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

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Trump threatens to take over DC police again over immigration enforcement

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to once again federalize Washington, D.C.'s police force, in what he suggested could come in response to the city’s mayor’s stated refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trump says the US should do away with quarterly earnings reports A framework deal on TikTok has been reached between the US and China West Africans deported by US to Ghana have all been sent to their home countries

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Trump says the US military again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-drug-cartels-05c5b0de282178419d46a3e93fbd2521?

? Trump backs Patel

President Trump is rallying behind FBI Director Kash Patel, Axios' Tal Axelrod and Marc Caputo report.

• The MAGA base has fractured over Patel's handling of the investigation into Charlie Kirk's assassination. Patel announced on social media hours after the shooting that a "subject" was "in custody," only to have investigators release that person.
• Patel "performed terribly in the last few days, and it's not clear whether he has the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt the violent movements — of whatever ideology — that threaten the peace in the United States," right-wing writer Christopher Rufo wrote on X.

⚡️ But Trump has expressed support for Patel.

• "Kash's job is safe. The president is happy," a senior administration official told Axios.
• "I am very proud of the FBI," Trump told Fox News Digital over the weekend. "Kash — and everyone else — they have done a great job."

Patel will be questioned on the Hill tomorrow and Wednesday.

Go deeper.

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Scoop: Netanyahu spoke to Trump before Israel bombed Qatar

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Trump last Tuesday morning that Israel planned to attack Hamas leaders in Qatar shortly before the strike took place, three Israeli officials with direct knowledge tell Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/trump-netanyahu-call-israel-strike-qatar?

Trump says public companies should not have to report quarterly results

President Trump on Monday suggested U.S. public companies should no longer have to report earnings quarterly, but on a six-month schedule instead.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/trump-quarterly-earning-reports-public-companies?

Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to unseat Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook ahead of rate vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court ruled Monday that Lisa Cook can remain a Federal Reserve governor, rebuffing President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove her just ahead of a key vote on interest rates.

https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-cook-trump-56e36badb0d1e9752e306fd6609747bd?

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? Trump's Wall Street shakeup

Via Truth Social

President Trump suggested yesterday that U.S. public companies should be required to report earnings on a six-month schedule instead of quarterly, Axios Markets author Madison Mills writes. Why it matters: The potential shift could have huge implications for Wall Street, financial markets, traders and companies. ? Zoom in: The case for less frequent quarterly reports has some prominent fans. Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett co-wrote an op-ed about short-term earnings "harming the economy" in 2018. Many CEOs would prefer not to deal with analysts and investors four times a year. Public markets could benefit, according to Dimon and Buffett, who argued that the pressure of quarterly earnings discourages firms from going public sooner. Keep reading. ⚡ Situational awareness: Two major stories on the Fed broke within 15 minutes last night. An appeals court ruled that Fed governor Lisa Cook can continue to serve while Trump's attempt to fire her is litigated. The Senate confirmed Stephen Miran — chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers — to be a Fed governor. Miran will remain in his position at the White House.

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Trump sends National Guard to Memphis

President Trump signed an order yesterday to deploy the National Guard to Memphis in what he said would be a "replica" of his D.C. crime crackdown, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.

• Why it matters: Trump said Chicago is "probably next," and mentioned St. Louis and New Orleans could be future destinations.

The move to send National Guard troops to Memphis is supported by Tennessee's Republican governor and senators, but fiercely opposed by the city's Democratic mayor.

• Keep reading.

Image: White House via Reuters

?? Trump said that for the second time, the U.S. military targeted a boat suspected of drug smuggling off Venezuela. Three aboard the vessel were killed.

• He hinted that U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug smugglers at sea could be expanded to land. Go deeper.

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US military again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, Trump says President Donald Trump said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded. Read more.

What to know: Asked what proof the U.S. has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump replied, “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”   The Trump administration has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.   Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are “to intimidate and seek regime change” in the South American country. Speaking to Fox News earlier Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t see Maduro as the rightful leader of Venezuela but as head of a drug cartel.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump deploys National Guard to Memphis, calling it a ‘replica’ of his crackdown on Washington   Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to unseat Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook ahead of rate vote   Senate approves White House economist Stephen Miran to serve on Fed board   US and China reach a framework deal for the ownership of TikTok    Judge rules Trump administration illegally fired thousands of probationary workers   Appeals court rules felony offenders can’t be prosecuted for voting unlawfully by mistake   Patel to face Senate amid questions over probe into Charlie Kirk’s killing and internal FBI upheaval   Suspect in Charlie Kirk shooting likely to face charges Tuesday before first court hearing   Trump administration joins Republicans’ campaign to police speech in reaction to Kirk’s murder   Stephen Miller says government will go after ‘vast domestic terror movement’   Trump wouldn’t call Minnesota governor after Democrat was slain but now blames him for raised flags   US judge won’t intervene in Trump administration’s deportations of West Africans to Ghana   US designates Colombia as failing to cooperate in the drug war for first time in nearly 30 years   A father nearly died by an assailant’s bullet. He’s one of many crime victims US wants to deport   Shipping companies support a first-ever global fee on greenhouse gases, opposed by Trump officials   Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times   Arnold Schwarzenegger enters fight on US House control, urges vote against new California districts   Wisconsin Democrat Kelda Roys launches run for governor against ‘extremists’   Arthur Sze is appointed US poet laureate

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MAGA Melts Down at ‘Moron’ Bondi Over ‘Hate Speech’ Crackdown Threat

Conservatives blasted the attorney general after her vow to “target hate speech” following Charlie Kirk’s killing.

MAGA and conservative influencers torched Attorney General Pam Bondi after she vowed to “target hate speech” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing—something the murdered activist said he did not believe in.

Bondi said her Justice Department would enforce hate speech investigations after the right-wing activist was assassinated.

“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said in an interview on The Katie Miller Podcast.

“We will absolutely target you, go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Kirk himself repeatedly spoke out about the danger of defining and punishing so-called “hate speech.”

“Hate speech does not exist legally in America,” he posted on X last year. “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”

A video posted by Decensored News on X compared Bondi’s statement to Kirk’s own words before he died.

Describing himself as a “free speech absolutist,” Kirk told an audience, to applause, “My position is that even hate speech should be completely and totally allowed in our country.

“The most disgusting speech should absolutely be protected.

“As soon as you use the word ‘hate,’ that’s a very subjective term. All of a sudden, it is in the implementation of whoever has the power.”

The blowback from Bondi’s own side was instant and savage. “Our Attorney General is apparently a moron,” conservative host Erick Erickson wrote on X.

