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

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? Mapped: Public media funding hit

Data: CPB financial disclosures compiled by Alex Curley. Map: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals This map shows how much public TV stations across the country relied on federal funding to operate, Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis write from data collected by a former NPR staffer and shared with Axios. Why it matters: Many public TV and radio stations find themselves with big budget holes after Congress rescinded $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding. ? By the numbers: For hundreds of stations with available data, CPB grants made up about 10.3% of U.S. public TV stations' overall funding as of fiscal 2023, and 4.1% for radio stations. That share is much greater for some specific stations. It's over 90% for KCUW in Pendleton, Oregon; KUHB in St. Paul, Alaska; and WVLS in Dunmore, West Virginia. Explore the data: Interactive maps for public TV, radio.

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SNAP lawsuit

Twenty states are suing the Trump administration, alleging that the Department of Agriculture is improperly attempting to gather sensitive personal information about the low-income families who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy groceries. “This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. When announcing the effort in May, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the government needs access to information about the people who use food stamps because SNAP “has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data.”   Planned Parenthood In a new preliminary injunction issued Monday, a federal judge has blocked the nationwide enforcement of a provision in President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law that would defund Planned Parenthood’s healthcare services. The measure, which he signed on July 4, bars Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services. Last week, US District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that the administration couldn’t enforce the funding ban against some Planned Parenthood organizations, but now she has widened the block. “Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable. In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs,” Talwani wrote in her ruling.

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A photograph of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is displayed on the side of a van in Aberdeen during Trump's five-day trip to Scotland, Monday. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP) POLITICS Trump says he ended friendship with Epstein because he ‘stole people that worked for me’ President Donald Trump said Monday that he ended his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and threw the now-disgraced financier out of his private club in Florida after Epstein betrayed him more than once by hiring people who had worked for him. Read more.

Why this matters: The White House declined further comment. But the White House had previously offered a different explanation for the falling-out. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement last week: “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”   The case has dogged Trump at home and abroad and even followed Vice President JD Vance during an appearance in his home state of Ohio on Monday. A small group of protesters assembled outside a factory in Canton that Vance toured, holding signs that spelled out “JD Protects Pedophiles” and indicating that “GOP” stands for “Guardians Of Pedophiles.”   Trump also said he declined Epstein’s invitation to visit a private island the financier owned. “I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island,” Trump said. “In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn’t want to go to his island.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Attorneys: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees held without charges, barred from legal access   Justice Department files misconduct complaint against federal judge handling deportation case   Court restricts who can bring voting rights challenges in a case involving voters with disabilities   States file lawsuit against Trump administration over efforts to collect SNAP recipients’ data   Trump seeks quick Murdoch deposition in Wall Street Journal lawsuit over Epstein story   Ghislaine Maxwell urges the Supreme Court to take up her criminal case   Russia kills 22 civilians in Ukraine as the Kremlin remains defiant over Trump threats   Iraq’s prime minister seeks closer US ties while keeping armed groups at bay   Trump caps his Scottish visit by opening a new golf course   Trump is getting the world economy he wants — but the risk to growth could spoil his victory lap   Trump moves to lift visa restrictions for Argentina in a boost to his right-wing ally   NASA expects to lose a fifth of its workforce to voluntary separation programs   Senate approves Trump pick David Wright for new term as head of Nuclear Regulatory Commission   Trump approves disaster relief for New Mexico mountain town battered by back-to-back floods   Scammers are impersonating CEOs and Trump officials using AI deepfakes

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Trump Admits He Has Much More Important Things to Do Than Play Golf as He Plays Golf

The president vowed to address various “fires” raging around the world—right after he’s finished on the fairway.

Donald Trump admitted he’s got much more important things to be doing than playing golf as he headed out to play golf on Monday.

Speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony while opening his new course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Trump told reporters that he will play a round “quickly” before returning to his main job as commander-in-chief.

I look forward to playing it today. We’ll play it very quickly, and then I go back to D.C. and we put out fires all over the world,” Trump said.

“We did one yesterday, as you know, we stopped the war, but we have stopped about five wars. So that’s much more important than playing golf, as much as I like it, it’s much more important.”

Trump seemed to be taking credit for Thailand and Cambodia agreeing to a ceasefire following days of fighting.

The president previously warned that the two countries would not get a trade deal with the U.S. unless the fighting stopped, and claimed on Truth Social on Monday that the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia reached a peace deal after his “involvement.”

It is unclear what other “wars” Trump is claiming to have ended in between rounds of golf.

Trump, who has so far failed on his promises to end the conflict in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after saying Palestinians were being subjected to “real starvation” and vowed to send more food to the area to help the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The same day, Trump told Vladimir Putin that an original 50-day deadline he imposed urging the Russian president to agree to a ceasefire deal to end the Ukraine conflict has been reduced to 10 to 12 days. Trump said he was “very disappointed” with Putin for ignoring his demands and that Russia has continued to kill civilians in Ukraine with missile and drone strikes.

Elsewhere during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Trump offered rare praise to the media who have been covering his trip to Scotland, claiming they have been “terrific.”

“I didn’t use the word ‘fake news’ one time, not one time,” he said. “They’re not fake news today, they’re wonderful news.”

In a bizarre incident, Trump even tried his hand, badly, at a celebrity impersonation while mentioning how long the new resort has been in development.

“The land, they said it couldn’t get zoned, it was an impossibility. And Sean Connery said, ‘Let the bloody bloke build his golf course,’” Trump said, in reference to the Scottish actor who died at 90 in 2020. “Once he said that everything came into line.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admits-he-has-much-more-important-things-to-do-than-play-golf-as-he-plays-golf/?

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Why Trump’s Obsession with Obama is Even More Twisted than You Think

Donald Trump’s obsession with Barack Obama isn’t about politics, writes Don Lemon. It’s about race, resentment and the lie that white mediocrity deserves power.

Don Lemon is the host of The Don Lemon Show on YouTube.

Rome didn’t fall in a day. It collapsed over time, hollowed out by greed, distraction, corruption and ego. If America falls, it won’t be from war, disease or even an insurrection. It will be because one man couldn’t take a joke.

