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

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Bondi’s ‘Insane’ Secret Epstein Briefing Descends Into Chaos

Democrats threatened Bondi with impeachment and contempt after the “infuriating” showdown.

Democrats stormed out of a secret briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi after they’d “f---ing had it” with her evasiveness on the Jeffrey Epstein files. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had arrived on Capitol Hill to meet with the House Oversight Committee following a bipartisan outcry over the department’s handling of the investigative files related to the late sex offender.Committee Chair Rep. James Comer of Kentucky had told committee members a day earlier that Bondi would brief the members Wednesdevening, but they weren’t told the format or provided any details, Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona said in a video posted to X.

A few hours before the meeting, they learned they would be allowed to ask Bondi questions for three minutes each, but she wasn’t under oath, and the meeting wasn’t recorded or transcribed, Ansari said.

Several Democrats used their time to ask if Bondi planned to appear for a subpoena issued by the committee and testify under oath, to which Bondi replied ambiguously that she would “follow the law.”

Democratic Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania then asked Comer if he planned to ensure that Bondi would testify, and if not, what steps he would take.

“You wasted three minutes of everybody’s time kind of b---hing,” Comer replied, to audible gasps in the room, CNN reported.

“That’s when we all just f---king had it and walked out,” Ansari said. “This is unacceptable, and I look forward to seeing Pam Bondi on April 14.”

She also accused Bondi and Blanche of trying to pull “the most insane bulls--t.”

The briefing continued with just Republicans, according to CNN.

Asked by reporters afterward whether she would comply with the subpoena, Bondi reiterated, “I made it crystal clear I will follow the law.”

Comer said he “didn’t see any reason for her to do a deposition,” despite his committee voting 24-19 for her to appear. Five Republicans joined Democrats to vote in favor of the subpoena.

“We want her under oath because we do not trust her,” Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost told the AP after the briefing.

Speaking to Axios, Lee said she had introduced impeachment articles against Bondi, whom she accused of “obstructing justice.”

Rep. Robert Garcia of California also threatened to hold Bondi in contempt if she doesn’t respond to the subpoena.

“It’s outrageous and infuriating and it continues this White House coverup of the Epstein files,” he said.

President Donald Trump was close friends with Epstein for more than a decade and lobbied Congress for months not to release the files. He has denied having any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes at the time.

After several Republicans defected to force a vote on The Epstein Files Transparency Act, the president ended his opposition and the law passed nearly unanimously in November.

Lawmakers and victims, however, say the DOJ is withholding millions of documents, and have criticized heavy redactions in the files that were published.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pam-bondis-insane-secret-epstein-briefing-descends-into-chaos/?

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I Know How Trump Is Plotting to Betray Justice

The president could wield his executive authority to save those closest to him, one legal expert warns.

President Donald Trump has a nefarious trick up his sleeve, warns legal analyst Glenn Kirschner.

Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and founder of the Justice Matters podcast, told The Daily Beast Podcast that it was “highly likely” Trump, 79, will exercise his pardon power to protect himself and his close circle from scrutiny.

“And then you know what our challenge will be, and I hope we’re up to the challenge,” Kirschner said. “We have to go into court, and we have to fight corruptly delivered pardons.”

“Even Bill Barr—and I almost never cite him as authority for any proposition—even Bill Barr testified, when asked, testified before Congress that if Donald Trump delivered a pardon to somebody who was covering up evidence of wrongdoing by Donald Trump—put another way, using the pardon to perhaps curry favor with or buy the silence of somebody who could implicate him—Bill Barr said that would be improper,“ he told host Joanna Coles. “That would be a crime. That would be an impermissible use of the pardon power.

Many administration officials could be recipients of Trump’s potential pardons.

Kristi Noem, recently ousted by Trump as head of the Department of Homeland Security and nicknamed ICE Barbie by the Daily Beast for her rotating wardrobe of law-enforcement outfits, might need clemency following reporting that she perjured herself on a number of key points during her Senate Judiciary Committee meeting earlier this month.

DHS rejected the allegation at the time, with a department spokesperson telling the Beast, “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically false.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi could be a prime recipient also, given her disastrous handling of the investigation into convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. A DOJ official has described it as “a tired narrative.”

“What we have to do,” Kirschner said, ”is take these things into court and fight them because it’s the right and righteous thing to do."

“And if the courts—trial court, court of appeals, and the Supreme Court—all say no, a president can buy a co-conspirator’s silence by delivering a presidential pardon, then we continue to move in the direction of the end of our republic,“ he added. ”Because that is not what the pardon power ought to be able to do.”

Trump himself blasted former President Joe Biden for pardoning dozens of individuals during his final months in office.

Among those he pardoned were his son Hunter Biden, Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members of the House Select Committee who investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Trump, who has long mocked his Democratic rival as “Sleepy Joe Biden,” declared in December that all of his predecessor’s pardons were “null, void, and of no further force or effect” because of Biden’s use of an autopen.

“Anyone receiving ‘Pardons,’ ‘Commutations,’ or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December.

However, legal experts say that Trump has no authority to overturn another president’s pardons, especially on the basis of how the signature was provided.

“The Constitution doesn’t even require that the pardon be written, so the idea that the signature is by autopen rather than by handwritten signature seems not relevant to the constitutionality because Article II just says that the President has the power to pardon,” Stanford law professor and constitutional expert Bernadette Meyler told TIME on Tuesday.

Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast: “Anything said on the Daily Beast podcast is equivalent to screaming into the void. No one listens to this Trump Derangement Syndrome therapy session.” The prior episode of The Daily Beast Podcast has reached over 162,000 views as of publication.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/i-know-how-trump-is-plotting-to-betray-justice-legal-expert-glenn-kirschner/?

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Unredacted Epstein File Exposes What Trump Really Said About Pervert

The email disputes several of the president’s claims about his relationship with the pedophile.

A bombshell, now unredacted, email appears to contradict Donald Trump’s repeated claim that he expelled Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.

The 2009 email from Epstein’s attorney, Jack Goldberger, was largely blacked out by the Justice Department before being released in its Epstein files dump.

But New York Rep. Dan Goldman said on the House floor Wednesday that he had viewed the unredacted version, displaying a large board showing what he described as the full email.

The email showcased by Goldman, a Democrat, suggests that Epstein was “never asked to leave” Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and features Trump saying he “may have been” on Epstein’s plane, as well as at Epstein’s house.

In the email, Goldberger appears to have summarized a “20-minute phone conference” with Trump, Trump’s attorney Alan Garten, and a person named “Brad,” presumably Brad Edwards, who has represented Epstein’s victims. Goldberger wrote that the conference was conducted “in lieu of a depo.”

The email appears to contradict Trump’s repeated claim that he expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, a story the White House has leaned on as details of the president’s close friendship with Epstein have surfaced.

Responding to whether Epstein was ever expelled from Mar-a-Lago, Garten allegedly replied, “No he was not a member. May have been his guest. Never asked to leave.”

