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

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ICE raids

President Donald Trump said he will decide within days whether to deploy troops and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Chicago. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump claimed that Illinois' Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker is not addressing crime in the city, describing it as a "very dangerous place." The Trump administration over the weekend also launched a new federal immigration enforcement operation in Boston aimed at arresting and deporting criminals who entered the country illegally, officials said. This comes just days after hundreds of people were apprehended during a sweeping immigration raid at a Georgia manufacturing facility, marking what appears to be one of the largest ICE raids at a single site in the 22-year history of the agency.   outRussia-Ukraine war President Trump is hinting at potential new sanctions for Russia following the largest attack on Ukraine since the war began in 2022. Overnight into Sunday, Russia deployed more than 800 drones and struck a Kyiv government building for the first time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that a total of four people had been killed across all of Ukraine on Sunday and dozens had been injured. He described the latest attack as "vile," saying that "such killings now, when real diplomacy could have started a long time ago, are a deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war." ps:So how long is this going to go on?????   Tariffs The Treasury Department will issue partial rebates if the Supreme Court upholds a ruling that President Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs were an overstep of power, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday. "We would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury," Bessent said during an appearance on NBC News. Bessent added that he is "confident" the Trump administration will win at the Supreme Court. But the impact of Trump's economic policies may slowly be coming into focus. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' August jobs report indicated that the US economy added about 22,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% — the highest it's been in nearly four years. ps:So I'm guessing he knows something we don't??

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The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security

On Feb. 10, on the third floor of the Social Security Administration’s Baltimore-area headquarters, Leland Dudek unfurled a 4-foot-wide roll of paper that extended to 20 feet in length. It was a visual guide that the agency had kept for years to explain Social Security’s many technological systems and processes. The paper was covered in flow charts, arrows and text so minuscule you almost needed a magnifying glass to read it. Dudek called it Social Security’s “Dead Sea Scroll.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-doge-social-security-takeover-leland-dudek?

Trump asks Supreme Court for emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-aid-supreme-court-3c067f500b745674e95e9f9edec304fd?

Appeals court upholds E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3M defamation judgment against Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a civil jury’s finding that President Donald Trump must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for his repeated social media attacks and public statements against the longtime advice columnist after she accused him of sexual assault.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-appeal-award-d587004df6f7c46ec4a17b563a38bfa9?

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Trump Demands ‘Respect’ After Massive Immigration Raid

The president is doing damage control after an immigration raid sent shockwaves through a close ally.

President Donald Trump issued a warning to the very same foreign companies he is pushing to invest in the United States, telling them to “respect” immigration laws and to hire American workers.

Days after immigration officials shocked South Korea, a close ally of the U.S., by arresting hundreds of people at a Hyundai battery factory under construction near Savannah, Georgia, Trump attempted to defend the raid in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

“Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” he wrote.

“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers,” Trump added.

Officials announced last week that they had arrested about 450 “unlawful aliens” at the site, though Korean media sources said the number of people detained could be as high as 560.

About 300 of the people detained were South Korean nationals, including employees of a different South Korean company who were visiting the plant during a business trip.

The president’s signature economic policy has involved imposing devastating tariffs on imported goods and then dangling the possibility of reducing the tariffs if foreign companies invest in the U.S.

In July, South Korea agreed to invest $350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for Trump lowering the duty on Korean products from 25 percent to 15 percent. The tariffs are paid by American companies, with the costs typically passed on to consumers.

The Hyundai plant arrests came just 10 days after South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, met Trump in Washington, D.C., where they both vowed to strengthen business ties between the two countries.

Following the Hyundai plant raid, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the arrests, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“The economic activities of our companies investing in the United States and the interests of our citizens must not be unduly violated during the course of U.S. law enforcement,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

The South Korean government has negotiated the release of its nationals and is chartering a plane to repatriate them, Reuters reported Monday.

The battery plant that was raided will be jointly operated by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery manufacturer, as part of a $12.6 billion investment in Georgia that also includes a nearby auto factory. In a statement, Hyundai told the Journal it didn’t directly employ anyone who was detained.

The raid was the largest worksite raid in the Department of Homeland Security’s history, and it highlighted that foreign companies are struggling to find qualified American workers, according to Reuters.

People in the Korean capital of Seoul were outraged by the operation’s optics, as footage of the raid showed armored vehicles and shackled workers.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Trump tried to downplay the impact the raid could have on bilateral relations with a key economic ally.

His Truth Social post also tried to strike a more conciliatory note after warning foreign companies to hire Americans.

“Together, we will all work hard to make our Nation not only productive, but closer in unity than ever before,” he wrote. “Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-demands-respect-after-massive-immigration-raid/?

ps:You can't get respect unless you show respect!!!!! And more than anything, you can't demand respect, you have to earn it!!!!!

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Miserable White House Realizes ‘Optimism Is Gone’ on Trump Campaign Promise

The president’s hopes of securing a peace deal in Ukraine have gone up in smoke.

President Donald Trump is moving ahead with a fresh set of sanctions against Russia after being forced to admit his Ukrainian peace plan is dead and buried.

Speaking with reporters, Trump said he plans to talk to Putin “over the next couple of days” in a last-ditch attempt to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, which the president bragged about resolving on “day one” of his presidency on the campaign trail

“Look, we’re going to get it done,” Trump said Sunday. “The Russia-Ukraine situation. We’re going to get it done.”

Although Trump claims to be meeting with “certain European leaders” in Washington this week, there is nothing in his schedule to indicate that is the case.

Instead, the European Union’s sanctions envoy will meet with U.S. officials on Monday to discuss imposing stricter sanctions on Russia.

When asked if he was ready to move on to the next round of sanctions against Russia on Sunday, Trump replied, “Yeah, I am,” without elaborating.

Despite Trump’s bullish exterior, a sense of gloom is setting in behind the scenes as “the optimism post-Alaska and post-European meeting is gone,” a White House source told Politico’s Playbook.

Privately, there is little reason to believe Russia will make any further concessions, especially after Putin’s public show of strength with China’s Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week, and Trump’s hope of organizing a summit between the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is fading fast. It’s “hard to see much forward momentum,” the source added.

During a summit in Russia last week, Putin stated that he has “little interest” in meeting with Zelensky and would only meet with the Ukrainian president if the meeting were to take place in Moscow, which the Ukrainian president has deemed unacceptable.

“Putin can come to Kyiv,” Zelensky said in response. “I believe that if you want the meeting not to take place, you should invite me to Moscow.”