I remember the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner vividly. I didn’t attend that year; I anchored live coverage for CNN. That night, President Barack Obama stood before a ballroom full of journalists and lawmakers and delivered—as was tradition—a few barbs.

One was aimed squarely at Donald J. Trump.

Trump had, at that time, spent years promoting a racist lie that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. In his speech, Obama exposed the divisive absurdity with his trademark calm and wit.

“No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than ‘The Donald,’” Obama said. “And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter: Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”

“All kidding aside,” he continued, addressing Trump directly, “We all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example, just recently, in an episode of (The) Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. There was a lot of blame to go around, but you recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. So ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meat Loaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night.”

The laughter came fast and full. Not cruel, but cleansing. The way truth feels when it’s finally said aloud. The room saw it. Obama saw it. And Trump felt it.

He didn’t laugh. He didn’t blink. He sat frozen, jaw clenched. Seething.

Something had shifted. Not in the room. In him. The moment didn’t just bruise his ego. It cracked something open.

It wasn’t the joke that broke him. It was the realization that the world was laughing. Not with him, but at him. And that the man commanding that laughter was Black.

What we’re witnessing now, this slow collapse of democratic norms and personal vendetta masquerading as leadership, began that night, with a joke and a grudge.

This week, Trump told reporters his Department of Justice should investigate Obama for treason, echoing baseless claims pushed by former Democrat turned MAGA loyalist Tulsi Gabbard. It wasn’t a slip or a misstatement. It was a warning. A fantasy made public. Over the past week, he has similarly shared AI video of Obama being arrested, as well as a viral meme placing himself and Obama in a photo of the 1994 police chase of O.J. Simpson.

Trump doesn’t want justice. He wants revenge. He wants to erase the man who reminds him of everything he can never be. Because the truth, the one that eats away at him, is that Trump is envious of Barack Obama. He always has been.

Trump envies Obama’s education. He envies Obama’s elegance. He envies Obama’s marriage. (Barack and Michelle are a partnership. Trump and Melania often look like a ceasefire.) And he envies that Obama is loved. Deeply. By millions around the world who still see in him something aspirational. By history.

Trump wants that. But he’ll never earn it. So he’s spent more than a decade trying to destroy it. And what’s worse is that he started to believe his own myth. He read too much of his own press. He convinced himself that the character he played on TV—the tough boss, the dealmaker, the billionaire—was real. He mistook ratings for respect. The media helped. They fed the illusion because it sold ads and clicks. They gassed him up and made him look competent.

Of course, his followers fell for it. They had to. Because he became their idea of what a successful white man should be: loud, shameless and undeservedly rich. He makes the mediocre feel superior by reminding them that excellence can still be ignored.

It’s the same cultural trick we’ve seen for generations. The formula hasn’t changed. It’s how white artists mimicked Black brilliance, profited off it and were labeled icons while the originators were left behind.

To Black America, and to anyone paying attention, it’s stunning—but not surprising. Trump is the political cover band. The tribute act. A hollow imitation of leadership dressed up in flags and grievance.

This isn’t political theater. It’s racial psychodrama. And I say this as a Black man in America who’s not only seen this story before, but has lived it. Baldwin wrote about it. Douglass survived it. Malcolm called it what it was. And Obama, for eight years, stood in its center without flinching.

America has always punished Black men who lead with confidence, who command respect without begging for it, who step into rooms and don’t shrink. That’s what Trump saw that night. A man he couldn’t intimidate. A man who didn’t have to lie to be loved. A man who made him feel small.

And now he has become the Trojan horse for a movement built on the illusion of white competence. He’s cleared the way for others like Gabbard, Sean Duffy, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem to ascend on “vibes,” not merit. They are, by their own standards, the DEI hires. They rage against diversity, equity and inclusion, but what they really mean is that they’re mad the playing field is no longer tilted entirely in their favor. It’s about maintaining the illusion that they are owed power, no matter what.

The illusion of white merit has always been protected by something much older and uglier—white supremacy. Trump is just its most cartoonish vessel.

Trump demanded Obama’s birth certificate because he assumed it could erase his legitimacy—and confer it. But no paper, no title, no presidency will ever give him what Barack Obama earned with brilliance, composure and a Blackness he will never stop fearing.

That’s what “Make America Great Again” really means. A longing for the days when men like Trump didn’t have to compete with men like Obama. When power was inherited, not earned.

Trump wasn’t robbed of greatness. He was never great to begin with. And that lie is collapsing. The fear is showing. The rage is louder. The mask is off.

Because here’s the truth America still struggles to face: Black brilliance doesn’t need permission to exist. And white mediocrity can no longer count on immunity.

With research contributed by Peter Rothpletz.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-president-who-wanted-to-be-his-predecessorbut-never-could/?

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Trump EPA moves to repeal landmark ‘endangerment finding’ that allows climate regulation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-climate-epa-endangerment-zeldin-5cba0871c880e23d044ef40a398c57b2?

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Devastating Files That Could Blow Trump’s Epstein Escape Bid

Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out pardoning Jeffrey Epstein’s former accomplice.

The sex trafficker who Donald Trump is considering pardoning repeatedly lied about her years-long role in Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile operation and should not be trusted to tell the truth, according to an official U.S. government assessment.

As the president refuses to rule out striking a deal with Ghislaine Maxwell to mitigate the firestorm over the Epstein files, a 2022 Department of Justice sentencing memo slammed the convicted child abuser. It warned of the lengths she would go to reduce her sentence.

“In short, the defendant apparently decides when she wishes to disclose facts to the Court, and those facts shift when it serves the defendant’s interests,” says the memo.

“If anything stands out from the defendant’s sentencing submission, it is her complete failure to address her offense conduct and her utter lack of remorse. Instead of showing even a hint of acceptance of responsibility, the defendant makes a desperate attempt to cast blame wherever else she can.”

The memo was issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York after Maxwell was convicted on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls.

But the document has become pertinent again in recent days, after Trump—who has found himself embroiled in a huge political quagmire over the Epstein files—ordered Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to speak to Maxwell in the hope of finding an off-ramp to the saga.

Blanche, who represented Trump in his criminal trial last year, spent two days meeting with Maxwell last week, where, according to her lawyer David Oscar Markus, they discussed “more than 100 different people” connected to Epstein.