Goldberger’s email notes that the person referred to as “Brad” had talked to a manager at Mar-a-Lago, who confirmed that “JE never asked to leave Mar a Lago.”

According to the email, Trump was asked to respond to Epstein’s brother Mark’s claim that Trump flew on the convicted sex offender’s plane, the infamous “Lolita Express.”

“I’ve been on a lot of planes. May have been on his plane. No young girls on plane,” the future president allegedly said.

Asked if he was ever at Epstein’s house, Trump said, “I may have been there with my wife.” Depending on the timeframe, Trump could have been referring to any of his three wives and ex-wives—Ivana Trump, Marla Maples, or Melania Trump.

“Any young girls there?” he was apparently asked.

“No may have been children of guests but that’s it,” he allegedly replied.

Trump, who appears thousands of times in the Epstein files, has said that he wasn’t “friendly” with Epstein and was “never” on his plane.

But the president is named in flight logs of the pedophile’s plane, and countless photographs and videos show them partying together in New York and Florida. Trump and Epstein socialized together beginning in the 1980s until sometime in the 2000s.

The 79-year-old president told reporters last July that he cut ties with Epstein after the pedophile “stole” female workers from his exclusive Florida members club. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has often pushed back against scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with Epstein by proclaiming, “President Trump did nothing wrong and he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a creep.”

But Goldberger’s email raises doubts about their assertions, and according to Mar-a-Lago membership documents seen by the authors of The Grifter’s Club: Trump, Mar-a-Lago, and the Selling of the Presidency, Epstein was a member of the club until October 2007, more than a year after he was indicted for soliciting prostitution.

In his speech on the House floor, Goldman accused Trump of making “false statements over the past quarter century about Jeffrey Epstein” and slammed Attorney General Pam Bondi for her department’s redactions to the email.

“The reason why this matters is because we don’t have half of the Epstein files,” he said, noting that the DOJ identified 6 million Epstein files for potential release but has only disclosed about 3.5 million.

“If the attorney general is covering up this information that she then reveals to Congress, what else is she covering up about Donald Trump’s involvement in the Epstein files?” he asked.

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

https://www.thedailybeast.com/unredacted-epstein-file-exposes-what-trump-really-said-about-pervert/?

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Trump Brazenly Defies Explicit Wishes of Fallen Heroes’ Families

The White House apparently couldn’t resist turning Wednesday’s dignified transfer into a photo op.

President Donald Trump’s media machine won’t stop—even if it means flouting the wishes of the families of soldiers killed in his war with Iran.

The families of the six U.S. Air Force airmen who died last week when a refueling aircraft crashed while supporting military operations in Iran had explicitly asked for privacy during the dignified transfer of their remains on Wednesday, which the president attended.

Fox News’ John Roberts said during the day’s broadcast of America Reports that the troops’ kin asked for the transfer to remain private, banning cameras from capturing Trump welcoming the fallen service members back home.

“So unlike we have seen in the past, we will not see scenes of the president welcoming the heroes back home,” Roberts said.

But while the press honored the families’ request, the White House apparently couldn’t resist turning the moment into a photo op for Trump.

The White House’s official X account posted five photos of Trump at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, showing him standing at the bottom of the aft ramp of the plane that had carried the fallen soldiers home and saluting as a flag-draped casket is carried off.

The photos were posted alongside emoji-filled captions.

“President Donald J. Trump attends the dignified transfer of six American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in a refueling plane crash while serving our nation. 🇺🇸 🙏” the White House wrote. “May God bless them and their families.”

A follow up caption declared, “Their courage will never be forgotten. 🇺🇸”

The post listed the names of the six service members, who have been identified as Maj. John Klinner, 33; Capt. Ariana Savino, 31; Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, 34; Capt. Seth Koval, 38; Capt. Curtis Angst, 30; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler Simmons, 28.

When responding to a request for comment, an unnamed White House official emailed the Daily Beast through its press account, claiming that while the fallen soldiers’ families did not want press, they had signed off on official photography.

The same email account has previously shared incorrect information with the Daily Beast. For example, when Karoline Leavitt’s extended family was caught up in the ICE raids, an anonymous email from the same account claimed Leavitt’s nephew had been abandoned by her Brazilian-born mother, something the mom later furiously refuted.

The White House press team often withholds key details. For instance, it said only that Trump had undergone “advanced imaging” until the president himself blurted out that it was an MRI last year. It also frequently sends insults in response to inquiries, calling the Daily Beast “mentally ill” for reporting on Trump’s health.

Wednesday’s dignified transfer marked the second time that Trump attended the solemn military ritual since launching his war against Iran last month.

Earlier this month, Trump drew condemnation from across the political spectrum after he became the first president in history to wear a baseball hat for a dignified transfer—one from his own merchandise collection at that.

He then turned his already controversial appearance at a dignified transfer into a pitch for cash, using images of himself from that dignified transfer in a fundraising email linking to a site requesting donations to help Trump continue delivering on his “MAGA agenda.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-brazenly-defies-explicit-wishes-of-fallen-heroes-families/?

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Powell Delivers Damning Report on Trump’s Flailing Economy

The Federal Reserve chair refused to bow down to Trump’s demands to cut interest rates.

President Donald Trump’s nemesis at the Federal Reserve said Americans are struggling economically, and that it’s all Trump’s fault. Jerome Powell, whom Trump first appointed as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2017, shared a damning report on the current state of the U.S. economy on Wednesday, pinning the blame on the president’s actions throughout his second term.

“While job gains have remained low, the unemployment rate has been little changed in recent months, and inflation remains somewhat elevated,” Powell, 73, said. “Today, the FOMC decided to leave our policy rate unchanged.”

Trump, 79, has frequently urged the Fed chairman, whom he has called “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell,” to cut the central bank’s interest rates, saying that the “moron” is “hurting our Country, and its National Security” by refusing to do so.

The president insists the rates should be cut to boost economic growth and lower costs for the government, telling the Wall Street Journal in December that they should be “1 percent and maybe lower than that” within the next year.

“We see the current stance of monetary policy as appropriate to promote progress toward our maximum employment and two percent inflation goals,” Powell explained on Wednesday. “The implications of developments in the Middle East for the U.S. economy are uncertain.”

Since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, global oil prices have skyrocketed after the Middle Eastern nation shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil trade corridor, on March 2. Americans have had to fork over more at the pump, as the national average price for a gallon of gas has jumped to $3.85 from $2.94 just a month ago.

Powell also said the inflation Americans have felt over the last year “is mainly from the goods and tariffs,” which were implemented globally by Trump at the beginning of his second term last year.

“These elevated readings largely reflect inflation in the goods sector, which has been boosted by the effects of tariffs,” the Fed chair continued. “For many years, [goods inflation] was negative. The year before tariffs came in, it was zero, and it’s running at like two percent now.”

“That’s not coming from standard Phillips curve restrictive policy. It’s coming from the runoff of a one-time thing,” he added.