“We don’t need gov’t crackdowns on ‘hate speech,’” Rogan O’Handley, who posts as DC Draino, wrote on X. “Let private citizens on X call out abhorrent speech and ask people’s employers if they agree with their statements.”

“What we need is a massive crackdown on trans terror cells, not some ‘hate speech’ police,” the End Wokeness X account, which has nearly 4 million followers, posted. “AG Bondi... yikes.”

The account later posted a “message” to Bondi: A repost of Kirk’s “Hate speech does not exist legally in America” tweet from last year.

Matt Walsh also lit into the attorney general on X, saying, “There is no law against saying hateful things, and there shouldn’t be.”

Bondi’s remark, made in a podcast chat with former White House official Katie Miller, wife of top Trump aide Stephen Miller, landed amid a broader free-speech discussion following Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination at Utah Valley University.

The Trump White House has framed Kirk’s killing as a left-wing attack on American values, despite a motive from the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, remaining unclear.

Universities and public employees who made incendiary or mocking comments about Kirk have faced probes and firings, drawing criticism from civil liberties groups concerned about viewpoint-based crackdowns.

Bondi reinforced her message with an X post, again ignoring anything but violence with the right as victims.

“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

She added, “You cannot call for someone’s murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as ‘free speech.’”

Even as Bondi vowed to go after “hate speech,” senior Trump adviser Peter Navarro demanded Elon Musk ban anonymous users and “foreigners” from his “cesspool” platform X—an idea that flatly collides with traditional free-speech defenses on the right, as reported by Mediaite.

Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and longtime Trump ally, was confirmed by the Senate in February to lead the Justice Department.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-at-moron-bondi-over-hate-speech-crackdown-threat/?

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Trump Cornered With List of Right-Wing Attacks on Democrats

The president, who has tried to pin political violence on “the left,” ran into a reality check Monday.

President Donald Trump’s narrative on political violence faltered Monday when a reporter confronted him with a list of right-wing attacks on Democrats.

The president has sharply escalated his attacks on “the left” since right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week in Utah, placing blame for political violence on the side of the aisle that isn’t his.

“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” he told reporters on Sunday. “When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place—that’s the left. That’s not the right.”

On Monday, however, CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes challenged that claim by presenting Trump, 79, with a list of political violence targeting Democrats.

“Given the killing of [Minnesota Democrat] Melissa Hortman, the attack on [former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband] Paul Pelosi, the attack on [former Arizona Democrat] Gabby Giffords, the attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, why make the case that violence is only on one side?” Cordes asked.

Cocking his head back, Trump replied, “I didn’t say it’s on one side,” before continuing, “but I say the radical left causes tremendous violence and they seem to do it in a bigger way.”

He claimed that the “radical left really causes a lot of problems for this country,” adding, “I really think they hate our country.”

When another reporter asked about his plans to crack down on the “radical left,” Trump deferred to his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who was also in the Oval Office for the presser.

Miller said the administration would target those who are “paying for violence,” echoing a plan he outlined earlier on Charlie Kirk’s talk show, which Vice President JD Vance hosted on Monday.

Miller and Trump at times appeared to conflate political violence with not inherently violent protests such as the Black Lives Matter movement and June’s anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

Trump went on an extended tangent about protesters using “beautiful, brand new hammers” to break concrete apart, apparently referring to an incident during the Los Angeles protests.

The president was also asked why he didn’t lower flags to half-staff after Hortman’s assassination, as he had ordered following Kirk’s killing.

“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that I would have done that. But the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” he said.

However, CNN Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins later pointed out on X that Trump had said after Hortman’s murder that calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, would “waste time.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-cornered-with-list-of-right-wing-attacks-on-democrats/?

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Bondi Doubles Down on Free Speech Attack: ‘That Era Is Over’

The move comes amid a broader crackdown against the Left in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has doubled down on her attack on free speech after a MAGA backlash, vowing to use the full force of the law to crack down on left-wing people using violent rhetoric to silence conservatives.

After being reminded by MAGA world that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, Bondi pushed back on Tuesday, declaring that anything that crosses the line—such as doxing a conservative family or swatting a GOP member of Congress—will be punished.

“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime,” she posted on X.

“For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

The move comes amid an apparent campaign by Trump and his allies to silence opponents in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

The White House has framed Kirk’s killing as a left-wing attack, despite a motive from the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, remaining unclear.

But since Kirk was murdered last week, Trump has threatened to use racketeering laws to imprison Democratic donors he claims are funding agitation against the right; White House aide Stephen Miller has vowed to “go after” liberal non-government organizations believed to be targeting conservatives; and Vice President JD Vance has urged people to report anyone seen as celebrating Kirk’s death.

“Call them out,” Vance said on Monday as he hosted Kirk’s podcast. “Hell, call their employer.”

But Bondi’s crackdown on hate speech, something that Kirk himself did not believe in, was met with a backlash by MAGA world on Monday.

“Our Attorney General is apparently a moron,” conservative host Erick Erickson wrote on X.

Right-wing influencer Auron MacIntyre called Bondi’s remarks “the worst possible framing for what is a legitimate action against terrorist networks.”

Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume added: “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this.”

Kirk was also known as a free speech absolutist, saying on X last year: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”

However, Bondi doubled down on Tuesday, saying that the US Code made it a federal crime to transmit “any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.”

It was also a felony under the code to threaten public officials, members of Congress, or their families, she said.

“You cannot call for someone’s murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as “free speech.” These acts are punishable crimes, and every single threat will be met with the full force of the law,” she said.

“Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence. It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals.”

In reality, however, violent rhetoric and political violence, has come from both sides.

In 2020, for example, Trump reposted a video of a supporter saying “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”

Two years later, he joked about an intruder attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer, telling supporters, “How’s Crazy Nancy’s husband doing, anybody know?”

His son Don Jr even retweeted a picture of a hammer and a pair of underwear with the message, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” (Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home in the middle of the night.)

And on January 6, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified, leading to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Speaking during a Congressional hearing with FBI director Kash Patel on Tuesday, Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar noted that only last week, a report from the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, published a study that found terrorists from the right were responsible for six times more deaths than people from the left.

“I actually don’t want to go tit-for-tat on this, but what I am asking for is that this rhetoric of blaming one side or the other stop,” she said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bondi-doubles-down-on-free-speech-attack-that-era-is-over/?

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Federal Judge Rips Into Trump in Scathing Ruling: ‘Alarmed and Dismayed’

Judge slams the Trump administration for shirking its responsibilities to people in court hearings.

A U.S. district judge blasted the Trump administration for its “cavalier acceptance” of the risk that a group of deported migrants will be tortured or killed.