Putin also claimed that any foreign troops deployed in Ukraine before a peace deal is reached would be considered “legitimate targets,” frustrating European efforts to deploy a peacekeeping force to the frontlines to provide security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

“If any troops appear there, especially now, during the fighting, we assume that they will be legitimate targets for destruction,” Putin said on Friday. “And if decisions are reached that will lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply see no point in their presence on Ukrainian territory.”

Trump also said he was “not thrilled” with Russia’s latest round of missile attacks over the weekend, which saw mass numbers of drones launched on Ukraine’s capital and damage to the country’s Cabinet of Ministers building in the heart of Kyiv—the first time a major parliamentary building has been struck since the start of the war.

“I am not thrilled with what’s happening there,” Trump said. “I believe we’re going to get it settled. But I am not happy with them. I’m not happy with anything having to do with that war.”

Ukraine has called for binding security guarantees as part of any peace deal, and has warned that without them, Russia will use the opportunity to regroup and attack again.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for further comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/miserable-white-house-realizes-optimism-is-gone-on-trump-campaign-promise/?

ps:Again did he think that the president of Ukraine was going to fold?????

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GOP Senator Fires First Shots in Fresh MAGA Civil War

Rand Paul branded the vice president “J.D. ‘I don’t give a s**t’ Vance” after he cheered the strike that killed suspected Venezuelan cartel members.

Republicans are once again turning on each other as the Donald Trump administration celebrates the gung-ho killing of several suspected Venezuelan cartel members in a military strike that critics say may have violated domestic and international law.

Renegade Kentucky Seb. Rand Paul took the first shot at JD Vance, dubbing him “JD ‘I don’t give a s--t’ Vance” after the vice president called the killing the “highest and best use of our military.”

“What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” Paul wrote on X late Saturday.

Vance faced a wave of backlash Saturday after declaring that “killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.” He later brushed off criticism by saying, “I don’t give a s–t what you call it” when another user on X referred to the strike as a “war crime.”

“Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird?” Paul added, in a stretched but semi-pertinent reference to Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning novel about racial tensions in the Deep South, which centers on a Black Alabaman facing the death penalty after being falsely accused of raping a young white woman. “Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation??”The U.S. Navy carried out the strike Tuesday against a small boat the Trump administration claims belonged to Venezuelan narcotrafficking syndicate Tren de Agua. The attack took place in international waters in the southern Caribbean sea, and claimed the lives of 11 alleged members of the gang. Trump has framed the attack as part of an escalating campaign against Latin American drug cartels. He even offered a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom his administration has accused of being involved in narco-terrorism.Legal experts and political opponents—among them Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who’s promised he’ll be “digging into” the legality of the strike in the coming days—argue the attack may well have constituted an extrajudicial killing, having seemingly been carried out without requisite oversight or due process, and potentially in violation of an impressive variety of international treaties.Paul isn’t alone among Republican voices to have criticized the strike. Anti-MAGA X account Republicans against Trump added in a comment beneath the Kentucky senator’s post: “Thank you for your moral clarity on this. JD Vance is a despicable and cynical politician.”It also comes as his fellow Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, join their Democratic counterparts in pushing for a House floor vote to pressure the Justice Department into releasing more investigative documents on the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case.

Trump—who once called Epstein a “terrific guy” and allegedly even sent him a 2003 birthday card featuring a nude sketch of a woman, along with a bizarre imagined exchange about “enigmas” and “wonderful secrets”—has faced increasing scrutiny of his relationship with the convicted pedophile after the DOJ and FBI concluded Epstein’s 2019 death in police custody was a suicide, and that he kept no “client list” of uber-wealthy co-conspirators.

The findings not only contradict Attorney General Pam Bondi’s assertion earlier in February that the long-rumored “Epstein List” was “sitting on my desk” awaiting review, but also conspiracy theories long cherished by the far-right that Trump himself had implicitly endorsed over the past few years.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on criticism of this week’s military strike.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senator-rand-paul-kicks-off-fresh-maga-civil-war-over-jd-vances-cartel-killings-comments/?

ps:Senator Paul, don't waste your breath, vp vance used to care at one point, but now he could care less since embracing trump!!!!!

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Trump, 79, Forgets When He Last Went to the Middle East

Donald Trump claimed he has “just left” Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.

Donald Trump endured another confusing senior moment when he said he had “just left” the Middle East—having actually last visited four months ago. “Leaders from all over the world that talked to me… I just left the Middle East—King of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE… Then I was with the heads of NATO,” Trump, 79, boasted during an address to the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible on Monday, in a clip posted by journalist Aaron Rupar to Bluesky. However, the president’s Middle East tour—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE—actually took place back in mid-May. He then met “the heads of NATO” at the Hague summit on June 24–25. Trump’s embarrassing slips are becoming a pattern documented by the Daily Beast over the past few months. The president has forgotten the name of the ocean he meant on Fox & Friends, blanked on a “big” war he says he ended, failed to spot Finland’s president sitting directly opposite him, and misnamed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as golfer Cristie Kerr, among others.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-forgets-when-he-last-went-to-the-middle-east/?

ps:I can just imagine the craziness if Biden had said that!!!!!

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Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, the latest victory for President Donald Trump’s administration at the high court. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trump asks Supreme Court for emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for now Republicans in Congress are eager for Trump to expand his use of the military on US soil

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New Epstein twist

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

Jeffrey Epstein's estate has given Congress a copy of a happy-birthday letter bearing President Trump's signature, House Democrats said today. Trump had said the document didn't exist. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee posted an image of the letter on X this afternoon. "More soon," tweeted Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded on X: "As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation. ... This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!" ? Catch up quick: The Wall Street Journal reported on the existence of the document in July. It was part of a book compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday. Dozens of Epstein's friends and associates, including Trump and former President Clinton, contributed notes to the book, per the Journal. Trump denied writing such a letter, called it "fake" and sued the Journal. Taylor Budowich/X ? The document House Democrats released today is one page of imagined dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey," formatted within the outline of a nude woman's body. It's signed "Donald" in thick marker at the bottom. ✍️ What they're saying: "It's not his signature. DEFAMATION," White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said on X, alongside photos of Trump signatures that do not match the one on the Epstein note.

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Fighting Words

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For a man openly campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize, Donald Trump sure does love the rhetoric of violence.

On Saturday, the president posted an image of himself as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, the Wagner-blasting cavalry officer in Apocalypse Now. “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” the meme said, paraphrasing the famous quote from the movie. In case the implication was unclear—little about Kilgore or Trump is subtle—the meme added, “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” The image replaced the film’s name with “Chipocalypse Now,” superimposing the city skyline on a fiery sky.

An American president threatening to unleash the U.S. military on—to make war against—an American city would have seemed unthinkable very recently. Although such behavior remains appalling, it is no longer unexpected. Violent language is the mother tongue of this Trump administration.