Powell also responded to the Department of Justice probe into his 2025 congressional testimony, led by MAGA-allied federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro.

“If my successor is not confirmed by the end of my term as chair, I would serve as chair pro-tem until he is confirmed. That is what the law calls for,” he said. “I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality.”

On January 30, Trump nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell as chairman of the central bank when his term expires on May 15. A Senate confirmation hearing for Warsh, 55, has not yet been scheduled.

The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jerome-powell-delivers-damning-federal-reserve-report-on-trumps-flailing-economy/?

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Trump Plots Humiliating U-Turn as Oil Prices Spiral

A week after releasing sanctioned Russian oil, the Trump administration is considering doing the same for Iranian stocks.

President Donald Trump has U-turned on his Iran oil sanctions, potentially handing Tehran a huge financial windfall from the very war Washington started.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed Thursday that the administration is preparing to lift sanctions on approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude currently stranded on tankers.

“In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water,” he told Fox Business Network. “So, depending on how you count it, that’s 10 days to two weeks of supply.”The move could put real money in Tehran’s pocket—though how much is hard to say. Iran has spent years selling sanctioned crude covertly, mainly to China, at steep discounts. Lifting the sanctions could allow those same barrels to trade openly at full market rate, meaning more revenue per barrel than Tehran would otherwise see. Either way, unsanctioning an adversary mid-war is a striking reversal.

U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil have been built up over decades, with the explicit goal of cutting off Tehran’s primary source of income entirely. At their peak—reimposed by Trump himself during his first term after he pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal—the measures banned any foreign company or government from buying, selling, or transporting Iranian crude, on pain of losing access to the U.S. financial system.

As recently as February 2026, weeks before Operation Epic Fury launched, the Trump administration was still adding new sanctions targeting Iran’s shadow oil fleet.

It is also the second emergency unsanctioning in seven days. On March 12, Treasury temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil at sea, allowing it to reach global buyers until April 11—handing Vladimir Putin an optical victory, a bargaining chip, and a windfall simultaneously. Bessent framed that move as adding hundreds of millions of barrels to global markets to cool spiraling prices.

Both moves are a direct consequence of the energy chaos unleashed by Operation Epic Fury, Trump’s bombing campaign against Iran launched on February 28.

Tehran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow shipping lane through which a significant share of the world’s oil flows—and attacking tankers in the Gulf. Prices have sat above $100 per barrel for much of the past two weeks, surging to $111.23 after Israel struck key Iranian gas fields on Wednesday.

The deficit is severe. The Strait’s closure has created a shortfall of between 10 million and 14 million barrels per day. The administration is also planning a unilateral release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, on top of last week’s coordinated G7 release of 400 million barrels.

Bessent was explicit that futures markets are off limits. “So, to be clear, we’re not intervening in the financial markets. We are supplying the physical markets,” he said.

China has compounded the crisis, having stopped exporting jet fuel and other refined products to Asian markets—what Bessent called “unreliable” behavior.

On the diplomatic front, Trump met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House on Thursday to discuss the Japanese Navy potentially helping secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, through which Japan sources most of its oil.

Takaichi may also release additional oil from Japan’s strategic reserve beyond its G7 commitment. “She’s very pro-U.S.,” Bessent said. “I think we’re going to have a very good discussion today.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-plots-humiliating-u-turn-as-oil-prices-spiral/?

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Trump Ally Gives Him a Major Warning About Spiraling War Chaos

Project 2025 architect E.J. Antoni says the U.S. economy is not “going to be able to handle” oil prices above $100 a barrel.

An economist Donald Trump once wanted to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics for his “honest” and “accurate” economic assessments has blasted the fallout from the president’s war in Iran.E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a co-author of the Project 2025 manifesto, said the U.S. economy is not strong enough to cope with the oil crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict and warned rising costs will hurt Americans.

“I don’t think this is an economy that is going to be able to handle $100 a barrel for oil, it’s just not,” Antoni told the Financial Times. “The economy is weaker than we thought it was, and inflation is worse than we thought it was.”

“The lower energy prices that we saw in 2025 helped put downward pressure on prices throughout the economy. Now…we’re going to see higher energy prices have exactly the opposite effect and put upward pressure on prices throughout the economy.”

Antoni is the latest high-profile MAGA figure to criticize Trump’s multibillion-dollar war in the Middle East. The bombing prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow shipping lane through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes—sending oil and gas prices soaring.

Antoni was tapped last year to replace former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, whom Trump fired after claiming the agency had “rigged” a hugely disappointing jobs report in July 2025.

However, the White House withdrew Antoni’s nomination in September 2025 amid scrutiny over the Project 2025 architect’s suitability for the role. That included allegations he operated a social media account that posted sexually degrading attacks on former Vice President Kamala Harris.Antoni was also spotted among the crowd outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack in 2021, though he did not enter the building or participate in the riot. He also has no issue proudly showing off a large painting of Adolf Hitler’s favorite World War II German battleship, the Bismarck, during media appearances.Elsewhere in the interview, Antoni suggested weak U.S. job growth could partly be blamed on the Trump administration’s firing of thousands of federal workers as part of cost-cutting measures.He also renewed his attacks on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which he previously accused, without evidence, of releasing biased jobs data.

“You need a complete and total top-down review of everything from the data collection to the data processing and even the data dissemination, because there have been a few issues with leaks,” he said.

Antoni declined to discuss Trump’s decision to withdraw his nomination to lead the BLS, saying he would “rather keep those conversations confidential.” His replacement, Brett Matsumoto, is still pending confirmation by the Senate.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-ally-ej-antoni-gives-him-a-major-warning-of-spiralling-war-chaos/?

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A Taxing Year (Illustration by Alisa Gao / The Atlantic)

