a reported White House push for health officials to stick to messages with broad public support), vaccine skepticism clearly lingers within the administration. During the press conference for Monday’s executive order, Trump suggested that the MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal.” There is no evidence for this. Measles, though, can kill: Last year, the U.S. saw its first deaths from measles in a decade.

Rethinking MMR at this moment poses extreme logistical challenges. Even if pharmaceutical companies opted to invest the time and money to introduce these shots to the American market, splitting up the doses would create new problems for caregivers. “We are essentially tripling the operational labor required of the parent or guardian (who must now schedule three separate appointments for their child),” Maimuna Majumder, a Harvard epidemiologist, told me in an email, which is “all but guaranteed to result in missed vaccines.”

In the meantime, the executive order risks misinforming Americans who are already unsure of how they feel about vaccination. The Kaiser Family Foundation released a study in June suggesting that about a third of American adults fall into a “mixed middle group” of vaccine skepticism—they believe some myths and reject others. My colleague Nick Florko, who covers public health, told me that these are the people most likely to be swayed by the administration’s latest push: “Those are the folks that might see this and think, Okay, maybe my belief that I want to delay this vaccine is well founded because the federal guidance now says that we should do that.” Under the White House’s rubric, the Americans who most need clear guidance are those who stand to lose.

Related:

• Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine committee is a mess. (From 2025)
• The U.S.’s most concerning anti-vaccine policy

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Exclusive: New Bibi, Trump rift

Axios' Barak Ravid, who has closely covered President Trump's relationship with Bibi Netanyahu and Israel going back to the 2016 election, writes:

When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago, the president asked the Israeli prime minister how he was doing in the polls ahead of the Oct. 27 election.

• Netanyahu paused. Then one of his advisers piped up: "Mr. President, he is winning," the aide said, according to a U.S. official familiar with the exchange.

Why it matters: Netanyahu isn't winning. And Bibi wants an endorsement from Trump, who so far hasn't given it, despite being asked about it repeatedly by reporters. That White House scene, first reported here, captures the tension.

• The president could still change his mind. But with just 74 days left until Israel's election, time is running short for Netanyahu.

🖼️ The big picture: In the first few weeks of the war in Iran, some of Trump's close advisers were confident he would endorse Netanyahu.

• But as time passed and the war bogged down, the two men's foreign policy goals — and their domestic political interests — started to diverge.
• More and more daylight has opened between them over the last three months — not just on Iran, but on Lebanon and Gaza as well.

Two senior U.S. officials said that while Trump likes Netanyahu on a personal level, he's been frustrated by his decisions and policies.

• "Bibi is his own worst enemy," Trump said, according to two people who spoke to the president about Netanyahu recently.

Behind the scenes: Several Netanyahu political adversaries have expressed concern that Trump will endorse the incumbent leader, two of their aides told Axios.

• According to two sources with knowledge of the outreach, those opposition figures back-channeled messages to Trump and his aides through mutual friends, donors and other political allies, urging the president to remain neutral.
• A former U.S. official briefed on the situation claimed that Netanyahu's weakness in polls has deterred Trump from getting involved.

The intrigue: Trump was asked by reporters four times in recent weeks whether he endorses Netanyahu. Each time, he has stopped short of doing so.

• In several recent interviews, Trump praised Netanyahu for being a "great wartime prime minister," but each time referred to him in the past tense.

👀 What to watch: The Israeli election is crucial for Trump's Middle East agenda for his final two years in office, especially with the Iran crisis in a "no deal, no war" limbo.

• Trump also wants to push forward his Gaza peace plan, make progress in negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, cinch a security agreement between Israel and Syria and, most importantly, broker a historic peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

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Trump orders the Navy to return to an older system of launching jets off aircraft carriers The directive issued Thursday comes after years of President Donald Trump railing against the new, magnetically powered catapult system that shoots fighter jets off the deck of the carriers. Trump has long said he prefers the older tech. Read more.