One of those connections is likely to be the president, who spent years partying with the disgraced financier but insists he had nothing to do with his sex trafficking operation.

One of Maxwell’s victims, Virginia Roberts (later Virginia Giuffre), was recruited from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where she worked at the time as a 17-year-old.

On Monday, Markus said Maxwell would appeal her conviction not just to the Supreme Court, but to Trump directly, asking the president to recognize that she was “a scapegoat” for Epstein’s crimes.

But the DOJ memo suggests otherwise, outlining the lengths Maxwell went to befriend, recruit, and traffic vulnerable girls, some as young as 14 and all from single-mother households, to Epstein’s properties in the U.S, the U.K., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“But her abusive conduct did not end with the grooming and manipulation of the victims. She also participated in the sexual abuse of her victims,” the memo says.

Maxwell also repeatedly lied under oath in a civil deposition in connection with a lawsuit brought by one of the victims, the memo says.

She then lied again by claiming she had broken away from Epstein in 2002 (when flight records show she flew on his private jet repeatedly between 2003 and 2005) and also about her finances (records show Epstein transferred millions into her account).

“The defendant’s attempt to cast aspersions on the Government for prosecuting her, and her claim that she is being held responsible for Epstein’s crimes, are both absurd and offensive,” the memo says.

“She should be held accountable for her disturbing role in an extensive child exploitation scheme.”

Trump, however, has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell, or striking some kind of deal to reduce her sentence.

“I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody has approached me, nobody has asked me for it,” he said Monday.

“It’s in the news, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”

Such a move would risk infuriating the president’s MAGA base, and Republicans more broadly, many of whom loathe the convicted felon for her role in assisting Epstein’s heinous crimes.

“If you’re asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance,” Speaker Mike Johnson told Meet the Press over the weekend. “I think she should have a life sentence, at least.”

Former Trump White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin was even more scathing.

“There‘s a special place in hell for women who would help men abuse younger women,” she told CNN.

And former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said Trump had not ruled out pardoning Maxwell “because she knows things. She knows about Trump—and if Trump pardons her, she won’t talk.”

“How are you going to spin this one?” Kinzinger, a never-Trumper, asked MAGA supporters in a video posted online.

“Do we care about child sex trafficking or don’t we? Answer that, guys.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/devastating-files-that-could-blow-trumps-epstein-escape-bid/?

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FBI Has Secret Epstein Prison Tape With No ‘Missing Minute’

Metadata revealed that the version released to the public was missing up to three minutes of raw footage.

The FBI has a version of the surveillance video filmed near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison block on the night of his death that—unlike the video released to the public—is not missing a minute of footage.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice released nearly 11 hours of CCTV footage taken inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center intended to show that Epstein had died by suicide. The Trump administration immediately faced questions about why the time code displayed in the video indicated that the minute before midnight was not included in the clip.

The DOJ said the “full raw” clip would have captured anyone entering Epstein’s cell the night he died, but forensic analysis showed the video was edited repeatedly over several hours, with about a minute of footage missing.

Now, government sources say the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, and DOJ inspector general all possess a copy of the video that contains the infamous “missing minute,” CBS News reported.

It’s still not clear what that minute shows or why it was missing from the video the DOJ released, according to CBS. The FBI and the DOJ declined to comment, and the Bureau of Prisons told the network it “had no additional information to provide.”

The missing minute has been fodder for conspiracy theorists who believe Epstein—who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he died the night of Aug. 9-10, 2019—was murdered to protect his powerful clients and associates.

Attorney General Pam Bondi explained away the discrepancy in the video by saying that the system resets every night, “so every night should have that same missing minute.”

She hasn’t shared any other footage confirming that explanation, though, and surveillance video experts told CBS that resets aren’t a feature of most video systems.

The footage was taken in a cell block in the Special Housing Unit where Epstein was held at the MCC.

The block is near Epstein’s cell, but doesn’t show it. Instead, a common area and set of stairs leading to various “tiers,” one of which held Epstein’s cell, are visible in the back third of the frame.

The FBI found that cameras directly outside Epstein’s cell had malfunctioned the night he died. According to the FBI and the DOJ, anyone attempting to access the tier containing Epstein’s cell from the common area would have been visible in the footage.

But Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter whose reporting exposed Epstein in 2017 and 2018, told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month that there were actually other entrances to Epstein’s wing besides the one shown on camera.

“It’s quite possible that someone from another part of that area could have gone up into his cell,” she said. “We don’t know because we don’t have anything on his cell door. The doors they show in that video are not of his cell.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the DOJ and FBI for comment.

The Epstein controversy has consumed the Trump administration for weeks after the DOJ and the FBI issued a memo earlier this month stating conclusively that the disgraced financier did not have a “client list” and died by suicide.

Those conclusions angered many of the president’s own supporters, who expected the administration to provide bombshell revelations in the case.

Trump himself was friends with Epstein for more than a decade before the two had a falling out in the early 2000s. On Monday, Trump contradicted a previous claim from his White House that he had cut ties with Epstein because the financier was a “creep,” suggesting their relationship actually ended because Epstein “stole” Trump’s staff.

He also said that he had “never had the privilege” of visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbi-has-secret-jeffrey-epstein-prison-tape-with-no-missing-minute/?

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Joe Rogan Slams Trump’s ‘Gaslighting’ on Epstein: ‘Line in the Sand’

On the latest Joe Rogan Experience, the megastar podcaster mocked the Trump administration’s insistence that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself—warning MAGA fans they’re being “lied to.”

Joe Rogan has finally had it with what he sees as Donald Trump’s denials and delays over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal—saying his “gaslighting” has crossed a line with the MAGA faithful.

In the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the megastar podcaster—once an unwavering Trump supporter—told former CIA covert-ops officer Mike Baker that the Epstein issue was a point of no return for many of the president’s supporters.

Pointing to the surveillance footage from Epstein’s Manhattan jail cell, Rogan said, “Metadata from raw Epstein prison video shows two minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of the stitched-together clips.”

“Yeah, shocker,” he added when Baker gasped.

Rogan then went on to argue that Trump officials still seem to think that in the online age, “you could just put stuff out there” and no one would notice. “They have this pre-Internet mentality,” he scoffed, noting that “tech wizards” now scour every pixel for clues.

