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

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The One Fact About Crime in D.C. Power-Mad Trump Won’t Admit

One common denominator links just about every homicide and many more of the crimes Trump claims he wants to end.

When President Donald Trump spoke of a murdered alumnus of his first administration, his press conference on Monday about crime in the nation’s capital suddenly seemed like more than just another episode of Anything But Jeffrey.“I lost a very good person a while ago, was shot waiting for his wife,“ Trump told reporters five minutes into the 77-minute session in the White House briefing room. “He was in the car. They robbed his car. They shot him. They killed him like it was nothing to it.”The person in question was Mike Gill, a 56-year-old father of three and onetime chief of staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “They” was in fact a single individual, 28-year-old Artel Cunningham.

“She was walking to the car,” Trump said of Gill’s wife, Kristina. “She was—it’s a horror show.”

He continued, “This issue directly impacts the functioning of the federal government, and is a threat to America, really. It’s a threat to our country. We have other cities also that are bad, very bad.”

Trump blamed lax laws and liberal coddling of criminals, but made no mention of a common denominator in the violence that results in thousands of deaths each year. That includes the killing that Trump spoke of again two minutes later. He described Gill as a “fantastic person, [who] was murdered last year in cold blood in a carjacking blocks away from the White House.”

“We all knew him, great person, waiting for his wife as she was walking to the car,” Trump added.

The common denominator: guns.

After fleeing the scene of the shooting on foot, Cunningham fatally shot a 35-year-old father of two named Alberto Vasquez in a carjacking. Cunningham was subsequently shot and killed in New Carrollton, Maryland, by police officers who initially thought he was armed with two pistols, but discovered one was a BB gun.

But Vasquez had no connection with the Trump administration and the president made no mention of him.

Trump did speak with seemingly genuine feeling about 19-year-old Edward Coristine, a former DOGE operative also known as “Big Balls.” Coristine was assaulted by a group of juveniles, reportedly when he attempted to defend a woman friend from an unarmed carjacking. A radio car happened to be nearby and two 15-year-old suspects were arrested, a boy and a girl.

“He thought he was dead with a broken nose and concussion,” Trump said of Coristine. “Can’t believe that he’s alive. He can’t believe it.”

Timing suggests that the battering of “Big Balls” was what triggered Trump to implement measures he is said to have contemplated since his first term. He announced on Monday that he would he taking over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and flooding the streets with federal agents in a city that already has a falling crime rate and the highest ratio of cops to civilians in the country.

But to justify all that, Trump needed victims who had suffered more than Coristine’s bloody nose and scare. He needed people who actually had been killed, and were not just another carjack victim like Vasquez. One had a political connection.

“In June, a 21-year-old Congressional intern was tragically killed after being hit by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting,” Trump said, referring to the death of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym.

Another gun violence victim, little Honesty Cheadle, was brought up during the press conference.

“Horrifically, last July Fourth weekend, a 3-year-old girl was shot in the head and killed while sitting in a car near the Capitol,” Trump said.

He went on, “It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness. And we’re getting rid of the slums too. We have slums here. We’re getting rid of them. I know it’s not politically correct. You’ll say, oh, so terrible. No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live.”

Trump was again using “they,” though now to denote a whole group of people. He was declaring himself prepared to rid the nation’s capital of entire neighborhoods.

But he made no mention of what this and all cities need to get rid of, what was also the common denominator in the killings he cited: easily available illegal guns.

A sense of the MPD’s ongoing effort to address the problem is afforded by weekly reports of firearm recoveries, complete with photos of the weapons and details about the seizures. A tally posted on Monday detailed 60 gun seizures between July 21 and July 27. Two dozen of the weapons had an illegal high-capacity magazine, officially described as a “Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device’.”

Those arrested on gun charges were as young as 14, in that instance a 9 mm ghost gun. A 26-year-old man was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun. A 28-year-old man “of no fixed address,” actually had two guns, both high-end, a Glock 19 and a Glock 43.

Even the homeless in our nation’s capital can pack $900 in firepower.

At 6:56 p.m., on the evening of Trump’s declaration of war on crime in the District of Columbia, police arrived at the scene of a gunshot victim at 1220 12th Street NW. That is just under a mile from the White House.

“Third District Officers responded to the listed location for a shooting,” the public incident report reads. “Once on scene, Officers located V-1 (victim one) suffering from gunshot wounds to the body. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 2044 hours.”

The weapon was listed as a rifle. Police identified the victim as 33-year-old Tymark Cocheasa Wells of 1730 7th Street NW. Wells had noted—prophetically—on Facebook the District’s homicide tally just after his 30th birthday in May of 2022.

“200 homicides DC count ya f----n’ days its more to come.”

Homicides spiked in 2023, but declined in 2024. Wells joined this year’s death toll, the first on Trump’s watch.

But not the first killed by the one preventable factor Trump said nothing about: a gun.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-one-fact-about-crime-in-washington-dc-power-mad-donald-trump-wont-admit/?

ps:Exactly!!

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White House Wants Big Balls to Get Same Medal as Rosa Parks

The move would appeal to Trump’s MAGA base.

An ex-DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls” could end up receiving the highest civilian honor in the United States, placing him in the company of luminaries such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa. Two weeks after 19-year-old Edward Coristine was viciously assaulted during a carjacking in Washington D.C., the White House says it would consider giving the administration official a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his bravery.

The issue was raised during a White House briefing in which press secretary Karoline Leavitt invited MAGA pundit Benny Johnson to ask the first question, as has become customary for Trump-friendly media under the new administration.

After talking about his own personal experience with violence in D.C., thanking Leavitt for Trump’s actions and slamming Democrats, Johnson asked if the president would consider Coristine—better known by his online nickname “Big Balls”—for a Presidential Medal of Freedom in view of his “heroic actions just a few blocks from this building.”

“Perhaps it’s something he would consider,” Leavitt replied.

Coristine, who helped Elon Musk earlier this year to slash the federal government and now works with the Social Security Administration, was left bloodied after he was approached by teenagers at around 3 a.m. in Dupont Circle, a lively neighborhood in northwest Washington.