U.S. officials appeared to have lavished a “widespread effort” on denying the migrants their due process rights, she said.

U.S. immigration judges had ruled that five plaintiffs in the case could not be deported to their home countries of Nigeria and Gambia because they were “more likely than not” to face persecution, torture, or death upon their return.

The plaintiffs, identified only by their initials for fear of persecution, were nevertheless deported to Ghana and are now being repatriated to their home countries.

In a scathing ruling, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan wrote that the court lacked jurisdiction to issue a temporary restraining order requiring U.S. officials to halt the repatriation, saying the court’s “hands are tied.”

But, she wrote, “The court does not reach this conclusion lightly. It is aware of the dire consequences plaintiffs face if they are repatriated. And it is alarmed and dismayed by the circumstances under which these removals are being carried out, especially in light of the government’s cavalier acceptance of plaintiffs’ ultimate transfer to countries where they face torture and persecution.”

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

The judges in the plaintiffs’ cases had issued final orders of removal, meaning the migrants could be deported, but had ruled that they should not be sent to their home countries because they were more likely than not to face persecution.

One man, identified as D.A. and married to a U.S. citizen, had been tortured by Nigeria’s military and police officers, and was told that if they ever saw him again, they would kill him, the court found.

The migrants were being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. On Sept. 5, they were woken up, shackled, and put on a U.S. military cargo plane without being allowed to notify their family or legal counsel.

Some of them were put in straitjackets for up to 16 hours, and at least one didn’t have any identification documents. On the plane, they learned they were being taken to Ghana, which was not designated as a potential removal country during their immigration proceedings.

They arrived in Dema Camp, a remote open-air detention facility surrounded by armed military guards, and were told they would be repatriated.

During emergency hearings, Trump administration officials told the court that the U.S. had reached “what appears to be a hasty and unwritten agreement with Ghana,” Chutkan wrote.

The U.S. government received a diplomatic note from Ghana promising that the plaintiffs would not be tortured or taken to a place where they would be tortured.

Ghana nevertheless “promptly” repatriated one of the plaintiffs, who has been forced to go into hiding, and announced plans to deport the others to their home countries, according to the ruling.

Lawyers for the government agreed that Ghana appeared to be violating the assurances it had given the U.S. government, but stated that the Trump administration couldn’t prevent the repatriation because the U.S. government “does not have the power to tell Ghana what to do.”

The case bears striking similarities to that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland dad who was mistakenly deported to the notorious CECOT prison in his home country of El Salvador despite a court order saying he couldn’t be repatriated, Chutkan noted in her ruling.

Despite Trump’s claims that they did not have the authority to order Abrego Garcia’s release from a foreign prison, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the administration had to “facilitate” his return.

In that case, though, it was the original deportation that was improper. In this case, the parties agreed that the plaintiffs were properly sent to Ghana—it’s the removal to their home countries that is being contested, Chutkan wrote.

“This court cannot order the U.S. government to order a foreign government to take any action, despite facts in the record indicating that this agreement may have been designed to evade defendants’ obligations to plaintiffs,” she ruled.

Those obligations included providing due process and humane treatment for migrants, Chutkan wrote.

Given the similarities to the Abrego Garcia case and other deportations that have been challenged in court, the deportations appeared to “be part of a pattern and widespread effort to evade the government’s legal obligations by doing indirectly what it cannot do directly,” she added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/federal-judge-rips-into-trump-in-scathing-ruling-alarmed-and-dismayed/?

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Vance, White House promise to ‘go after’ left-leaning organizations

JD Vance believes there can be political unity in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. But first, there will be hell to pay.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/15/vance-white-house-promise-to-crack-down-on-radical-left-lunatics-00564766

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GOP future foretold

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

What does a post-Trump Republican Party look like? The past week has given us a clear glimpse of the most likely trajectory, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. Why it matters: As the White House and President Trump's political ecosystem mobilized after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, rising power centers — which we'd been hearing about for some time — were suddenly in plain sight. Here's what to watch, based on our conversations with top White House and MAGA officials, and reporting by Axios' Marc Caputo and Alex Isenstadt: 1. Turning Point-MAGA integration: Look at Monday's appearance by Vice President JD Vance as guest host of a memorial edition of "The Charlie Kirk Show" as an early step in the further meshing of Trump's political operation with Kirk's group. Turning Point USA was the brainchild and reflection of Kirk. His loss is a major personal and political blow to Trump and his political team, which relied on his organization to convert, amp up and turn out young voters. "We have four years to turn Trump voters into Republican voters," a top Trump adviser said. "And a big part of that was Charlie. He was the heart of that. Charlie would want us to carry on with his work. And we're going to." 2. JD as heir apparent: Vance, the GOP's most likely 2028 nominee, is expected to leverage his star power by crisscrossing the country ahead of next year's midterms — a platform in which he'll cast himself as a warrior against the left. Vance, 41, is building his political network as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, putting him in the room with top donors and state power brokers nationwide. 3. Marco Rubio as potential V.P.: Rubio, 54, is the most powerful secretary of state since Henry Kissinger — who, like Rubio, simultaneously served as national security adviser. After the slaying of Kirk, Rubio flexed his ministerial muscle by announcing he'll revoke the visa of any immigrant who mocks or celebrates Kirk's death. Moves like that, Rubio's mammoth policy portfolio, his sense of humor and his depth of both governmental and football knowledge (he's a Miami Dolphins fan) have made him a favorite of Trump's, and a constant presence in the West Wing. Trump sometimes likes to muse about Rubio or Vance or both running for president to succeed him. It's hard to see them running against each other right now: They're friends from the Senate, as are their staffs. But Rubio ran once before, in a brutal 2016 contest against Trump. So don't count it out. He could just as well bide his time and strike a deal with Vance and become his vice-presidential running mate. No one knows. "The question is: Does Marco run, and what does that look like?" said one person close to Rubio. "I don't know. No one knows. We're not sure if Marco knows. And anyone who says they know is lying." 4. Susie Wiles keeps running the show: Vance has told others he'd like her to manage his campaign, as she did Trump's with Chris LaCivita. If there's a Vance-Rubio ticket, instead of a fight, it probably gets her a lot closer to yes. Wiles has made it clear that her future in the White House, and what comes after Trump's term, is up to the president. So whether she stays past the midterms is firmly in the hands of the most mercurial mind in Washington. If she left, the favorites to succeed her are two White House deputy chiefs of staff, Stephen Miller and James Blair. ⬇️ Column continues below.