View in browser Etched into the facade of the Internal Revenue Service’s headquarters, just above a trio of limestone arches, is a quote from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.” But today’s IRS, weakened by the Trump administration’s budget cuts, may not be well-equipped to collect. The office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, a federal watchdog, put out a memo in January highlighting its “concerns” about the IRS’s readiness for the 2026 filing season, most of which are downstream from staffing. The agency had more than 100,000 staffers (accountants, lawyers, customer-service specialists, and more) toward the end of 2024; a year later, firings and buyouts had lowered that number to about 81,000. That it lost nearly a fifth of its employees will likely affect its ability to tackle existing problems, such as backlogs of returns and outdated technology, and introduce new ones that will slow it even further. The current political climate has only complicated things. In the past, the agency encouraged undocumented people to file returns and promised to keep their information private. But during last year’s tax season, amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration-enforcement push, the IRS funneled data from protected tax records to the Department of Homeland Security. The National Immigration Law Center has suggested that if people don’t want to take the risk of filing this year, “the IRS will likely bring in less revenue while also spreading fear and confusion in immigrant communities.” At the same time, President Trump is currently suing the IRS for mishandling his own information (his returns were leaked to the press during his first term). He’s seeking at least $10 billion in damages, all of which would come directly from American taxpayers, should he win the case. The agency also hasn’t had an official commissioner since August, when Trump removed the former congressman Billy Long from the post. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had been doing double duty as the acting commissioner, but the IRS announced last week that his term had expired. Since October, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano has been serving as the first-ever IRS CEO—now the agency’s de facto top dog. At this point in the filing season, there have been no indications that the IRS is unable to handle its essential responsibilities. But the warning signs are clear. One major consequence of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce staff across government agencies is that many of the most senior employees—the ones with the greatest institutional knowledge and experience—have opted for buyouts. Mark Mazur, who developed tax policy for the Obama and Biden administrations, told me that the exodus could impede everything from “operations to collections to complex audits.” The IRS has long had a pretty senior workforce (as of late 2023, 18 percent of employees were eligible for retirement, with another 37 percent estimated to become eligible over the next five years), which, Mazur said, probably compounded the issue: “Thousands of people just said, You’re gonna pay me for nine months to not work and then I can retire? Sign me up!” The agency’s staffing shortage could affect its ability to close the “tax gap,” or the difference between what the IRS is owed each year and what it’s actually able to harvest from taxpayers. The national tax-compliance rate is high—somewhere north of 80 percent—but the gap is still significant. In 2021, it was hovering around $600 billion, or approximately 3 percent of America’s GDP at the time. In recent years, the IRS has also had to contend with the backlog of tax returns that piled up during the coronavirus pandemic; as of December, 2 million returns from previous years were still waiting to be processed. The greater the tax gap, and the bigger the pileup, the less tax revenue the federal government is pulling in each year. For that reason, it turns out that federal spending on the IRS is actually a good way for the government to make more money. For every dollar the IRS spends auditing someone in the top-10 percentile for income, it gets $12 back, per the National Bureau of Economic Research. The IRS is often compared to the accounts-receivable department of a private-sector business. “That’s one of the last places you would trim, because you want to make sure you get paid for the work that you do,” Mazur said. “And similarly, you would think the government would want to get paid for the goods and services that it provides.” The cuts have also triggered an unprecedented “all-hands-on-deck situation” for the IRS’s customer-service team, Danny Werfel, the IRS commissioner from 2023 to 2025, told me. Millions of people call the IRS with questions about their returns (there are limited options for getting in touch with the agency) and competent phone service plays a large role in helping them figure out what they owe. The accounts-management program, which oversees customer service, improved its once-abysmal phone service during the Biden administration, thanks to billions of dollars in fresh funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. But the division lost more than 4,000 employees amid last year’s reductions. This year, employees from different divisions at the agency have had to be transferred over to the phones—regardless of whether they have any knowledge of how to handle incoming calls. Some parts of the IRS are shiny and new—the agency has lately been deploying AI to sift through submissions—yet other, more essential components of its infrastructure were coded with the decades-old programming language COBOL. The agency’s digital-file database, which dates back to the early 1960s, holds the Guinness World Record for oldest software system in continuous use. In her June report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins, another IRS watchdog, noted that the workforce reduction would impede the agency’s ability to carry out its objectives—technological modernization chief among them. The IRS represents the kind of sclerotic bureaucracy that Trump claims he wants to overhaul. His first administration tried to rethink tax returns by putting them on forms the size of a postcard, and his second administration at one point sought to replace the Internal Revenue Service—and income taxes—with an External Revenue Service funded by tariffs (neither idea materialized). The problem is that by taking a hatchet to the agency, the president has effectively undercut his own goal of waste reduction. The experts I spoke with agreed that the IRS isn’t on the verge of imploding anytime soon (meaning you’ll still need to pay your taxes this year). But in divesting from the agency, the administration is threatening to weaken the principle that Holmes describes. A well-functioning society, he reminds us, always comes at a cost. Related: The DOGE plan that endangers U.S. revenue (From 2025) Tax season just got more confusing. (From 2025)

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🏛️ Scoop: White House's AI plan

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

The White House is expected to send Congress its ideas for regulating AI today — even as policy disagreements on the Hill are far from resolved, sources familiar with the matter told Axios' Maria Curi and Ashley Gold. Why it matters: Pressure is mounting for Congress to act as states move ahead with laws that AI companies are increasingly anxious about living with. 🐘 Republicans are looking to the White House for direction on AI. But the administration plan is likely to run into the same sticking points that have stalled action for years. Those include how to protect children online and whether to preempt state laws that conflict with the federal standards they're trying to set. 🔮 The White House is expected to announce a legislative framework for federal AI rules. The framework is expected to cover child safety, communities, creators and censorship — "the four C's" outlined by White House AI czar David Sacks. Share this story. 🫏 Exclusive Dem Signal chat: Democratic state lawmakers across the U.S. are quietly coordinating AI policy and comparing notes on industry lobbying in a private Signal group chat called "Frontier AI Legislators," Ashley Gold scoops. The group shares and tweaks bill language and swaps insights about industry pressure, aiming to help shape national standards for AI as Congress and the White House try to land their own plans. Keep reading.

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Trump Makes Shock Private Admission to Melania and Top Goons

The president has reportedly realized a key issue is toxic with voters.

President Donald Trump is believed to be ready to overhaul one of his most controversial departments following frank conversations with his wife and top aides.

Trump, 79, is said to have realized that his administration’s fixation on brutal ICE raids has become election poison and is planning a new approach.

A new report by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, says the penny has dropped for Trump that ICE had gone too far and that voters hate the term “mass deportation.”

The Journal says the new direction was inspired by conversations Trump had with his wife, Melania, 55, and some of his key advisers, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, 68.

Wiles reportedly believes the controversy around ICE raids, which saw federal agents shoot and kill American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, has turned the issue of immigration and deportation toxic for voters ahead of the crucial midterm elections.

Trump would rather focus on arresting “bad guys” and wants less divisive chaos in American cities, according to the Journal’s report.

ICE would dump high-profile operations in Democrat-skewed cities like Minneapolis, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the publication claimed. Arrests of immigrants have dropped from over 1,500 a day to around 1,200, it added, citing people familiar.

In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson denied Trump was making any alterations to existing ICE policy.

“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” Jackson said.

The statement said the DHS has deported around 70 percent of “illegal aliens” with criminal records.

“Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months.”

The report comes as Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to replace failed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, promised to transform the department’s tarnished public image.

Addressing the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, Mullin, 48, said he hoped his unpopular department would slip off the media radar.

“My goal at six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day,” Mullin said. “My goal is for people to understand we’re out there. We’re protecting them.”

He added he planned to work “every single day to not just secure our homeland, but bring peace of mind and confidence to the agency.”

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, 64, admitted that former MMA fighter and plumber Mullin has been put in the role despite having no background in immigration enforcement.

“I can tell you that he’s focused on the mission,” Homan told Fox News on Wednesday.

“He’s counting on the experts who have done this job for decades to advise him on the next steps to take,” he added. “And that’s big. He don’t know the immigration game very well, but he’s counting on people with 30, 40 years of experience to guide him.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-makes-shock-private-admission-to-melania-and-top-goons/?