A 15-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy were subsequently arrested and remain in juvenile jail as the investigation continues.

But the ex-DOGE staffer was elevated to hero status in MAGA world after the president posted a gruesome photo from the crime scene on his Truth Social account, before threatening a federal takeover of D.C. to lower the crime rate.

Last week, Republican Senator Mike Lee even posted a creepy AI-generated clip of Trump placing the Medal of Freedom around Coristine’s neck.

Trump’s threats became reality on Monday, when he announced he would bring in the National Guard and federalize the D.C. metropolitan police to restore law and order—despite the crime rate being at a 30-year low and falling across all categories.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Leavitt said that about 850 officers and agents had been surged across the district.

However, she also revealed that despite the unprecedented presence, only 23 arrests were made—including for low level crimes such as fare evasion and traffic infringements.

“Last night, these arrests consisted of homicide, firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, fare evasion, lewd acts, stalking, possession of a high capacity magazine, fleeing to allude a vehicle, no permits, driving under the influence, reckless driving, and a bench warrant,” she said.

Critics seized on the numbers to claim that the president’s claims of Washington D.C. as a hotbed of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor” were grossly exaggerated.

“With 850 agents making 23 arrests, that’s a 37-1 ratio of force results,” wrote one X user going by the handle White House X Ray. “This isn’t a law enforcement surge—it’s political theatre with a federal budget.”

The White House, however, has hit back, while Trump’s supporters say that Coristine is emblematic of D.C.’s crime problem.

Giving him a Presidential Medal of Freedom would appease Trump’s base and place the 19-year-old in the company of recipients who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

Over the years, this has included presidents such as Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B Johnson.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-may-give-big-balls-edward-coristine-presidential-medal-of-freedom-the-same-medal-as-rosa-parks/?

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Trump Loses It at People Being Mean About His Putin Summit

The talks are critical for Trump, who promised to end the Ukraine war on “day one” of his presidency.

President Donald Trump has lashed out at his former national security adviser and “very unfair” media who have warned that he may be entering a trap at his high-stakes meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In an angry tirade on Wednesday morning, Trump accused the press of conspiring against him in the lead up to Friday’s Russia summit, claiming the “fake news” was “working overtime” to give him less than favorable coverage.

He also referred to St. Petersburg by its Soviet-era name “Leningrad,” prompting mockery across social media.

“Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, “Putin has already won.” What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING.

“The Fake News is working overtime... If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal!”

Bolton was Trump’s national security adviser during his first administration, but was ousted in 2019 amid disputes over how to handle major foreign policy challenges like Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.

In recent days, he and other analysts have characterized the summit as a strategic win for Putin, and warned that the Russian president may be laying a trap to “bring things back in his direction” over Ukraine.

“I think Putin knows he pushed Trump sort of beyond the envelope, and he‘s going to try and roll him back in, using all of his best KGB training,” Bolton told CNN on Tuesday night’s The Source.

“I think from Putin‘s point of view, in an ideal world, he would get Trump talking about his draft, quote unquote, peace plan and maybe even get Trump to adopt it as his.”

Trump’s historic meeting with Putin will take place on Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on the northern edge of Anchorage, Alaska.

It will be the first time the top U.S. and Russian leaders have met in more than four years, and a critical juncture for Trump, who came to office repeatedly promising he could end the war in Ukraine on “day one” of his presidency.

Since then, he has become increasingly frustrated with Putin’s refusal to negotiate a genuine ceasefire, even acknowledging in May that his Russian counterpart was feeding him “bulls--t.”

But after initially framing the summit as peace talks, Trump now says he is approaching the meeting as a “feel-out” session, essentially lowering expectations in the event that it does not achieve genuine progress in ending the war.

The White House on Tuesday softened its language even further, suggesting it was merely a “listening exercise.”

“I think the President of the United States getting in the room with the President of Russia, sitting face to face, rather than speaking over the telephone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.

Trump’s angry social media post against Bolton and the “Fake News” came as one of his international allies, Hungary President Viktor Orban, mitigated the importance of the summit by declaring Russia had already won.

“We are talking now as if this were an open-ended war situation, but it is not. The Ukrainians have lost the war. Russia has won this war,” Orban told the ‘Patriot’ YouTube channel in an interview.

“The only question is when and under what circumstances will the West, who are behind the Ukrainians, admit that this has happened and what will result from all this.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-loses-it-at-people-being-mean-about-his-putin-summit/?

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MAGA Freaks Out Over Trump’s Plot to Reclassify Weed

Donald Trump said he’s weighing knocking marijuana off its place as a Schedule I drug.

MAGA nation is losing it over President Donald Trump’s plot to reclassify marijuana under federal law, warning that such a move would lead to the deterioration of American society.

Trump has confirmed he’s weighing whether to knock marijuana down from a Schedule I drug—currently lumped in with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy—to a Schedule III substance, alongside ketamine, anabolic steroids, and certain prescription meds. The change wouldn’t make marijuana legal nationwide, but it would slash federal restrictions and open the door to expanded medical research.

“We’re looking at reclassification and we’ll make a determination over the next, I would say over the next few weeks, and that determination hopefully will be the right one. It’s very complicated subject,” Trump told reporters, triggering a cloud of MAGA despair.

Some high-profile MAGA commentators are leading the freak out. “No country of potheads has ever thrived, or ever achieved anything at all,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh fumed on X, claiming cities that legalize marijuana deteriorate overnight.

Podcaster Jack Posobiec doubled down on the panic: He said on his podcast he opposed the idea because he did not “want to have to be smelling weed anytime I take my kids anywhere in a city or a national park.”

Speaking with Axios, Michael Knowles, a conservative political commentator, argued that marijuana is the “liberal intoxicant of choice,” and that the right prefers “traditional pleasures” like tobacco and alcohol.

“The left is more comfortable just kind of vegging out, but they should not be, because sloth is bad for the individual and for society,” he added.