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? Part 2: Podcasts as center of gravity

5. Don Jr. is a JD guy: Donald Trump Jr., 47, was Vance's biggest cheerleader in the 2024 veepstakes, and there's no reason to believe he won't be behind Vance again come 2028, Jim and Mike continue.

• Don Jr. and Vance share an inner circle and were both close with Kirk. The Don-Vance ecosystem is more powerful than ever.

6. Family stays deeply involved: The president's son, Eric Trump, 41, has a book coming Oct. 14, "Under Siege: My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation," with a foreword by his dad. Eric Trump is a frequent family messenger on Fox News, and the book will keep him in the conservative conversation.

• Lara Trump — former RNC co-chair and Eric's wife — has a Saturday night show on Fox News and is likely to remain a MAGA influencer past 2028.

7. Podcasts and podcasters as center of gravity: President Trump's marathon appearances on male-oriented shows made 2024 the first "podcast election." That'll be even more true. Fox News' Greg Gutfeld said on "The Five" while discussing Kirk's death: "The media is dead to us on this story. They built this thing up. We're dealing with it. We are going to act. We don't care what the whataboutism is anymore. That s**t's dead."

• Alex Bruesewitz, the young Trump adviser who was the architect of the podcast strategy, has become a principal himself — a coveted guest for shows and events.

8. Even more combative MAGA: Vance used his time at the Kirk show's microphone to exhort MAGA supporters to expose liberals "celebrating Charlie's murder."

• "Call them out — hell, call their employer," Vance said.
• Vance showed he plans to carry on Trump's legacy of combative politics — and potentially even kick it up a notch. Vance took on liberals aggressively, asserting that "most of the lunatics in American politics today are members of the far left."

?️ The bottom line: Susie Wiles sent a clear message about MAGA's future posture during a rare public appearance, speaking on MAGA megaphone Scott Jennings' radio show the day after Kirk was killed.

• "I called everybody in before they went home last night and said: 'Go home, hug your children, hug your spouse, be careful, take precautions,'" Wiles recalled. "'And don't let your voice get softer. Charlie would want everybody to speak as they had been — and more.'"

? Let us know what you think! Just reply to this email, or write to jim@axios.com & mike@axios.com.

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?️ Scoop: Alex Pfeiffer leaves White House

Alex Pfeiffer — White House principal deputy communications director — is joining Watchtower Strategy, a rising public affairs firm in President Trump's Washington, as a managing director specializing in strategy and crisis communications.

• Why it matters: Pfeiffer is one of the most senior officials to leave the administration, which has had little Year 1 turnover — and is a veritable Rock of Gibraltar compared with Trump I.

Pfeiffer, 29, quietly departed in early September after three years with the Trump operation — starting with the MAGA Inc. super PAC in 2022.

• Pfeiffer joined the Trump campaign in West Palm Beach, Florida, in August, then moved into the White House on Inauguration Day. Pfeiffer earlier worked for Tucker Carlson at Fox News.

? Between the lines: Watchtower, a public affairs firm formed in January to help C-suites navigate government, has deep wiring into Trump World, Capitol Hill leadership and upper echelons of the Fortune 100.

• Arthur Schwartz, a Watchtower partner, told me: "Alex is one of the most effective communicators in the Republican Party, and we're thrilled to share his talents with our clients."

The Watchtower chairman is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The CEO is Dan Conston. In addition to Schwartz, other partners are Jeff Miller, Cliff Sims and Brian O. Walsh.

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Trump, 79, Battles Jet Lag With Late Night Rage-Post Spree

The president was still posting at 3:30am U.K. time.

International travel has not curbed Donald Trump’s habit of late-night rage posts on Truth Social.

During his state visit to the U.K., the president’s nocturnal social media spree included a rant involving an investigation into slain right wing activist Charlie Kirk which was posted at around 3:30 a.m London time.

The 79-year-old slammed the FBI’s 2022 investigation into Trump and nearly 100 GOP-linked people or organizations, including Kirk’s Turning Point USA as Republicans released new details.

Details of the investigation, codenamed Arctic Frost, which Republicans claim targeted GOP groups for political reasons, were announced by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Tuesday. Special counsel Jack Smith took over in November 2022.

A furious Trump posted “Why was the wonderful Turning Point under INVESTIGATION by “Deranged” Jack Smith and the Corrupt & Incompetent Biden Administration. They tried to force Charlie, and many other people and movements, out of business. They Weaponized the Justice Department against Sleepy Joe Biden’s Political Opponents, including ME!”

Grassley stated the investigation was “partisan in nature.”

“In other words, Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump,” he said. “It was a vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”

There were no further details about why Kirk’s Turning Point was being investigated.

During his first night in the U.K. on his second state visit, Trump kept to his usual random selection of Truth Social content.

The presumably jet-lagged posts follow Attorney General Pam Bondi revealing the president’s minimal sleep routine.

“None of us can keep up with him, we always joke,” Bondi said on The Katie Miller Show. “I don’t know how he does it. I mean, none of us know when he sleeps. He’s working all the time, and it’s just constant for him.”

During the hours in the U.K., Trump posted a meme featuring special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who had a romantic liaison with District Attorney Fani Willis, who led an election interference case against Trump.

The comedy video, set to a seductive Marvin Gaye song, sees Wade being asked if he ever went to a cabin with Willis, and he takes 30 seconds to answer.

Willis was removed from the 2020 election interference case against Trump last December, with a court citing her relationship with Wade, who worked on the case, as a conflict of interest.

Trump told Fox News at the time that the “whole case has been a disgrace to justice.” He added, “There is no way such corrupt people can lead a case.”

While in the U.K., the president also re-posted a newspaper story about his call to Indian Prime Minister Modi to wish him a happy 75th birthday and shared a Fox News clip of host Sean Hannity pointing out “leftist” abuse towards Stephen Miller and his podcast host wife, Katie, who was being interviewed.

The president re-posted videos of himself and his wife, Melania, landing in the U.K. and also shared no fewer than eight posts by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

One post claimed Trump was “getting amazing feedback” over his $15 billion lawsuit filed against The New York Times.

“The predominant feeling and sentiment is, “IT’S ABOUT TIME!,”” he wrote, adding, “The Radical Left Media is working hard to destroy the U.S.A. We are going to stop them at each and every level!!! President DJT.”

Trump revealed the lawsuit on Monday, attacking The Times for its endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.

In his Truth Social rant, the president accused the paper of “a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.”

He also described the Times as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-battles-jet-lag-with-late-night-rage-post-spree/?

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Trump Tears Down White House Trees to Make Way for His $200M Ballroom

It is unclear how many trees will eventually have to be felled to make way for the president’s luxe extension.