What Trump intends to do in Chicago is not clear. After deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles—where he also dispatched Marines—Trump began talking about sending troops to other cities, including Chicago. Amid fierce pushback from state and local officials, he seemed to cool on the idea last week. He’s now trying to disavow Saturday’s threat too. Although Trump posted it to his personal account on a social network he majority-owns, he called it “fake news” yesterday: “We’re not going to war. We’re going to clean up our cities.”

Even if the president doesn’t want to go to war—he did obtain five draft deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War—he is attracted to the swaggering machismo he associates with the word. It’s the apparent inspiration for rebranding the Defense Department (passive, reactive) to be the Department of War. He can’t legally rename it without Congress’s permission, and the cost of changing the branding could reportedly run into millions or billions of dollars. Either he means it or he’s willing to light money on fire for a symbolic stunt. Neither is good.

Trump’s embrace of violent rhetoric is not new. During his first campaign, he encouraged rally attendees to beat up protesters. As president, he encouraged police to treat suspects brutally. As the runner-up in the 2020 election, he encouraged supporters to “fight like hell,” and they did, sacking the U.S. Capitol. Nevertheless, Trump has turned up the volume in his second term, with help from aides such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who, as my colleague Tom Nichols wrote last week, is obsessed with terms such as lethality and warfighters.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is now preparing to host a cage match for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial sport that proceeds from the premise that boxing is far too refined, nuanced, and rule-bound. UFC also happens to be run by—speaking of branding stunts—a major Trump supporter, Dana White. And this morning, Trump seemed to downplay domestic violence at an event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. “If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime,” he scoffed. (The question is personal for the president, whose first wife, Ivana Trump, reportedly once accused him of marital rape in a deposition. She later said she didn’t mean the word in a “criminal sense.” Trump denied the allegation.)

In this atmosphere, no wonder that some members of the administration are nearly coming to blows with one another. According to Politico, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, nearly threw hands at an exclusive MAGA social club in Georgetown last week. “Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,” Bessent reportedly told Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.” He also invited Pulte to “go outside … I’m going to fucking beat your ass.” (Bessent and Pulte declined to comment on this to Politico.) This is the same Secretary Bessent who previously dropped a series of F-bombs on Elon Musk, my colleagues Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker reported in May. Perhaps part of his success in the administration is that he’s mastered its distinctive patois.

Speaking fluent violence comes with a price. During Trump’s first run for president, observers who should have known better were willing to believe that the real-estate mogul really was a peacenik. The delusion persisted in some quarters until his return to the White House this year, when he fully abandoned any claim to dovishness, aside from half-hearted attempts to end the war in Ukraine. Initially, Trump’s embrace of militarism was directed outward, in the form of semi-veiled threats of invasions to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal. Threats became action when the United States bombed Iran, to the chagrin of some America Firsters. More recently, the military attacked and destroyed a boat leaving Venezuela whose crew members the administration has said, without offering evidence, were drug smugglers.

Pressed to legally justify the killing, the administration has offered little explanation. “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vice President J. D. Vance posted on X, later adding, “I don’t give a shit what you call it.” That drew a rebuke from Senator Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican. “Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” Paul posted.

Implicit in Paul’s comments is the fear that brutal rhetoric and tools of repression that a government uses overseas will eventually be turned against a domestic population. This idea is called the “imperial boomerang,” and it’s attributed both to the poet-statesman Aimé Césaire and the philosopher Hannah Arendt. You don’t have to look very hard to see this happening today. For the first two decades of this century, the United States waged a “global war on terror.” Now it has withdrawn most of its troops from these conflicts and instead has held a Soviet-style military parade and deployed uniformed, armed soldiers to intimidate a District of Columbia electorate that voted overwhelmingly against Trump. Or, to choose another example: The president is taking a film that dramatized the senseless imperial violence of the Vietnam War and using it to threaten war against Chicago.

Related:

• A brief history of Trump’s violent remarks
• Pete Hegseth’s Department of Cringe

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Trump’s War Department: Just say no.

The words of the Preamble to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Constitution are inscribed above a hallway door at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be erected.” 

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/09/09/repub/trumps-war-department-just-say-no/?

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Jasmine Crockett Laughs at Trump’s ‘Crazy’ Epstein Signature Defense

New release shows the president is a liar, Jasmine Crockett says.

Trump nemesis Jasmine Crockett has laughed off the president’s “crazy” defense against new evidence linking him to a “creepy” birthday note sent to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Texas congresswoman was reacting to the latest twist in the saga after Epstein’s estate supplied the incriminating doodle, first reported on in July, to the House Oversight Committee.

The documents play into a Trump-fueled conspiracy that Epstein was killed to protect influential people in an international pedophile ring, and the president has been slammed by his base for backtracking on promises to release the files.

The doodle, complete with a signature identical to Trump’s, was allegedly sent by the president for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, part of a leather-bound book compiled by jailed Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

It sparked an impassioned defense from the Trump administration, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt ranting about “FAKE NEWS” in an X post.

After The Wall Street Journal broke the story in July, Trump also blasted it as “yet another example of FAKE NEWS!” The Journal’s follow-up piece, however, has backed Trump and his allies into a corner again.

On CNN’s The Source, host Kaitlan Collins and Crockett discussed the doodle. “What do you make of the White House’s defense here?” Collins asked the Trump-critical Democratic lawmaker.

“The fact that the president is a liar? He’s consistent. I mean, that’s all I really got for you,” Crockett said, before laughing off claims from the Trump administration that the letter was cooked up by political opponents.

“We got this from the Epstein estate. This isn’t something that came from a random Democratic something; this came from the estate,” she explained.

She described the folly of suggesting that the letter was created by Democrats. “Like it before he even got elected. Remember when Epstein died, right? That was before Donald Trump got elected this time. And they would have had to have some kind of foresight that he was going to run for office again, somehow win again. And we’ve got to make sure that this is sitting here so that when a committee comes through to get this. It’s crazy.”

Crockett said that the existence of the letter doesn’t prove that the president did anything illegal, but it promotes doubts about his character.

She said, “I think the biggest issue is the fact that he cannot be honest about it, right? Like, why lie? Because it doesn’t implicate right? But the fact that you’re lying makes it look like, ‘what else are you lying about?’ Those are the questions that we have.”

She added, “If you’ll lie about something this simple, then when you’re trying to tell us that you had nothing to do with these women or these girls, why should we believe you?”

The committee issued a subpoena to Epstein’s estate in August, demanding documents and materials tied to its probe of how the U.S. government initially handled the case. A second document, also provided to the committee, shows a photo of Epstein holding an oversized check with Trump’s name on it.