Not all MAGA-aligned figures are opposed. Commentator Rogan O’Handley wrote on X that rescheduling marijuana “doesn’t legalize it, but it does allow for more medical research.” It would undercut “Big Pharma,” “Big Prison,” and “Big Alcohol,” he wrote.

CJ Pearson, another MAGA influencer, said Trump’s openness to rescheduling marijuana “is research driven” and reflects concern for “countless veterans whose lives have been changed” by medicinal cannabis.

Currently, 24 states have legalized recreational weed, and 40 allow it for medical use. A Trump reclassification would supercharge an already multibillion-dollar industry, making pot easier to buy, sell, and study.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

In a statement to The Daily Beast earlier this week, a White House spokesperson acknowledged that a reclassification process was initiated under President Joe Biden, but that a final decision has not been made.

“All policy and legal requirements and implications are being considered,” Abigail Jackson said. “The only interest guiding the president’s policy decisions is what is in the best interest of the American people.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-freaks-out-over-donald-trumps-plot-to-reclassify-weed/?

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Receipts Expose Giant Problem With Trump’s DOGE Math

Politico suggests Elon Musk’s former department has saved less than 5 percent of its claimed savings from canceling contracts.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has vastly exaggerated how much money it has saved taxpayers through its aggressive handling of federal contracts and has inflated the figure by billions of dollars, according to an in-depth analysis.

DOGE, the department previously headed by Elon Musk, has claimed it saved $52.8 billion since July by canceling waves of federal contracts it deemed wasteful or unnecessary.

However, Politico’s analysis of DOGE’s so-called “Wall of Receipts,” a database on the department’s website, found that of the $32.7 billion worth of contracts it was able to examine, the actual savings amounted to just $1.4 billion, based on a review of more than 10,000 canceled contracts.

Even more damning, this $1.4 billion figure cannot be used to reduce the deficit, as DOGE has often claimed, because it must be returned to agencies, which are mandated by Congress to spend the money appropriated to them.

Politico suggested DOGE’s figures are way off due to “faulty math,” including counting the maximum amount that could possibly be spent on a contract as a saving if it is canceled, even if the government would never have come close to spending that amount.

“That’s the equivalent of basically taking out a credit card with a $20,000 credit limit, canceling it and then saying, ‘I’ve just saved $20,000,’” Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School, told Politico.

“Anything that’s been said publicly about [DOGE’s] savings is meaningless.”

One example from DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” is the claim it saved $2.9 billion by canceling a contract for a shelter in Pecos, Texas, used to house undocumented migrant children. But in February, DOGE said canceling the contract for the now-empty center would save $215 million annually.

DOGE arrived at the $2.9 billion figure by taking the maximum possible cost to run the center—$3.3 billion—subtracting $428 million already awarded or obligated, and calling the difference a saving.

But the $3.3 billion represented the cost of operating the facility at full capacity, amounting to around 3,000 children, for 365 days a year for five years.

The White House denied DOGE is misleading the public, insisting the department has produced “historic savings for the American people.”

“The DOGE Wall of Receipts provides the latest and most accurate information following a thorough assessment, which takes time. Updates to the DOGE savings page will continue to be made promptly, and departments and agencies will keep highlighting the massive savings DOGE is achieving,” White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told the Daily Beast. “DOGE works directly with agencies to calculate and confirm all savings associated with contracts. Savings actions can be attributed to terminations, ending option periods, descoping and ceiling reductions. All numbers are rigorously scrubbed with agency procurement officials and updated in real time based on current information.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/receipts-expose-giant-problem-with-trumps-doge-math/?

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Trump announces Strait and Stallone for Kennedy Center Honors and says he'll host the awards show August 13, 2025 President Donald Trump named country music star George Strait, “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone and singer Gloria Gaynor among the first batch of Kennedy Center Honors nominees under his leadership as the center's chairman. He also said he will host the awards program.

Read more

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Trump's goal for Putin summit

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos via Getty Images

President Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders today that he'll use Friday's summit in Alaska to get a better understanding of whether a full peace deal with Russia is possible, sources familiar with the hour-plus call tell Axios' Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo. This is a concrete target that aligns with the objectives of Ukrainians and Europeans, who had been unsure what Trump actually hoped to achieve. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed the idea of an unconditional ceasefire. Trump doubled down later in remarks at the Kennedy Center, saying Putin must agree to a ceasefire at their summit or face "very severe consequences." Trump previously downplayed the likelihood of major breakthroughs in Alaska, calling it a "feel-out meeting." But French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who were also on the call, both confirmed afterward that Trump said he wants to try to obtain a ceasefire. ? Zelensky told Trump on the call that "Putin cannot be trusted," one of the sources said. That source said Trump told the leaders that he's not from the region and can't make any final decisions on territory, but he thinks land swaps will be needed as part of a peace deal. "Trump said it's Vladimir and Volodymyr who have to discuss territories with each other, not him," the source added. Behind the scenes: The other source said Macron took "very tough" positions and told Trump "a meeting is a very big thing to give to Putin." The source added: "Trump didn't like that." An administration official told Axios: "Yes, the president hasn't been happy about Putin as of late. But that's gone. He's optimistic. ... We're optimistic. But we're not crazy. This is hard." Go deeper.

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Satellites under fire

NASA plans to decommission satellite missions that gather information on planet-warming pollution and other climate vital signs as soon as October. The destruction of the satellites marks the latest step by the Trump administration to scale back climate science.

Controversial campaign

On social media, the Department of Homeland Security invokes nostalgia in an attempt to recruit new employees. But some historians and political experts see alarmingly nationalist undertones that appeal to a specifically White and Christian identity.

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White House's close eye on Lewandowski

Corey Lewandowski doesn't want to clock out of his temporary government gig. So, administration officials believe, he's avoiding clocking in, Axios' Brittany Gibson and Marc Caputo write.

• Why it matters: Lewandowski, a longtime and controversial Trump adviser, is wielding outsized influence at the Department of Homeland Security as a "special government employee" whose work is supposed to be temporary.

Administration officials tell Axios they believe Lewandowski — a constant presence with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who acts as her de facto chief of staff — has gamed the system by undercounting his work hours to avoid leaving his unpaid job when he should have.