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Trump Hit by Scathing Poll About Major War Plot

The president has not fully rejected the possibility of deploying U.S. troops on the ground in Iran.

Hardly any Americans would support Donald Trump sending U.S. troops to Iran to assist in his already unpopular war, according to a brutal new poll.

Just 7 percent of respondents in a Reuters survey of 1,545 U.S. adults said they would back the president carrying out a “boots on the ground” large-scale invasion of the Middle Eastern country.

Only 34 percent said they would support sending special forces into Iran, while a majority (55 percent) said they oppose the U.S. deploying any ground troops at all. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) believe Trump will eventually order troops into a large-scale ground war in Iran

Overall, Trump’s multibillion-dollar Iran war is approved by just 37 percent of U.S. adults, while 59 percent disapprove, including about one in five Republicans.

Trump has said he does not want to put boots on the ground, but has also coyly suggested that could change.

“I’m not putting troops anywhere,” Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office on Thursday. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”

Two days earlier, the president also said he was “not afraid” to put boots on the ground in Iran during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin.“I’m really not afraid of that,” Trump said. “I’m really not afraid of anything.”

The comments come as the Pentagon is requesting that Congress approve an additional $200 billion to fund the Iran war, despite Trump’s insistence that the conflict will end soon.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is weighing the possibility of deploying air and naval forces to help oil tankers secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the closed-off shipping route through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.

There have also been discussions that the only way to secure the Strait and end the oil crisis triggered by Trump’s war would be to send U.S. troops to Iran’s shoreline.

Another potential option is sending troops to secure Kharg Island, Iran’s economic lifeline that handles nearly all of the country’s crude exports, which the U.S. attacked last week. Sources told Reuters such a move would be extremely risky, because Iran could fire missiles and drones on the island that houses its main oil export terminal.

“There has been no decision to send ground troops at this time, but President Trump wisely keeps all options at his disposal,” a White House official told the Daily Beast.

“The President is focused on achieving all of the defined objectives of Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capacity, annihilate their navy, ensure their terrorist proxies cannot destabilize the region, and guarantee that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”

Any plan to send U.S. troops into the Middle East would represent a major escalation in the conflict that Trump has repeatedly insisted will soon be over.

Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego said the Pentagon’s eye-watering war supplemental request suggests the Trump administration has no real plan for how to resolve the conflict.

“At the height of combat the Iraq War cost around $140 billion per year. If the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion they are asking for a long war,” Gallego posted on X.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-hit-by-scathing-poll-about-major-iran-war-plot/?

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Keystone Kash Secretly Scrambling to Avoid Major Blowback in Trump Revenge Plot

The FBI’s investigation of Joe Kent is adding fuel to a MAGA civil war.

FBI Director Kash Patel is scrambling to contain the fallout over an investigation into a top counterterrorism official who quit in protest over President Donald Trump’s war on Iran. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” wrote Joe Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in a letter posted to X.com on Tuesday.

Two days later, it was revealed Kent, 45, an Army veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer, was being investigated for allegedly leaking classified information to disaffected “America First” media personalities, such as Tucker Carlson.

The probe reportedly predated his departure, but high-profile MAGA figures including Megyn Kelly have warned that going after Kent and Carlson threatens to “rip the GOP apart right to its core and prevent a single America First voter from participating in the midterms.”

Apparently anxious to try to avoid an all-out MAGA civil war, Patel has privately said he wants to declassify as much of the information Kent allegedly leaked as possible, in a bid to defuse accusations that the administration is retaliating against Kent for resigning and contradicting the White House on Iran, NOTUS reported.

After Kent resigned, Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and other administration officials rushed to discredit him, in some cases accusing him of deploying antisemitic tropes in his resignation statement.

The president, when asked about Kent’s surprising departure, called him “a nice guy” but “weak on security.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI for comment.

A day after he posted his incendiary resignation letter, which reportedly blindsided the White House, he appeared on Carlson’s show to further refute Trump’s claims that Iran was developing nuclear weapons when the president decided to launch limited strikes in June, and then an all-out war in late February.

“The Iranians are not stupid people,” he said, adding that the regime had the “brain power” to develop nuclear weapons but had, according to intelligence assessments, refrained from doing so for practical reasons.

Other MAGA podcasters such as Tim Pool and Shawn Ryan also rallied around Kent in the aftermath of his resignation, which put added pressure on his former boss, intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard, as she sought to play down her own opposition to the war during a congressional hearing Thursday.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keystone-kash-patel-fbi-secretly-scrambling-to-avoid-major-blowback-in-trump-revenge-plot-on-joe-kent/?

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Lauren Boebert Turns on Trump Over Demand for War Billions

The America First lawmaker said she is “so tired of spending money elsewhere.”

MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert said she will not support the Trump administration’s request for $200 billion to fund the Iran war effort while people in her home state of Colorado cannot afford to live.The Republican lawmaker told CNN that she will not vote for the eye-watering war supplemental requested by the Pentagon to provide additional funding for President Donald Trump’s conflict in the Middle East.

“I am a ‘no.’ I’ve already told leadership. I am a ‘no’ on any war supplementals. I am so tired of spending money elsewhere,” Boebert said.

“I am tired of the industrial-war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live. We need America First policies right now, and that? I’m not doing that.”

Boebert is the latest MAGA figure to speak out against Trump’s multibillion-dollar war on Iran, which has dragged on for nearly three weeks and has no clear end in sight.

The president has repeatedly insisted the conflict is going well and will end soon, while simultaneously demanding that more countries join in to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane in order to ease the global oil and gas price crisis that his war has triggered.

The Pentagon is now asking Congress to approve an additional $200 billion supplemental to fund the war in Iran, at a time when tens of millions of Americans are suffering through a cost-of-living crisis made worse by rising gas and energy prices.“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Thursday press conference. “So we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure we’re properly funded for what’s being done, and for what we may have to do in the future.”Trump was asked why his administration is requesting such a large sum when the 79-year-old has consistently insisted that the war in Iran is nearly over.“We’re in very good shape, but we want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in,” Trump said during a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. “It’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy-top.”

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy suggested he would only support the funding if the White House provides better explanations on how it will use the money to actually end the war.

“What are we doing? We’re talking about boots on the ground. We’re talking about that kind of extended activity. Now we’re in a whole ‘nother zip code,” Roy told CNN. “They’ve got a whole lot more briefing and a whole lot more explaining to do on how we’re going to pay for it and what the mission is here.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-boebert-turns-on-donald-trump-over-demand-for-iran-war-billions/?

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Ranting Republican Demands Iran Pay for Trump’s War on Iran

The conflict has been eating up roughly $1 billion a day.

A Republican congressman has a solution to the Pentagon’s $200 billion price tag for the Iran war: send the bill to the country America is bombing.

Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry appeared on CNN on Thursday after the Department of Defense requested supplemental funds to keep President Donald Trump’s war on Iran going.