Trees are being torn down outside the White House as construction gets under way on President Donald Trump’s $200 million ballroom.

Work crews were seen cutting down trees and branches around the East Wing on Tuesday as the president’s vanity project gathers speed.

The White House announced in July plans to add a ballroom to the historic building, with work set to begin in September. But key details surrounding the project largely remain a mystery, including how many trees will have to be removed to make way for the extension.

Officials say the ballroom will be “substantially separated” from the main White House while still being “almost identical” in architectural style.

A White House official told The Washington Post last week that the project is in the “preservation stage,” during which trees, shrubbery, and other foliage will be moved off-site for potentially the next several weeks.

The National Park Service could not confirm how many trees will ultimately need to be cut down.

“The National Park Service takes great care to honor the historic landscape of the White House and President’s Park,” NPS spokesperson Jasmine Shanti told the Post. “When feasible, trees are preserved and nurtured so they can thrive and eventually be replanted.”

Trump has claimed that people in the White House have been calling for a ballroom to host lavish occasions for the past 150 years. He has also vowed to largely foot the bill himself rather than saddle taxpayers with the cost.

While berating the press before his departure for a historic second state visit to the U.K. on Tuesday, Trump took a moment to acknowledge the construction on the South Lawn.

“You see that area, that is going to be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world. It gives me pleasure to do it for the country. And I’m paying for it,” Trump said.

Trump, known for wildly exaggerating and inflating figures when it suits him, also suggested the true cost of the ballroom could reach $250 million.

“For 150 years, they’ve wanted a ballroom, and now they’re going to finally have it. And it’s going to knock your socks off,” Trump added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tears-down-white-house-trees-to-make-way-for-his-200m-ballroom/?

ps:Why not just knock down the WH and build a castle???????????????

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U.S. Citizen’s Wrongful Arrest Captured in ICE Barbie Stunt Video

The Texas-born man was even asked how he spoke English so well during an early morning raid.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unwittingly posted a video showing a U.S. citizen being detained during early morning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids just outside Chicago.

Noem, dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her love of cosplaying in uniform roles, once again played up to the cameras on Tuesday by joining law enforcement on the ground during “Operation Midway Blitz” targeting undocumented migrants. She later shared a video of the raid in Elgin, Illinois, showing men being handcuffed who she suggests are accused of crimes including assault, DUI, and felony stalking.

However, one of those detained was 37-year-old Joe Botello, a U.S. citizen born in Texas.

“I’m just blessed that I’m still alive,” Botello told the Chicago Tribune, describing how armed, masked agents broke down his door and placed him and his roommates in handcuffs. “I’ve been hearing it and seeing it through social media. But it never crossed my mind that it was going to happen here at the house… where I live.”

Botello said he was never told why he was cuffed or read his rights while being detained. The father of five added that one agent even asked how he spoke English so well, to which replied because he’s American.

After showing his ID, Botello and another man were released. CBS News reported that a second U.S. citizen was wrongly detained during the raid, while four others were taken into custody.

“I’m glad I was able to grab my wallet in order to have some type of identification,” Botello said. “I’m still a little bit in shock. I’m just glad that I’m OK. I recommend that everyone always have their documentation—passport if they can, and any type of ID that would identify them. Stay safe.”

Noem made no mention of her agency’s mistake while promoting the raid online.

“President Trump has been clear: if politicians will not put the safety of their citizens first, this administration will. I was on the ground in Chicago today to make clear we are not backing down,” she wrote on X. “Our work is only beginning.”

The DHS denied that any U.S. citizen was arrested during the early morning raid.

“They were briefly held for their and officers safety while the operation in the house was under way. This is standard protocol,” a spokesperson told the Daily Beast.

DHS said it was launching Operation Midway Blitz across the Chicago area in honor of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old killed in a drunk-driving hit-and-run in January while visiting the University of Illinois. The driver accused of hitting her is a Guatemalan man who was living in the U.S. illegally.

State Sen. Cristina Castro, a Democrat representing Illinois’ 22nd District, warned residents to “brace” for more ICE raids.

“I think it’s unnerving. It’s unsettling. People are afraid,” Castro told the Tribune. “They’ve been afraid even to celebrate Mexican Independence Day weekend. But this is just going to put more fear in hard-working people who really just are here to have a better life.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-citizens-wrongful-arrest-captured-in-ice-barbie-stunt-video/?

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Bondi’s DOJ Censors Study Showing Who Commits Political Violence

The 2024 study is no longer accessible on the DOJ website.

Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has quietly deleted a study showing that far-right attacks outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violence extremism.

A June 2024 study on domestic extremism by the National Institute of Justice, a research agency under the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs, began by noting that “militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States.”

“In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism,” it reads. “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.”

The paper goes on to state that “no single profile accurately captures the characteristics of the individuals who commit extremist and hate crimes,” citing data from two NIJ databases.

The study was on the OJP website until around Friday, when sharp-eyed social media users noticed that it had been replaced with an error message stating, “The requested page could not be found.” The deletion was first reported by investigative reporter Jason Paladino.

The entire 13-page study can still be accessed through an archived version of the webpage.

The paper generated renewed interest after Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist who pushed right-wing values through his popular podcast, was shot dead in Utah last week. The assassination immediately set off a firestorm of finger-pointing between liberals and conservatives, who accused each other of sowing political violence.

President Donald Trump was quick to hold “radical left lunatics” responsible for Kirk’s killing, telling reporters that individuals and groups on “the left” have been placed under investigation.

“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” he said on Sunday. “When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place—that’s the left. That’s not the right.”

Vice President JD Vance and top White House aide Stephen Miller joined the anti-left pile-on when they appeared on Kirk’s eponymous podcast after his death.

“We have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years,” Vance said Monday. “I believe it is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”

Vance claimed, without presenting evidence, that “it is a statistical fact that most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left.”

Miller, meanwhile, accused a “vast domestic terror movement” of stoking political violence and vowed to “uproot and dismantle” what he described as “terrorist networks” in the wake of Kirk’s death—even though authorities have said the gunman acted alone.

“The last message that Charlie sent me was—I think it was just the day before we lost him—which is that we need to have an organized strategy to go after the left-wing organizations that are promoting violence in this country,” he said.

Some social media users had cited the NIJ study in arguing that the left should not take the blame. The paper does indicate that “U.S. extremists and individuals who commit hate crimes routinely come from across the ideological spectrum, including far-right, far-left, Islamist, or single-issue ideologies.”

White House correspondents also cornered Trump on Monday with a list of attacks on Democrats carried out by right-wing actors.