• White House officials began monitoring Lewandowski's time at work in recent weeks, Axios has learned.

? Zoom in: Special government employees, known as SGEs, are limited to 130 days per year of unpaid work. Like recent SGE Elon Musk, they can be in senior positions and still have private employment and clients, unlike typical government workers.

• The department told Axios he has worked only 69 days since he was hired shortly after Noem's Jan. 25 confirmation.
• Four administration sources tell Axios they believe that's a gross undercount, and that he's exceeded his allowed time.

? The intrigue: Lewandowski's work at DHS has attracted media attention because of his close relationship with Noem. The two, married to others, have long denied rumors they're romantically involved.

• But concerns about their relationship led President Trump to nix the idea of allowing Noem to make Lewandowski her chief of staff.

"Everybody's scared sh*tless" of Lewandowski, a former DHS official told Axios. "The feeling is that if they go up against Corey, they're going to lose. And I would have to say they're right."

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?️ Trump raises summit stakes

President Trump just upped the ante for tomorrow's summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin — both for the war in Ukraine and his own credibility, Axios' Dave Lawler and Marc Caputo write.

• Three advisers who've been in the room as Trump discussed the summit are adamant he's not bluffing.

Why it matters: This is no longer just a "feel-out meeting," as Trump originally labeled it.

• He privately told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders that his goal was a ceasefire, and then publicly threatened Putin with "very severe consequences" if he doesn't agree to stop the fighting.

A senior U.S. official told Axios: "This is Trump being the most serious he has ever been and the most direct. He wants to show the world."

• "Now the onus is on Putin: Agree to a ceasefire or show real movement or there will be severe repercussions. Putin has to show very positive movement."

Between the lines: Trump threatened "serious consequences" if Putin didn't agree to a ceasefire by last Friday, only to change course when Putin proposed a meeting.

• A second U.S. official insisted this time is different — that Putin "tapped Trump along," then requested this meeting, and now he has to deliver.

Go deeper: 3 scenarios for the superpower summit.

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? Border crime drop

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

Several U.S. border communities saw violent crime drop below the national average in 2024, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from an analysis of new FBI data. Why it matters: The findings from last year run counter to claims by President Trump and GOP leaders, who painted border towns as crime hotspots because of newly arrived immigrants. ? By the numbers: Eleven border cities examined annually by Axios — Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio and El Paso in Texas; Sunland Park in New Mexico; Nogales and Yuma in Arizona; and Calexico and San Diego in California — had an average violent crime rate of 356.5 per 100,000 residents. That was a sizable drop from 2023 and was slightly below the national average of 359.1 per 100,000 residents last year. Early numbers for 2025 indicate that overall violent crime in the border cities is continuing to drop, as Trump's lockdown of the border has greatly reduced illegal crossings. Keep reading.

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Trump’s friendly-to-frustrated relationship with Putin takes the spotlight at the Alaska summit Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska could be a decisive moment for both the war in Ukraine and the U.S. leader’s anomalous relationship with his Russian counterpart. Read more.

Why this matters: Trump has long boasted that he’s gotten along well with Putin and spoken admiringly of him, even praising him as “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine. But in recent months, he’s expressed frustrations with Putin and threatened more sanctions on his country.   Trump has offered conflicting messages about his expectations for the summit. He has called it “really a feel-out meeting” to gauge Putin’s openness to a ceasefire but also warned of “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to end the war.   The White House has dismissed any suggestion that Trump’s agreeing to sit down with Putin is a win for the Russian leader. But critics have suggested that the meeting gives Putin an opportunity to get in Trump’s ear to the detriment of Ukraine, whose leader was excluded from the summit.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump and Putin will meet at an Alaska military base long used to counter Russia Zelenskyy meets with UK’s Starmer as Europe braces for Trump-Putin summit   Germany and allies to send major military aid package to Ukraine using new NATO supply line

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DC residents protest as White House says federal agents will be on patrol 24/7 Residents in one Washington, D.C., neighborhood lined up Wednesday to protest the increased police presence after the White House said the number of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock. Read more.

Recent developments: After law enforcement set up a vehicle checkpoint along the busy 14th Street Northwest corridor, hecklers shouted, “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets.” Some protesters stood at the intersection before the checkpoint and urged drivers to turn away from it.   The city’s Democratic mayor walked a political tightrope, referring to the takeover as an “authoritarian push” at one point and later framing the infusion of officers as a boost to public safety, though one with few specific barometers for success. President Trump has said crime in the city was at emergency levels that only such federal intervention could fix — even as District of Columbia leaders pointed to statistics showing violent crime at a 30-year low after a sharp rise two years ago.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump pledged to move homeless people from Washington. What we know and don’t know about his plans   DC Mayor Bowser walks delicate line with Trump, reflecting the city’s precarious position   Federal takeover brings confusion over command of DC police   New Mexico governor declares state of emergency in rural county afflicted by crime, drug use   Jury finds Texas couple guilty of concealing and harboring bakery workers in the US illegally   An appeals court lets the Trump administration suspend or end billions in foreign aid   Trump administration ordered to restore some withheld grant funding to UCLA   Trump administration fires all members of transportation advisory committees   Trump rolls back Biden-era antitrust order   Federal judge refuses to block Alabama law banning DEI initiatives in public schools   CDC shooting marks latest in a string of hostility directed at health workers. Many aren’t surprised   Treasury Secretary Bessent calls for a ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks   GE Appliances shifts more production to US as part of a $3 billion investment   US sanctions Mexican drug cartel associates accused of scamming elderly Americans   Brazil’s Lula announces $5.5 billion in credits for exporters hit by US tariffs   South Africa dismisses U.S. human rights report as ‘deeply flawed’   NY attorney general sues Zelle’s parent company after Trump administration drops similar case   9 people plead not guilty in a Texas elections probe involving ‘vote harvesting’   Failed New Mexico candidate gets 80 years for convictions in shootings at officials’ homes   Melania Trump demands Hunter Biden retract ‘extremely salacious’ Epstein comments

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Trump’s New Stats Boss Exposed as Part of Jan. 6 MAGA Mob

Unearthed images show E.J. Antoni among the crowds of the president’s supporters.