The conflict has been eating up roughly $1 billion a day since it launched on Feb. 28, and has killed almost 1,500 Iranians. Asked by anchor Kaitlan Collins whether he would support the appropriation, Perry said he wanted to see details, suggested the figure was a negotiating opener—and then proposed that Iran itself foot the bill.

“I would actually like to see Iran pay for this, whether it’s $20 billion or $200 billion, whatever it is,” Perry said. “Look, they’ve been at war with us for 47 years, and it’s finally being ended by the president, which is awesome, but it comes at a cost. And they have resources. They have been siphoning those resources away from their population for those four and a half, five decades.”

He continued: “Certainly, they could pay that bill pretty quickly once things get up and running. And the ayatollah is no longer in charge. So I think that’s an option that we need to pursue as well.”

Collins, taken aback, pressed him. “You want to see whatever this costs the U.S. taxpayer, whatever the Pentagon does come to you and asks for, to be offset by Iran?” she asked.

“Well, I think we gotta pay for this somehow, right?” Perry replied, before insisting that Iran—not the United States—started the war. “I don’t see any reason why the people that started this war—it’s not the United States of America—it’s Iran.”

Collins was unconvinced. “I don’t think anyone thinks that Iran’s actually gonna pay $200 billion to offset the cost,” she said.

Perry acknowledged the obvious. “Yeah, right now, Iran’s not gonna pay for it,” he said—before clarifying that his plan hinges on regime change. “But under a different paradigm where the ayatollah’s not in charge, and we have a different system of governance.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of Operation Epic Fury. Iran has since named his son Mojtaba as his successor, although he is said to have been seriously injured in the strike that killed his father.

Meanwhile, not all Republicans are happy with Trump’s grovelling for more cash. “I will not vote for a war supplemental,” Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert told CNN reporter Manu Raju on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

“No. I am a ‘no.’ I’ve already told leadership. I am a ‘no’ on any war supplementals. I am so tired of spending money elsewhere. I am tired of the industrial-war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live. We need America First policies right now, and that? I’m not doing that.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ranting-republican-demands-iran-pay-for-trumps-war-on-iran/?

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Devastating Blow for Family of 5-Year-Old Boy Taken by ICE

Liam Ramos and his bunny hat became the face of anti-ICE protests in January.

A federal immigration judge has denied asylum in the U.S. to the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy who became the face of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown.

The Ramos family have been ordered to be deported to Ecuador, with their lawyers now appealing the ruling by U.S. Immigration Judge John Burns.

Preschooler Liam was photographed wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack as he was detained with his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, during an ICE anti-migrant sweep in Minneapolis on Jan. 20.

They were held in a Texas detention center for 10 days before a judge ordered them released, with Liam returning to his school in Minneapolis.

In the same month, federal agents shot both Renee Good and Alex Pretti dead, sparking nationwide protests against tactics used in ICE raids.

Judge Burns, who was as appointed assistant chief immigration judge in January 2026 after being appointed as immigration judge in December 2020 under the first Trump administration, handed down the decision on Feb. 19, according to People, but the family only shared the information publicly on March 18. As an immigration judge, Burns is not a full federal judge, and therefore works for the Department of Justice.

“We’re just gravely disappointed in the judge’s misguided decision,” the family’s attorney Danielle Molliver told CNN on Thursday. “We’re committed to the family and we’ll fight the appeal, obviously, the best that we can.”

Molliver hoped the government could greenlight a faster appeal process, which could drag through the courts for years.

“At minimum, I would hope we have a couple months,” she said.

The family also includes Liam’s 13-year-old brother, while his mother, Erika Ramos, is pregnant. Molliver told the Minnesota Star Tribune that “every day is a struggle” for the family, who do not know if their children will be permitted to finish the school year or even how long they have left in the U.S.

“It all depends on how long the BIA (Board of Immigration Appeals) takes,” Molliver said. “They don’t want to go back to Ecuador.”

She requested that the DHS consider “humanitarian factors and due process” in its enforcement of immigration law in regard to the case.

The DHS claimed Liam’s father entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. However, the family’s lawyer, Paschal Nwokocha, said they entered legally as asylum seekers at a border crossing in Brownsville.

They were part of the CBP One app, a Biden-era program, under which migrants were able to schedule an appointment to gain entry into the U.S. to reduce illegal border crossings.

“All of us have literally watched the young boy and his family being thrust in the limelight and for what they have gone through, we are really, really begging and asking for those who have powers in this country to be sympathetic,” Nwokocha said.

Pointing out they entered the U.S. legally, he said, “They have obeyed all the laws as it applies to them, and the government seems to be in a rush to get them out, and we still don’t understand why.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents Minnesota and met with Liam and his father after they returned from Texas, lashed out at the judge’s decision, calling it “beyond cruel and indefensible.”

“This decision must be overturned,” she posted on her X account.

However, the DHS said their actions followed “standard procedure.”

“Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias and his son received full due process and were issued a final order of removal on February 19,” acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement on Thursday.

“These are regular removal proceedings. This is standard procedure and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the DHS for comment.

Liam’s school have also stated they are hoping for the best result from an appeal.

“We understand that this decision will be appealed and remain hopeful for a positive outcome,” a spokesperson for Columbia Heights public school district told ABC News.

“The detention in January of Liam and his father shed light on the harm caused by Operation Metro Surge, during which many children and families have been detained.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/devastating-blow-for-family-of-5-year-old-boy-taken-by-ice/?

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Wartime funding

President Trump confirmed he may seek $200 billion in new Pentagon funding for the war in Iran, calling it a "small price to pay" to equip the military. Key lawmakers — including some Republicans — appear skeptical about approving such a large sum, particularly since the Trump administration did not obtain congressional approval for the war. Several are also refusing to support any money without a clear White House strategy. Trump previewed the funding request on Thursday but did not offer specifics on what the Pentagon needed the funding for.    Tax refunds President Trump has promised bigger tax refunds this year thanks to his "big, beautiful bill." But the US-Israeli war on Iran — and the resulting spike in some prices — could eat into that windfall, depending on how long the conflict drags on. Notably, refunds are indeed up: the average is about $350 higher, or nearly 11%, compared to last year, according to IRS data. Some taxpayers claiming new deductions — including for seniors, tips and overtime — are seeing increases closer to $775 on average. The figure is expected to rise to $1,000 by the end of the filing season on April 15.

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Pete Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric draws renewed scrutiny after the US goes to war with Iran  Since becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has found no shortage of ways to bring his strand of conservative evangelicalism into the Pentagon. From employee worship services to speeches and interviews, the defense secretary’s Christian rhetoric has taken on new meaning after the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran, an Islamic theocracy. Read more.