The committee said it shows “a longtime Mar-a-Lago member joking about selling a ‘fully depreciated’ woman to Donald Trump for $22,500.”

“I think that is more incriminating than the birthday. The birthday just makes him look like a creep. But this, it’s joking about selling a woman. When, and why is that ever funny?” Crockett reacted.

The White House did not immediately respond to Crockett’s comments.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/crockett-laughs-at-trumps-crazy-epstein-signature-defense/?

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Trump’s Claim Birthday Book Signature Is ‘Fake’ Crumbles

As always, the internet has the receipts.

Donald Trump’s signature trended big time on social media as former pen pals laughed off his claim that the letter attributed to him in the Jeffrey Epstein birthday book was a fake.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted on Monday, soon after the House Oversight Committee published the infamous birthday book in full, that the bawdy signed sketch was not her boss’ handiwork.

“As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it,” Leavitt posted on X.

But that did nothing to stop people from comparing the similarities between the signature on the Epstein birthday greeting from 2003 with scores of other Trump autographs going back to the 1980s.

A photograph of Trump signing a woman’s chest during a campaign rally in 2015 circulated online, including the president using his beloved black marker.

The president’s niece—and regular foe—Mary Trump posted on X, “That’s definitely his signature. Just saying.”

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell did a side-by-side comparison of the “fake” Epstein letter signature and a signature he previously received on a note sent by Trump, saying they were “strikingly similar.”

He noted, “You’ll see all the basic shapes are exactly the same, all of the grand strokes are exactly the same, those two signatures are more alike than any two exemplars of my signature, which varies day to day and signature to signature.”

Social media was swamped with people sharing Trump signatures that looked uncannily like the one the president has claimed is fake, despite the birthday book coming from the Epstein estate, which would mean someone would have had to infiltrate the fake letter among the estate’s stash of documents.

Another former Trump associate, the lawyer George Conway, posted a letter sent to him by Trump in 2006 that demonstrated his familiar signature, which is different from his current signature.

An article by The New York Times compared how Trump’s signature had evolved from 1987 to 2003, which was the year Epstein turned 50.

Leaving Leavitt to do his talking for him, Trump did not find time on Monday to post on Truth Social about the release of the Epstein birthday book, sticking to congratulating footballer Nick Bosa for an “unbelievable play” in the San Francisco 49ers’ win over Seattle.

Trump denied having penned the letter when The Wall Street Journal printed a story about the birthday book, which was assembled by Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. He later launched a $10 billion lawsuit against the newspaper and its owner, Rupert Murdoch.

“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” the president claimed on Truth Social in July.

“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his a-- off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”

Regular MAGA mouthpieces were quick to point out the difference between the 2003 signature and Trump’s current presidential signature.

Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson posted on X, “The Wall Street Journal just released the ‘letter’ they claim President Trump sent to Epstein… Is this really the best they could do? Trump has the most famous signature in the world. Time to sue them into the oblivion.”

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann also posted side-by-side comparisons of the signature Trump says is “fake” and one he received from the president in 2014.

“Sorry MAGA,” Olbermann posted on X. “That’s Trump’s signature. Compare it to the one on his letter to me. You would’ve been smarter (lol) to claim it was a copy or tracing or a xerox or stolen from my letter but no... you’re not smarter.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-claim-birthday-book-signature-is-fake-crumbles/?

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Trump Wants to Make America Pray Again By Buying His Bibles

The president vowed to restore the nation’s religious identity.

He has a souvenir bible, he created a faith office in the White House, and believes God spared him from assassination so he could win back the presidency.

Now, Donald Trump wants to Make America Pray Again, at least once a week, as he vows to restore the nation’s religious identity.

Ahead of the U.S. celebrating its 250th birthday next year, the president has urged Americans to dedicate one hour a week to prayer, preferably with groups of at least 10 other people, as part of a new initiative designed to “bring back religion in America.”

“America has always been a nation that believes in the power of prayer and we will never apologize for our faith — ever, ever, never, never,” he said on Monday after taking part in a prayer session led by Housing Secretary Scott Turner during a meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission.

“We will never surrender our God-given rights.”

The new “America Prays” initiative was unveiled by the White House ahead of Monday’s Commission meeting at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.

The Religious Liberty Commission, chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi, was set up through an executive order Trump signed earlier this year in a bid to protect religious liberty.

But critics say the group is designed to reject religious diversity in order to prioritize one set of Christian beliefs.

“Once again, President Trump is using religion to promote his self-aggrandizement and political agenda, all the while perpetuating the lie that America is a Christian nation and that religion is under attack,” said Rachel Laser, chief executive of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“People who care about religious freedom don’t need to be told when or how to pray; they need leaders who are committed to separation of church and state.”

The commission is nonetheless part of Trump’s longstanding push to champion religious freedom through his second term, partly in a nod to the evangelical Christians who helped him win back the White House.

The president continues to lend his name to a God Bless the USA bible that he endorsed ahead of last year’s election, which fans can now buy for $99.99 per “presidential edition”.

He created the White House Faith Office, headed by controversial Florida pastor Paula White, whose ministry Without Walls International Church was previously investigated for misusing charitable, tax-exempt funds.

Trump also established a task force to weed out “anti-Christian bias” and often refers to God sparing his life from the bullet of a would-be assassin in Pennsylvania last year.

“It remains my firm conviction that God alone saved me that day for a righteous purpose: to restore our beloved Republic to greatness and to rescue our Nation from those who seek its ruin,” he said on the anniversary of the assassination attempt in July.

At Monday’s event, the president flagged new Department of Education guidelines designed to protect prayer in public schools, claiming that students were being indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda.

He did not provide any details or timelines, but the issue is likely to be contentious due to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which requires a separation of church and state.

“For most of our country’s history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation, yet in many schools today, students are indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda,” Trump told the meeting.

He also declared that the “woke agenda” was “practically gone” in schools, but urged religious leaders to remain vigilant.

“It’s like a weed. You think you killed it, and then it starts growing again. So we have to be careful,” he said.

MAGA loyalists have praised the president’s religious agenda.

“This is wonderful!! Thank you @realDonaldTrump for defending Christians and religious liberties and fighting against Christian persecution!!" Congresswoman Marjorie Tayor Greene wrote on X.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-wants-to-make-america-pray-again-and-buy-his-bibles/?

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Murdoch’s Paper Blows Up Trump’s Epstein Letter Defense

Murdoch takes a victory lap as Trump’s Epstein denial crumbles.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has caught President Donald Trump red-handed.

After breaking the story in July about a birthday letter Trump allegedly wrote for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the newspaper has published images of the note.