Baker said Capitol Hill Republicans hope the controversy will fade during the August recess. But Rogan suggested that might not be so, as the Trump administration had crossed a “line” for its MAGA base.

“There’s a line in the sand,” said Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and attended his inauguration, but has soured on the president in recent months. “This is the one everybody’s been talking about forever, and they’re trying to gaslight you on that.”

The episode has been watched on YouTube by more than one million people in its first three days.

It landed as the White House continues to fight pressure to release still-sealed Epstein files, which Trump is reported to feature heavily in, and as he rails against “fake” claims tying him to the late sex-trafficker.

Virtually every media appearance Trump has done in the past few weeks has seen him quizzed about his links to the pedophile, who took his own life in jail in 2019.

Always prickly towards journalists who mention it, Trump’s political response has been to send deputy attorney general Todd Blanche to interview Epstein’s co-conspirator in jail, raising suggestions that the president may pardon her for stating none of his behavior with Epstein had been criminal.

Trump has declined to be drawn on the possibility, saying only that he could do it if he wanted to.

The Daily Beast has contacted The White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-rogan-slams-trumps-gaslighting-on-epstein-line-in-the-sand/?

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Trump Has Spent a Third of His Presidency Visiting His Own Properties

The president has spent nearly every weekend at a Trump-owned property since his return to office.

Since his return to the White House in January, Donald Trump has spent around a third of his presidency visiting Trump-owned properties and ensuring his real estate portfolio is featured heavily in overseas negotiations. New analysis from Forbes shows that of the president’s first 190 days in office, 75 of them have been spent at his own golf clubs, resorts and hotels, with his latest trip to Scotland—which has seen him host foreign leaders and dignitaries at Trump Turnberry and unveiling a new golf course in Aberdeenshire with his sons Don Jr. and Eric—exemplifying the trend. In his first 17 weekends back in office, Trump has visited one of his clubs 16 times, including regular stays at Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent 35 days since January. The Florida estate, once raided by the FBI, remains by far the president’s favored retreat, and hosted him every weekend in March. During a May tour of the Middle East, Trump visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, leaving each country with licensing deals for real estate projects. A previous plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow was also briefly resurrected by the Kremlin following the president’s Oval Office argument with Volodymyr Zelensky in March.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-has-spent-a-third-of-his-presidency-visiting-his-own-properties/?

Trump Wants to Rescind the Roadless Rule. What Does That Mean?

Most conservationists of a certain age have a Roadless Areas story. Mine began with a move to Oregon in the year 2000, and continued on trips with advocacy groups to visit forests where contentious timber plans had been planned. On one of those visits, I wrote a postcard in support of Roadless Areas—I didn’t yet own a computer—and remember feeling the weight of responsibility. These were my public lands.

https://www.sierraclub.org/Sierra/roadless-rule-trump-wants-rescind-what-does-that-mean?

Backpedaling on pollution

In a significant policy reversal, the Trump administration wants to repeal a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate change endangers human health and safety. Speaking on a conservative podcast, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin referred to climate change as dogma rather than science. Left in the dark? In Alaska’s North Slope region — the northernmost county in the US — one small radio station keeps eight villages connected and serves about 10,000 people. KBRW relies on federal funding to stay afloat, but it may not survive because of President Donald Trump’s public media cuts.

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Trump's billion-dollar spree

Data: Axios research. Chart: Axios Visuals President Trump has extracted more than $1.2 billion in settlements from 13 of the most powerful players in academia, law, media and tech, according to an analysis by Axios' Zachary Basu. If finalized, a potential $500 million deal with Harvard would be the biggest score yet. Why it matters: America's most elite institutions have largely succumbed to the Trump administration's cultural crackdown, opting to pay up — often to the tune of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars — rather than fight back. Trump officials frame the settlements as accountability for society's liberal power centers, which they say have been captured by leftist ideology, corrupted by DEI and complicit in antisemitism. Critics say the deals — some of which include direct payments or pro bono legal work for Trump's pet causes — amount to legalized extortion by the federal government. ? Zoom in: Harvard has expressed a willingness to spend up to $500 million to settle its dispute with the White House, which has accused the university of civil rights violations tied to antisemitism and DEI policies, The New York Times reports. Harvard sued in April after the administration began freezing billions of dollars in federal research funding, insisting it would "not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." The potential settlement would be more than double the $221 million fine agreed to by Columbia last week. But Harvard is reportedly reluctant to pay the government directly or allow an outside monitor to oversee the deal. ?️ The big picture: Trump's coercion of elite institutions, as both president and plaintiff, extends far beyond college campuses. Big Law: At least nine major firms — targeted for their DEI programs or ties to Trump's political enemies — have agreed to settlements, offering between $40 million and $125 million in free legal services to preserve their access to the federal government. Paramount: The CBS parent company paid $16 million this month to settle Trump's lawsuit over the editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Disney: ABC's parent company agreed in December to pay $16 million — primarily directed to Trump's future presidential foundation and museum — to settle a defamation lawsuit the president filed against anchor George Stephanopoulos. Meta: The tech giant paid Trump $25 million in January to settle a 2021 lawsuit that accused the company of violating his First Amendment rights by banning him from Facebook and Instagram after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Between the lines: The few law firms that chose to fight Trump's executive orders have largely prevailed in court so far, suggesting capitulation isn't the only viable path forward. Just last week, a federal judge cast serious doubt on Trump's targeting of Harvard — questioning the constitutionality of cutting off research funding over alleged antisemitism and warning of "staggering" due process concerns. ? What to watch: Trump officials see Columbia's settlement as a playbook for negotiations with other universities, combining financial penalties with internal policy changes and external oversight. Emboldened by its early success, the Trump administration this week launched new investigations and lawsuits targeting UCLA, Duke, and George Mason.