President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the Bureau of Labor Statistics was hanging around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, footage shows, prompting a panicked scramble from the White House to paint him as a mere bystander.

The president announced that he was nominating Heritage Foundation economist and Project 2025 architect E.J. Antoni to replace the previous stats chief, whom Trump abruptly fired after receiving several months of weak jobs data.

The choice to appoint a MAGA hardliner to a position that requires nonpartisan professional analysis sparked immediate fears that BLS data will no longer be reliable if the Senate confirms Antoni.

Adding to those partisan concerns, it turns out Antoni—who also happens to have a giant picture of Adolf Hitler’s favorite battleship hanging in his office—was at the Capitol on the day a mob of Trump supporters violently tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Video from the social media website Parler, archived by ProPublica, shows Antoni walking through the crowd on the west side of the Capitol grounds at about 1:50 p.m. Other footage shows Antoni on the east side of the building, walking away from it.

At the time, the crowd had removed police barricades and surrounded the building, but had not yet entered. Police were struggling to hold off the mob from taking over the inauguration platform, NBC News reported.

Reached by NBC, Antoni declined to comment.

A White House official told the outlet that he was in Washington that day for meetings at an office that was blocks away from the Capitol, and had wandered over after seeing coverage on the news. He did not cross any barricades or participate in any demonstrations, the official said.

“These pictures show EJ Antoni, a bystander to the events of January 6th, observing and then leaving the Capitol area,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told NBC in a statement. “EJ was in town for meetings, and it is wrong and defamatory to suggest EJ engaged in anything inappropriate or illegal.”

That would suggest that some of the J6 rioters did do something “inappropriate or illegal,” which the Trump administration has long denied. On his first day in office, Trump ended the Department of Justice investigation into the attack—which a bipartisan Senate report found was linked to seven deaths—and either pardoned or commuted the sentences of all 1,500 defendants.

Prosecutors had scoured video evidence to identify and charge participants who entered the Capitol or encouraged the mob from outside.

Antoni may have indeed been a mere bystander at the Capitol, but his commitment to Trump was on display this week when he suggested a novel way for dealing with bad jobs numbers: getting rid of monthly jobs reports altogether.

Economists—including former Republican officials—called the proposal a “disastrously bad idea.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-scrambles-to-explain-why-trumps-labor-statistics-boss-ej-antoni-was-at-the-capitol-on-jan-6/?

ps:It's picks like this that should have people wondering what kind of law and order president he really is when he makes picks that this and many of the others that he's picked!!!!!

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Trump’s Unhinged D.C. Post: ‘The White House Is in Charge’

The president is continuing his crusade against what he argues is uncontrollable crime in the capital.

President Donald Trump has doubled down on his campaign against crime in Washington, D.C., with another Truth Social post in which he boldly proclaimed: “The White House is in charge.”

The post, published on Wednesday night, repeats many of the same talking points Trump used—and was subsequently criticized for—at the Monday press conference where he announced his decision to federalize D.C. police.

In it, Trump argues, “Washington, D.C., has one of the Highest Rates of Crime in the World, more than many of the most violent Third World Countries.”

He continues, ”The City’s Homicide Rate is higher than places notorious for their violence, such as Mexico City, Bogota, Islamabad, and Addis Ababa — Almost ten times higher than Fallujah, Iraq.”

”If D.C. were a State, it would have the highest Homicide Rate of any State in America.”

In the lengthy post, Trump continued to detail the number of ways crime has reportedly taken hold in D.C., including “gang youth violence” that is ”so common it goes largely unreported” and the fact that citizens living in fear have given up on calling the police, “lest they be targeted.”

He ended his screed with, “D.C. has been under siege from thugs and killers, but now, D.C. is back under Federal Control where it belongs.”

”The White House is in charge. The Military and our Great Police will liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!”

Following the Monday press conference where he made similar claims, news outlets were quick to check the veracity of his statements. PolitiFact noted that the data Trump was referring to was from 2023, and that D.C.’s homicide rate has fallen “considerably” since then.

In 2024, D.C.’s homicide rate was 27.3 per 100,000 people, with a Justice Department press release issued in early January prior to Trump’s inauguration noting that violent crime in the district was down 35 percent, making it the lowest it has been in over 30 years.

The New York Times’ report on Trump’s claims explains that 49 cities around the world have higher homicide rates than D.C., including three capital cities and six other U.S. cities, including St. Louis, New Orleans and Detroit.

Determining that Trump’s claim that D.C.’s homicide rate was “number one that we can find anywhere in the world” was false, PolitiFact wrote, ”Trump stretched an outdated homicide rate into an inaccurate blanket statement.”

Of his decision to federalize D.C. police and deploy the National Guard, Trump told reporters on Wednesday, “I don’t want to call a national emergency. If I have to I will. But I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.”

Under Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, the president can take emergency control of D.C.’s police, but unless Congress passes a law extending the president’s control, it lasts only 30 days.

Trump confirmed to reporters that he would be seeking “long term extensions” on these powers, adding that in the long term, “We’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to DC.”

Tuesday night’s deployment of officers on the city saw 43 arrests, according to The Guardian, a smaller number than the 76 arrests that day. Agency data gathered in the report suggested an average of 56 daily arrests in 2024. A White House official warned that “significantly higher” numbers of National Guard troops were expected in coming days, including 24-hour patrols by federal agents.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-unhinged-dc-post-the-white-house-is-in-charge/?

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Trump’s Trial Run for a Police State

The Justice Department announced in January that violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low in 2024. So far this year, it’s down 26 percent from that. This, in other words, is a curious time for the president to declare that the nation’s capital is a violent cesspool that demands the sort of crime-fighting expertise that only a 79-year-old man who fetishizes dictators and whose entire worldview is perpetually stuck in the 1980s can provide.

https://theintercept.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops/?