Trump, 79, has vehemently denied writing the letter, which was written in 2003 for Epstein’s 50th birthday book and features a drawing of a naked woman with the scrawled signature Donald mimicking pubic hair.

The Journal’s bombshell report in July was met with fury from the president, who swiftly filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Murdoch and the Journal.

“Writing defamatory lies like this shows their desperation to remain relevant,” Trump raged on Truth Social in July. “If there were any truth at all on the Epstein Hoax, as it pertains to President Trump, this information would have been revealed by Comey, Brennan, Crooked Hillary, and other Radical Left Lunatics years ago. It certainly would not have sat in a file waiting for ‘TRUMP’ to have won three Elections. This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS!”

Trump fired off a slew of accusations, writing in one social media post that the Journal “printed a FAKE letter.”

He also claimed he “never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” even though there’s evidence he’s drawn plenty of sketches. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt questioned the credibility of the letter on Monday.

“The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false,“ she wrote. ”As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation. Furthermore, the ‘reporter’ who wrote this hatchet job reached out for comment at the EXACT same minute he published his story giving us no time to respond. This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!"

Trump claimed in his lawsuit that he personally warned Murdoch not to publish the story in July that first mentioned the letter, but Murdoch ignored his demands. In speaking to reporters last month, Trump questioned whether his longtime media frenemy Murdoch had control over the paper.

“I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls it,” Trump said. “Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t.”

The message from Trump to his one-time pal, who died in Manhattan lock-up in 2019, is a fictional dialogue between the two of them that concludes with the line: “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Epstein’s estate gave Congress a copy of the letter, which was among those compiled for a book for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

Trump has insisted that he and Epstein were never close friends, repeating several times that he distanced himself from the late financier after he was put on the sex offender list in 2008, shortly after he pleaded guilty to a charge of solicitation of prostitution with a minor.

The president and media mogul Murdoch also have a long and well-documented history.

Long before his presidency, a Trump mention would amount to a spike in sales in Murdoch’s New York Post—which broke its own record for front-page stories on a single topic in the 1990s with its coverage of Trump’s affair with Marla Maples, the New York Times once reported.

Ten years ago, Murdoch initially rejected a Trump bid for the White House. “When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” Murdoch wrote on Twitter—now X—in 2015, after the then Republican primary candidate mocked John McCain for being captured as a pilot during the Vietnam War.

But Murdoch reportedly went on to become one of Trump’s key advisers before breaking with him again in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/murdochs-paper-blows-up-trumps-epstein-letter-defense/?

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Trump Wants to Crack Down on “Debanking,” but He’s Dismantling a Regulator That Was Doing Just That

Last month, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order “guaranteeing fair banking for all Americans,” he served notice of a coming federal crackdown.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-debanking-executive-order-cfpb-discrimination-banking?

Pentagon Official: Trump Boat Strike Was a Criminal Attack on Civilians

The lethal strike on a boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday was a criminal attack on civilians, according to a high-ranking Pentagon official who spoke to the Intercept on the condition of anonymity. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/pentagon-official-trump-boat-strike-was-a-criminal-attack-on-civilians/?

Trump’s DOJ Wants to Deprive Trans People of the Right to Self-Defense

After decades of political inaction after mass shootings, the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting appears to finally have spurred conservatives into action. That’s because this horrific slaying was the grotesque gift the right had been waiting for: The shooter – whose diary entries show a troubled young person immersed in extremist, racist online culture – happened to also be trans.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/trans-gun-ban-trump-doj/?

Trump Escalates Assault on Chicago With “Operation Midway Blitz”

The Trump administration said on Monday that it was launching an operation targeting “criminal illegal aliens” in Chicago, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/08/trump-chicago-ice-dhs-apocalypse-now/?

Are Trump’s Middle East Envoys Pushing Lebanon Into Another Civil War?

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam made an announcement on August 7 that would have been unthinkable even a year before: Hezbollah — indeed all militias in the country — would be disarmed by the end of 2025.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/trump-lebanon-hezbollah-disarm-sovereignty/?

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Trump Hit by Economic Bombshell With Shock Job Loss Figure

The figures come after Trump sacked the statistics chief in response to weak job numbers.

President Donald Trump is facing another economic setback, with newly revised jobs data showing the labor market is worse than initially thought.

The latest annual revisions from the Bureau of Statistics showed that employers created 911,000 fewer jobs for the year to March than previously suggested, in a blow to Trump’s claim that the U.S. has the “hottest” economy in the world.

The figures, which take in part of Joe Biden’s presidency, is the largest revision on record.

“We are in a rough economic situation right now,” said Spencer Hakiman, founder of Tolou Capital Management. “Hold on to your job, it’s going to get rough.”

The figures come one month after Trump sacked statistics chief Erika McEntarfer in response to weak job numbers, which did little to stem the decline.

But Vice President JD Vance doubled down on Tuesday, writing on X: “It’s difficult to overstate how useless BLS data had become. A change was necessary to restore confidence.”

While Tuesday’s revisions are not a full reflection of today’s conditions, as they go back to April 2024, data over the past few months has also pointed to slower growth.

Separate monthly jobs data published last week, for instance, showed only 22,000 jobs were added in August, well below expectations.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.3 per cent, the highest since 2021.

And revised data released last week also showed employers cut 13,000 jobs in June, the first time that has happened since the pandemic effectively stalled the economy in December 2020.

The latest data indicate that major markdowns are occurring in the retail, trade, professional services, and leisure and hospitality industries.

But in a silver lining, the economic slowdown strengthens the case for the Federal Reserve to begin slashing interest rates - something the Trump administration has been pushing for months.

“If the Fed had followed what we published, they would have raised rates in early 2021,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the revised numbers came out.

“The entire Organization is broken. It needs to be fixed. They need to use modern sources of information.”

The data also comes as the accuracy of jobs data becomes a highly politicized issue in America.

In June, the president made a contentious decision to fire McEntarfer after accusing her without evidence of politically manipulating the numbers.

He then nominated Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, a Project 2025 architect and fan of Nazi battleships, as her potential replacement.

Tuesday’s figures, which are the largest revision since 2002, are likely to add to concerns about the state of data collection.

They indicate that employers added nearly 76,000 fewer jobs per month than previously thought.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-faces-massive-setback-with-devastating-job-loss-blow/?