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? Trump wins the trade battle

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

President Trump is winning the global trade battle with a series of deals that are resulting, so far, in big concessions by major partners, new revenue for the federal government, and minimal upset to the U.S. economy or markets, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes. Why it matters: The question now is whether these victories — high-level, roughly sketched agreements among several major economies — will translate to winning the trade war. ? The big picture: The onset of Trump's higher-tariff regime hasn't shown up in any big way in U.S. inflation data, and earlier fears of a recession look overblown. The stock market set records for six straight days before dipping yesterday. Tariff revenue is rolling in, $27 billion last month alone — supporting the White House's contention that import taxes are on track to become a meaningful revenue source that lowers the budget deficit. ? Reality check: The deals so far have been far short of the kinds of carefully negotiated agreements that are traditional in trade policy, including in Trump's first term, Evercore ISI analyst Sarah Bianchi notes. The Trump 1.0 renegotiation of NAFTA, known as the USMCA, came out to 1,500 pages. The most expansive written agreement in this round, with the U.K., comes to five pages. Others involve no written documentation at all.

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Trump Spills Secret Service Agent’s Crazy Wife-Smuggling Plan

An investigation is now underway over the incident, which the president described as “weird.”

Donald Trump shared a “strange story” about an incident involving a Secret Service agent attempting to sneak their spouse onto an overseas trip with the president.

While speaking with reporters on Air Force One, the president was asked about a report that a Secret Service agent tried to get his wife on board a support flight accompanying Trump to Scotland.

“I just heard that,” Trump replied to the reporter who asked. “That’s a weird deal. He was going to leave the wife in the car?”

“Wouldn’t you think that might be a little dangerous?” he added, chuckling. “I don’t know if that has proper compression. I don’t know. That’s a strange one.”

“I just heard that two minutes ago,” he added. “I think Sean’s taking care of it,” he added, ostensibly referring to Sean Curran, director of the Secret Service.

“Is that a serious story?” Trump asked the reporter. “They were gonna keep her in the car and she was gonna be in a freighter?”

“Well, you tell me the details,” the reporter replied.

Trump said he didn’t want to get involved, “but it’s a strange story.”The Secret Service said it is conducting an investigation into the matter, but has only shared limited details so far.

In a statement to the Daily Beast on Monday, a Secret Service spokesperson said the agency is “conducting a personnel investigation after an employee attempted to invite his spouse - a member of the United States Air Force - aboard a mission support flight.”

“The aircraft, operated by the U.S. Air Force, was being used by the Secret Service to transport personnel and equipment,” the statement said. “Prior to the overseas departure, the employee was advised by supervisors that such action was prohibited, and the spouse was subsequently prevented from taking the flight.”

“No Secret Service protectees were aboard and there was no impact to our overseas protective operations,” the statement concluded.

Asked to confirm additional details, such as where the plane was headed, the spokesperson told the Daily Beast no further information could be disclosed while the investigation was playing out.

The statement was issued after Susan Crabtree, a political correspondent for the conservative-leaning RealClearPolitics site, reported that a Secret Service agent tried to “smuggle” his wife onto a car plane, a cargo aircraft used to transport vehicles, headed for Scotland with Trump’s security detail.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House for comment on Trump’s remarks.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-spills-weird-new-details-about-secret-service-incident/?

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Top FDA Official Leaves Job After Laura Loomer’s Attacks

Even with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s backing, Dr. Vinay Prasad couldn’t weather Storm Loomer.

The MAHA-aligned Food and Drug Administration official responsible for overseeing vaccine and gene therapy approvals has been forced to resign following a public pressure campaign brought by MAGA provocateur Laura Loomer.

Dr. Vinay Prasad was chosen in May to replace the outgoing head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation, Dr. Peter Marks, who led the division for 13 years and shaped the Operation Warp Speed effort to rapidly develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist at the University of California San Francisco with a large social media following, became a prominent critic of the COVID-19 vaccine and opposed pandemic-era mask policies, CNN reported.

That apparently endeared him to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long advocated for more restrictions on vaccines, and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, eventually earning Prasad a top role at the FDA.

But over the past week and a half, Loomer has accused Prasad—who had previously criticized President Donald Trump and declared his support for political progressives including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—of “infiltrating” the FDA’s leadership and “sabotaging” the president’s deregulatory agenda.

Prasad resigned on Tuesday, despite Kennedy privately defending him, The New York Times reported.

“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the F.D.A. in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Times in a statement. “We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at F.D.A.”

During his short tenure he had already limited the use of the COVID-19 vaccine and amplified warnings about a rare cardiac side effect of the jabs, the paper reported.

He also asked the maker of a gene therapy drug called Elevidys—which is used to treat a rare, fatal disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy—to voluntarily stop shipping the drug after three people died of liver complications following its use.

After the company, Sarepta Therapeutics, refused, Prasad threatened to halt clinical trials involving the drug, according to an FDA press release.

It turns out, though, that former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has ties to Sarepta, and he called top White House officials to complain about Prasad’s efforts to limit Elevidys, the Times reported.

The company has denied that the deaths were linked to its treatment. Prasad had criticized Sarepta even before he joined the FDA, and his appointment caused the company’s stock to fall by a nearly quarter, according to CNN.

His ousting demonstrates the inherent conflict between Kennedy and the MAHA movement, which has vowed to crack down on the pharmaceutical industry, and MAGA’s crusade against government regulation.

It’s not clear whether Prasad’s ultimate undoing was due to Loomer’s loyalty tests—she resurfaced an old social media post in which Prasad said he had stabbed a voodoo doll to “curse” Trump, pro-industry lobbying, or a combination of the two.

After the Times reported on his resignation, Loomer took a victory lap on social media.

“Turns out poking Trump voodoo dolls to ‘curse’ Trump only awakened the Trump Curse,” she wrote on X.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-fda-official-vinay-prasad-leaves-job-after-laura-loomers-attacks/?

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Hegseth Melts Down About Looming Official Signalgate Probe

The defense secretary is getting ahead of the game and the Pentagon’s independent internal review.

Beleaguered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is about to see “Signalgate” enter the group chat once again.

On Tuesday, Hegseth got in front of the release of findings from the Pentagon’s independent internal review into his accidental inclusion of a journalist in a Trump administration group chat on impending air strikes in Yemen.

In March, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, published in full the group chat held on encrypted messaging app Signal, after Hegseth had insisted of the contents of the chat, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

A month later, Hegseth shared more sensitive military information on a second Signal group chat, via the app which was installed on his personal phone.

The Pentagon review has yet to be released, but Hegseth is already in damage control.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the not-yet-public review “clearly a political witch hunt,” according to a written memo reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Parnell told the Defense Department inspector general’s team that Hegseth believed “this entire exercise is a sham, conducted in bad faith and with extreme bias.”