Key facts: Hegseth has a history of defending the Crusades, the brutal medieval wars that pitted Christians against Muslims. In his 2020 book “American Crusade,” he wrote that those who enjoy Western civilization should “thank a crusader.” Two of his tattoos draw from crusader imagery.    The defense secretary also has questioned Muslim immigration to the U.S. In his book, Hegseth lamented growing Muslim birth rates and that Muhammad was a popular boys’ name in the U.S.   Hegseth has pledged to reform the military’s chaplain corps, which provides spiritual care to troops of any faith and no faith at all. He scrapped the 2025 U.S. Army Spiritual Fitness Guide and wants to renew chaplains’ religious focus.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US military takes pride in religious diversity. Would things change if Pete Hegseth takes charge?  A once-fringe Christian leader gets a warm welcome in Trump’s Washington  Many believe the founders wanted a Christian America. Some want the government to declare one now

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Trump administration sues Harvard, saying it violated civil rights law and seeking to recover funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit Friday against Harvard University, saying its leadership failed to address antisemitism on campus, creating grounds for the government to freeze existing grants and seek repayment for grants already paid.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-harvard-civil-rights-lawsuit-4b70863c7cf18703a6398e8189791135?

Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to policy limiting reporters’ access to Pentagon

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Pentagon, agreeing with The New York Times that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-policy-news-reporters-hegseth-dc7a69b7e7c3f618b3879d9cafec9b25?

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Trump Melts Down at ‘Coward’ Allies While Declaring Victory

The president blasted NATO for not helping while insisting the Iran war is “militarily won.”

President Donald Trump freaked out at U.S. allies on Friday as “cowards” after begging for help in securing the Strait of Hormuz as energy prices skyrocket.

Trump, 79, also declared a victory in the war against Iran by claiming the U.S. had already won “militarily” and tried to downplay the danger of escorting ships through the crucial waterway as the disruptions persist.

“Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!” Trump ranted on Truth Social. “They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran.”

“Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices,” he wrote.

“So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” the president continued.

But despite Trump declaring victory militarily over Iran, the U.S. is sending three warships with thousands more Marines to the region, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Trump has repeatedly railed against NATO allies this week as the price of oil has skyrocketed. Brent crude oil, the global standard, hit nearly $120 a barrel this week before easing some.

Goldman Sachs warned Brent crude oil prices could spike to 2008 levels, when it hit around $150 a barrel, if disruptions at the chokepoint persist.

On Thursday, Trump complained in the Oval Office that NATO did not want to help defend the Strait, but he claimed, “Now they’re getting much nicer because they’re seeing my attitude.”

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s too late,” Tump declared.

Trump launched his strikes on Iran last month alongside Israel without consulting close U.S. allies.

On Thursday, the president, when questioned, appeared to confirm allies were not clued in ahead of the attack, but he argued it was necessary to maintain the element of surprise.

Earlier in the week, the president accused NATO of making a huge mistake. He claimed the U.S. did not need them, but they “should have been there.”

Leaders of European countries and other allies around the globe have been hesitant to provide support to the U.S. after it did not try to build a coalition in advance of its attacks, as it has in the past.

The Trump administration has insisted that the war is not going to devolve into an endless war or quagmire with no end in sight, but top officials have refused to provide a timeline or strategy for how to maintain shipping through the critical waterway long-term.

A small group of British military planners was sent to the U.S. to develop options to reopen the Strait, the New York Times reported on Thursday as the energy crisis escalates.

As the U.S. and Israel continue to target Iran, with Israel striking a massive Iranian oil field this week, Tehran took aim at Qatar’s major natural gas facility, in an escalation that threatens to spiral out of control.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-melts-down-at-coward-allies-while-declaring-victory/?

ps:So he claims to have won the war, but needs there help????? And also needs another $200 billion?????????? There's only  one coward I see and it's not the Allies and Nato!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Pete Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric draws renewed scrutiny after the US goes to war with Iran

Since becoming defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has found no shortage of ways to bring his strand of conservative evangelicalism into the Pentagon. He hosts monthly Christian worship services for employees. His department’s promotional videos have displayed Bible verses alongside military footage. In speeches and interviews, he often argues the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and troops should embrace God, potentially risking the military’s secular mission and hard-won pluralism. Now the defense secretary’s Christian rhetoric has taken on new meaning after the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran, an Islamic theocracy. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Supreme Court revives suit from evangelical Christian challenging restrictions on demonstrations Judge rules US government overreached with transgender health care declaration Trump administration sues Harvard, saying it violated civil rights law and seeking to recover funds Many states count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. Those grace periods could go away White House urges Congress to take a light touch on AI regulations in new legislative blueprint Does California’s race for governor finally have a leader? Swalwell sees attacks from left and right 3 Democratic pastors in Iowa are running for Congress, a snapshot of a national trend

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Trump's AI plan

The Trump administration released its highly anticipated recommendations for Congress on AI today.

• Why it matters: The National AI Legislative Framework marks a starting point from the White House. But it'll be incredibly hard for Congress to pass anything like it — even with Republicans in control, Axios' Ashley Gold, Maria Curi and Mackenzie Weinger write.

What's inside: As part of "winning the AI race," the four-page White House proposal calls on Congress to:

• 👭 Address the use of AI replicas that simulate someone's likeness or voice.
• 🔋 Codify President Trump's pledge to require tech companies to pay for their increased energy demands.
• 🛝 Establish "regulatory sandboxes" to allow developers to experiment with AI under relaxed rules.
• 🌐 Focus on kids' online safety.

🥊 Reality check: The plan isn't tied to specific bills, and it doesn't resolve long-standing issues around protecting kids and overriding state law.

▶️ What's next: A renewed clash with states and Congress over the future of AI regulation. Disagreements over AI policy go well beyond R vs. D.

• The push to preempt state laws will also continue to draw resistance from local politicians on both sides of the aisle.
• Debates over federal reach, copyright and kids' safety remain the same sticking points that have stalled action for years.

Read the plan ...

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Putin Taunts Trump With Brazen Oil Run to Cuba

A Russian oil tanker is testing Trump’s embargo as Cuba’s energy crisis deepens.

Vladimir Putin is testing Donald Trump by sending oil tankers straight through his embargo on Cuba.

Two vessels carrying Russian oil and gas were initially bound for Cuba, in a direct challenge to the Trump administration’s effort to choke off fuel supplies, according to maritime intelligence data reported by The Financial Times.

One of the ships, believed to be transporting about 27,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas, had been expected to arrive as early as Monday, but has since updated its destination to a port in Venezuela, according to Bloomberg.

A second tanker, thought to be carrying roughly 100,000 metric tons of crude, is still en route to Cuba, in apparent defiance of U.S. restrictions.

The delivery is expected to arrive in early April, and if successful, will be the first to reach Cuba since a Mexican shipment in early January.

Mexico halted further shipments amid concern over repercussions from the Trump administration, though Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has insisted it was a “sovereign decision.”

The shipment of Russian fuel suggests Moscow is testing how far it can push Trump’s embargo—even if Russian shipments get through, they will not ease the situation in Cuba for long.