“I didn’t say it’s on one side,” Trump countered, “but I say the radical left causes tremendous violence and they seem to do it in a bigger way.”

The suspect in Kirk’s shooting has been identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Several officials have claimed that the alleged shooter subscribed to “left-wing ideology,” but a criminal indictment filed Tuesday provided scant details supporting the claim.

Robinson allegedly told his roommate and romantic partner—a man transitioning to a woman—that he “had enough” of Kirk’s “hatred.”

“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” he wrote.

The OJP and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/doj-quietly-scrubs-study-on-far-right-attacks-after-kirk-shooting/?

ps:The genius of this administration is just incredible!!!!! And there credibility is even better!!

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Trump basks in the pageantry at Windsor Castle during unprecedented second UK state visit

President Donald Trump relished the glow of a British royal spectacle Wednesday, greeted at Windsor Castle on his state visit by King Charles III, military honor guards and mounted troops before paying a private tribute at Queen Elizabeth II’s tomb. The pomp and pageantry are deliberate, meant to bolster ties with Trump at a time when his America First policies are putting pressure on trade and security arrangements around the globe. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Photos show President Donald Trump during his second state visit to Britain Trump’s second state visit to the UK meets with protests and arrests Obama says the US is at ‘an inflection point’ after Kirk’s killing and Trump has divided the country

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Trump says he’ll designate antifa as a terrorist group but offers few details President Donald Trump said early Thursday that he plans to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization.” It’s unclear how the administration would label what is effectively a decentralized movement as a terrorist organization, and the White House on Wednesday did not immediately offer more details. Read more.

Why this matters: Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. They consist of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations.   Trump, who is on a state visit to the United Kingdom, made the announcement in a social media post shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday local time. He called antifa a “SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER.” He also said he will be “strongly recommending” that funders of antifa be investigated.   Antifa is also a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. There is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organizations operating within the United States. And despite periodic calls, particularly after mass shootings by white supremacists, to establish a domestic terrorism law, no singular statute now exists.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Democrats press FBI director on Epstein files and other takeaways from his testimony to Congress   State Department pulls down its remaining efforts to counter foreign mis- and disinformation   Sen. Bernie Sanders describes war in Gaza as ‘genocide’ for the first time   After the royal pomp, Trump’s state visit turns to politics and a meeting with Starmer   WATCH: Trump celebrates 'priceless and eternal' US-UK bond during state banquet speech   Republican leaders reject Democratic health care demands for bill to avoid shutdown   West Coast states issue joint vaccine recommendations ahead of CDC advisers meeting   What the Fed rate cut will mean for your finances   Experts independently resurrect Census Bureau advisory committee axed by Trump administration   National Academy of Sciences rebuffs Trump EPA’s effort to undo regulations fighting climate change   Federal judge orders Alabama’s largest county to redraw racially gerrymandered districts   Trump redistricting push threatens minority representation. Black voters worry about its impact   Conservative coalition teaming with Trump administration to push patriotism in education   Harris says Buttigieg was her ‘first choice’ for 2024 running mate but the pairing was too risky   WATCH: VP Vance urges Michigan governor to allow National Guard into Detroit   Voters oust San Francisco supervisor who turned a coastal highway into a car-free park   Republican Brad Raffensperger to run for Georgia governor after defying Trump over 2020 election   Army veteran who burned American flag near White House pleads not guilty to federal charges   Grand jury indicts man accused of threatening to kill federal judges in New York   Rudy Giuliani is ordered to pay $1.36 million in legal bills

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R.I.P. the First Amendment, Killed by Cowardice and Greed

We will all mourn eventually. Even the long list of those who murdered our foundational freedom.

A funeral will be the biggest story in America this week.

But, contrary to expectations, it will not be the ceremony mourning the murder of Charlie Kirk. Rather, it will be a memorial service for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Kirk’s life was too short. He was part of the lives of his family and friends for just 31 years. They will, no doubt, lament his loss.

The First Amendment has been part of all our lives since Dec. 15, 1791, the day the Bill of Rights was ratified. It has been with us 233 years—also not nearly long enough. Now or later, all of us will come to grieve for its passing.

Like Kirk, the First Amendment was murdered in cold blood. Unlike him, it did not die from just a single shot or a lone gunman. As in a fusty old murder mystery, there is a long line of killers, delivering the blows that weakened and ultimately finished it off.

Jimmy Kimmel, the veteran late-night comedian now elevated to a central role in this demise of one of the central tenets of what we once too glibly called “the American experiment,” on Monday evening had dared to describe how “many in MAGA-land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

He addressed assertions from the White House and Vice President J.D. Vance that it was a “statistical fact” that “most of the lunatics in American politics today are proud members of the far left,” and noted, accurately, that Vance’s “fact” was, in reality, “complete bulls--t.” He pointed out that the Justice Department had this week taken down data on its website that made clear that “violence from far-right groups is the greatest source of domestic terror and extremist violence in the U.S.,” and referenced the violence Trump himself incited on Jan. 6, 2021. And then he observed, “The president and his henchmen are doing their best to fan the flames, so they can I guess attack people on the dangerous left.”

By Wednesday evening, this point was proven by the indefinite suspension of the broadcast of Kimmel’s program on ABC. Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, appointed by President Donald Trump, had earlier in the day called Kimmel’s observations “some of the sickest conduct possible.” He said that ABC should consider suspending Kimmel before the FCC had to get involved, and suggested that local broadcasters who depend on the FCC for their licenses do the same.

“Frankly,” he argued, “I think it’s past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘We are not going to run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out.’”

Within hours, one of the most important of those local broadcasters, Nexstar, issued a statement saying it was pre-empting Kimmel. The statement did not mention that Nexstar is currently engaged in an effort to acquire another broadcaster, TEGNA, for $6.2 billion—a deal that requires the approval of both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission.

Another broadcaster, Sinclair, went further still, saying that Kimmel’s suspension was not adequate and that ABC and the FCC should take further action.

Shortly afterward, ABC announced it would be taking Kimmel’s program off the air indefinitely.

The suspension was the second time in weeks that the Trump administration had seemed to use its leverage as a regulator to force a media corporation to shut down a late-night comedy show whose fact-based humor made Trump, Vance, and the broader MAGA community uncomfortable. In July, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled by CBS, ostensibly for “financial reasons.” But, as it happens, the parent company of CBS, Paramount Global, was too engaged in an effort to sell its assets which would require federal approval. As it also happens, Colbert’s fate was sealed just days after he criticized on air a $16 million settlement Paramount had negotiated with Trump over a lawsuit the president had brought against CBS concerning the contents of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren called that settlement “a deal that looks like bribery.”