It is unclear when the review will be made public, however, the Post says it could be released in a matter of weeks.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Defense for comment.

Hegseth’s preemptive moves on the findings of the investigation come as he denies reports he planned to quit the Department of Defense to run for political office in Tennessee next year.

Hegseth had “privately” discussed running for office with two people, according to a new report by NBC. One source said their discussion with Hegseth happened in the past three weeks and that it was “serious, not simply spitballing ideas.”

Another person said the talks were also “serious” and while they wouldn’t confirm when the discussions were had, they were since Hegseth became defense secretary in January.

Parnell quickly shut down the claims, stating NBC was a “fake news” outlet who were shopping a “made-up” story.

He stated, “Only two options exist: either the ‘sources’ are imaginary or these reporters are getting punked. Secretary Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump and advancing the America First mission at the Department of Defense.”

This week, Politico reported Hegseth had been privately advised to change course or risk being fired.

The defense secretary was also embarrassed this year after he personally halted military aid being sent to Ukraine, a move then overturned by President Donald Trump, who later claimed he didn’t know who had authorized the aid being stopped.

Hegseth co-hosted Fox & Friends Weekend until last year, after being recruited for the Trump administration. The president has remained loyal to Hegseth despite the ongoing controversies and blunders.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pete-hegseth-in-damage-control-over-looming-signalgate-humiliation/?

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Witch Hunter Laura Loomer Claims Scalp of NSA’s Top Lawyer

Trump’s purge of Biden-era officials has claimed another victim.

The top lawyer at the National Security Agency was fired after she was targeted by MAGA figures including Laura Loomer, according to The New York Times.

April Falcon Doss was appointed to her general counsel post in 2022 during the Biden administration. The page on the NSA website that contained her bio now displays a “Page Not Found” message.

She was the subject of an article published by the Daily Wire last week headlined: “Democrat Russia Hoax Investigator Is Now Top Lawyer At Trump’s National Security Agency.” The article accused Doss of a “history of partisan anti-Trump activism.”

According to a LinkedIn profile, Doss served from 2017 to 2018 as a senior minority counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. President Donald Trump has long dismissed probes into the 2016 election as part of a “Russia hoax.”

The Daily Wire’s report on Doss was shared widely, including by Loomer, a far-right activist and devout Trump supporter. She told the Times she had reposted a tweet that “exposed” Doss last week and “flagged it for the right people.”

Loomer, who once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” reportedly speaks with Trump several times a month, much to the distaste of some of his White House aides, who are said to view her as “toxic.”

Doss’ removal Friday appears to mark another turn in the Trump administration’s mission to weed out disloyal personnel across the executive branch.

In April, he fired then-NSA chief, Gen. Timothy Haugh, and his deputy, Wendy Noble, after meeting with Loomer.

Loomer posted on X at the time that they “have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired.”

Doss was offered a separate role at the Pentagon, but it’s not clear if she intends to accept, Politico reported.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House, NSA and Pentagon for comment. Doss has also been contacted for comment.

“Very productive day today,” Loomer wrote on X in the early hours of Wednesday morning, sharing a screengrab of the Times headline about Doss’ ouster, as well as another headline about the resignation of a Food and Drug Administration official she had attacked.

“It’s very important that we protect President Trump,” she added. “We have only one year left to stop the Communist takeover of America.”

Loomer appeared to have had a role in Doss’ firing, an official told the Times.

Doss previously worked at the NSA for more than 12 years between 2003 and 2016, according to a LinkedIn page, and has also worked in private practice and academia, including at the Georgetown University Law Center.

She authored the 2020 book Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care.

The ouster comes after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, put the Russia investigations back in the headlines, accusing top Obama administration national security officials earlier this month of engaging in a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Trump’s presidency by pushing claims of Russian election-meddling.

Former President Barack Obama’s office dismissed her claims as a “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction” as Trump sought to bury the “Epstein files” scandal that has dogged him for weeks.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia-hoax-investigator-april-doss-booted-from-top-job-after-maga-uproar/?

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Trump Can’t Explain Discrepancy Between Competing Epstein Answers

Trump contradicted the White House when he said his Epstein break-up was over the disgraced financier hiring Mar-a-Lago workers.

President Donald Trump could not explain the discrepancy between the multiple answers given on his fallout with Jeffrey Epstein and instead resorted to attacking the media for bringing it up.

The president spoke with reporters while returning to the U.S. on Air Force One on Tuesday, where he was asked about the different responses.

A reporter pointed out that Trump said on Monday that his falling out with the convicted sex offender stemmed from Epstein taking workers from his business. The White House previously said the disgraced financier was thrown out because he was a creep.

“Well, maybe they’re the same thing. You know, a little bit of the same thing,” the president shot back.

“No, he took people that worked for me, and I told him, don’t do it anymore, and he did it. I said ‘stay the hell out of here,” the president added, repeating similar claims to what he said the day before.

The reporter, who identified herself as being from NBC News, followed up by asking if that was what the administration meant by Epstein being a “creep.”

Rather than answer the question, the president went after NBC as “one of the worst” and moved on to the next question.

Later in the same session with the president, a different reporter asked Trump whether some of the workers that the president said were taken from him were young women.

The president started off by not wanting to answer before confirming it.

“Well, I don’t want to say, but everyone knows the people that were taken,” the president said. “It was the concept of taking people that work for me is bad.”

Trump then conceded that yes, they were young women who worked in the spa.

“I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a-Lago, and people were taken out of the spa,” Trump said. “Hired by him. In other words, gone.”

He said that other people would come and complain to Trump that Epstein was taking people from the spa, he also acknowledged it included Virginia Giuffre, who was poached at 17.

Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, said she had met Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.

Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s. The disgraced financier even attended the president’s wedding to Marla Maples before they had a falling out.

On Monday, Trump said that his split with Epstein and the convicted sex offender being exiled from his resort had to do with Epstein taking workers.

“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk because he did something that was inappropriate: He hired help,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He stole people that worked for me.”

“I threw him out, and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you know the truth,” the president claimed.