Why this matters: The move would likely cost billions of dollars. It would revert the Navy’s most advanced ships to a system that takes more sailors to operate and is more difficult to maintain. It also comes at a time when the U.S. military is trying to find funding from Congress for all its desired equipment and as the Navy is struggling to fill its ships with enough sailors.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ New aircraft carrier heads toward Middle East after reports of issues on long-deployed USS Lincoln  2 UAE tankers attacked while transiting Strait of Hormuz, and other news from the Middle East

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Trump’s vaccine plan would require millions of individual shots last used decades ago Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges. Read more.

Why this matters: Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Drugmakers would need to revive a slate of individual vaccines that have not been widely used in the U.S. for decades. They would also have to spend tens of millions of dollars on new studies and manufacturing facilities, capable of producing millions more vaccine doses than the nation currently uses.   For parents, it would mean returning to the doctor’s office many more times than is currently needed. Those appointments could also strain pediatricians who typically administer the shots, while driving up costs tied to syringes and other medical supplies.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Blanche seeks to rally a depleted Justice Department workforce in first speech as attorney general Trump White House says it’s losing $19B-$26B a year in revenue as countries dodge tariffs Kennedy Center votes to restore Trump’s name and close for 2 years, challenging a judge’s order In the Reflecting Pool saga, the National Park Service’s mission is tested by Trump’s demands World War II Memorial in Washington vandalized with bubbles and graffiti

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Trump’s Secret MAGA Loyalty Test to Allies Is Leaked

Allies have balked at the private questionnaire.

The Trump administration is quietly trying to force international partners to pass an ideological fealty test before deciding whether to pull back vital military protection.

A leaked document sent to alliance members and reviewed by Bloomberg News lays out a high-stakes questionnaire probing whether individual countries have “been publicly supportive” of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and whether they have placed “restrictions” on U.S. military bases.

The assessment even asks point-blank if allies align with “the US approach to ‘strong, clear, and quiet,’” lifting a phrase directly from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Allies have balked at the private questionnaire, viewing it as a blatant attempt to pressure sovereign nations into political alignment in exchange for basic security guarantees.

Tying long-standing security commitments to that kind of personal loyalty upends a transatlantic relationship built since World War II on military guarantees that traditionally superseded political disagreements. Trump’s team has already worked to boost right-wing political forces in countries like Germany and Hungary, while offering extra troops to Poland after a preferred candidate, conservative Karol Nawrocki, won that country’s presidency.

The questionnaire arrives partway through an administration review of its military presence in Europe, expected to wrap by December. That review process has left NATO allies bracing for deep cuts to U.S. troop levels and the military assets the U.S. would deploy in the event of an attack.

The document touches on several major flashpoints that have divided Washington from its partners, including the U.S. war with Iran and the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

After countries like Spain barred Washington from using their bases to strike Iran, the questionnaire asks whether each country has imposed such restrictions, followed by a pointed question: “Are they willing to reduce or eliminate any such restrictions?”

Similarly, the U.S. startled NATO allies when it seized Maduro as part of a broader push to reassert influence over the Western Hemisphere, an operation many European countries viewed as a violation of international law.

The questionnaire also digs into long-running disputes over defense spending, asking allies for evidence they are meeting higher spending targets and replacing U.S. military assets with their own. It specifically asks whether countries are buying from American defense firms and whether they have spoken out against new “made in Europe” procurement policies, adding, “If not, would they be willing to do so?”

First circulated in Washington before making the rounds at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the assessment is expected to further shrink the American military footprint in Europe. The Pentagon has already said it will withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany and redeploy other forces without replacement. The review is also expected to reduce military assets earmarked for defending allies from attack, potentially including strategic bombers, drones, and naval vessels.

Despite the escalating pressure, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attempted to downplay the rift. Calling a regular review “only wise,” Rutte told reporters last month, “It is, I think, bringing NATO closer together.”

The White House, Pentagon and NATO have been approached for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-secret-maga-loyalty-test-to-allies-is-leaked/?

ps:Absolutely pathetic!!