Colbert and Kimmel are not alone. In the wake of the Kirk killing, a prominent commentator on MSNBC and a distinguished columnist for The Washington Post were both fired for stating facts or making fact-based observations about Kirk. Furthermore, an untold number of Americans who have similarly simply expressed their views have also faced professional consequences.

Nationwide, Trump and senior officials in his government are using the moment to apply pressure nationwide to silence their critics. They have promised to use the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to target their political rivals—and one by one, media outlets, universities, and big corporations have acquiesced or capitulated to the threats.

One by one, the most powerful companies and people in America have lined up to strike the blows that have ultimately deprived us of the ability to fully exercise the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The degree to which the president is being aided and abetted by America’s corporate leaders is appalling. His allies have bought up, compromised or otherwise taken over many of our important media outlets—The Washington Post, CNN, CBS and ABC among them—as well as social platforms like X and Meta. Other powerful new media platforms, like TikTok, seem about to be handed over to pro-Trump oligarchs.

One by one, institutions that were made great by exercising or defending those freedoms are being stripped of them. Universities have been made to cancel classes, shutter programs, fire professors, and promise to silence peaceful, lawful dissent. Law firms have been made to part ways with lawyers who represented opposition views. Government officials who were not viewed as cleaving to MAGA beliefs have been fired. As in totalitarian governments throughout history, a purge of views diverging from that of the president has taken place.

Trump is seeking to purge museums and cultural institutions of views with which he does not agree. His people have floated stripping not-for-profit status from organizations with liberal views—many federal grants have already been withheld from such organizations. Every lever the government has is being used to silence dissent, to erase uncomfortable facts, to subdue potential rivals.

We have seen such behavior in the United States before. The McCarthy era and its systematic effort to target those with communist backgrounds is an example. Wartime censorship and the Alien and Sedition Acts in the early days of this nation are others. But all of these were more limited in scope than what is happening now. And all of these were grounded, however speciously, in at least ostensible concern for U.S. national security.

What is happening now is that Trump has embraced autocratic tactics for purely selfish, political, or retributive purposes. The full power of the executive branch of the U.S. government is now occupied with the unconstitutional, un-American business of stripping away our most fundamental rights. And as a consequence, for now at least, what we once had, what once was a source of our strength and our pride, what once was seen as one of the inalienable rights on which the country was founded, no longer exists as it did even a year ago.

The question before us is whether there is life in the idea that Trump is trying to bury; whether we will value the rights being taken from us as those who fought for those rights throughout history did.

That is up to us.

It is up to us to decide whether we will overcome the power of extremist leaders and compliant corporate media and use the tools, the technologies, and the human energies available to us to undo the crimes that are currently being perpetrated.

It is up to us, each of us, to stand up, as voices on both the left and the right have throughout our history, for the ability for all of us, any of us, weak or powerful, great or small, to reveal without fear the full content of our consciences, to speak our minds openly and freely as was originally intended to be the sacred legacy of America to every generation of its citizens.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rip-the-first-amendment-killed-by-cowardice-and-greed/?

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Judge blocks Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan migrant children

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country, the latest step in a court struggle over one of the most sensitive issues in Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-deportations-guatemalan-migrant-children-supreme-court-2bfc00faa704819f11ef472d809d6c22?

Trump asks the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed board

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-lisa-cook-federal-reserve-d7cd7bf7b8bca591b1748591836c3645?

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Trump Confronted on Free Speech After Jimmy Kimmel Pulled Off Air

President Trump slammed the comedian as free speech advocates sounded the alarm.

Donald Trump was confronted about free speech on Thursday, one day after comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended following threats from the president’s Federal Communications Commission chair.

Trump was standing alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for their joint press conference when he was asked about free speech by a British reporter.

“Your vice president, Vance, said that free speech was under attack in the UK. Do you agree with him, and the Prime Minister, we saw the dismissal of a very well-known chat show host in America last night, Mr. Kimmel. Is free speech more under attack in Britain or America?” the reporter asked.

The question came after Vance criticized Europe over free speech in February, but the Trump administration is now facing accusations of working to stifle free speech in the U.S.

The president was quick to attack Kimmel, who has been critical of him.

“Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else,” Trump claimed. “He said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk.”

ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely on Wednesday after a comment he made about Kirk, a right-wing activist murdered last week, and how the president was responding to the death.

After Kirk’s shooting, Kimmel released condolences to his family in a statement and called the shooting “horrible and monstrous.” But in Monday’s show, he said, “Many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” and slammed Trump’s own comment when asked about it.

Right before the show was yanked on Wednesday, Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s comments “sick” on a right-wing podcast and suggested his agency had a case for holding Kimmel, ABC, and its parent company accountable.

The move by ABC came after Nexstar, which operates ABC-affiliates, said it would pull the show. While there has been no direct link made, Nexstar is working to acquire Tegna, a $6 billion deal that would require approval from the FCC, raising further questions.

It comes after CBS canceled the late-night show of comedian Stephen Colbert, another fierce Trump critic, earlier this year, as Paramount was also working toward a merger.

The president celebrated Kimmel’s suspension in a social media post late Wednesday while traveling in the UK and called for NBC’s late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be fired.

But free speech advocates and Trump critics of the president have sounded the alarm after ABC pulled the plug on Kimmel.

Just before Trump’s press conference on Thursday, former President Obama posted that after years of complaining about cancel culture, “the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.”

At his press conference, Trump also slammed Kimmel as “not a talented person” and claimed he had “very bad ratings.”

“You could call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent,” Trump argued.

In response, Starmer took a diplomatic approach. He called the murder of Kirk shocking.

“This country’s had free speech for a very very long time. It is part of who we are as a country, and it is the values that we fought for. We fought for it during the Second World War alongside each other, so we need no reminding of the importance of free speech in this country,” Starmer said.

Amid growing concern over the circumstances surrounding the suspension of Kimmel’s show, Vance’s own past comments on free speech have been posted across social media pointing out the apparent hypocrisy.

“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree,” Vance declared on the world stage just months ago.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-confronted-on-free-speech-after-jimmy-kimmel-pulled-on-air/?

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Hegseth’s Own Lawyers Sound the Alarm on Trump’s Drug Boat Killings

Career military officials say their opinions were ignored in the lead-up to the strikes.

Military lawyers warned that President Donald Trump’s strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats were potentially illegal, but their opinions were ignored or sidelined, according to a new report.

Trump announced this month that the U.S. military had destroyed three different boats that were allegedly crewed by members of the Tren de Aragua gang smuggling drugs to the U.S. from Venezuela.