But the president’s more recent claims about his Epstein breakup contradict the White House statement last week after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report about the president being informed he was mentioned in the Epstein files.

“The fact is that The President kicked him out of his club for being a creep,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung of Epstein.

Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

He was later arrested again in July 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges, but he died in prison just over a month later before he could stand trial.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-cant-explain-discrepancy-between-competing-epstein-answer/?

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Contraception

The Trump administration plans to destroy nearly $10 million worth of contraceptives that were procured by USAID rather than deliver the supplies to women in need overseas. The contraceptives, which are mostly long-lasting types of birth control such as IUDs and injectables, are currently stored in a warehouse in Belgium. The “preliminary decision” to destroy the family-planning supplies was confirmed by a State Department spokesperson. Doing so will cost $167,000. “They have to double incinerate the products because they contain high levels of hormones and they don’t want to risk leaking the byproducts out in the environment, which likely adds to the cost,” a congressional aide told CNN. “The Trump administration is quite literally burning taxpayer money.”   Trump announces 25% tariff on India and unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India’s purchasing of Russian oil. Trump added that India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, which he said has enabled the war in Ukraine. Read More.   Medicaid was signed into law 60 years ago. Trump's big bill is chiseling it back On this day in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation into law that launched Medicaid, creating a health care safety net for millions of low-income Americans in one of the crowning achievements of his legacy. A year earlier, Johnson did the same for food stamps. But the Republican Party's recent tax and spending bill delivered not just $4.5 trillion in tax breaks but some of the most substantial changes to the landmark safety net programs in their history. Read More.

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?Trump's crypto "Golden Age"

The White House outlined its push to embed crypto everywhere as quickly as possible in a 160-page report out today, Axios Crypto author Brady Dale writes.

• The report from the president's working group on cryptocurrency markets focused on key areas the White House wants addressed through regulation and new laws.

?️ The big picture: The push comes as the president's own family pushes deeper into the industry, profiting from an industry that's benefited from Trump's support.

Zoom in: The report includes recommendations for everything from securities and commodities regulation to banking, taxation, countering illicit finance, payments, insurance and cybersecurity.

• It calls for changes in how crypto is accounted for in bank capital requirements, where strict treatment can make it expensive and unattractive for banks to offer crypto-related services.

Go deeper ... Full report ...

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New Districts, New Problems Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, uses a district map to discuss concerns over the GOP’s proposed redistricting of the state. (Rodolfo Gonzalez / USA TODAY / Reuters)

View in browser Texas Republicans are planning to redraw their congressional districts this year, five years ahead of schedule. As with most other recent examples of norm-breaking behavior in American politics, the reason for this involves Donald J. Trump. Earlier this summer, the president asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to dabble in a little gerrymandering to produce five more Republican-leaning districts in his state ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. In July, Abbott answered the call, summoning state lawmakers back to Austin for a 30-day special session, in part to begin working on a new district map. (The Texas legislature is in session only once every other year.) The state has been holding public hearings about the redistricting plan; this morning, state lawmakers released a proposed new map that could give the GOP 30 of the state’s 38 House seats and help pad the party’s slim majority. Not much appears to prevent Texas Republicans from doing this. States typically redraw their congressional districts every 10 years, after a new census is conducted. But the Texas GOP has gone off schedule before, way back in 2003, and the Supreme Court later ruled that the Constitution doesn’t prohibit mid-decade redistricting. There’s been plenty of resistance from Texas voters, who’ve filled public-hearing rooms in protest, and from high-profile politicians, who’ve appeared at rallies and raised money to fight the new map. The state’s Democrats might consider breaking quorum, like they did in 2021 to block a vote on the issue, but GOP lawmakers probably have the leverage to force them back to the table. So far, things are going according to plan for Texas Republicans. They have the votes, and at least right now, they seem to have the political will. But just as important as whether Texas Republicans follow through with redistricting is how Democrats will respond. A gerrymandering war, in other words, could be on the way. “We’re saying to the Texans, ‘You shouldn’t be going down this path,’” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week. “You want to go down this path? We’ll go down together.” The governors (and wannabe presidential contenders) Gavin Newsom of California and J. B. Pritzker of Illinois both suggested that they will consider redrawing their own state’s districts to favor—or further favor—Democrats. Similar efforts are being considered in New York and Maryland too. Many experts—and Democrats themselves—have long argued that partisan gerrymandering is undemocratic and unfair. Their embrace of a gerrymandering tit for tat would reflect a new mindset that many Democrats have adopted in the second Trump era: that they should be just as politically ruthless as Republicans—and when the GOP goes low, the Democrats should meet them there. But two questions complicate this approach. The first is a logistical one: Can Democrats even do what they’re threatening to? “It’s a state-by-state determination,” the election-law expert David Becker told me. Some states, such as California and New York, have independent redistricting commissions, which means that any attempt at partisan gerrymandering would require turning that power back over to politicians—a complicated and slow process. Other states, such as Illinois and Maryland, have laws allowing for a little more flexibility when redrawing maps. The other, more pressing question for Democrats is whether they should. They certainly may feel inclined to match the GOP’s aggressive tactics, but extreme partisan gerrymandering carries a certain amount of risk, one that Texas Republicans would be undertaking, Becker said. To maximize Republican wins in more districts overall, they might have to reduce their margins in others, making some of those new districts vulnerable in a potential blue-wave election. All this partisan maneuvering is arguably a race to the bottom. Imagine a future in which every two years, states redraw their congressional maps: Voters would find themselves in a new district several times each decade, unable to get to know the people who are supposed to represent them. “This would do incredible damage to faith in institutions” and add to the cynicism that so many Americans already feel about politics, Dan Vicuña, a senior policy director at Common Cause, told me. “There appears to be a temptation to meet attacks on democracy with more attacks on democracy,” Vicuña added. It’s up to Democrats to decide if they’ll resist the urge. Related: Republicans discover the horror of gerrymandering. (From 2022) Has the tide turned against partisan gerrymandering? (From 2018)

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Tariffs Deadline Tonight

President Donald Trump announced a slew of tariff-related updates yesterday. The changes come as most countries will face rates of 15% to 20% beginning overnight, at 12:01 am ET.    Trump yesterday said India will face 25% tariffs and an added penalty for purchasing Russian oil. Brazil will face 50% tariffs next week; Trump separately announced 50% tariffs on all copper imports. The US will also end the global de minimis exemption later this month, which allowed packages valued below $800 to enter duty-free.   Some countries negotiated lower tariffs in the lead-up to tonight’s deadline. South Korea negotiated a baseline of 15% in exchange for investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the US. Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, the UK, Vietnam, and the European Union also reached revised deals. Pakistan is expected to finalize a deal shortly.    The average effective tariff rate is estimated to rise to 18.4%, the highest level since 1933. Clothing and shoes will be especially affected, with prices predicted to rise roughly 40% in the short term. Learn more about tariffs via 1440 Topics here.