Energy expert Jorge Piñón told the Associated Press that the crude shipment would only amount to little more than a week’s worth of usable fuel, with any diesel likely diverted to critical sectors such as agriculture and transport.

“We’re talking about crude oil that has to be refined into liquid fuels… Each product has its specific demand,” he said.

The island’s energy system is already buckling under the sustained pressure.

Earlier this week, Cuba’s electricity grid collapsed, triggering a nationwide blackout that left more than 10 million people temporarily without power.

The Cuban government has said it is relying on a mix of natural gas, solar power, and thermoelectric plants as outages continue, according to AP.

Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against Cuba in recent days, suggesting he would take Cuba “in some form.”

“Whether I free it, take it, I could do anything I want with it [if] you want to know the truth,” he said.

His administration has also warned it would target countries that continue to send fuel to the island.

Russia, however, is still testing those limits—and the standoff is now playing out offshore.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putin-defies-donald-trump-with-brazen-oil-delivery-to-cuba/?

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Trump’s Secret Invasion Plan With Elite Troops Is Exposed

The Pentagon is reportedly mapping out a plan with boots on the ground in Iran.

The Pentagon is actively preparing for a ground war in Iran just a day after President Donald Trump claimed that he has no plans to put U.S. troops on the ground.

U.S. military officials have drawn up detailed plans to deploy ground forces into Iran, including elite rapid-response units such as the 82nd Airborne Division, according to CBS News.

Multiple sources briefed on the discussions say the plans go far beyond routine military readiness, including meetings on how to detain Iranian soldiers and paramilitary fighters, and where to send them if U.S. troops enter Iranian territory.

News of the plan coincides with an accelerating U.S. military buildup in the region.

A few thousand soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division could be deployed as part of the plans, which are underway but not yet approved, according to the CBS report.

The Washington Post confirmed the plan, also noting it was not yet approved.

The 82nd Airborne is one of the U.S. military’s premier rapid-response units. Trained to deploy into high-risk combat zones at short notice, the division can conduct airborne assaults to secure key positions in the opening phase of a ground operation.

The division’s headquarters abruptly canceled a training exercise earlier this month, the Post reported, fueling speculation it could be tapped for a potential ground operation.

Amphibious warships carrying roughly 4,000 service members, including about 2,500 Marines, left California aboard the USS Boxer, USS Portland, and USS Comstock this week.

Additional amphibious groups are also en route, bringing the total expected deployment to as many as 8,000 personnel, including between 4,000 and 5,000 Marines.

The forces are equipped with F-35 fighter jets and amphibious assault vehicles capable of supporting a ground offensive, further underscoring how quickly the conflict could escalate.

The level of preparation clashes with Trump’s comments on the issue. Administration officials have refused to rule out a boots-on-the-ground strategy, though Trump told reporters on Thursday, “no, I’m not putting troops anywhere,” when asked about deploying ground forces.

But, he added, “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”

On Friday night, Trump painted a different story of his war in a Friday night post on Truth Social, boasting the U.S. was “very close to meeting our objectives” in Iran and that he is considering “winding down our great military efforts.”

“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — the United States does not!" he wrote.

“If asked, we will help these countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated.”

The Pentagon declined to address the specifics when asked about the reported planning, saying only: “We have nothing to announce regarding pending or future deployments.”

The White House also sought to downplay the significance of the preparations. In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality.”

“It does not mean the president has made a decision, and as the president said in the Oval Office yesterday, he is not planning to send ground troops anywhere at this time.”

The Daily Beast has reached to out U.S. Central Command for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-secret-invasion-plan-with-elite-troops-is-exposed/?

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Pentagon Pete Humiliated as Judge Voids Bonkers Policy

The judge had to remind Hegseth’s department of the press’s constitutional rights.

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s restrictive Pentagon press policy took a big hit on Friday when a federal judge ruled that they violated the First Amendment.

Hegseth’s rules, announced last October, allowed the Pentagon to label journalists “security risks” and revoke their press passes if they did anything the Pentagon deemed threatening to national security.

Many news outlets surrendered their passes rather than agree to toe the line. Photographs at the time showed long-time Pentagon journalists leaving the building with their personal belongings.

In their place, the Pentagon welcomed several obscure, far-right outlets and pro-Trump cheerleaders such as Laura Loomer and Mike Lindell.

After hearing The New York Times’ argument against the policy, Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed.

“The Court recognizes that national security must be protected, the security of our troops must be protected, and war plans must be protected,” Friedman wrote in the 40-page ruling. “But especially in light of the country’s recent incursion into Venezuela and its ongoing war with Iran, it is more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its government is doing.”

“The record evidence supports the conclusion that the policy discriminates not based on political viewpoint but rather based on editorial viewpoint — that is, whether the individual or organization is willing to publish only stories that are favorable to or spoon-fed by department leadership,” he added.

The policy’s “true purpose and practical effect,” he continued, was “to weed out disfavored journalists — those who were not, in the department’s view, ‘on board and willing to serve’ — and replace them with news entities that are.”

Friedman had to remind Hegseth of the press’s fundamental rights, which had been violated. The policy also violated the Fifth Amendment, he said.

“The considerations that may or may not lead to a reporter being deemed ‘a security or safety risk’ include obtaining or attempting to obtain any information that the department has not approved for release, regardless of whether that information is classified,” he wrote. “But to state the obvious, obtaining and attempting to obtain information is what journalists do. A primary way in which journalists obtain information is by asking questions.”

In the past month, Hegseth, 45, has at times been confrontational with members of the press in response to such inquiries, notably about the ongoing war against Iran.

During a March 2 briefing, for instance, he complained about “gotcha” questions and compared the media to enemy fire.

“President Trump and I have your back—always," he said, addressing troops. “Through fire, through criticism, through fake news, through everything. We unleash you because you are the best, most powerful, most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment about Friday’s ruling. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X: “We disagree with the decision and are pursuing an immediate appeal.”

A spokesman for The New York Times said the ruling “reaffirms the right of the Times and other independent media to continue to ask questions on the public’s behalf,” and that “Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run, and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax dollars.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-pete-humiliated-as-judge-voids-bonkers-press-policy/?

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⚖️ Judge rules for NYT over DoD

A federal judge ruled the Pentagon's restrictions on journalists were a First Amendment violation — a win for The New York Times, which sued the Defense Department over the issue, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

• Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, responded: "We disagree with the decision and are pursuing an immediate appeal."

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman granted The Times an injunction that blocks the Pentagon from imposing the policy, which said reporters need to sign a pledge committing to its rules to maintain their press credentials.

• Most major news organizations, including conservative-leaning Fox News and Newsmax, refused to sign.

Friedman, who was nominated by President Clinton, said the policy "fails to provide fair notice of what routine, lawful journalistic practices will result in the denial, suspension, or revocation" of Pentagon press credentials.

• The Times argued: "The First Amendment flatly prohibits the government from granting itself the unbridled power to restrict speech because the mere existence of such arbitrary authority can lead to self-censorship."

Read the 40-page ruling.