Trump’s Use of Troops for Policing Hasn’t Been Seen Since America Was Ruled by a King

The United States crept closer to becoming a full-blown police state yesterday when President Donald Trump made good on a promise to further militarize the nation’s capital. Trump threatened to employ similar tactics in cities across the country as the Pentagon evaluates plans for a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” composed of hundreds of National Guard troops poised to surge into American cities.

https://theintercept.com/2025/08/12/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize/?

Veterans Are “Guinea Pigs” in Trump’s First National Abortion Ban Experiment

Ash Wallis knows she likely wouldn’t survive another pregnancy. Doctors said as much years earlier after she suffered a pulmonary embolism following a miscarriage, and got a second blood clot. Getting pregnant again isn’t a risk she is willing or able to take.

https://theintercept.com/2025/08/13/veterans-abortion-ban-sexual-assault-trump/?

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Trump Admits He’s Willing to Give Pariah Putin Crucial Concession

The president has described the summit as a chess game.

President Donald Trump is considering opening up some of Alaska’s natural resources to Russia and offering part of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals to Vladimir Putin in exchange for ending the war.

But Trump also admitted there’s a 25 percent chance that Friday’s Russia summit could be a flop and he has not ruled out adopting wide-ranging sanctions to get a peace deal.

“It’s like a chess game,” he told Fox host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday.

“This meeting sets up the second meeting - but there is a 25 percent chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting.”

The comments are the first time that Trump, who came to office promising to end the Ukraine war on “day one” of his presidency, has put a figure on his chances of failure.

But the administration is already facing a backlash over the summit amid reports that Trump is considering giving Putin access to Alaska’s natural resources—something that could bolster Russia’s strategic interests in the region—as well as offering Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in territories occupied by Russia.

“So hang on... Trump is going to offer to open up [sic] ALASKA TO THE RUSSIANS??” Trump critic and former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger wrote on X.

“Wow. Let’s see Republicans defend this.”

Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867, and many Russian nationalists have resented it ever since.

Putin has also lamented the loss of the region in recent years, signing a decree in 2024 declaring the sale to the U.S. “illegal.”

News that Trump was preparing to offer the state’s natural resources to Moscow was first reported in The Telegraph.

Asked about the plan, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Daily Beast: “Anonymous sources claiming to know what President Trump is ‘considering’ don’t know anything.

“Only the President has direct experience with looking foreign leaders in the eye to try to resolve conflicts around the world, and only he knows how best to move forward towards peace.”

However, asked about it in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters: “We’ll see what happens.”

Speaking on Kilmeade’s radio show on Thursday morning, Trump also acknowledged he was considering a range of “incentives and disincentives” to secure a deal to end the war in Ukraine, but added: “I don’t want to play my hand in public.”

Asked if he would consider adopting the sanctions package pushed by senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal - which, among other things, suggests 500 percent tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, gas, and uranium - Trump replied: “Oh sure, if it’s not solved.”

Trump’s historic meeting with Putin will take place on Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on the northern edge of Anchorage, Alaska.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been fighting for survival ever since Russia’s brutal invasion in February 2022, has not been invited.

Ahead of the meeting on Thursday, Putin convened top officials at the Kremlin, where he said he believed the US was making “quite energetic efforts to stop the fighting, end the crisis, and reach agreements of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.”

But some analysts believe that the Russian president—who has frustrated Trump in recent months— has the upper hand, using the meeting to bring Trump closer to his demands.

Among the things Russia wants to discuss, in addition to controlling Ukraine itself, are economic links and nuclear arms.

“I think Putin knows he pushed Trump sort of beyond the envelope, and he‘s going to try and roll him back in, using all of his best KGB training,” Bolton told CNN on Tuesday night’s The Source.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admits-hes-willing-to-give-pariah-putin-crucial-consession/?

ps:So he's giving away Ukrainian stuff without first asking the president of Ukraine if that's OK??

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New Inflation Data Deals Stinging Blow to Trump’s Tariff Claims

Wholesale prices showed the largest monthly increase in three years in July, undercutting the president’s claim that foreigners are bearing the brunt of tariffs.

The latest data show rising prices remain a major threat to the U.S. economy, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that inflation does not pose a problem as the effect of tariffs trickles down.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) released Thursday showed a surprising jump in wholesale prices beyond what economists had expected, indicating higher prices could soon hit American consumers.

The PPI increased 0.9 percent last month, excluding volatile food and energy prices—its biggest monthly jump since June 2022. Economists had anticipated it would be up 0.2 percent.

PPI also showed that wholesale inflation was up 3.3 percent from a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase since February.

The new numbers are bad news for the president, who for months has raged at the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates despite uncertainty around the impact of his tariffs.

While the PPI isn’t followed as closely as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), it is among the indicators used to benchmark increasing prices.

“A CPI spike is next,” warned Peter Schiff, chief economist for Euro Pacific Asset Management, in an X post. “So much for rate cuts. I wonder who Trump will fire for rigging the PPI to make him look bad.”

Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on August 1 hours after the July jobs report showed growth had slowed dramatically.

Trump has claimed repeatedly and loudly that foreign exporters—not American consumers—would shoulder the cost of increased tariffs.

“So much for foreigners paying tariffs. If they did, PPI would be falling,” wrote Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for RSM US, on X.

He added that the idea foreigners were paying for tariffs “got destroyed” and that wholesale inflation would pass through to consumers.

“We’re going to have some issues with pricing around the holidays,” Brusaelas said on the Schwab Network.

Even Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business—who has earned a reputation for being soft on Trump—reacted to the latest data on Thursday with concern.

“It’s also troubling because, in the core PPI, it was up nine-tenths of a percent versus an estimate of two-tens of a percent,” she said. “Year-over-year, the core up 3.7 percent, also higher than the estimated expectation.”

The markets took a dip early on Thursday as investors reacted to the wholesale inflation numbers. It is unclear how the data could impact the Federal Reserve’s thinking about cutting rates at its next meeting in September.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inflation-indicator-delivers-nasty-blow-to-trumps-economy/?