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Major disaster declarations are taking longer under Trump, AP finds

Disaster survivors are having to wait longer to get aid from the federal government, according to a new Associated Press analysis of decades of data. On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor's request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

WATCH: After a tornado destroyed his home, this man lived in his truck for weeks Kiko weakens into a tropical storm but still could create dangerous surf in Hawaii   Michigan judge tosses case against 15 accused fake electors for President Donald Trump in 2020 A Michigan judge dismissed criminal charges Tuesday against a group of people who were accused of attempting to falsely certify President Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the battleground state, a major blow to prosecutors as similar cases in four other states have been muddied with setbacks. Read more.    MAHA strategy President Donald Trump’s plan to “Make America Healthy Again” includes investigating vaccine injuries and pharmaceutical practices but stops short of new regulatory action — for now. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined some of the details.

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Strike infuriates White House

Map: Axios Visuals Israel's attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar stunned the White House and infuriated some of Trump's top advisers, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. The U.S. military spotted Israeli jets flying east toward the Gulf this morning and asked the Israeli government for more information. By the time Israel provided it, missiles were already in the air, three U.S. officials said. Once President Trump was briefed on the imminent strike, he instructed White House envoy Steve Witkoff to notify the Qataris. A U.S. official said by the time Witkoff reached them, the bombs had already hit their target. ? Behind the scenes: American officials were frustrated because the strike came as the U.S. is waiting for Hamas to respond to Trump's new proposal for peace in Gaza. In fact, the Hamas officials were meeting to discuss that proposal. U.S. officials were particularly upset that they were notified so late that they had no opportunity to weigh in on Israel's plans. ☎️ Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today to express concern about the attack and stress the need to move toward peace, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Trump also called the emir and prime minister of Qatar, and vowed to ensure such a strike on Qatari soil will not happen again. Go deeper.

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An Un-American Ruling (Stefani Reynolds / AFP / Getty)

View in browser You there. Stop what you’re doing. Take off that tool belt and hard hat—let’s see some ID. Why? Because we don’t think you’re a citizen. Now show us your papers. This kind of behavior by government officials is now legal in the United States. Yesterday, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court allowed ICE officials to conduct roving patrols and use racial profiling to stop and detain people for no other reason than their skin color, the language they’re speaking, suspicions about their national origin—or, really, if immigration officials just feel like it. But wait, you might object. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. Did the Court explain why that protection apparently no longer applies to you if you’re a day laborer or running a fruit stand? Good luck with that: This Court’s majority doesn’t explain itself to anyone. It merely lets stand or overturns the decisions of lower courts—lately, almost always in favor of expanding the power of, and corroding any checks on, President Donald Trump. Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo is a case from Los Angeles about whether ICE can stop people because of a suspicion of their being in the United States illegally, based solely, as SCOTUSblog summarized it, on any combination of four factors: a person’s “‘apparent race or ethnicity,’ speaking in Spanish or accented English, being present at a location where undocumented immigrants ‘are known to gather’ (such as pickup spots for day laborers), and working at specific jobs, such as landscaping or construction.” A California district-court judge had earlier enjoined ICE from making such stops, perhaps appalled by this example: Plaintiff Jason Brian Gavidia is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in East Los Angeles and identifies as Latino. On the afternoon of June 12, he stepped onto the sidewalk outside of a tow yard in Montebello, California, where he saw agents carrying handguns and military-style rifles. One agent ordered him to “Stop right there” while another “ran towards [him].” The agents repeatedly asked Gavidia whether he is American—and they repeatedly ignored his answer: “I am an American.” The agents asked Gavidia what hospital he was born in—and he explained that he did not know which hospital. “The agents forcefully pushed [Gavidia] up against the metal gated fence, put [his] hands behind [his] back, and twisted [his] arm.” An agent asked again, “What hospital were you born in?” Gavidia again explained that he did not know which hospital and said “East L.A.” He then told the agents he could show them his Real ID. The agents took Gavidia’s ID and his phone and kept his phone for 20 minutes. They never returned his ID.   In overturning the lower court’s decision, five of the Court’s six right-wing justices—there is no other reasonable way to describe them at this point—took advantage of their right to remain silent, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh gamely tried to speak up in a concurrence. If his goal was to be reassuring, he did not help matters: Such stops are usually “brief,” he explained. Again, I am not a scholar of the Constitution, but I had no idea that I could be deprived of my rights under the Fourth (or any other) Amendment as long as my getting roughed up takes only a few moments out of my busy day. Kavanaugh also noted in his concurrence that illegal immigration “is especially pronounced in the Los Angeles area, among other locales in the United States.” Yes, America has an illegal-immigration problem in various “locales,” and therefore … what? ICE officials can use race-based criteria in an area with a lot of Spanish-speaking citizens? I live near Boston, which has always had quite a lot of undocumented immigrants from Ireland; should ICE send agents up and down Boylston Street looking for red hair and listening for brogues? Chicago has a fair number of Poles, some of whom are in the United States illegally. Will ICE start staking out delis in Jefferson Park and waiting to see who buys a kielbasa? Of course they won’t, because none of this is really about immigration. It is about the administration’s attempt to inflame racial tensions and divide Americans, and to acclimate them to the militarization of their streets and the stripping away of their constitutional protections. Although the case is still under appeal, the Court’s decision is distressing as a matter of civil rights, and its obvious support of racial criteria to seek out targets for deportation should offend anyone who genuinely cares about stopping illegal immigration more broadly. (I have always been a hawk on that issue.) What’s more, it also undermines the legitimate uses of profiling, a valuable law-enforcement tool when employed under the right circumstances: The FBI, to take a famous example, has long had an entire unit that does scientific, evidence-based profiling. And I say that as someone who was profiled. Just a few weeks after 9/11, I was traveling to Moscow to do some research, with a stop in London for a short vacation with my then-wife. I was 40, a large fellow of Mediterranean extraction with dark hair, a beard, and a scar across the right side of my face. (Nothing dramatic: a childhood injury.) I was pulled out of line in Boston and grilled by security, though that ended quickly, when I produced my Defense Department identification. The real fun began when I got to Heathrow Airport and had to change planes for my flight to Moscow, which required going through security again. A British security officer took me aside and practically stripped me in front of a crowd: He told me to unbutton my shirt, unbuckle my belt, and unzip my pants. He then examined all of my clothing and shoes. I staggered toward the departure gate with unlaced sneakers, holding up my jeans and trying to cover myself. My wife looked me up and down and said: “All that and he didn’t even buy you dinner.” But I didn’t object. I was in a certain place at a certain time, doing something that could reasonably seem to be a concern under the circumstances. I knew that I fit the general profile of a hijacker: a dark-haired, bearded male who was under 50 and coming from Boston, one of the U.S. airports used by the 9/11 attackers. During the next few years, I would be pulled out of line for “random” checks, a lot. What ICE is now allowed to do, however, is quite different. Imagine that instead of profiling and questioning people in airports, federal officers were allowed to roam the streets after 9/11, grab people while they were buying groceries or filling up their car, detain them on suspicion of looking like a terrorist, and then make them prove they were not plotting to kill Americans. When I got to Moscow during those tense weeks after 9/11, I saw what this kind of law enforcement might look like. I was walking near the Old Arbat, a high-traffic tourist area, with a Russian friend. At the time, Russians were showing great sympathy for Americans and great anxiety about their own security. Just a few yards from us, uniformed cops stopped two young men, both with dark complexions and beards. “Documents,” they said curtly. I looked at my Russian friend. “Probably from Armenia or Georgia,” he said, “but could be Chechens. Have to check.” I understood what the Russians were doing, but I didn’t like it. I was glad to return to America, where I felt protected by U.S. laws and the Constitution. Even then, though, I worried about how the response to 9/11 would erode our civil rights: The Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, and many other measures are real concerns for any civil libertarian. But during the years of the War on Terror, I failed to imagine how a racist war on dark hair and Spanish accents could one day do its own harm to the protections of the Constitution—and that the Supreme Court would bless such an un-American scheme. Related: Fast times at Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE’s mind-bogglingly massive blank check