The president shared footage of two of the strikes—which killed a total of 14 people—on social media, and mentioned a third boat in passing while speaking to reporters outside the White House.

Officials have refused to answer questions about where the strikes took place and under what circumstances, and have not provided evidence that the boats were carrying drugs, The Washington Post reported.

They also have not provided a legal authority that would justify the summary execution of civilians.

But within the Pentagon, some career defense officials and military lawyers have provided verbal and written opinions to the Department of Defense leadership, saying they were concerned about the legality of the strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The U.S. Coast Guard often intercepts suspected drug smugglers, but the standard rules of procedure for dealing with cartel members are to arrest and prosecute them, not execute them.

The officials identified problems with the legal justifications for the strikes, and they warned that the soldiers who conducted the attacks could be held personally liable for the killings, sources told the Journal.

But the officials believe that decision-makers at the Department of Defense sidelined them and ignored their concerns, a source told the paper. Other officials are looking for ways to provide legal protection for the individual military personnel involved in the strikes.

In a statement to the Journal, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the trikes were “fully consistent with the law of armed conflict,” even though the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.

“These presidentially directed strikes were conducted against the operations of a designated terrorist organization and were taken in defense of vital U.S. national interests and in the collective self-defense of other nations who have long suffered due to the narcotics trafficking and violent cartel activities of such organizations,” she said.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell also denied to the Journal that any Pentagon lawyers with knowledge of the strikes had raised concerns about their legality and said the administration was on “firm legal ground.”

The Daily Beast has also reached out for comment.

Legal scholars and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the strikes violated both domestic and international law, especially because Congress has authorized the use of force against terrorist groups in the Middle East, but not against Latin American drug cartels.

“Maybe the boat was coming here. Maybe it wasn’t. But nobody’s even asking whether we need to prove that. We just blow them up,” Sen. Paul Rand told Politico.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially told reporters that the first boat carrying 11 people, which was hit on Sept. 2, was probably headed from Venezuela toward Trinidad and Tobago, The New York Times reported.

Administration officials have since claimed it was headed to the U.S. But, if it was, in fact, hit somewhere between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, the strike happened about 650 miles from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico and more than 1,600 miles from Florida.

The area is separated from the mainland U.S. by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and The Bahamas.

Regardless of where the boats were located, John Yoo, the University of California at Berkeley professor who wrote the legal memos justifying President George W. Bush’s use of “enhanced interrogation” techniques on suspected al Qaeda terrorists, told Politico that the Trump administration hasn’t made the legal case that cartels should be considered enemies of war.

“There has to be a line between crime and war,” he said. “We can’t just consider anything that harms the country to be a matter for the military. Because that could potentially include every crime.”

Marty Lederman, a Georgetown University law professor and the executive editor of Just Security, also wrote on the site that the strikes appeared to have violated at least a handful of laws and legal norms.

It was “difficult to understand” how non-partisan career military officials had “assented to such an indefensible breach of the fundamental norm against targeting civilians,” he added.

Administration officials have so far shrugged off the criticism, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming that he has “absolute and complete authority” to kill suspected drug smugglers.

Vice President JD Vance responded to accusations that the strikes constituted a war crime by declaring, “I don’t give a s--t.” During a rally in Michigan this week, he also joked about Trump saying that no more drug boats were coming into the country.

“I said, ‘I know why!’” Vance, 41, recounted with a grin. “I would stop too.”

Then, chuckling, he added, “Hell, I wouldn’t go fishing right now in that area of the world.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pete-hegseths-own-lawyers-sound-the-alarm-on-trumps-drug-boat-killings/?

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Trump, 79, Forgets Knowing Epstein Friend He Hosted in Oval Office

The President was confronted by the elephant in the room and quickly deferred to his UK counterpart.

President Donald Trump claims he did not know a high-profile British Ambassador who was fired last week over his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, despite inviting him to the Oval Office.

During a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Trump was forced to confront what a British journalist described as “the elephant in the room”: the sacking of the UK’s Ambassador to the United States, Lord Peter Mandelson.

“Do you have some sympathy with him, that he lost his job over historic links to Jeffrey Epstein?” the reporter asked Trump, who also has multiple links to the late disgraced financier.

“I don’t know him, actually,” the President replied. “I had heard that, and I think maybe the Prime Minister would be better speaking of that. That was a choice that he made, and uh, I don’t know.”

He then deferred to Starmer: “What is your answer to that?”

Mandelson—a polarizing figure on the left of British politics for years—was fired as UK ambassador to the US last week after his ties to Epstein became another unwelcome problem for the embattled Starmer.

The ambassador came under mounting pressure this month after House Democrats released a 2003 “birthday book” compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday, in which Mandelson had penned a handwritten note describing the notorious sex offender as “my best pal.”

Starmer initially defended his ambassador, telling parliament that he had his “full confidence”.

But hours later, Bloomberg published a trove of emails between Mandelson and Epstein, in which the Brit expressed support for his friend and offered to talk to political contacts about his infamous 2008 Florida trial.

“Some information came to light last week, which wasn’t available when he was appointed, and I made a decision about it,” Starmer replied when Trump diverted the question to him.

But Trump’s claim that he did not know Mandelson came despite the pair being photographed in the Oval Office together in May after announcing a trade deal with the UK.

In the photo, a smiling Trump is seen shaking hands with the then Ambassador, who had also spent his time in D.C. working conservative circles and MAGA figures across the capital.

The process of becoming a diplomat also involves formally submitting diplomatic credentials to the president in the Oval Office.

Trump’s dismissal of the issue is emblematic of the ongoing headache the Epstein scandal has continued to be for the president, who was a known associate of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

On the day Trump arrived in the UK, images of the pair were projected onto a wall of Windsor Castle by demonstrators, and also plastered on a giant photograph that was unfurled on the lawn outside the gates of the castle.

Back home, the issue also continued to dominate, including at a fiery Capitol Hill hearing with Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, who was cornered into opening an investigation into whether Trump’s signature was forged in the notorious 50th birthday book.

The book features a lewd drawing apparently signed by the president in 2003, but Trump insists he had nothing to do with it.

“Will you be opening up an investigation into the Epstein estate for putting out a fake document with the president’s signature linking him to the world’s largest pedophile ring?” Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz asked Patel.

“On what basis?” the FBI director replied.

“They literally put out a fake document, according to the president!” Moskowitz reminded him.

“Sure, I’ll do it,” Patel said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-forgets-knowing-epstein-ambassador-he-invited-to-oval-office/?

ps:Of course he doesn't know him!!