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Sailors’ Families Expose Horror Conditions Inside Trump’s Warship

“I don’t think it’s the ship that’s the issue. I think it’s our president, it’s our government.”

The families of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are not mincing their words when it comes to who they blame for the atrocious conditions aboard the ship.

“I don’t think it’s the ship that’s the issue. I think it’s our president, it’s our government,” one family member of a sailor told MS NOW, describing how the sailor was eating “half a cup of rice and two tortillas” a day.

Conditions aboard the aircraft carrier have reportedly deteriorated as the 5,000 sailors and Marines on board enter the ninth month of their deployment, with no end in sight to the president’s war on Iran.Sailors aboard the carrier and their families have described deteriorating conditions, with MS NOW reporting moldy showers, food shortages, sailors running out of toothpaste, deodorant and soap, and worsening mental health issues.

“They want our support,” another family member said, describing how sailors need to have the “tools” to do their jobs, which, he went on to say, means they need “the fuel, that means the food, that means the toothpaste and the deodorant, that means all of it.”

The sailors on board the Lincoln went out to sea thinking their deployment would last for seven months before they were sent to fight in the Iran war, which Donald Trump initially said would last four to six weeks but is now approaching its 24th week.

Since leaving San Diego on Nov. 21, the crew have reportedly had only two days on land, in December and July, as conditions aboard the carrier continued to deteriorate. Family members have raised the alarm that several sailors went or attempted to go overboard in apparent suicide attempts.

One sailor who went overboard was in the water for an hour before he was rescued and eventually medically evaluated.

His wife, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to MS NOW, described her husband’s mental state just before he went overboard, as he divulged in a text message to her that the poor conditions were finally getting to him.

“I think the boat is finally getting to me and I really don’t think I can keep up my peace act anymore,” the message read.

He continued, saying, “You are right about it all not being OK. We were supposed to leave 5th Fleet on July 15th, but then something had to come up, and my last hope of being home soon was gone.”

The sailor’s wife went on to describe how, when he raised concerns about his mental health with his chain of command and the ship’s medical team, they allegedly brushed him off and yelled at him when he made mistakes on the job after being unable to obtain a prescription for his poor eyesight.

Speaking to the Military Times, another sailor’s wife, Annabelle Loma, disclosed that the ship’s ombudsman had informed her that her husband had attempted to jump overboard, and she has only been able to speak to him a handful of times since.

“He’s scared,” she said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”

As family members raise concerns about the well-being of sailors and conditions aboard the Lincoln, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has continued to dismiss reports about the ship, saying they have “completely misrepresented” the situation.

On Thursday, U.S. Central Command released a statement branding various media reports and families’ concerns about conditions aboard the Lincoln as “false claims.” The command acknowledged that one sailor went overboard on Aug. 3, but said he “fell” and was “quickly and safely recovered.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Defense Department and the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/sailors-families-expose-horror-conditions-inside-trumps-warship/?

ps:It's the president and his pathetic administration for sure!!

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Trump's secret Iran backchannel

In mid-May, U.S. negotiators trying to reach a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a problem: They couldn't tell if the people across the table actually spoke for the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Axios' Barak Ravid scoops.

• So Trump administration officials did something unconventional — they went around Iran's negotiators and reached out directly to IRGC leadership.
• The person they tapped for the backchannel was Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who had something very few others do: the trust of both U.S. and IRGC leaders.

Why it matters: The episode — which was detailed by three sources with direct knowledge, and hasn't been previously reported — shows how tricky it's been for the U.S. to negotiate with a country where Washington isn't sure who exactly is in charge.

The sources said Barzani managed to establish a direct connection with the IRGC commander-in-chief, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, and received assurances from him that he was on board with the deal under discussion at the time.

• Brett McGurk, who has served as a Middle East adviser to four presidents, told Barak: "Nechirvan Barzani is a pragmatic problem solver. He's respected across the region. He knows nearly everyone in Tehran as well as Washington. That's who you call in a pinch."

What to watch: Barzani has recently sent messages to the White House offering to help restart U.S.-Iran negotiations, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

• Go deeper.