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Court rules Lisa Cook can remain a Fed governor while fighting Trump’s attempt to fire her

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court has ruled that embattled Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her.

https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-governor-lisa-cook-trump-firing-651fcf0637cf14901bbd559df00c856b?

? 1 big thing: Next Trump target

On the premiere episode of "The Axios Show," launching tomorrow, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the administration wants a cut of revenue generated by patents that universities developed with federal funds.

• Why it matters: Lutnick's idea could capture potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in future upside from the work of university scientists, Axios' Ben Berkowitz reports.

President Trump has struck unprecedented deals with the private sector — a 10% stake in Intel, a 15% cut of Nvidia's revenue from AI chips sold to China, a "golden share" in U.S. Steel — that depart starkly from GOP orthodoxy.

• So during our interview in Lutnick's historic office (the first time he's permitted cameras in his inner sanctum), I asked him who's next.

"I think universities, who are getting all this money," Lutnick replied. "The scientists get the patents, the universities get the patents and the funder of $50 billion, the U.S. government, you know what we get? Zero."

• "In business," he continued, "if I gave them 100% of their money, I would get half the profits, with the scientists. So I think if we fund it and they invent a patent, the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit."

? "The Axios Show" is our new series featuring illuminating interviews with newsmakers shaping politics, media, business, tech and culture — your guide through the chaos.

? Behind the scenes: The administration has spent months pressuring colleges over admissions, DEI policies and antisemitism. Teeing up the new focus on intellectual property, Lutnick sent a letter to Harvard last month demanding "a comprehensive list of all patents it has received stemming from federally funded research grants."

• Lutnick told us he also intends to send a letter to the University of California system: "I think it'll be a few universities to start, and then it'll become a master deal."

Context: The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 lets universities retain ownership of patents achieved with federal funding. The idea was to create a clearer path for universities to do research profitably, giving them an incentive to be more aggressive about developing new medicines and technologies.

• "America should participate," Lutnick said. "How do we not get our money back? That's insane."

?️ Watch a 45-sec. clip ... Watch the trailer ...

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Over 40% of arrests in Trump’s DC law enforcement surge relate to immigration, AP analysis finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has portrayed his federal law enforcement surge in Washington as focused on tackling crime. But data from the federal operation, analyzed by The Associated Press, shows that more than 40% of the arrests made over the monthlong operation were in fact related to immigration.

https://apnews.com/article/dc-immigration-federal-intervention-543a6079974fda90f96bae17ae53729e?

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Trump’s emergency order for DC is set to expire, but House moves to place new limits on the city

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s emergency order over the nation’s capital, which federalized its police force and launched a surge of law enforcement into the city, is set to expire overnight Wednesday after Congress failed to extend it.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-dc-intervention-crime-cc4d04f4c1051118d2f449448b173c7d?

?? Trump's Bibi demand

Smoke rises from an Israeli strike in Qatar on Tuesday. Photo: via AP President Trump demanded a commitment from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike Qatar again after the attack against Hamas leaders in Doha, two sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios' Barak Ravid. Why it matters: Netanyahu didn't consult Trump or any of his top advisers until missiles were in the air. The strike infuriated the White House and alarmed leaders in the region and around the world. The big picture: The attack was damaging not just for Israel's global standing, but potentially for the U.S. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the White House his country would now reevaluate its security partnership with Washington after this act of "betrayal," and said in an interview on CNN that leaders across the Gulf were discussing how to respond. But Netanyahu is publicly unapologetic, even suggesting he might order another attack, regardless of Trump's demand. ? Behind the scenes: Trump held two phone calls with Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the strike in Qatar, U.S. officials said. During their first call, Trump expressed his dismay regarding the attack. "It's unacceptable. I demand that you do not repeat it," Trump told Netanyahu, according to two sources with knowledge. Trump told Netanyahu he was disappointed about his decision to conduct the strike and stressed he doesn't understand what this strike achieves long-term.

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Trump’s emergency order for DC is expiring, but House moves to place new limits on the city  President Donald Trump’s emergency order over the nation’s capital, which federalized its police force and launched a surge of law enforcement into the city, was set to expire overnight Wednesday after Congress failed to extend it. But the clash between Republicans and the heavily Democratic district over its autonomy was only set to intensify. Read more.

Why this matters: The National Guard and some other federal agencies will continue their deployment, and at least some National Guard troops from outside the District of Columbia will remain in the nation’s capital at least through the end of November at the request of the Trump administration. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement that he had approved a request from the Secretary of the Army for 150 military police to carry out patrols in Washington through Nov. 30.   A House committee is beginning to debate 13 bills that would wrest away even more of the city’s control if approved. The bills call for repealing or changing D.C. laws. Some provisions in play would remove the position of the district’s elected attorney general, who recently asked a judge to intervene in the takeover. Others would allow the president to appoint someone to the position.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Judge pauses California’s request to bar Trump administration’s ongoing use of National Guard troops   Trump’s deportation plans result in 320,000 fewer immigrants and slower population growth, CBO says   Judge blocks a Trump policy cutting off some social services for immigrants in the US illegally

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Trump Lashes Out at Left in Dark Address After Charlie Kirk Murder

The president addressed the assassination of the right-wing influencer in a four-minute video posted to Truth Social.

Donald Trump called Charlie Kirk a “martyr” during an inflammatory speech in which he blamed the “radical left” for the 31-year-old’s murder and called for a crackdown on left-wing groups.