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Pardon Official Reveals What Trump Has Asked About Maxwell

The Justice Department’s clemency office has answered a FOIA request about correspondence on Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

President Donald Trump has held no official discussions with the Justice Department’s clemency office about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the Daily Beast has learned.

Trump has turned to Maxwell—who was convicted in December 2021 for her role in disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence—as he seeks to quell a rising revolt from his base over the Epstein files.

The Trump administration moved Maxwell to a lower-security prison camp in Texas following talks with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney. The meeting has led to feverish speculation that the president is considering pardoning the 63-year-old.

The president continues to face widespread, bipartisan calls to release the Epstein files after the Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded in a July memo that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 and no “client list” of wealthy co-conspirators exists. Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told Trump his name appears in the Epstein files.

While Trump has not commented on whether he might pardon Maxwell—only admitting he has the power to do so if he wishes—the Beast can reveal no official talks have been held between his administration and its pardon attorney regarding Maxwell since her arrest in July 2020.

On August 2, the Beast submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA), which advises the president on clemency, asking for “any documentation that discusses the potential pardoning of Ghislaine Maxwell, since July 1, 2020.” Led by the pardon attorney, the office operates under the deputy attorney general and, in consultation with the attorney general, reviews and processes clemency petitions.

The OPA replied Wednesday: “Please be advised that a search has been conducted in the Office of the Pardon Attorney but no responsive records subject to the Freedom of Information Act were located.”

However, Trump has repeatedly bypassed the Justice Department’s normal clemency review.

In 2017, Trump issued a pardon for Joe Arpaio—a former sheriff of Maricopa County, who has drawn rebuke for his treatment of undocumented immigrants in custody—before he was sentenced for criminal contempt, bypassing traditional DOJ review.

On his Inauguration Day, Trump also issued sweeping pardons for all participants in the Jan. 6 riots.

Trump appointed Edward R. Martin Jr.—a former chair of the Missouri Republican Party who helped organize Stop the Steal rallies and served as an attorney for Jan. 6 defendants—as pardon attorney in May.

Martin’s selection came after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired Elizabeth G. Oyer in March after she declined to recommend restoring gun rights to Trump supporter Mel Gibson, who was convicted of a misdemeanor for domestic violence in 2011.

Within days, Martin discussed full pardons for several far-right figures—including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and several Proud Boys members—as well as for two former Jan. 6 defendants in prison for unrelated charges.

Martin described in an X post the rationale for granting pardons as “No MAGA left behind.”

Epstein’s shadow continues to follow Trump.

After a major trawl of the Epstein files, which Trump pledged to release during his presidential campaign, Bondi told Trump in May that his name came up “multiple” times. Trump has denied engaging in any criminal conduct with Epstein and Maxwell, and no evidence exists to suggest otherwise.

During his first term in 2020, when asked about Maxwell after her arrest, Trump said, “I wish her well.”

After her conviction in New York, Maxwell was convicted in June 2022 and handed a 20-year sentence. She and her family continue to protest her innocence and are pushing forward with an appeal.

Earlier this month, she was transferred to the lower-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, days after she met with Blanche. Speculation over a Maxwell pardon has grown ever since.

Any such move would cause further fury—not least among Trump’s MAGA voter base, which is already irate that Trump’s electoral promise to release the files remains unfulfilled.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, the Department of Justice, and Maxwell’s representatives for comment.

Maxwell’s family declined to comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pardon-official-reveals-what-trump-has-asked-about-maxwell/?

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Trump Reveals Exactly How We’ll Know if Putin Meeting Is a Disaster

The president shared his negotiation strategy with Fox News ahead of his face-to-face with the Russian president.

President Donald Trump said we’ll know if Vladimir Putin agrees to a ceasefire with Ukraine “in the first couple of minutes” of the two men’s Alaska summit on Friday. “If it’s a bad meeting, I’m not calling anybody. I’m going home,” Trump said on a Thursday phone interview with Brian Kilmeade on his Fox News Radio segment. “We’re going to be calling President Zelensky if it’s a good meeting,” the president said. He compared the summit to a “chess game” and projected a 25 percent chance that he and the Russian president would fail to reach an agreement. “He wants the whole thing,” Trump said, alluding to Putin’s desire to take over Ukraine, but claimed that Putin is more amenable to making peace because of a “certain relationship” he has with Trump. The president didn’t sound so confident at a Wednesday press conference; when asked if he believed he could “convince [Putin] to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine,” Trump replied with a rare statement of defeat, “I guess the answer to that is ‘no,’ because I’ve had this conversation.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-reveals-exactly-how-well-know-if-putin-meeting-is-a-disaster/?

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Trump wants to hide the consequences of his bad policies by manipulating BLS data—it won’t work

Yesterday, Trump announced that he will nominate E.J. Antoni as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Antoni has repeatedly and unfairly attacked the agency he’d be set to run, contributed to the right-wing Project 2025 policy blueprint, and in his role at the Heritage Foundation has stretched the truth about the economy to make partisan political claims. This comes after Trump fired the former BLS commissioner after the monthly jobs numbers released in early August showed a sharp slowdown in the pace of U.S. job growth. Trump’s announcement makes it clear that he expects the BLS commissioner to only release data that shows the economy is booming—even if it means the data must be manipulated or changed by political appointees. This move is undemocratic—and economically dangerous.

https://www.epi.org/press/trump-wants-to-hide-the-consequences-of-his-bad-policies-by-manipulating-bls-data-it-wont-work/?