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⌛ Trade deal deadline day

Via Truth Social

⏰ Mike is told that President Trump's announcement last night of a trade deal with South Korea is the last major tariff deal the White House expects before tomorrow, Aug. 1 — the deadline day for deals. As a bookend to Trump's "Liberation Day" on April 2, when the wheeling and dealing started, you can call tomorrow "Letter Day," when the administration will send a bunch of letters to countries to set tariff rates. The South Korea deal mirrors pacts with Japan and the EU, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. Why it matters: The deal brings clarity to the U.S. relationship with a major trading partner. It will be a relief to automakers and other heavily exposed industries. Trump said in a Truth Social post that South Korean imports would face a 15% tariff, while U.S. exports to the country would not be tariffed. South Korea will buy $100 billion in U.S. energy products, and the deal includes a $350 billion investment fund. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said yesterday the Trump administration had also struck trade deals with Cambodia and Thailand. ? Reality check: Like the Japan deal, there are major unanswered questions about exactly how a giant investment mechanism will work, and who will benefit. Keep reading.

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The Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech’s help The Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness. Read more.

Why this matters: More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence, and digital tools such as QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track medications.   Officials have said patients will need to opt in, and that their records will be kept securely. Digital privacy advocates are skeptical that patients will be able to count on that.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US to share biometric data with Chile ‘to track criminals,’ Homeland Security’s Noem says   US wants back millions in COVID relief from local governments over missing reports   Ousted vaccine panel members say rigorous science is being abandoned

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Bessent says new Trump child savings accounts are ‘back door for privatizing Social Security’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the Trump administration was committed to protecting Social Security hours after he said in an interview that a new children’s savings program President Donald Trump signed into law “is a back door for privatizing Social Security.” Read more.

Key points: The children's savings program, Trump Accounts, can be created for babies born in the U.S. and come with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. Much like an individual retirement account, they can grow over time. But Bessent suggested they could eventually be the way Americans save for retirement.   Bessent’s remarks, made at a forum hosted by Breitbart News, came after Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail and in office that he would not touch Social Security. Democrats quickly seized on the comment as a sign the GOP wants to revive a dormant but unpopular push to privatize the long-running retirement program.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Senate rejects bid to halt sale of bombs and rifles to Israel, but Democratic opposition grows   Texas Republicans propose new US House map with more winnable GOP seats   Republicans consider changing Senate rules to speed confirmation of Trump nominees   Senate confirms Trump’s pick for counterterrorism agency, a former Green Beret with extremist ties   Trump meets with candidates for four-star general in break with tradition, White House acknowledges   Trump calls GOP’s Hawley ‘second tier’ senator after bill to ban stock trades in government advances   ICE entices new recruits with patriotism pitch and promise of $50,000 signing bonuses   12 members of Congress sue Trump administration to ensure access to ICE detention centers   Judge orders Trump administration to explain why order to restore Voice of America wasn’t followed   Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged   Pakistan and US reach a trade agreement to develop oil reserves and reduce tariffs   South Korean president hails trade deal with US   Brown University strikes agreement to resolve discrimination complaints and restore federal funding   Trump administration freezes $108M at Duke amid inquiry into alleged racial discrimination   NTSB finds Army chopper in fatal midair crash with plane was above altitude limit   Puerto Rico declares emergency and activates National Guard over water outages   Former Vice President Kamala Harris says she will not run for California governor in 2026   Biden aide denounces GOP probe into former president’s health as baseless and denies any cover-up   Ethics officials say Georgia PAC tied to Ponzi scheme illegally sought to influence elections   Epstein and Maxwell grand juries did not hear directly from victims, prosecutors tell judges

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State Dept: Trump’s “Third Countries” for Immigrants Have Awful Human Rights Records

The United States is building an unprecedented network of deportee dumping grounds, pursuing deals with around a third of the world’s nations to expel immigrants to places where they do not hold citizenship. Once exiled, these third-country nationals are sometimes detained, imprisoned, or in danger of being sent back to their country of origin — which they may have fled to escape violence, torture, or political persecution.

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/29/trump-deport-immigrants-third-country-human-rights/?

As Gaza Starves, Republicans Take Aim at Another Lifeline. Almost No One Noticed.

As the world watches Gaza starve, Republicans in Congress quietly advanced a new ban on funding a United Nations agency that delivers food aid to Palestinians.

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/29/gaza-unrwa-aid-congress-republicans/?

Donald Trump Jr.’s Drone Ventures Could Make a Killing — Thanks to Dad’s Big Beautiful Budget

Last November, shortly after Donald Trump was reelected president, his son Donald Trump Jr. joined a venture capital firm with investments in several defense companies. Later that month, he was appointed the advisory board of Unusual Machines, a small, Florida-based drone company incorporated in Nevada.

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/28/donald-trump-jr-son-drones-unusual-machines/?

USAID Cuts Help Push West Bank Into Extreme Water Shortages

In December, Dura joined the municipalities of Halhul and Hebron to sign a memorandum with the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund a $46 million program shoring up their local water systems.

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/29/usaid-water-west-bank-israel-palestine/?

Trump Prepares to Revoke Lifesaving Abortion Care for Veterans

President Donald Trump appears poised to institute an abortion ban for hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs — escalating his war on reproductive health care by revoking veterans’ access to abortion. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/07/29/trump-veterans-va-abortion-ban/?

Trading partners scramble to reach deals with US ahead of Trump’s deadline for imposing new tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that would have new tariffs on a wide swath of U.S. trading partners to go into effect in seven days — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and alliances.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-mexico-3b03b98296424e59c7dc19a865d21969?