Trump posted the four-minute address to Truth Social on Wednesday night. He began by sharing his “grief and anger” at the “heinous” murder of Kirk, who was killed during a debate at Utah Valley University hours earlier. He then said the rhetoric of the left was to blame for violent attacks on Kirk, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, and himself.

He added, “Charlie Kirk travelled the nation, joyfully engaging with everyone interested in good faith debate. His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody ever, to share his love of country and to spread the simple words of common sense on campuses nationwide. He championed his ideas with courage, logic, humor, and grace.”

Trump’s White House message to the nation then called out the dangerous division in American politics today, blaming the left‘s rhetoric for what he labeled modern “terrorism.”

“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” Trump said.

He complained that MAGA figureheads, including himself, were regularly compared to Nazis. As recently as Tuesday, protesters shouted, “Trump is the Hitler of our time” while the president was dining in D.C. with Vice President JD Vance and top Cabinet members.

Vance himself had previously labeled Trump “America’s Hitler” in 2016 before changing his mind and joining his campaign.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans, like Charlie, to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in his video message. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

After promising to track down perpetrators of Kirk’s death and “other political violence,” Trump’s message then got personal.

The president referenced the attempt on his own life at a Pennsylvania rally last year, along with the 2017 shooting of then U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball game by a left-wing activist. Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in 2024, was a registered Republican voter, according to multiple reports at the time. He was killed at the scene by the Secret Service.

Trump also noted the death of United Healthcare CEO Bryan Thompson, who was shot dead in Manhattan last December. The suspect in the Thompson case, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty and is currently in a Brooklyn detention center awaiting his trial.

“From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, which killed a husband and father to the attacks on ICE agents,” Trump said, “to the vicious murder of a health-care executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical-left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”

He added, “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that funded and support it as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country.”

Authorities have so far seemed to have bungled the hunt for the Kirk suspect, who killed the father-of-two with a single shot. FBI Director Kash Patel said they had taken a suspect into custody, who was released after 90 minutes of interrogation. “Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,” Patel wrote.

The president labeled the assassin a “monster” but insisted that Kirk’s conservative voice was going nowhere.

“Charlie was the best of America, and the monster who attacked him was attacking our whole country. An assassin tried to silence him with a bullet, but he failed, because together, we will ensure that his voice, his message, and his legacy will live on for countless generations to come.

Trump added, “Today, because of this heinous act, Charlie’s voice has become bigger and grander than ever before.”

Earlier Wednesday, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out that Trump was no stranger to inflammatory comments when quizzed on Democrats toning down rhetoric.

“Oh, please. Why don’t you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he’s posted and every ugly word.”

The president’s speech made no mention of politically charged attacks on Democrats. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords of Arizona survived a shooting in 2011 by a gunman who killed six people in the incident. She had to leave her role in Congress due to her injuries and now advocates for gun control.

“This summer alone, both Democrats and Republicans have been assassinated in heinous acts of political violence,” Giffords posted on Wednesday. “It’s terrifying, and has no place in a democracy.”

She added, “The responsibility to protect our public servants, political figures, and all Americans is not partisan. It’s patriotic—and long overdue. Congress must take action, now.”

Several Democratic leaders, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were the targets of pipe bombs that were intercepted after they were sent through the mail in 2018. Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., who posted the bombs, targeted people he believed were enemies of his own hero, Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.

Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in his San Francisco home in 2022 and had his skull fractured with a hammer.

Trump joked about the terrifying attack during a state party convention in 2023. Calling Nancy Pelosi “crazy,” he asked, “How’s her husband doing? Anybody know?” before adding, “She’s against building a wall at our border, even though she has a wall around her house—which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”

The Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, was the subject of a kidnapping plot in 2020 by an extremist militia group. She specifically blamed Trump at the time for refusing to call out far-right groups.

In June this year, Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed in their home in Minnesota, with Governor Tim Walz calling the shootings “an act of targeted political violence.”

Their killer, Vance Boelter, had the names of 45 Democrats on his hitlist.

Trump did address the killings at the time, noting on social media they appeared to be “a targeted attack against State Lawmakers.” He went on: “Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-lashes-out-at-left-in-dark-address-after-charlie-kirk-murder/?

[phkrause]

D.C. Troops Finished With Crime and Now They’re Gardening

The email from the D.C. National Guard was met with surprise by some commissioners.

Military troops involved in Donald Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. are searching for new “beautification” ideas to keep them busy as the president shifts his crime crackdown to other states.

After picking up trash, shoveling plant waste, and scrubbing roads across Washington, the D.C. National Guard has now written to neighborhood commissioners asking for advice on what projects they can take on next.

“I’m reaching out to request your help in identifying projects where the DCNG can stand alongside (neighborhood) commissioners and residents on neighborhood beatification efforts,” wrote Marcus Hunt, the Director of D.C. Government Operations for the District of Columbia National Guard.

“While our ability to support painting is limited, our teams are well-positioned to contribute manpower for cleanup projects. Most importantly, we want to do this work together with the community-building relationships and strengthening the bond between the Guard and the community we proudly serve,” he added.

The email surprised some commissioners and fueled concerns about the way law enforcement has been utilized in DC since Trump moved to exert control over the city.

More than 2000 guards were deployed after Trump declared on August 7 that he would “liberate” D.C. from “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.”

The crackdown came despite statistics showing that crime had hit a 30-year low in Washington, prompting criticism that the administration was manufacturing a crime crisis for political gain.

One month later, Trump insists D.C. is now “virtually” crime free and in a bid to demonstrate this, ventured about 200 meters from the White House on Tuesday night for his first dinner outing this term.

“We have a safe city,” he told diners at the American surf ‘n’ turf restaurant Joe’s Seafood Prime Steak and Stone Crab.

“Enjoy yourselves—you won’t be mugged going home.”

According to the White House, there have been more than 2177 arrests since August 7. But the presence of armed National Guard troops and army vehicles has also had a chilling effect on many residents and businesses.

Some locals have told The Daily Beast that they have refused to go out because of the intimidating presence on their streets; others have not shown up to work due to fears of being racially profiled and arrested by ICE.

But in reality, the role of the troops has varied. In addition to conducting city patrols with the metro police, soldiers have also participated in beautification efforts, assisted with traffic control, and supported back-to-school safety initiatives.

Asked about Hunt’s email seeking advice for new initiatives, Ward 1 ANC Commissioner Peter Wood told local network WTOP he intends to reply “no thanks.”

“It’s uncomfortable and concerning to see the federal government make these forced gestures to local elected officials like myself,” he said.

“It’s also creating this culture of anxiety, if not fear in the District.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dc-troops-finished-with-crime-and-now-theyre-gardening/?