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Judge strikes down Trump administration guidance against diversity programs at schools and colleges August 14, 2025 In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland stated that the Education Department violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that continued with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Read more   New lawsuit challenges Trump's federal takeover of DC police department as crackdown intensifies August 15, 2025 The nation’s capital is challenging President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department in court, hours after his administration stepped up its crackdown on policing by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department, with all the powers of a police chief. Read more

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Trump Meets Putin

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, at 3:30 pm ET today to discuss the war in Ukraine. The talk—which will be conducted one-on-one with two translators present—will be followed by lunch with their delegations and a joint press conference.   While Putin and Trump have had several phone calls this year, this will be their first in-person meeting since 2018. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend, though he did join Trump and other NATO leaders in a virtual meeting Wednesday. During that call, Trump affirmed his commitment to a ceasefire and agreed not to discuss peace deal parameters, including possible territorial divisions, without Ukraine present. Putin reportedly seeks to add US-Russia nuclear arms relations to today’s agenda. Trump told reporters his aim is to secure a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.   Watch live coverage here.   ?️ Putin's summit long game For President Trump, today's summit in Alaska is all about "the first couple of minutes" — that's how long it'll take to know whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about peace, Axios' Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid write. Putin, by contrast, seems to be taking a longer view. Why it matters: For the Russian leader, this summit (expected to start 3:30 p.m. ET) is about more than a ceasefire — more even than Ukraine. He'll visit the U.S. as a peer, not a pariah, with an opportunity to nudge superpower relations onto a more favorable course. But he'll also have to contend with Trump's desire for immediate results. ? Breaking it down: This is Putin's first meeting with a U.S. president since 2021 — before the full-scale invasion — and his first time on U.S. soil in a decade. He'll have a chance to repair his fraying relationship with Trump and try to influence his thinking on any number of key issues. "Putin will strongly promote the idea that the U.S. and Russia are two great nations that should maintain good relations regardless of local conflicts," predicts Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya. ? Behind the scenes: Ukrainian officials are bracing for virtually any outcome from Anchorage — for Trump to call Zelensky over to Alaska, or freeze him out once again. What to watch: Trump said he expects to hold a joint press conference if things go well. If they don't, he'll walk out alone. Keep reading.

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✍️ Scoop: White House loyalty ratings

The West Wing has created a scorecard that rates 553 companies and trade associations on how hard they worked to support and promote President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," a senior White House official tells Mike.

Why it matters: Trump works transactionally, and companies have rushed to pay demonstrative homage. Now, senior aides will have data to consult when considering corporate requests.

• The unusual spreadsheet fits this administration's proclivity for micromanaging companies and administering loyalty tests.

Factors in the rating include social media posts, press releases, video testimonials, ads, attendance at White House events, and other engagement related to "OB3," as the megabill is known internally.

• The organizations' support is ranked as strong, moderate or low.
• Axios has learned that "examples of good partners" on the White House list include Uber, DoorDash, United, Delta, AT&T, Cisco, Airlines for America and the Steel Manufacturers Association.

? How it works: The data, which is being circulated to White House senior staff, will be used as a reality check when someone from K Street calls and says, for instance, that they'd "love to catch up — was so great working with you to pass the big, beautiful bill."

• The ranking "helps us see who really goes out and helps vs. those who just come in and pay lip service," the official said.

? What's next: We're told this is an evolving document, with the organizations' engagement on other presidential initiatives to be added.

• "If groups/companies want to start advocating more now for the tax bill or additional administration priorities, we will take that into account in our grading," the official said.

ps:How sick is that?? Loyalty to a cult leader not to the Counrty or the people!!!!!!!!!!

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Trump and Epstein’s Twisted Race to Sleep With Princess Diana: Author

The president tried to woo Princess Diana. She reportedly said that he gave her the “creeps.”

Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump once competed to sleep with Princess Diana to further their own celebrity status, says the president’s longtime biographer, Michael Wolff.

Wolff made the revelation on the Daily Beast’s “Inside Trump’s Head” podcast, telling host Joanna Coles that both Epstein and Trump attempted to woo the British princess and, in the process, reach the apex of the world’s most prominent social networks.

“They had a competition, Trump and Epstein,” Wolff said. “Of who would be the one, the first one to sleep with Princess Diana? ... They just understood, what could you get from these people? Both Trump and Epstein. What can you get from somebody, is the question you would always ask about anybody.”

Wolff said that the two New York-born businessmen each sought to further their fame and fortune. Diana could do just that.

The former British TV anchor Selina Scott wrote in 2015 that Trump saw Diana as “the ultimate trophy wife,” adding that he tried to impress her after she divorced then-Prince Charles in 1996. He reportedly sent her huge bouquets at Kensington Palace.

The always-polite Diana responded with a thank-you letter for the flowers. However, she reportedly told Scott in private that Trump “gives me the creeps.”

Trump has spoken publicly about his desire to sleep with Diana in the past. He said in a 1997 interview on The Howard Stern Show that he “could have” had sex with the British royal.

Stern asked Trump, “Why do people think it’s egotistical of you to say you could’ve gotten with Lady Di? You could’ve gotten her, right? You could’ve nailed her?”

“I think I could have,” Trump replied.

Trump made a similar declaration in a separate 2000 broadcast with Stern, adding that Diana was “crazy, but these are minor details.” He said that he would have slept with the princess, who died in 1997, “without hesitation” if given the chance.

Wolff first spoke of Epstein and Trump’s alleged competition to sleep with Diana on his podcast just before the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s camp denied the claim at the time, and released a second statement to the Daily Beast on Thursday.

“Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s--t and has been proven to be a fraud,” said White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. “He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”

Trump continues to face pressure for his past friendship with Epstein. He has tried to distance himself from the pedophile and has begged the public to move on from the issue.

The growing rumor among critics of Trump is that the president is named in the so-called “Epstein files” that are yet to see the light of day—something Trump’s old pal, Elon Musk, alleged during their high-profile breakup on June 5.

While details about the extent of Trump and the convicted sex offender’s relationship remain murky, Wolff, who has interviewed Epstein, said on Thursday’s show that “Epstein and Trump functioned as a duo.” He also alleged that Andrew, Epstein, and Trump were at one point like “three musketeers.”

“They were, you know, grifter buddies, basically,” he said. “I mean, they had the same interests—interests in women–and also in money. How do you get money? How do you, these two guys, who don’t work for major corporations, [who] don’t have relationships with major banks, or don’t have good relationships?”

The answer, he later said, was by their endless pursuit of climbing up the social ladder.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-epsteins-twisted-race-to-sleep-with-princess-diana-author/?

ps:What a piece of work!!!